Monday, March 15, 2010

New Website for EWGS!

Have you heard? Eastern Washington Genealogical Society has a new website...a new address...and a new look! Check it out at http://www.ewgsi.org!

Our 3rd Vice President--and webmaster--Cecily Cone Kelly has done a wonderful job putting our content onto the new site, making it easy to use with a professional look. EWGS is using a customizable website shell built specifically for genealogy societies by EasyNetSites.com which takes a lot of the website building and design work off the webmaster, allowing him or her to concentrate on adding content and data instead.

At our general meeting on March 6th, Cecily demonstrated the great features of the site, including using the member area of the site. If you are a member of EWGS, your user name is the first letter of your first name, followed immediately by your last name. For instance, mine is MMidkiff.  The password is your five-digit ZIP code. After you log in, you can change your password to a secure one known only to yourself.

Cecily has agreed to highlight the website and personally walk you through the login process and membership area in next month's member computer class, on April 17th. You can sign up for this class by e-mailing me.

Our new website has content that is available and pertinent for anyone visiting it, whether or not they are a member of EWGS. Upcoming events, research tips, links, public downloads, a store where our publications can be purchased, library (links to our cataloged items in Spokane Public Library as well as a list of our uncatalogued items), and a surname list are all available now. Eventually, the Obituary Index will be placed on our site, and those who are researching ancestors who died in the Spokane area will be able to locate their names on it. A request for a copy of an obituary will be able to be made, with fees going to EWGS.

I encourage you to visit this site and let us know what you think!

1 comment:

toppline said...

I think it is something that is long overdue and I like the look. It is new and exciting. I foresee a time when so much is 'sitting' on the new website, that we will wonder how we got along without it. Cecily is working so hard on this website. Go and look at it. You will surprised, happy and thankful for the webmaster.
Thanks Cecily.