Category: Programming

Posted on

Added Security and Other Changes Behind the Curtain

There are a couple of changes to this blog site and its related Family History website worth noting.

First, security has been enhanced through a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate, meaning that information uploaded or downloaded from the site is encoded to protect your privacy. In order to use the secure websites, you have to add an “s” after the old http:// addresses, making them:

This blog — https://genealogy.thundermoon.us/blog/

The family history website — https://genealogy.thundermoon.us/content/index.php

Second, we’re using a different web hosting service (WHS). For you the reader, there are no visible changes, which is good. For me, however, the new WHS is way less expensive, has more responsive technical support, and presents a  more intuitive and feature-rich interface. [If you’re curious, our old WHS was Site5 (👎)and the new one is HostGator (👍).]

Changing WHSs was an interesting and humbling experience. The new host uses updated versions of some of the software (specifically, PHP and MySQL) that run many web sites. That’s always a plus in the technology world, but a challenge for people whose pages were coded years ago. The code on this site needed to be updated in order to run properly, and the weeks-long process was not an easy or pleasant exercise.

However, the experience revealed, once again, that in any digital endeavor or environment — websites, digital images, archived electronic documents — obsolescence is going to creep in and become an enemy of longevity. This painstaking update reinforced the beauty of old technology —namely that paper and photographic prints have long lifespans. Paper lasts perhaps a hundred years or more, whereas digital data, left unattended, can sometimes be measured in decades or less. That isn’t to deny the huge advantages of digital information. But paper has its benefits too, which is why our family history book is an important adjunct to the information on our blog and website. (And the latest edition, the third, has been updated to include histories going back to the 1600s of the Schütze and Schrotzberger families in Germany.)

 

Posted on

PDFill: A Useful PDF File Editor

I’ve found an editor that makes working with PDF (portable document format) files a snap. The free, downloadable program is PDFill.

The screen shot below shows the many functions this editor can perform. I particularly like its ability to add, delete, and rearrange pages in a PDF file, and to convert JPG images into a PDF or vice versa. I also like its ability to add source information or other notes into PDF file properties/descriptors.

I download a lot of image files from sites such as Ancestry.com. Many of them, such as related pages in a book, census, or directory, need to be combined into a single file.  PDFill makes that task fast and easy.

A couple of tips that work for me are:

• If there are a lot of images to combine, store them in a separate subdirectory (folder) on the computer since PDFill has an option of importing all images in a folder.

• Click the “Use Image Size to Decide Page Size with DPI:” button to create pages that automatically resize for different sized images or for documents that include both portrait and landscape modes.

The program (for Windows operating system only) can be downloaded at the PDFill web site.  I’ve had no issues with adware or spyware.

Posted on

It’s Greek to Me: ICARUS and DAEDALUS

Two new features on our family history website — ICARUS and DAEDALUS, the Image Catalog And Retrieval User System and the Document And Evidential Data Archive and Look Up System — allow searching and retrieval of pictures and documents related to our ancestors. Typing a name in a search box retrieves a list of related images sorted in chronological order. Clicking on one of the image names retrieves the selected image along with notes on its source.

Some of the pics and docs are not available elsewhere on the internet.

Screenshot of the ICARUS Photo Search page

You’re invited to try ICARUS and DAEDALUS on our family history site. We still have a ways to go to fully populate the databases but will be working on them over the coming months. If you have any suggestions or observations please let me know what you think in the comments below.

Posted on

Programming Notes: Making the Switch from Ipswitch

I’ve used the free version of Ipswitch WS_FTP LE for several years to transfer files from my home computer to my web site. It easily and quickly uploaded html pages, images, and videos, providing a side-by-side view of the files at home and on the web server and making the transfer between them simple.

But the company has “retired” the free version and requires users to purchase their professional version for $49.95. That’s a reasonable investment for businesses. For personal use, less so. So I looked around for a free FTP file transfer program and decided on FileZilla. I downloaded, installed, and began using it today.

The verdict: I like it. It has all the features I used in FTP LE, including
• Side by side file views by directory
• Status window to show the current and past transfers
• Easy navigation among directories on home computer and web server
• Bookmarks to instantly jump to frequently used directories

The program gets a 4-½ star editor review on CNET and a four star average user rating. So far I would rate it a five.

Caveat: Some reviewers complain of malware being installed along with the program. I downloaded my version from the FileZilla site and had no malware problem. However, I don’t recommend downloading from a third-party site, which could bundle malware along with the program.