Hi Folks

This page is for those of you wishing to edit the new coding for the Plymouth Environment Centre website.

To allow more flexibility and cut down the code/resources/bandwidth, I've used <?php ?>

Whereas you can use a text editor or some wysywyg, Nvu is the wysywyg editor recommended.
There can be no php tags outside the html <body> tag, as Nvu doesn't support it.
Any additional php code must also use the full tag <?php  ?> and not <? ?>

Note : Before you edit a page do the following  :-

  1. Copy the current page from the on-line website, this will ensure you are amending the latest version which may contain other updates you are not aware of. (You are not the only one editing this site)
  2. Ensure you make a copy of the file so you can replace the last working version on the internet.
  3. It's a good idea to keep copies of the last two or three amended files as sometimes errors can be made that go unnoticed for quite some time

Content

1. General layout of page coding

2. Instructions for editing the content of the art-auction data

3. Formatting the 'THE EDITABLE CONTENT' of pages

4. Text colour and Links

5. Adding, editing and removing Events

6. Adding, and Archiving News Items

 

1. General layout of page coding

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
 <head>
 <meta name="description" content="Plymouth Environment Centre" />
 <meta name="keywords" content="Plymouth, Environment, Centre, Vegan " />
 <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="scripts/stylesheet.css" />
<link href="images/favicon.ico" rel="SHORTCUT ICON" />
<title>Plymouth Environment Centre</title>
<script src="scripts/menu.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="scripts/various.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
<?php echo"<table cellspacing='0' border='0'>";
include("includes/header.php");
include("includes/nav_bar.php");
include("includes/left_menu.php");
echo"<td colspan='2' id='intro'>";
?>
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Then . . . . 'THE EDITABLE CONTENT' . . . .

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
<?php echo"</td></tr>";
 include("includes/footer.php");
 echo"</tr></tbody></table>"?>

</body></html>



Using Nvu, you can open each page, as it thinks it is an html document, see only 'THE EDITABLE CONTENT'

After editing the 'Content',  Save as type  'all files' with a .php extension rather than .html, which is Nvu's default extension.

Once you have finished editing and uploaded the file, view it on-line and use the [W3C XHTML 1.0] button to validate the page. If it fails validation and you can;t undo and redo you work satisfactorily, call me.

2. Instructions for editing the content of the art-auction data

To update the art auction images and information you will need to do the following :-

Files to be edited/created are those your copy of  the website. Drag a file to the Nvu icon on your desktop to open or use the File > Open menu option.

  1.  Add the artists name to the options on page <art_auction.php>.
    The option value is to be the artists 'name' is small case.

    The artists name can be proper and full in space between <option value="roger"> and </option>.

    For example <option value="roger">Roger Lovejoy</option>.
    This will show Roger Lovejoy in the list but uses "roger" as the value for accessing the image < roger.jpg > and the information file < roger.html >

    NOTE: always use lower case names for the [option.value] and file names.
  2. Create a new [jpg] image of the new work with maximum dimensions width:400px height:300px and place it in the < art-auction/images> folder with nthe file name < artist.jpg> substituting the word artist with the name you used in 1. above entered as the [option.value].

  3. Create an information file with the name of the artist and place it in the < art-auction/info >

  4. OK Post them to the server and check out your work. 
  5. If all looks ok test the validity by clicking on the [W3C XHTML1.0] button.
    If a valid page, all well and good. Else you did something uncalled for.

3. Formatting the 'THE EDITABLE CONTENT' of pages.

Reoccurring problems :-

  1. Using body text instead of paragraph : 
    1. This results in smaller and narrower text, which isn't as user friendly and disrupts reading momentum. A reader will generate an uncomfortable feeling.
    2. To resolve this when editing pages use the  Paragraph option in Nvu for all normal text. 
    3. The only reason not use Body Text is where there is content or a list of items that are as an addition to the normal flow.
    4. Normally lists will use the default format of the surrounding content.

  2. Centering of all text
    1. This results in another disrupted reading section.


4. Text colour and Links

there are others which I will append asap.

I will also show why and how to use them.

5. Adding, editing and removing Events

To ADD an Event
  1. Copy the <new_event.ph> file in the Events folder, rename it and change the the ending from .ph to .php
  2. Open the new file using a text editor TSW Webcoder is recomended. 
  3. Ftp this to the <events> folder
  4. View by clicking on the [Events] menu button.

To MOVE an event up the events page  

Events are listed alphanumerically, with digits preceeding letters.
Prefix the file name with a number will prioritise it on the events page
Use two digits as numbers are ordered i.e. NOT {1, 11, 16, 2, 3, 34,}
Use {01, 02, 03, 11, 16, 34}


To REMOVE an event

ADDING LINK to the right column

To do this is is best to use a text editor or TSW Webcoder.

Here is an example of the relevant code :

<div class="adds" ><a href="events.php#new-event">&nbsp;Benefit Gig&nbsp;</a><br />Plymouth<br />2nd September.</div>
<br /><hr class="purplebreak"/><br />

  1. Open the file <includes/events_list.php>
  2. Copy the above or similar code form the above file.
  3. Paste the copy of the  code between similar lines of code already in,<includes/events_list.php>
  4. Change the words highlighted in red to reflect the new event.
  5. Use minimal wording or the format will look messy, one of two words perline as above
  6. You must now activate the link by changing the value highlighted in green in the above example, by replacing the word after the # character by the word you chose in step 2 of Adding an Event above.
  7. Now you must ftp  <includes/events_list.php> to update the current file.

All well and good you should see the new event on the events page and a link to it in the right column

Failure to update the events list does not effect the new event being added to the events page

6. Adding and Archiving News Items

News item are placed in the [News] folder and have the following format.

Archiving
To archive a news item : move it from the [news] folder to the [archive] folder and change the file ending from php to htm.