A birth announcement website you can share and take down later
A birth announcement website saves you sending the same photos and answers to forty people: the name, the date, a few pictures and a note about when you'd like visitors. Share the address by message rather than posting it publicly, and leave off details you'd mind a stranger reading, because the page is public to anyone who has the link. When the moment has passed, unpublish it.
What people want to know
Friends and relatives ask the same handful of questions in the days after a birth. A short page answers them once:
- The name, and how to say it if it's unusual.
- The day it happened, and if you like, the weight. Many families share the date without the exact time.
- Three to eight photos, chosen by you rather than whoever takes one at the hospital.
- A note from the parents: how everyone is doing, in a few sentences.
- Visiting: "we're settling in and will be in touch about visits from next month" saves awkward requests.
- Gifts, if people ask: a preference for nothing, a list, or a charity.
- How to send a message: a contact form, or an address for cards if you're comfortable sharing one privately.
Privacy: the page is public
Anticode doesn't password-protect published pages, and every site serves a sitemap that search engines can read. So treat the page as public, even if you only send the link to family. A few choices keep it safe:
| Fine to share | Better left off |
|---|---|
| First name | Full name together with the exact date and place of birth |
| Month or day of birth | Time of birth and hospital name |
| Photos of the baby and family | Photos showing your house number, street or car registration |
| A general sense of where you live (a city) | Your home address |
| When you'll welcome visitors | Dates the house will be empty |
Full name, date and place of birth together are the kind of details used to answer security questions and, years later, to open accounts in someone's name. That's the main reason to keep the combination off any public page. Use an address that doesn't include the baby's full name, too.
Talk to the other parent, and to grandparents, before anything goes up. Agree which photos are fine and whether the name is announced yet; some families wait for a naming ceremony. It is easier to agree once than to take a photo down after it has been forwarded.
Sharing it, and taking it down
Send the link by message or email to the people you'd have told anyway, and ask them not to post it. When the visits are done, or after a few months, unpublish the site. If you'd rather keep a record, export it as a single HTML file first and keep it on your own computer.
Building it with Anticode
Describe what you'd like: "a simple new baby website announcing Ada, born in May, with six photos, a note from us, when we'd like visitors and a contact form for messages". The Architect may ask which look you want; Organic (Figtree) or Playful (Fredoka) suit a family page, Editorial (Geist) a quieter one. Designed pages show library photos, so for pictures of Ada ask for an app build, where the model sees your uploaded photos and places them with alt text; on a designed page, your own photos show only as entries in a CMS collection, such as an album, whose image field holds hosted addresses. The contact form asks for a name, email and message, and messages are saved in your dashboard, sealed at rest, and can be emailed to you.
You can try a preview build in the browser before making an account. Publishing gives you a free anticode.dev address with a small badge; your own domain is available on a paid plan. If you want to change a photo or add an update, edit it in the visual editor or ask in a sentence. The family website and baby shower website pages cover related occasions.
Limits
- No private or password-protected pages. Anyone with the address can read it.
- No guestbook that shows messages on the page; messages come to you privately.
- No photo albums with comments or downloads for relatives. Use a shared album service for the full set and link to it.
- No video on the page. Embedded players and video files don't play on these pages; put a short clip on a video or album service and link to it.
Questions people ask
Is a birth announcement website safe?
It's as safe as what you put on it. Keep to a first name, a month or day, and photos without identifying details, and share the link privately.
Can search engines find it?
They can, because published sites serve a sitemap and there's no privacy setting. Assume it could be found.
Can I delete it later?
Yes. Unpublish it whenever you like; export a copy first if you want to keep one.