Profile layout

Question

Before I go any further, could some experienced Wikitreers have a look at the two contrasting profiles of George Allen (Allen-9186) and Ephraim Hedges (Hedges-265) and tell me what they think.

My own inclination is to write up a biography like Ephraim's when there is a reasonable amount of material and leave ones with very little information in note form. Any views? What suits the purpose of Wikitree best?

P.S. I do realise that I haven't yet sorted out the refernces properly for Ephraim.

Comments

Very nice, lovely profiles  ! The Chapman codes seem to work here at WikiTree for geocoding . Although you may want to remove the extra comma in Brentford,, MDX.

---

Thanks Maggie. Will do. Interesting that Chapman codes work for some and not for others.

I was hoping for some idea of wikitree preferences.. Either of mine or Brian's suggestion of a set of main facts followed by a biography. I'm tending towards the last, but I'm not going to develop any of the others until I see more feedback.

---

I'm not an experienced wikitreer, but I've been looking for examples of 'good' profiles. These both look good to me, as does the Elson profile Lianne linked to below. If I had to choose, I think I'd go with something like the Hedges profile, adding a section near the top, the way Lianne does, for current research questions.

Thanks for sharing these. I think they're really helpful.

Answer 1

Ephraim's profile looks great! Everyone should strive for profiles like that when they have the information.

Two comments:

I don't know what the abbreviations mean for BKS, BRK & MDX. When you click on the map pin beside the location, Google Maps can't find them either.

I found the italics of the will difficult to read. Not sure if it was the font style or size.

Nice job

Comments

Thanks Eugene, just what I was looking for.

The BKS etc. are the standard Chapman codes for the English counties. I can change them if people pefer.

I agree about the font for the will. I just wanted something different that matched the idea of a will text.

---

I've never heard of Chapman codes, either. I'd recommend changing them, just to make them more understandable to international users (much as I recommend spelling out states instead of using the appreviations). Country names should also be included in the place fields.

---

OK I'll change the codes to full details.

Wikitree is good for me. Reduces the tendency to insulariity.

Answer 2

I think both profiles have real merits. I like the infomational callouts that are present in the Allen profile and the biographical type is nice on the Hedges profile. This has been an ongoing discussion as to what makes a good profile. I personally like a timeline style with an area where biographical information can be presented and also the genealogical process in acquiring the information can be discussed. I always worry that a profile that is primarily biographically focused will be really nothing more than a Wikipedia article, which are great do not get me wrong.

Couple comments on the Hedges profile... As I mentioned I liked this but was unsure from looking at the sources whether the whole text was from a biography of Hedges or something that you had written. There are just some phrasings and spellings that made me wonder. It is very well written regardless. I agree with Eugene that the Italics is hard to read but I think if you increase the font size it would make it a lot better. You can do this by adding <font size="2"> Your Text </font> in your biography. (You then change the number up or down to change the font size). Sometimes I have also found that changing the font makes it easier to read as well. If you do not know how to do that contact me and I can tell you how.

Excellent work all around though.

Comments

Thanks Brian. If you think about it I had to know how to do font face and size to get there in the first place. . I'll have another think about that - see above, although larger type makes an unpleasant mass of text.

I wrote the text myself. As I said I haven't tidied up the references yet. I wanted to get some views before I put the effort into that.

On reflection, I think you may be right. Something like key dates and facts and then a biographical section to follow. I'll wait and see what other comments come in. One of the reasons for the biography in this case was the humorous bits. I love the idea of someone becoming a freeman in the Company of Innkeepers only to be fines ten days later. Somehow it makes a person more real. It's amazing what you can get now from UK newspapers online.

---

Martin , another way to solve space problems in BIO is by inserting " Wills " in their own page on  free space . See : TRANSCRIPT free-space page: http://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Space:Transcript_of_Last_Will_and_Testament_PHILLIP_BORN&public=1 .

A transcription with a source added and a link back to the deceased  .On the deceased's profile, I inserted the link to the Will .

One can do an image of the Will  on the free space page with links to  the people involved ( already in your watchlist ) added with the image to tie it all together . 

---

Hi Maggie,

Yes that is a thought. But my immediate reaction is that it is better to keep things on one page if possible, I'll keep experimenting. I'm sure there isn't one right way only..

BTW why did you put the will in the comment box rather than featuring it as a main item on the page?

Answer 3

Martin:

Thank you for your excellent work and for sharing it here at G2G.  I found your 'stylizing' of the profiles to be very appealling.

You can clean up my profiles any time!

 

Keith

Comments

Ah, but which version? We seem to have 3 options basically:

a) List key events and facts.

b) Write a biography..

c) Do a) briefly and then develop it with b). This would neam that some sourced info could be left out of b) which might make it more readable.

Answer 4

I like the style of the Hedges profile better, even in cases where there isn't a lot of information.

But, like Brian, I also like a Timeline section. I think by having a bio and a timeline, you get the best of both worlds, with the timeline providing a nice easy way to see all the key information. See my example profile, which is also an example of keeping track of your research on the profile, which I'm a big fan of: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Elson-22

One other thing: some paragraph breaks in the bio of the Hedges profile would make it easier to read.

Great job, Martin! :)

Comments

I like how you also have RESEARCH PROGRESS and EXTERNAL LINKS in the bio  too.

---

Thanks, Lianne. Food for thought in your example.

Para breaks - I'm torn on this. I seen to end up creating too much white space. Is it possble to adjust para spacing?

Just one question - what is the legal copyroght position in putting up copies of censuses etc.?

---

As far as I know, there's no way of adjusting the size of paragraph breaks.

White space improves the readability of text. When there are no breaks, you just see a wall of text, making you less likely to actually read it. I'm not saying paragraph breaks after every fact; just splitting it up into a few paragraphs would make a big difference.

Answer 5

I prefer the Hedge example. Nice work.

I don't see any reason to repeat in the narrative a list of vitals (as done in the Allen example and all uploaded GEDCOM profiles) since those vitals are already up in the section above the narrative.

Comments

My reasoning for including vitals in the main body is that it means someone can cut and paste all of them if they want to.