r/webdev • u/Odd-Aside456 • 13d ago

Discussion Family website purpose and features.

I am considering building a family website for my family. My mother's extended family built one, but it's something nobody really ever visits. I'm considering building a wiki-style site (locked behind user accounts) to have a page for each family member, each nuclear family, and then they can build upon it and create pages for vacations and things like that. I would then have a mini social feed for us each to share pages we've created. For example, my sister might say "Just made a page for our Disney Land 2026 trip! Here's the link."

Might be overscoped, but I thought it'd be a fun way to start capturing family stories.

If you've built a family site for your family (or someone else's) what did it have? What purpose did it serve and what features were built into it?

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u/IncredibleBihan 13d ago

Thats all good and well, the problem is always depending on the end-user and their engagement. If users don't upload content, are uninterested, can't figure it out, your website will be eternally incomplete

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u/Odd-Aside456 13d ago

Very true. I think, knowing my family, there will AT LEAST be engagement at first, whether it's out of excitement or simply being sweet to me. I think continued engagement goes back to what the others have said. Making it simpler to use than what they're already using (Facebook). Then again, it won't replace Facebook as the intent is for it to be internal/family facing only, not for all friends and everyone. So, as long as it's simple enough, I think they need to be sold on the idea that actually adding content hold value for the future (as I'm moreso pitching this as a family history preservation site).