My family memories website is up and running and like all things tech, it’s been a learning curve, an enjoyable one. For a start, I use features of WordPress that I don’t use here on DCT, such as inserting galleries of pictures which can be done by clicking Add Media and then hitting Create Gallery in the next window.
The gallery can be edited, the images can be moved around using drag and drop and, depending on the theme, other features of a photo-centric theme can be used. For me, simplicity is the key.
I Made Another Photo Website!
I now use an efficient hosting company since I moved away from GoDaddy – the service is faster, there’s plenty of space for uploading photo galleries, and unlimited scope for sub-domains. This time around I chose the Metro theme which is included in the Themify deal I referred to in my previous article, How To Create A Family Memories Website because it’s clean and is loosely based on the Windows 8 Metro appearance.
Ethel And Elmer’s Holiday Snaps
We’ve all been there. Your overbearing neighbours, Ethel and Elmer ask you over for the evening to view their latest holiday snaps which they took on that Caribbean cruise for senior citizens. You cringe because you did the same last year when the entire experience lasted more than four hours because Elmer’s slide projector broke down (the lamp exploded, injecting at least a little fun into the proceedings), meaning that you all had to huddle around and pore over glossy pictures of ninety-five-year-old Ethel in the senior beauty parade around the top-deck swimming pool. You cringe again at the memory of her in THAT bikini. But this time around, Elmer’s grandson has given him a brand new laptop (you wonder how anyone could be so cruel) and shown him how to hook it up to the Smart TV with an HDMI cable. Not only that, Elmer (97) has learned how to create a PowerPoint presentation and added a Bob Marley soundtrack (you vow to have words with his grandson), but you go anyway and arm yourself with a hipflask of extra-strong liquor.
Selfie!
Well, that’s what family photo sites are all about, and for me to inflict that torture upon DCT readers is out of the question. However, there is a good reason for me creating the site, namely that we all take hundreds of photos that no one will ever see. I can guarantee that out of the thousands of photos I’ve taken over the years, most will never see the light of day ever again and will lurk in OneDrive ad infinitum. For example, only the other day I attended a family lunch, and just before we kicked off, a group selfie was demanded (one of hundreds over the years) and I can guarantee that I will never see that selfie in my lifetime, which is probably just as well because a Trilobite has more photogenic qualities than I have. In some of them, I even resemble a wanted criminal, which is why I usually hide behind my wife when I hear the word selfie! uttered.
So, what I have done with our photo site is to create galleries of particular moments in time, made up of selected photos. At least this way, the best pictures will at least see the light of day, rather than fester in a dusty drawer so to speak. Here’s a sneak peek of how the site looks after some tweaking.
Like the family memories website, it’s dynamic, in that it can always be updated with pictures, new galleries can be added and if I get knocked over by a number 60 bus tomorrow, at least our families will have something to laugh about.
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