Talk:William Cowan (1750-1809)
From Familypedia
Margie, at some point in the near future I'm going to start working on the devlopment of PHP extensions for this site that will solve some of your concerns (and mine) with duplicate date entry. To do that we need to adopt a certain (very limited) amount of standardization---so the program can recognize what's a DOB and what's a DOD, etc and who it belongs to. My thinking is that we can accomplish this with the least amount of fuss by adopting a tabularized format. That gives automatic keys to things like DOB's etc. To accomodate this I've generally gone to a tablular display of vita data and child lists, as it generally simplifies both the layout and the presentation of information. As I grow more familiar with the ways of the Wiki, I find that keeping things as simple as possible (ie, avoiding unnecessary duplication, among otherthings, works best. Also, I've figured out an interim dodge that avoids haveing to duplicate child lists on the mother's page as well as on the fathers page. I'll be adding this method to this page shortly.
At anyrate, if you don't like the way this looks, let me know and I'll revert the page to the way you originally had it. Bill 23:43, 18 January 2007 (UTC)
Margie---I don't quite understand the basis for the connection of William Cowan to Tinkling Springs. Born 1750 He wouldn't have been old enough to have been an adult member, and marry Jane c. 1773 in Castle's Woods. What evidence ties him to Tinkling Spring?
Also, I insertd the Wigotn photo icon on Williams page a few days ago. As I think about it, using the Wigton icon image on William Cowan's page is probably not the best idea. Its his wife Jane whose the Wigton, not William. Their children get the Wigton icon, if you so choose, or perhaps there's no need for this idea anyway. What I was thinking of was having a quick way to identify a Wigton Walker descendant---but that may be too idiosyncratic. You, for example, might prefer a "Cowan" icon to identify descendants of William. So, what do you think?--Bill 02:42, 17 August 2006 (UTC)
--Cowantex 19:18, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
Bill ... you're right, I need to do some research to get me back of William Cowan and Jane Walker. I'm human, I admit ... made a "leap of faith" that I hadn't realized until an objective set of eyes reviewed the work. Now, to figure out which of the Cowans on Beverly Manor actually were William's father. A long held family tradition was/is that his father was named John ... and that would fit in with the "southern" naming tradition found in "Albion's Seed" since William Cowan and Jane Walker named their first son "John", if you follow my logic.
As to the icon ... hmmm ...
William Cowan and Jane Walker's children are, essentially, Walker descendants so the icon applies ... but, is there a way to add a second icon? If so, I can scale down the coat of arms from CCD and it could go under the Wigton icon and would indicate that the subject descends from both lines? Clicking the COWAN icon could take the viewer back to William Cowan's page?
Margie---I think this is what is meant by "collaborative effort"!
Hi margie. I took out the, to keep the item from showing up in the TOC---it made the width of the TOC box so large that it made it akward to read. But I left your statement intact.
The icon can be dropped, changed, replaced, whatever seems appropriate.
William isn't himself Wigton, but his children are. We could add a second "Cowan" icon---whatever you think helpful.
I'm not sold on the current Wigton Icon---seems like something more "iconic" could be found, but I didn't want to spend the time comeing up with something better. This imge was available on Wikiepedia, and worked, so I used it.
We could put a second Icon on the page to identify it as "Cowan", then put the same icon on his children's pages along with the Wigton icon.---but eventually that's going to get pretty cumbersome---when we start adding additional icons for the children's spouses, etc. Would get so crowded you'd loose whatever advantage you'd gained with the iconic approach.
So I'm thinking "one icon". It either follows the surname, or it follows the preferences of the descendants.
However, if you've got something you like, and can get it to me, or uploaded and let me know what the file title is, I'll play around with it and see what seems to work.--Bill 20:56, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Link within a page?
How do I make a link to a section of a page ...
For example ...
William Cowan's page ... but the Alternative Interpretation section?
