Gravestone+Photographic+Resource

The source that I am examining is []. The scope of this resource is arguably quite large. However, it is a resource which would only really be used as a basis upon which to start family research. Despite this, the resource does manage to do what it set out to do, and provides links to good quality photos of gravestones in the Holy Trinity graveyard in Rothwell. The information on the site is as accurate as it can be, being that it is hard to dispute the information that is on the gravestones themselves. However, I thought that the information might have been expanded upon, as due to the date restraints seen on the site, the lack of further information on the families of the people in question, the site does not have the currency that it might have had. If it had expanded on some of the family trees- or even provided more external links to some of them then it might be a tool that would have more use for those researching their genealogy. They do however run a ‘findfamily’ search that might be able to give people an idea of who they are descended from, and as part of a relatively recent upgrade to the site they have made an upgrade to the search which expands its results from those that directly match the name put in to those that are similar- something which would prove useful for those that are not sure of the name that they are really searching for.

That said, while its information could be expanded upon it is a very usable website, and one that I found to be very well laid out and easy to navigate. The fact the list of names for the cemetery was alphabetically organised meant that it was relatively easy to navigate, and the fact that the information provided on the results page was basic means that the user is not immediately presented with an overload of information. I also found that the search response time was pretty fast and was quite happy with that, as a slow search would discourage people from using the site. The table-like layout of the site means that the site appears uncluttered, even if the layout and colouring appears slightly out of date. The fact that it appears slightly out of date might then deter people from using it, as they might believe that the information on it would be old and thus inaccurate. However, I do think that the colouring that was chosen was appropriate as while it is pastel it is eye-catching without distracting the reader from the information that is being provided.

With all that said, it must be taken into account that this site is free, and that they rely on volunteers to be able to provide what services they give to the users. Therefore one could say that the services that they do provide are actually quite good considering the fact that the use of this site costs the user absoloutely nothing. I think that if this site was not free it would have been used a lot less. However, the fact that there were 223 requests for photos from this graveyard alone proves that this site is very popular amongst people that are trying to research family history, and it would not be so popular if it did not provide such a good service. 