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Creating Memorial Websites
By Kim Gibson
One of the first impulses you may have upon the death of
a loved one is to create an on-going memorial. It's
natural to want the memories of your loved one to be
preserved, and there are many ways to do so. In the
past, photos and other memorabilia might have been
collected in scrapbooks to be passed down to future
generations. Technology now assists in easily creating
memorial websites that can be shared with friends and
family around the world.
Packaged Online Memorial Services
Even if you're an Internet novice, you can create a
beautiful memorial website that honors your loved one. A
number of services are available to help you get
started. These memorial sites normally charge an annual
fee for hosting your tribute. Your funeral director
should be able to offer information on memorial website
services companies, or you can search for them on the
internet.
Once you've chosen a pre-packaged online memorial
service, you can begin gathering the mementos you'd like
to share. Photographs and documents should be scanned
into jpeg or other common graphics file formats so their
digital versions can be uploaded.
If that's all Greek to you, don't despair. Retail
document management stores or photo/camera shops can
scan your photos for you and copy them in digital form
to a disk. With scanned documents in hand, you can then
follow the setup instructions these sites furnish to
upload them to your memorial website.
Another feature of these online memorials that can be
very meaningful is the ability for friends and loved
ones to add comments, or even upload more photos. Once
you've uploaded your mementos and added the memorial
text, you can share the guest login information for the
site with them. An online journal of their comments will
be preserved and can be a source of great comfort for
those who are grieving.
By adding videos and other shared memories to these
other features, you can create a beautiful, lasting
tribute to the one who has died.
Alternatives for Creating Online Memorials
If you possess website building skills, it's a simple
thing to buy a domain name identifying your memorial
site and choose a website host. The same elements
mentioned above can be added to your custom-made online
memorial.
If you can't afford a fee-based memorial package and
don't have website-building skills, there are still free
alternatives to consider. Social networking sites like
Facebook allow members to set up member pages free,
customize the look of the pages and populate them with
digital photos, videos and audios. Another inexpensive
way to create a memorial website is through
photo-sharing sites like Shutterfly. This website, in
particular, allows you to upload photos and customize
your photo sharing page, allowing you to create an
attractive photo memorial to your loved one.
Whether you choose to purchase a packaged online
memorial or use a free service to create your tribute,
doing so can bring healing for everyone impacted by the
death. Being able to view memories of that person long
after they're gone, no matter where your life takes you,
is one of the true blessings of today's Internet
technology.
Kimberly Gibson is owner of Elegant Memorials Funeral
Program Templates. She also writes and publishes a wide
range of articles in funeral planning |
