Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that kids are supposed to be 13 to join the site and agree to its terms and conditions. Got younger kids? Set up the site on their behalf and give them the member password (or better yet, surf with them!). Macintosh users are cautioned that the site runs slowly using Mozilla. Check the FAQ for more hints on how to speed up the site when using a Mac.
Families can talk about which family events to write about, what theme of wallpaper to use next, who to give the member password to, and so on. And then there's the ever-popular question: What does dad's nose really look like, and what's the best way to represent that in his online caricature?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Jean Armour Polly
FAMSTER offers users a private way to blog and share photo albums, recipes, links, and more. The only other people who will be able to read your diary, copy Aunt Hazel's secret pie crust recipe, and see your daughter's ballet recital pictures are those to whom you give the "member" password. (Although, if you want to, all of these items can be made public as well.)
Although Famster is easy to use, it does require some time to set up. You need to register in order to build your own Famster, then set your administrator password (different from the member password) and decide on your security and safety parameters. This could be a good time to gather the kids around and decide what to offer on your family site and which of those features should be public and which will be for "members only."
There's a nice selection of components, too. You can finally get your family tree online (complete with photos), build a library of favorite family recipes, upload vacation photos, and even post items to a shared calendar and get email reminders about upcoming events.
The blog component allows you to type in different fonts and colors, upload photos, create links to other sites, and more. It's easy for kids to use. They can resize everything on-screen until the layout is just right. Users can "subscribe" to your family blog using RSS (Really Simple Syndication). One flaw: you can't add "alt tags" to the photos -- something that's needed to make your family site compliant with accessibility standards. You also can't see or adjust the raw HTML either, but most users won't care.
For fun, Famster lets you make every family member (even the dog and cat) into a cartoon caricature. Select different hairstyles, facial features, and clothing, and then put your characters into various thematic scenes for display on your home page. Holidays and landscapes are two of the themes you can select, or you can upload and use your own backgrounds.
A family file cabinet has 1 GB of storage for those items you don't want to lose -- use it as a small backup space for your desktop computer. You also get email addresses on famstermail.com (Web mail or POP3) with 1 GB of shared storage. Coming soon -- Famster messaging and Famster mobile.
Families looking for a safer way for their kids to get online might create a sample site and see how Famster might provide a good fit. You'll also want to compare it with Imbee.com.
Review date: October 2006. Note that Famster was free and in beta at the time of review, so by the time it launches you may find a different array of features than those described here.
Reviewed: 10/15/2006
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Educational ValueManaging a family site like this one takes real organizational skills. |
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