Link to the University of Waterloo home page

Waterloo Library Link to the University of Waterloo Link to the Waterloo Library website

The CSS based templates make use of several ssi files. These files are used for each unique portion of the web site. It can be helpful to print out the current top page for the area you are working on and note any pertinent URL's for navigation links before you begin the steps below. In the ssi subdirectory:

  1. Open contactinfo.html and add the contact person or group's name and a link to either their e-mail or a page giving more info. If linking to an e-mail address, use the anti-spam procedure (https://lib.uwaterloo.ca/staff/webops/antispam.html). The ssi has already been imported. Save and Check In.
  2. Open footer_nav.html and add the necessary links. Save and check in.
  3. Open sec_navbar.html and modify the list to fit your area. Now link to the file names for each page. Save and check in.

Creating a new page

  1. Connect to the site that you want to add a page to.
  2. Select the Templates folder, and choose Site > Get.
  3. Select File > New...
  4. Click the Templates tab at the top of the new document window.
  5. Choose the site to which you are adding a page from the list at the left hand side of the window.
  6. From the list in the middle of the window choose the template you wish to use and make sure that Update page when Template changes is checked.
  7. You should be looking at a page that is complete except for the content. The top navbar may or may not appear, and it may appear as a rather long set of lists, do not worry, the site will look fine on the Internet.
  8. Add a title
    1. There is a green box labeled header near the top of the screen. Select this and put the page title into this area. Make sure that it is formatted as a heading 1
  9. Change the <title> element.
    1. At the top of the area where the page you are working on is shown, there is a box labeled Title. Click into this Box and add your title. This should read something like the following. Anything that is in square brackets needs to be replaced

      [Current Page] | [Current Area] | Library | University of Waterloo
  10. Add the content.
    1. Simply copy your content into the page. You can add formatting such as bold and italics as well.
    2. For information on linking to your e-mail address, read this page on spam protection.
    3. Remember to save your page while working on it so that if something goes wrong you don't loose everything.
  11. Save your page and put it to the server.
  12. Open the page in a web browser.
  13. Click the XHTML link at the bottom of the page.
  14. If the page is Valid you can check it in and close it, otherwise correct the errors.

Converting existing pages

  1. You can follow the instructions above for creating a page.

    OR
  2. Open the page you wish to convert.
  3. Since the template will be adding the top navigation bar and all footer information, you can delete all relevant text and its code. (Make sure you have already completed the footer_contact.html ssi, so you don't lose the footer information.)
  4. If there is any extra code no longer needed, delete that as well.
  5. Select Modify > Template > Apply Template to Page
  6. Choose the template file required and make sure that Update page when Template changes is checked.
  7. You should be looking at a page that is complete. The navbar may or may not appear, and it may appear as a rather long set of lists, do not worry, the site will look fine of the Internet.
  8. Make sure the page title is a Heading 2.
    1. Select the title and from the properties box at the bottom of the screen, choose the Format list, and select Heading 2.
  9. Change the <title> attribute. This is the text that displays at the top of a browser window.
    1. At the top of the area where the page you are working on is shown, there is a box labeled Title. Click into this Box and add your title. This should read something like the following. Anything that is in square brackets needs to be replaced

      [Current Page] | [Subject Area] | Research Guides by Subject | Library | University of Waterloo
  10. Save your page and Put it to the server.
  11. Open the page in a web browser.
  12. Click the XHTML link at the bottom of the page.
  13. If the page is Valid you can check it in and close it, otherwise correct the errors.

Getting final approval

  1. After all files have been converted, notify the page owner and ask them to review all files. Fix any problems that may have arisen.
  2. When the new site is complete, get final approval from the page owner before replacing the current site with the new converted version.
  3. If you are not a member of webmaint, ask the webmaint member who set the area up for you to complete the process.

Completing the process - by webmaint

  1. Delete the .htaccess file from the [filename]_new directory.
  2. To ensure you retain an exact copy of the current live site, delete the current directory from your local Dreamweaver site.
  3. Copy the current live directory over to your local site.
  4. Rename the current live directory on the local site to [filename]_old.
  5. Rename the directory with the converted files to the name of the original directory.
  6. Delete the current live directory from the remote site.
  7. "Put" the new converted directory to the remote site. It will replace the old version.
  8. Make sure all links are still working as anticipated.
  9. "Check in" all files if required.
  10. Delete the [filename]_new directory from the remote site.
  11. The group permissions and hard links will need to be reset. Go in via UNIX and change group permissions as appropriate. You will need to redo the hard links in the Templates and css directories. You do not need to delete the files before you re-create that hard link. n UNIX, place your cursor beside a file and select "i" for information. If the files have many links to them, then they are hard links.

Final Steps

  1. Notify the page owner that you are done.
  2. Arrange a meeting with the web maintainer to:
    • explain the new setup
    • help them define a new Dreamweaver site that connects directly to the specific directory they are working on
    • show them how to update and create files using the new templates
  3. Notify Esther Millar that you are done. She will update the File Conversion Table and ask Charles to give ownership of the files to the regular maintainer.