Cyndi's List - FAQ
How Personal Home Pages are Indexed

HTML Facts

1. The <TITLE> tag in the HTML code determines the officially-recognized title for a web page.
2. The <TITLE> tag in the HTML code determines how bookmarks and favorites are named.
3. The <TITLE> tag in the HTML code determines how search engine results will display.
4. Therefore, whatever set of words you insert into the <TITLE> tag is what you have titled your web page.

Cyndi's List Facts

• I had to choose ONE standard categorization scheme that would make maintenance on the list consistent and easy to work with.
• Not all personal home pages include a surname in the title.
• Some personal home pages include a surname which isn't included in the research that is contained on that home page. For example, if I named my home page "Cyndi Howells' Home Page" you wouldn't find any research for the Howells surname contained on my pages because I don't research my husband's family.
• There are many personal home pages which have multiple surnames listed in the title - so which surname would take precedence and be used for categorization?
• Categorizing the "TAYLOR Home Page" under "T" for Taylor, doesn't necessarily allow for the fact that the site may also contain a tremendous amount of information for dozens of other surnames.
• My conclusion: With "Cyndi's List", I am attempting to perform the function of a genealogy librarian or card catalog indexer. There isn't any ONE way to categorize and list a personal home page, except by the title of that page. Since the author of the home page chose that as the name for their work, I will always use that as the title for the link and categorize the links alphabetically.
• A further conclusion: There isn't any ONE successful way to search the web for surnames or keywords of interest because the web is constantly growing, changing and evolving. You just have to find a method that works for you, keep track of the sites that you have visited and the dates you visited them. Re-visit sites and re-check search engines often.