For Discipline pages
Link to the University of Waterloo home page

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

For Discipline pages

The CSS based template makes 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 discipline home page and note any pertinent URL's for navigation links before you begin the steps below. In the ssi subdirectory:

  1. Open the title.html file and insert the discipline name. Save and Check In.
  2. Open the subject.html file and insert the discipline name. Save and Check In.
  3. Open footer_contact.html, switch to code view and Insert the correct name, the subject, the extension number and add the correct userid to the writeEmail area. This must be done in code view (The user id is the part of the e-mail address before the @ symbol). Save and Check In.
  4. Open contact.html and put the librarian 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.
  5. Open footer_nav.html and add the correct name and link to the department's home page.
  6. Open sec_navbar.html and modify the list to fit your area. Now link to the file names for each page. If you are converting a page this will be a fairly simply process. Save and check in.

Converting pages from earlier versions of the template

  1. Open the page.
  2. You can tell if a page is based on a template by looking in the upper right corner of the area where you work on your page. If this area says subject_template you can apply the new discipline template by choosing Modify > Template > Apply Template to Page. Then select discipline from the list that appears.
  3. If Dreamweaver asks you about OptionalRegion 1, simply select it in the list and choose nowhere from the list at the bottom of the screen.

    If Dreamweaver asks about main_content, select it and choose MainContent from the bottom of the screen.
  4. If this is your index.html page
    1. switch to code view and locate the following line
      <!-- InstanceParam name="Contact" type="boolean" value="true" -->
    2. Replace the word true with false, now you will have
      <!-- InstanceParam name="Contact" type="boolean" value="false" -->
    3. Choose Modify > Templates > Update Current Page
  5. Select the title of the specific page and remove all formatting.
  6. Make your title a heading 2.
  7. At the top of the editing area there is a small bar where you can switch views. In this bar there is also an area marked title. Edit this to reflect the content of your page. It needs to read like this.

    [Current Page] | [Subject Area] | Research Guides by Subject | Library | University of Waterloo

    The subject area should already be filled in for you (from the ssi - subject.html).
  8. Make any changes that you need in the content of the page.
  9. Choose Commands > Clean up XHTML.
  10. Click OK, and then OK again.
  11. Select File > Check Page > Validate Markup. If there are any errors reported at the bottom of the screen, fix them. Repeat this step until no more errors are reported.
  12. Save your page and put it.
  13. View the page in your web browser.
  14. At the bottom of the page there is a link that says XHTML. Click it.
  15. If the page that loads says your page is valid, then save and check your file in, otherwise, fix each error that is reported.
  16. Repeat for all pages in the site.

Converting pages that are not in template format

Creating the new index.html 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 discipline 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 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. To remove the contact info from the top section in the index page, switch to code view and locate the following line
    <!-- InstanceParam name="Contact" type="boolean" value="true" -->

    Replace the word true with false, now you will have
    <!-- InstanceParam name="Contact" type="boolean" value="false" -->

    Choose Modify > Templates > Update Current Page
  9. Add the content.
    1. Simply copy/paste or type the information that you want to add to this page. You can add formatting such as bold and italics as well.
    2. If you add an image, make sure that you give an alt text which is an alternate description. This is used to make the page more accessible. You can add an alt text by clicking on your image, and then typing the description into the text box labeled alt.
    3. Links can be added by selecting the text or image that you would like to add the link to and then typing the address of the page or web site that you wish to link to.
    4. For information on linking to your e-mail address, read this page on spam protection.
  10. Save your page as index.html to overwrite the previous version 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.

Converting all other pages

  1. You can follow the instructions above for creating the index.html page. Just omit step 8, since you DO want the contact info in the top section of all other pages. And in step 10, use the name of the file you are converting.

    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 discipline 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 to dcisr or dpisr. 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. In 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.