About This Site: Difference between revisions

From WeatherWiki
(Replaced content that was lost when TOC entry was re-titled.)
 
(Major re-write. The content was from the old Web site and didn't apply to a WIki site.)
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'''About This Site'''
'''Purpose'''   To explain, to those interested, the underlying design philosophy for these Wiki Help pages. The original, self imposed, objectives are:


Note: Refers to original WD Help Site. Needs a major revamp!
* Page content should be maintainable by any Weather Display forum user who has useful material to add.
* No assumptions should be made about the user's computer platform or the Web tools available thereon. While the default for Weather Display is the Microsoft<sup>&reg</sup> Windows operating system, other operating systems are supported.  If your content is for Linux, etc. denote that at the top of the content.
* Graphics should be lightweight, or sized as small as possible, to reduce download times. Remember, not everyone has a broadband connection.
* Page appearance should be consistent from page to page.
* Links to external Web sites, where appropriate, are encouraged.


Purpose:
Unlike a static Web page, Wiki's can be editing by anyone who registers. If you see an error, or have content to add, you're encouraged to participate.
To explain, to those interested, the underlying design philosophy for these help pages.
The original, self imposed, design objectives were (and still are):
 
    * Page content should be maintainable by any Weather Display forum user who had useful material to add.
    * No assumptions should be made about the user's computer platform or the Eeb tools available thereon. (After all, these pages are for weather enthusiasts, not professional web page designers.)
    * Pages should appear on the users browser quickly, with 28 kb or better modems, so that the disadvantage of not having local help pages is minimized. (It is assumed that wide band internet connections are NOT available.)
    * The page source should be readable with the simplest of editors on any computer platform.
    * A minimum of HTML tags should be used, consistent with a clean presentable appearance. (Human readability is more important than using the most eye-catching features.)
    * Page appearance should be consistent from page to page. (But links to external web sites, where appropriate, are encouraged.)
 
So what did I do?
 
The above requirements, plus some recent exposure to Eric Meyers' books on CSS led me to the current design.
 
A single Style Sheet, (which you can see at this site as "/css/wd.css") is used to provide all the fonts, colors, positioning, etc.. This eliminates an enormous amount of clutter, and makes the content very easy to see in any editor. While there are a number of tags in the style sheet to deal with the bare page, there are only a very few needed for the content portion; primarily <p>, <ul>, and <h5>.
 
The common page header stuff is provided through a pair of "server-side include" (SSI) files (which you can see at this site as "/ssi-topOfPage.shtml" and "/ssi-header.shtml"). These files are added to the main page by the web server whenever a user clicks on a link to view it. This insures that only a single page header exists for all pages and that any changes to it will be seen on all new page requests immediately after they are made. Use of SSI requires that the files have a "shtml" type rather than the more usual "HTML".
Adding a new page to the wdhelp site
 
    * Create a new file with a type of "shtml" and whatever name is appropriate to the content.
    * Copy following header block and paste it to the beginning of the file. Replace the XXXXXXXXX with an appropriate title.
 
      <!--#include virtual="ssi-topOfPage.shtml" -->
      <title>WD Help: XXXXXXXXX</title>
      </head>
      <body>
      <table id="header" cellspacing="0">
      <!--#include virtual="ssi-header.shtml" -->
      <tr>
      <td id="sub-title" colspan="2">XXXXXXXXX</td>
      </tr>
      </table>
     
 
    * Copy the following purpose block, and paste it below the block above. Replace the XXXXXXXXX with an appropriate statement
 
      <p class="purpose">Purpose:<br />
      XXXXXXXXX
      </p>
     
 
    * This is where you put your material. You may use any html tags you wish in this area, but for uniformity I recommend those listed in the "/css/wd.css".
    * Copy the following footer block, and paste it below the block above. Replace the "John Doe" email address and name with your own.
 
      <div id="footer">
      last modified:
      <!--#echo var="LAST_MODIFIED" -->
      by
      <a href="mailto:[email protected]">John Doe</a>
      </div>
      </body>
      </html>
     
 
    * Send the completed page to Brian or Fred or ask Brian for direct access to the site.

Revision as of 20:30, 15 January 2006

Purpose   To explain, to those interested, the underlying design philosophy for these Wiki Help pages. The original, self imposed, objectives are:

  • Page content should be maintainable by any Weather Display forum user who has useful material to add.
  • No assumptions should be made about the user's computer platform or the Web tools available thereon. While the default for Weather Display is the Microsoft&reg Windows operating system, other operating systems are supported. If your content is for Linux, etc. denote that at the top of the content.
  • Graphics should be lightweight, or sized as small as possible, to reduce download times. Remember, not everyone has a broadband connection.
  • Page appearance should be consistent from page to page.
  • Links to external Web sites, where appropriate, are encouraged.

Unlike a static Web page, Wiki's can be editing by anyone who registers. If you see an error, or have content to add, you're encouraged to participate.

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