 
|
|
| HOME PAGE | OVERVIEW | SAMPLE SITE | PAGE DESIGNS | SIGN UP INFO | |
|
|
|
|
We have tried to answer all anticipated questions by topic. If you cannot find an answer to your question, please feel free to e-mail us. WHAT ABOUT UPLOADS AND ADDING NEW STUFF? WHAT ABOUT THE ADDRESS BOOK FEATURE? PRICES/PAYMENT INFORMATION Q. How much does a web site cost? A. The cost of having your own family web site is minimal. There are no setup fees or design fees and the monthly cost (including hosting, your unique domain name and unlimited updates by all family members) is only $14.95. Q. What are my payment options? A. You may pay by credit card, check or money order. We prefer payment by credit card simply because we can get your web site up and running sooner. Our site is SSL secured and all data is encrypted for added security. Q. When are payments due? A. Payments are due quarterly. You are billed $44.85 to start your subscription. This pays for the first 3 months. Your credit card number will be billed for this amount quarterly. (You may cancel your account at any time and will no longer be billed. There are, however, no refunds for payments already made.) Q. Who is responsible for payment? A. The person initially signing up for our service is the responsible party. Q. Can family members share the payment responsibility? A. Definitely, In fact, we have many customers do exactly that. However, it is the responsibility of the person initially signing up for our plan to work out these details and collect from various family members for reimbursement if so desired. Q. Is there a way to lower the monthly subscription cost? A. Yes. If you refer new subscribers you could get your site for free or even earn money. You can learn more about our referral system and how it works once you are a subscriber. Q. Why are some family web sites free? A. There are many reasons, but the bottom line is - you get what you pay for. These free sites often include many unwanted features including advertising banners, undesirable spamming techniques, unwanted pop-ups, distribution and sale of your e-mail address, hidden hosting costs, poor hosting, shared domain names, poor or non-existent support and more. Our Family Web Sites offer full featured packages with absolutely none of the negatives listed above. SITE ACCESS & SECURITY Q. Who has access to our web site? A. Family members have control over who can visit the site. You can password protect the site or leave it open to all visitors. (Leaving sites open to visitors is actually quite safe as we code all family web site pages so they do not appear in search engines. This means that only family and friends who are provided the URL of the site will even know it exists.) Q. Who can make changes to our family web site? A. Only family members with pages in the web site can make changes. Other family, friends, neighbors and/or co-workers can visit the site provided it is either open to visitors or they have been provided the password. WHO CAN PARTICIPATE? Q. Is Our Family Web Sites designed for single families or extended families? A. You can use the site as you see fit and we can set it up for either your immediate family (e.g. you, your spouse and children) or for extended family web sites (which can include almost anyone). Extended family sites usually have pages for each family grouping while single family sites tend to have pages sharing different events, hobbies, pages for each child, etc. Our current sample site is geared toward the extended family. Look for a sample of an immediate family site soon. Q. Who decides who has pages in our family web site? A. The subscriber determines who to initially invite although you are not locked in to this initial list of names. The subscriber either sends out their own e-mail inviting members to join or they can assign us to send invitations announcing the site and inviting participation. Other family members can be invited to join at any time. These details are explained fully once you sign up. Q. Who can we invite to participate in our family web site? A. There are really no limits on this. Groups may include, but are not limited to: parents, grandparents, children, sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews or whoever you invite to participate. Of course, other friends and/or relatives can visit the site, but will not have their own page. A family group controls their own page and includes all family members within that group. If sister Sarah is married with 3 children, that family group of 5 could have their own web page in the site. If brother Ben is single and living in the college dorm, he could be his own family group and have his own page. The combinations are endless. See our sample site for a better idea of how this might work. Q. Does it matter where a family member lives? A. Absolutely not. If the family member has internet access, they can participate from anywhere in the world - even while on vacation! Q. How do we invite family members to participate? A. You have several options. You can send out your own e-mails or you can supply us with names and e-mail addresses and we will send out invitations for you. Our invitations contain all the information family members need to set-up their own pages. Q. Can we add, delete or "transfer" pages to different family members? A. Absolutely. If Uncle Fred and Aunt Ethel decide to no longer participate, you can assign their spot to cousin Freddy and his significant other. We will verify that the existing family member no longer wants to participate, delete their page and add a new one for the new participants. Or you can delete someone who no longer wishes to participate and not replace immediately replace them. Or you can add a new member at any time. The options are endless! Q. Who controls the message board area of our web site? A. You can limit who can use the message board with passwords if you desire or leave it open for anyone to post a message. Q. What if someone posts something offensive or inappropriate on our message board? A. It is up to family members to control who has access to the message board and, therefore, what is posted. However, if something is posted you would like removed, simply make an e-mail request, describe the problem and we will correct it for you providing you are authorized to do so. WHAT ABOUT UPLOADS AND ADDING NEW STUFF? Q. Who is responsible for updating web site pages? A. Each family group is responsible for their own page. They can add, delete or change text and pictures with our simple page editor. Or, if users feel uncomfortable editing their own page, they can simply e-mail us and we will give them instructions on sending their text and photos to us and we will update their page at no additional charge. (Changes are instant for users updating their own pages. E-mail updates may take up to 24 hours.) Unlike many family web site packages, our system requires no single person to act as site designer or host. Q. How often can we change text and/or photos on our page? A. As a family web page member, there is no limit to how often you can add, change or delete items on your web page. If you update on a Friday and something special happens on Saturday, that's no problem. Changes and uploads are unlimited and are updated instantly! Many of our families make it a point to update their site at least once a month to bring everyone up-to-date on a regular basis. Q. What kind of information can I share with others on our family web site? A. Just about anything you can imagine. Share news as it happens. Here are just some ideas: vacation plans, birthdays, parties, weddings, births, anniversaries, your garden, the new car, school pictures, graduations, recipes, projects, crafts, gatherings, work, business, favorite movies, books you've just read, last week's favorite TV show, pets, favorite web sites and the list goes on and on. Share your biography or write a journal. Just have fun! See our sample site for lots of ideas. Q. Have much text can we have on our page at one time? A. There is really no limit. However, we don't recommend pages that scroll down more than 4-5 screens. These pages will not only take longer to load, but fewer family members will take the time to read all your information. Keep things short, to-the-point and interesting. Write your text as if you were writing a letter. See our sample site for examples of family web pages. Q. Have many pictures can we have on our page? A. Once again, there is no limit, but pages with lots of photos take longer to load. We recommend a maximum of no more than 8-12 photos at a time, but the choice is yours. Q. Can I upload artwork? A. Sure. Simply treat the artwork as a photograph. This is a great way to share "refrigerator" art with other family members. Q. What graphic formats do you accept? A. We accept GIF, JPEG and TIFF files. Try to optimize photos and artwork in your favorite program before uploading. Most computers come with photograph or paint programs which will allow you to do this very easily. Photos can be re-sized in the page editor, but will upload faster if you optimize before uploading including using the standard size photo for our pages. Q. Are there any restrictions on photo or text content? A. We do not allow adult themed text or photos or offensive language. After all, these are family web sites. Q. Why does it take so long to upload my photographs? A. Your photos have probably not been optimized. Display quality for web photos can be significantly lower than print quality without ruining their "viewability" on grandma's computer. Remember, most computers display photos and artwork at only 72 ppi (pixels per inch). In any case, we will optimize photos for you if needed. Just remember, that photos that are not optimized will take longer to upload. Q. At what size will my photos be displayed? A. All photos will be displayed at standard sizes on all pages. These are called thumbnails and are perfect for viewing by all visitors. If you do not use standard sizes, we cannot be responsible for the look of your page. However, once you get to feel comfortable with our text editor, you will find you can change almost anything and make it look good although it may not follow our basic site design. It is up to you. WHAT ABOUT E-MAIL? Q. How do free e-mail addresses work? A. Any family member having a family web page can apply for a new e-mail address. There is also one generic e-mail address applied to the household for generic use. Q. So how many e-mail addresses can we have? A. The number of e-mail addresses is only limited by the number of immediate family members within a web page. For example, if brother Tom and his wife, Millie, have three children who are old enough to use the internet, they can each have their own e-mail account. Q. Do we have to use your free e-mail accounts? A. No. This is simply an added benefit. Many subscribers already have established e-mail accounts they would rather continue to use. This is not a problem. You set the default e-mail address for you and your family members and also determine what e-mail addresses to include in the site's address book. Q. How long are e-mail addresses valid? A. As long as the web site is maintained and online, all e-mail addresses will remain valid. If you ever decide to discontinue our service, those e-mail addresses associated with the family web site will no longer work. WHAT ABOUT THE ADDRESS BOOK FEATURE? Q. How does our site's address book work? A. All participating family members may have contact information listed on both individual family pages as well as in the Family Address Book. All participants choose what information they wish to include or leave out. Q. Can we add contact information in our address book for family members or friends who do not have their own family web page? A. Yes. Anyone's e-mail address, phone number and mailing address (or any combination thereof) can be added to the site's address book. If Aunt Ethel doesn't have a page on the web site, she can still have her name listed. Only participating family members, however, can request that addition. Please make sure you have permission before including someone's contact information. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE? Q. How long will it take before our site is up and running? A. Once we have verified payment and received all initial information, your web site is usually up and running in just a day or two. After that, it is up to family members to upload text and photos to "finalize" the site. NOTE: If you require a unique domain name, it can take an additional day or two before your name is registered. (Sites usually don't require their own domain name, but we can supply one to you at no additional cost for the first year. After that you will need to pay a yearly fee of approximately $12 to keep your domain name registered.) Q. Do we have to wait until everyone uploads their stuff before going "live"? A. No. The site will be "published" on the web as described above. Pages for individual families will contain "placeholders" until they have provided content. HOW DOES THE GIFT SHIP WORK? Q. Can anyone use the gift shop? A. The gift shop area is available to anyone who has access to your site. If you have chosen to password protect your site, only those with access to the password will be able to use the gift shop feature. (It is your choice on whether or not to password protect your site.) MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS Q. Can we create a site for something other than family? A. Certainly. Other groups that are perfect fits with our web site packages are: Friends, Alumni, Church Groups, Associations, Social Clubs, Recreation Clubs, Community Groups, Hobby Clubs, Neighborhood Associations, Sports Teams and anything you can imagine where you need to bring a group of people together to share information. Q. How does the family reunion feature work? A. Once a year you can add a special "reunion" page to your family web site. You can share information about who, what, where and when regarding the event. You can even add a special messages area where people can discuss the event and post news and updates on your reunion as things progress. When the reunion is over you can share dozens of photos and descriptions of the event all from this special page. There is no extra charge for this service! Q. How can I announce a special event? A. Just e-mail us and we'll send an e-mail announcing the event and invite family members to visit the web site for more information. Additional info can then be added on the family site home page, individual family web pages or on a special added page. Q. What information and photos appear on our home page? A. We use the home page (the first page people see when they visit your site) as an index and introduction to your site. There are links to all individual family pages, the address book, the e-mail directory, the gift shop and all other family web site pages. See our sample site for what a typical home page might look like. All photos for the home page are chosen at random and as a representation of the entire web site. Q. Can we insert additional pages? A. If you have an idea for an additional page you would like added, let us know and we'll let you know how to proceed. For example, you might want a separate page discussing your favorite hobby, announcing a new business venture or a special page devoted to a new birth. There is no extra charge for these pages. They will link directly from your personal web page.
|
|
|
THE #1 CHOICE IN FAMILY WEB PAGE PLANS Share News & Photos with Family Members from Coast to Coast! Use for immediate family, extended family or organizational groups INDIVIDUAL WEB PAGES FOR POSTING NEWS & PHOTOS Update web pages as often as you like - web site updates instantly! |