Zacatecas GenWeb Project
Municipality Guidelines
Thank you for volunteering your time and efforts to preserving our Mexican heritage. Your municipality website should reflect your unique take on Mexican genealogy. If you choose, you may redesign your site, using your own artwork and design. You could also pick your platform, whether you design the site using CSS3, HTML, WordPress, ect. If you use a design or graphics from another website please be certain you have permission to use those resources. It would be great if you were to have some website design experience, but it is not required.
If you choose to start from scratch, please archive the existing site. If you need assistance with this, or with getting your site uploaded, please contact your State Coordinator.
Zacatecas GenWeb Project Business
Once accepted to the project, new county coordinators will be subscribed to the business mailing list. More information coming soon.
Passwords
If you sign up for third party services, such as gmail, or social networking account (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram, etc.) please maintain a login/password file. If, in the future, you decide to pass your site on to another coordinator, please forward your login/password file to the State/Country/WorldGenWeb Coordinator so that the new County* Coordinator will be able to take over these accounts easily.
County*/Municipality Pages
If you choose to start from scratch, please put all the existing pages into an archives folder. Any existing content needs to be maintained, though it may be reformatted to conform to your design. Please, do not throw anything away.
Site Requirements: The following are required on each municipality site.
- World GenWeb logo, linked to World GenWeb main page
- Country logo, linked to The Mexico GenWeb Project main page
- State Logo, link to the Zacatecas GenWeb Project main page
- Basic resources info
- Updated twice a year (including checking links)
- Individual links to neighboring counties, if available
- Link to county mailing list, if available
- Brief history of the county
Site Recommendations: The following are encouraged for each municipality site.
- History
- Resource Addresses (Libraries, archives)
- Society Addresses
- Maps
- Geography
- Culture and Religious History
- Links to Query Boards/Message Board systems
- Mailing List
- Reference Materials (census, deeds, biographies, etc.)
- Bibliography
Mailing Lists
Join the mailing list for your state, and include a link to this mailing list on your site. You may also want to join the country of Mexico mailing list as this is where you may share with other Mexican state and municipality coordinators. Both the country and state mailing lists include searchable archives.
You may also use these lists to announce the launch of and updates to your site, and to solicit content and help from volunteers.
Query Pages
State sites are required to link to existing query pages and/or message boards. The current sites in Zacatecas are linked to queries at Genealogy.com and Ancestry.com. In addition to these you are free to create and/or maintain your own query pages.
County* Resource Page and Lookups
We suggest for Municipal sites that you include and maintain links to websites, addresses and phone numbers to state government archives, libraries, genealogical and historical societies, universities and other projects.
A bibliography page is a welcome addition and a search through Google Books is a great start. Selecting “Full view only” under the search option gives you links to freely searchable books.
The MexicoGenWeb Project has a Picasa Web Album and will host images from your state. Please make certain that you have written permission from those contributing to your state’s project. Other images for your state may be obtained by contacting the owners of images on Picasa or Flickr.com.
Social Networking
Consider creating informational pages at Facebook.com, Google+, Twitter, Instagram and if applicable Pinterest for your Municipality. These are a commitment and should be checked weekly so that new friends may be added. A Twitter.com account is an easy way to add a “What’s New” section to your state site.
Searching for others from your state at Facebook, Google+ and Twitter is a good way to make connections that may be able to provide you with additional content.
Required Logos
The WorldGenWeb, MexicoGenWeb and Zacatecas Project logos should be prominently displayed on every one of your pages. Click on the names and you will find the logos you can choose from the WorldGenWeb and the MexicoGenWeb websites.
For the Zacatecas GenWeb Project logos, you can choose either of the following two sizes to use on your website. Please make sure that you right-click on the logo of your choosing and select “save image as” so that you can save it to your hard drive.
Contact Information
A link to your name and email address must be on every one of your pages.
Site Updates
You are required to update your site at least once every six months. This means that on at least one of your pages new content was added, and links were checked and updated, if necessary. Please note additions to your site and “last updated” information near the top of your home page.
If you find you have bitten off more than you can chew in becoming a county coordinator*, let us know and you may take a leave of absence or have your state placed for adoption. If you prefer you may solicit a partner to help you keep your site updated.
There will be a roll call every six months – in January and in July. If you fail to check in over the course of two roll calls your site will be considered abandoned and will be placed for adoption.