NAME
Web::Scaffold -- build minimalist fancy web sites
SYNOPSIS
use Web::Scaffold;
Web::Scaffold::build(\%specs,\%pages);
DESCRIPTION
Web::Scaffold is a module that allows you to easily and quickly build a
fancy web site with drop down menus an a variable number of columns.
This is accomplished with a simple specification and a series of minimal
html page includes that are written in very basic html.
In its simplest form, your web will have the following structure:
pages/ contains minimalist html pages
ws_sitemap/ [optional] contains sitemap in google xml format
NOTE: link this into public_html
public_html/ contains the index page and
any non Web::Scaffold pages
images/ contains web site images
lib/ contains javascript library(s)
The index pages requires Server Side Includes (SSI) and is as follows:
<html>
<!-- page name "index.shtml"
place your comments, revision number, etc... here
-->
<!--#exec cmd="./pages.cgi" -->
</body>
</html>
Alternatively, you can use the included pages.cgi script as an example
to build your own more sophisticated cgi or mod_perl application.
An illustrated sample web site can be viewed here:
SAMPLE WEBSITE
http://www.bizsystems.net/downloads/webscaffold/
CONFIGURATION
build(%specs,%pages)
A web site with drop down menus can be complete configured with two hash
arrays. The %specs array configures the style and form of the site and
the %pages array configures the menus and column layout.
%specs
The specifications for fonts, menu, links, colors
%specs = (
# directory path for 'html pages' relative to the html root
# i.e. public_html/ defaults to:
#
pagedir => '../pages',
# directory path for 'javascript libraries' relative to html root
# defaults to:
javascript => 'lib',
# no search conditions for building the site map. Each
# element is evaluated as a perl match condition in the
# context of m/element/. Include page names, extensions, etc...
#
# [OPTIONAL]
#
nosearch => [ 'pdf' ],
# Directory path for 'sitemap' page generation relative to the
# html root. This directory must be WRITABLE by the web server.
#
# NOTE: link the file 'sitemapdir'/sitemaplxml to the
# appropriate location in your web directory.
#
# The sitemap.xml file will be generated and updated ONLY if
# the 'sitemapdir' key is present in this configuration file.
#
# The sitemap page will auto update if you modify pages in
# 'pagedir' or in the 'autocheck' list below. If you modify
# static pages elsewhere in the web directory tree that are
# not listed in 'autocheck', you must DELETE the sitemap.xml
# file to force an update.
#
# [OPTIONAL]
#
# sitemapdir => '../ws_sitemap',
# Directories to autocheck for sitemap update.
# you can list BOTH directories and individual files
# here relative to the web root. The 'sitemapdir' and
# 'pagedir' are always checked and do not need to be
# listed here.
#
autocheck => ['docs'],
# site map <changefreq> hint
#
# defaults to:
#
changefreq => 'monthly',
# font family used throughout the document
#
face => 'VERANDA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,SAN-SERIF',
# background color of the web page
# this can be a web color like 'white' or number '#ffffff'
#
backcolor => 'white',
# Menu specifications
#
barcolor => 'red',
menudrop => '55', # drop down position
menuwidth => '100px', # width of menu item
pagewidth => '620px', # recommended
# menu font specifications
menucolor => 'black',
menuhot => 'yellow', # mouse over
menucold => 'white', # page selected
menustyle => 'normal', # bold, italic
menusize => '13px', # font points or pixels
sepcolor => 'black', # separator color
# Page link font specifications
#
linkcolor => 'blue',
linkhot => 'green',
linkstyle => 'normal', # bold, italic
linksize => '13px', # font points or pixels
# Page Text font specifications
#
fontcolor => 'black',
fontstyle => 'normal',
fontsize => '13px',
# Heading font specifications
#
headcolor => 'black',
headstyle => 'bold', # normal, italic
headsize => '16px',
);
%pages
The specifications for menus and pages. Menus can be single link or
a series of drop down menu depending on how you specifiy the page.
The page names are the keys to the hash and are used as the menu-bar
link text. All page files are placed in the 'pages' directory.
FILE NAME SYNTAX:
Files are named with the 'key' name of the page as the lefthand side
and a suffix designating the file's purpose as the right hand side.
For the required page 'Home', they are as follows:
# [optional] page used if there are not individual pages
# NOTE: neither a Default page or individual page is required
Default.meta # meta text loaded after <title>
Default.head # optional additional <head> text
# that is on every page, end of page
Default.top # optional body text that appears
# on every page before menu-bar
# i.e. logo, etc...
# for each individual page
Home.meta # meta text loaded after <title>
Home.head # optional additional <head> text
Home.top # body text that appears before
# menu-bar. i.e. logo, etc...
Home.c1 # [optional] column 1 content
Home.c2 # [optional] column 2 content
Home.cn # [optional] column 'n' content
%pages = (
# REQUIRED page
#
Home => {
# SEE: detailed link format below
menu => ['Home', 'Page1', 'Page2', 'Page5'],
# optional title text - if missing, 'heading' text will be used
title => 'page title',
# optional table row immediately under menu. This allows a "drop"
# shadow to be added to the menu bar with a "1" pixel wide image, 'example'
menustripe => '<img src="images/stripe1.gif" height=4 width=100%>',
# optional
heading => 'Text under menu, over body text',
# number of columns and column width in pixels
column => [20, 200, 400], # three columns
# optional
submenu => [qw(Page3 Page4)], # drop down menu
# optional trailer bar
trailer => {
# a named page
links => [qw(Page5 Page6)],
# optional right hand side text. if there are no links then the
# text will be placed on the left hand side of the trailer bar
text => 'Copyright 2006, yourname',
# optional table row immediately above trailer bar. this allows a "drop"
# shadow to be added to trailer bar with a "1" pixel wide image, 'example'
top => '<img src="images/stripe2.gif" height=4 width=100%>',
# optional table row immediately below trailer bar. This allows a "top"
# shadow to be added to trailer bar with a "1" pixel wide image, 'example'
bottom => '<img src="images/stripe1.gif" height=4 width=100%>',
},
},
# next page
#
Page1 => ... same as above
},
#
# ... and so on
# for the auto-generated Sitemap page, there is one additional
# specification element...
#
Sitemap => {
...
# specify the column in which the sitemap should appear
# defaults to '1'
autocol => 1,
...
},
# and for debug... example
# load this page segment as source in a single window
'Home.top' => {
# copy prototype page from this one page.
debug => 'Home',
# optional location if not in the 'pages' directory
#
location => 'path/to/filename',
},
);
OPERATION
The sample index.shtml and pages.cgi script may be used together with
the above specification and configuration data to produce a multi-page
web site with with drop down menus. Each of the sub-pages specified in
the ./pages directory may be prepared in a simple text editor with
'basic' html formating. LINKS WITHIN THE PAGE may be regular html or to
take advantage of the MouseOver and STATUS reporting features of
Web::Scaffold, may be specified using the special syntax:
Menu and Trailer link format
There are two acceptable formats for links used in the MENU and TRAILER
sections of a page specification:
1 PageName
This is simply the key to the %pages array and its value will be
used as the text for the LINK and the display value in the browser
STATUS bar.
2 {separator}key or URL{separator}link text{separator}status text
This syntax allows for either a PageName as above or a file/http URL
value to be used as the link target. The separator may be any
printable ASCII character except {}. The "link text" and "status
text" values are optional. "link text" will be filled from the
key/URL value if it is not present. "status text" will be filled
from the link text or from the key/URL value if link text is not
present.
Example:
#http://my.website.com#visit my website#MY WEBSITE#
Note that an optional separator character may terminate the link
string.
Embedded Links Within Page Text
The syntax for embedded page links is similar to above with the addition
of a keyword and enclosing brackets.
LINK<#page_name#optional link text#optional status text#>
or
LINK<#URL#optional link text#optional status text#>
LINK may also be specified with a CLASS designator for CSS
The default class is "B"
Alternate class designations may be specified for classes C thru Z
which you can then define in a CSS STYLE statement in the [page].head
portion of the give page.
Example:
A.C {
color: #6666FF;
background: transparent;
font-family: VERANDA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,SAN-SERIF;
font-weight: bold;
font-size: 16px;
text-decoration: underline;
}
A.C:hover {
color: #00CC00;
}
Exact syntax for LINK is as follows:
uppercase word "LINK"
optional CLASS C through Z (default is B)
less than symbol <
delimiter (any char) #
page name or url text ./dir/file or http://....
[optional] link and status fields
delimiter #
link text optional text for link
delimiter #
status bar text optional browser status bar text
delimiter # [optional] closing delimiter
required
greater than symbol >
Where the first syntax refers to a named page in the %pages array and
the second syntax refers to a real URL optionally followed by the text
to appear as the "link" text and in the status bar.
Line breaks are not allowed in LINK<#text>
Web::Scaffold builds the page with menus and incorporates the various
include files (page.head, page.top, page.c1, page.c2, etc...) to produce
a website that can be easily and quickly maintained by simply editing
the page includes.
Each web page assembled by Web::Scaffold as follows:
<html>
<head>
<title> [from page title or heading] </title>
[optional] Default.meg\ta or Page.meta
internally generated style statements
[optional] Default.head or Page.head
</head>
<body>
[optional] Default.top or Page.top
[optional] menu bar as specified for this Page
internally generated column specification for this Page
{ column 1 }{ column 2 }......{ column N }
Page.c1 or blank Page.c2 or blank .etc.. Page.cN or blank
[optional] trailer
</body>
</html>
Sitemap
Web::Scaffold will automatically write as sitemap.xml sitemap file and a
corresponding scaffold page named Sitemap.htxt the first time the site
is accessed if the specification KEY, 'sitemapdir' for the sitemap is
present.
If you modify any pages in the scaffold 'pagedir' or pages or
directories listed in the 'autocheck' list, the sitemap will auto
update. If you modify a static page elsewhere in the web site that are
not listed in 'autocheck', you must DELETE sitemap.xml to force and
update.
You must include a spec for the Sitemap page in the %pages
configuration.
If you wish to use your own sitemap, do not activate the specification
KEY.
AUTHOR
Michael Robinton <michael@bizsystems.com>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This notice does NOT cover the javascript libraries. Those libraries are
freely usable but copyright and licensed all or in part by others and
have their own copyright notices and license requirements. Please read
the text in the individual libraries to determine their specific
licensing and copyright notice requirements.
Copyright 2006 - 2010, Michael Robinton <michael@bizsystems.com>
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.