LPC Online Developers Info
Page Standards
Most of the common style can be achieved by following the template. We currently use server-side includes for common page elements. Check out this external link (on Fortnet) for a tutorial on Server-Side Includes.Major areas of your site should be in separate directories, with the index for the topic in the index.html file within the directory.
General
Many of our users may have older browsers, so we decided to keep the "delivered HTML" relatively simple. In general, we should avoid gimmicks or features which only work with the newest browsers or are browser-specific.Because most of our customers will be accessing our pages over relatively slow phone lines, we want to keep the graphics to a minimum to ensure fast loading. Bigger pictures can be made available, but should be on separate pages with a "warning" about their size. One way to do this is to include a thumbnail which they can click on to see the bigger picture.
What to put on District Pages? Here's a list of some possibilities.
Template
To view the template, load this template file (the .txt suffix prevents the includes from being expanded - save it as a xxx.shtml file). The shtml suffix tells the server to expand the server-side includes (though it's not necessary on our current host).Forms and Pre-formatted Pages
Many users do not have access to MS Word or other specific word-processing programs, so are not able to view .doc or .wps files. In addition, these files print differently on different printers. Because of these inconsistencies, we have chosen to use .PDF on this site.The Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) has become a standard for formatted documents on the Web. The one "downside" of this is that you must have access to the Adobe Acrobat program to generate the .PDF file. Several of our District Webmasters and the council webmaster have access to this program, so you can send them your MS Word, Works, or other common format documents for conversion for use on this site. If the document is in some other format (for example, some of our Camp flyers were created in PageMill or Quark by a commercial designer), plese have the autor convert them to PDF format for use on our site.
If the exact format is not critical, the documents should be done in HTML.
Creating New Navigation Buttons - Obsolete
Part of the template is the navigation buttons down the left side of the page. You can customize these buttons for your pages. For instructions on how to create your own buttons, see these instructions. To see all the buttons already defined, check this index.Copying Pages to LPC Online
Developers with the proper passwords can FTP their pages to the LPC Online WWW site. If you are working on a PC, you'll need to be careful to transfer your html and cgi files (including the .shtml files) as ascii (text) and your image files (.gif and .jpg) as binary, since the server is running unix.Check your HTML and Spelling
Please use a spell checker to check your files for typos and speling errors. Use an HTML checker (such as NetMechanic's or WebLint) to check for HTML problems.Optimize Your Pictures
Generally, icons such as buttons are best represented as .gif images, and photographs are best represented in .jpg. Depending on which program you used to scan or draw your pictures and images, they can often be greatly reduced in size with little loss of detail. Use an image optimizer (such as NetMechanic's free online GIFbot) to tune up your images.To ensure that your pictures will work together well with other pictures on this site, please use the standard "browser safe colors". Here's a palette file which can be used for Paint Shop Pro.
Avoid the use of animated GIFs.
District Standards
Common Directory Structure
Common directory structure will be necessary for shared areas, including ScoutMail, Calendar, and Unit Locators.Includes for Council Info on District Pages
For Council news, I have been using an include file which I include on the Council home page, and also on the Thompson-Poudre home page. That way, when there's news, I change it one place, and it will show up in both. Please include this in your News and Calendar changes sections.Private Information Access Control
As defined in our WWW Policies, we have several levels of private information.We use the Apache server's access control mechanisms to restrict access to private info. Here's a simple tutorial on how this is used.
Here's more details on our specific controlled access configuration.
Other Resources
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Last Updated Sunday, 26-Feb-2006 12:23:41 MST