Two new small features being added to Kazology.

• A search engine that I have on the server
• A new flash photo album created

I have worked off and on for months to get Google (and other search engines) to index the entire site. Seems like with all the genealogy pages that exist it just will not do it. In part because there are only a few “back links” to Kazology it does not rate very high in priority. (So if you want to put a link to www.kasdorf.net in your page somewhere feel free!)

There are so many names in the genealogy section it is difficult to find a particular person, so it really needs this feature. Since I am not getting “Googled” I started looking for another means. Is Google going to be our next door neighbor? New office a mile away is rumoured to be Google’s new Ann Arbor location!

I searched and found one by APB Search. It uses CGI scripting to create an index on the server, which is then used when a search is performed by the user. It is pretty fast unless you pick a very frequent word, but even then it is not to bad. I currently have the most of the actual genealogy pages in the index, but not the PDF files, photo albums and so on. The site currently has over 18,000 pages and even the “free” version of APB Search is choking. To be fair it is not the APB Search program, it is the server timing out. The server only allows CGI scripts to have six seconds of CPU time per operation. Apparently this is just not enough to get the job done. I believe there is a way around, which involves purchasing the full version which can add directories one at a time after the initial index creation. I have tried performing searches using both Google and APB Search, and am getting more results every time with APB, so I like it. You can try out the search now if you like. It is way down in the right column in small font. Once I get it the way I want it, it will be moved to a more prominent position.

The other new feature is a flash photo album Paul located. It is by Atomix Technologies Limited and is called JetPhoto. It creates pretty cool albums with flash effects. Only one concern seems to be it is not well known and not well supported. Templates are limited at this time. So may have to learn PHP to do some editing.

It is also available down in the “test” area in the lower right hand column. Only one quickly created album there to test it out on.

NOTE: This never panned out as a photo album maker. I have used “Jalbum” almost exclusively for years now. Still highly recommended. Updated 12/21/2012. George

Until the final web page is indexed,

George

Well, EXtreme Kazology is still pending, but I did get a lot of documents posted over the last couple of days. If you take a peek in the Kasdorf Genealogy when it opens, about half way down is Kazology Digital Records which will take you to a new page with links to all types of documentation. There are a couple photo albums and are really interesting if you are into pictures of tombstones and grave plots! A related family the Pickerings is represented as well as the Misselhorns. Duane Pickering was sending a lot of photos and other family information, but then the correspondence between he and I sort of dwindled. (Hey Duane, I am still waiting for the pictures from Canada!) He scanned hundreds of photos, created an index of whom is in each photo, when he could identify them, and then put everything on a CD which he sent me. He even provided a couple of updates to the CD later on. His pictures are here, but it may not be all of them, as I said he had hundreds and I do not think I got them all into an album for the web.  Then I added the Misselhorn family records. Marge (Ziebell) Misselhorn spent years researching the family and put things into a series of binders which she gave to her children. She was never interested in putting together a “traditional” genealogy with everyone arranged in families, by linage and all that, she just liked to make it more personable with notes, pictures and stories.

The other really neat thing I added was Doug Holt’s “The Kasdorf Kin” newspaper. Doug is one of the three people who really got me started on researching the Kasdorf family way back in 1995 I believe. George Musch and Marge Misselhorn would be the others that assisted and prodded me on sometimes.

Just as a comment, although I believe I have mentioned it before, these are large documents.  Each of the Kasdorf Kin PDF’s is about 3 megabytes. If you have broadband that is not a big deal at all, but if you are on dial up (I’m sorry to hear that.) it will take awhile to download the entire PDF, or photo album. Be patient, but if you are sure a link is broken or otherwise not doing what it is supposed to, please let me know so I can fix it up. However on the Digital Kasdorf page there are some links that for sure do not work yet. You should get a “404” error in just a short time if you use those links. I guess I could add “NW” by the ones that do not… maybe next month.

Until Adobe Reader is no longer the defacto standard,

George

Okay, now that the Skool Daze collection is out there and hundreds of thousands of people are enjoying them, I am contemplating the next album. I am thinking there are a lot of wedding pictures that I have, and other people have stashed away, that could be put into a set for the future. Lets get all those hidden and nearly forgotten pictures out of the shoe boxes and closets and put them where people can look at them and “Remember the day”. Whether “the day” was in your memories “the most beautiful wedding ever”, or “Man, the stag last night was AWEsome!”, and I have heard the brides have some pretty exciting parties also! (PS if you want to send private photos of those events, you can send those too! I promise not to share them!)

One thing I am doing with all this is saving to DVD along with the genealogy data.

There are some provisions in place for trying to assure the genalogy data I have collected is not lost in the future. So, help preserve the entire Kasdorf collection for the future. Send your wedding related photos to be added to Kazology.

Please make sure you identify the people and the dates!

I am finding I like to arrange everything in a chrolological order rather than by family. Viewing the albums then becomes a small walk through history. Without names they are still interesting pictures, but not of much use in the future. With Windows allowing long file names most basic information can be added that way, saving it fairly permanently.

If it contains information not in the genealogy database I will add it there also.

Maybe I need to make a disclaimer since this is a public web site. I am talking about Kasdorf and related family lines. If you have no idea if this means you, probably want to hang onto your photos for the time being.

Looking backwards to the future,
George