[CLUE-Admin] Web Site Proposal ideas are cool

[Gus S. Calabrese]

Remember Clue North would like aweb-based  history of events
Calendar can be updated from separate web-form.
Gus

On Wednesday, May 21, 2003, at 16:05 America/Denver, Jed S. Baer wrote:

> Hi Folks.
>
> I got a few spare moments, so here's a rough sketch of an idea running
> through my head.
>
> CLUE meeting announcements (North and DTC) exist on the web server as
> individual files. The relevant pages (index.html, presentations.html)
> include them. Various mechanisms could be invented for including the
> proper meeting announcement file on the main page(s). The advantage I 
> see
> to this approach is that it seperates site code from site data. It also
> means that the "pages" will rarely need to be edited via CVS, and would
> for the most part eliminate the need to "publish" the site, as is
> currently done.
>
> The mechanism for creating announcement files could be very simple. 
> Either
> a standard template which the admin for that function uses to produce 
> them
> each month, or a web-based form. We would need to have some standard
> upload capability, and HTML forms/CGI processing provides file upload
> capability, for the case of the admin creating new file and uploading 
> it
> each month. But, the data is simple enough that a web-based data entry
> form would work just as well, I think. Either way, either web-based 
> data
> entry, or an upload form, would collect date-stamping information, and
> provide the capability to flag that announcement as current. Then, the
> main page(s) would simply include the "current" file into the block 
> where
> it needs to show up.
>
> Different mechanisms could accomplish identifying the announcement 
> file as
> current. I'd store the announcement files in their own directories. 
> Either
> a config file, which would get updated, or the creation of a symbolic
> link, e.g.:
>
>   in /north/meetings/
>   ln -s 200307.html current.html
>
> The PHP script for entering or uploading the file would make the link
> based on a check box, or update the config file, again based on a check
> box. We'd also need a mechanism for marking an existing announcement 
> file
> as current.
>
> It would be useful, I think, if the files produced conformed to a 
> parsable
> syntax, such that perhaps automating the calendar update from them 
> could
> be done.
>
> I suppose this mechanism would be best served by having a more secure
> website admin logon. That would also enable change tracking.
>
> The benefit I see is that volunteers who are maintaining a portion of 
> the
> site need to edit only small files, or use a data entry form, and don't
> have to contend with editing index.html, or presentations.html.
>
> If we wanted to get really fancy, we could even store the data as XML. 
> We
> have at least one XML designer in CLUE (Matt Gushee).
>
> One downside is that the existing presentations.html file would need 
> to be
> split into seperate files for each presentation listed there. This 
> could
> be made easier by simply delegating a chunk of it to an archive file.
>
> Along with this, I'd also suggest creating seperate files for 
> navigation
> blocks, i.e. modularize the site content. This will allow more 
> flexibility
> for future changes, but also mean that any seperate North pages can 
> have
> the standard CLUE nav block just by inclusion, and if it changes, their
> pages won't need to be updated.
>
> So, that's the gist of it. If we want to go ahead with an idea like 
> this,
> then lets move the discussion of the particulars over to CLUE-Dev, and
> I'll try to get a better-worded framework done over the weekend.
>
> I'm going to check if my ISP offers web-based e-mail access, otherwise 
> I
> probably will be offline until Saturday.
>
> Later,
> jed
>
> -- 
> I wouldn't even think about bribing a rottweiler with a steak that
> didn't weigh more than I do. -- Jason Earl
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