[FM] Re:websites followup

[Bill Pringle]

On Wed, 23 Jan 2002, BRIAN CLAUSS wrote:

>and finally.. you know, I might go download that software.. I just
>write the html code in notepad, its really very simple.. with a design
>like mine, where new pages or updates are essentially just replacing
>text and pictures w/ new text and pictures in a copy of my basic
>template, its quick and easy, then I drag and drop from file explorer
>into the browser window open to my ftp directory in my server.. hmm, I
>use netscape for this step, cause IE wouldn't originally do drag and
>drop ftp.. maybe it does now. I don't have to upload the entire
>website, just new newspage overwriting the old newspage, with any new
>graphics and new pages.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I also use notepad (actually, NoteTab Light) to write my HTML.  What
my bld_page program does is allow you to create macros within your
HTML pages.  You code your pages any way you want, but include these
macros where you want certain common things to appear.  This is very
similar to the SSI's that Alan was talking about except that the
insertion is done only once, when you generate the final pages, rather
than every time the page is displayed.  For example, I might have the
following:

	>Normal
	This is a paragraph of normal text
	>NormNext
	This is the next paragraph,
	but more fun.
	>Smiley
	>NormEnd

By defining what "Normal", "NormNext" and "NormEnd" are, you can have
different effects. The easiest would be to generate 'p' tags, but what
I do is generate tables so I can set the background colors of the
paragraphs.  So, in all of my web pages, I use the above notations for
text.  Then, by changing the macro definitions, I can regenerate the
entire site, upload the pages, and have a completely different look
and feel.  (The Smiley macro includes a little smiley face that you
will find scattered around my site. :^)

I have used this technique for several kinds of pages, and have found
bld_page to be very useful.  In addition to my Cheryl Wheeler site, go
to my personal site, click on the the 'about me' link and look for the
section on "parallel scriptures".  Those pages were created using a
program I wrote that outputs files that my bld_page program processes
to create the final HTML page.

The discography programs I wrote assumes that you have two text files:
one contains a list of all the albums, and another containing a list
of all the songs.  Then, you have to set up several directories where
you put the various pieces of your pages.  There is a directory for
your description of songs, and another for your description of albums;
there is a directory for lyrics, and another for album track listings.
This is stuff you set up only once.

The programs build album & song pages from these pieces (using several
user-defined macros to change look & feel).  Again, if you look at my
Cheryl Wheeler site, you will notice that on the album page, each
track is linked to the corresponding song page, and each song page
contains a list of albums that it appears on.  These links are
automatically generated by my program.  Furthermore, the software will
check modification dates and automatically regenerate any pages that
are "out of date".  This means that if you go in and correct some
typos here and there, you can simply type 'make_new' and all the right
pages are rebuilt.

As for copying to the web site, I arrange my files in reverse date
order so that the most recent files are at the top.  I've used several
ftp programs, but if you can look at both your own hard disk and the
files on the site sorted by date/time, it is very easy to figure out
what files have changed, so you just upload those.

This is probably way more than most people want to know, but if anyone
is interested in more detail, feel free to contact me directly rather
than bothering Alan and/or the list. (NOTE: I'm volunteering to help
you understand what my programs can do, not how to design, build and/or 
maintain your web site :^)

====
Bill Pringle
work: Bill.Pringle@unisys.com      home,school: wrp103@psu.edu
http://www.personal.psu.edu/~wrp103/  http://CherylWheeler.com