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| Designing The OLC Internet (The OLC WebFaq) |
| Guide to Online Internet Access |
| Version 4 - December 20 2011 |
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Copyright (c) 2005-2012, Brett Bump and James Dudek
bbump at olc.edu
jdudek at olc.edu
Revised 4 January 2012 by James Dudek
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to duplicate and
distribute copies of this document provided the copyright
notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.
A Brief History
--------------------
The previous versions of the OLC home page have been designed by many
different web masters, with a variety of inherited documents, that made
it very difficult to organize this information into anything
manageable. The release of the 2005 OLC home page changed these prior
problems by setting some proper guidelines for design, as well as
giving the web designer some useful tools for creating their department
web pages.
This FAQ is not meant to be a general reference for ANY WYSIWYG
programs the web designer may use to to design their web pages, nor to
show favor to any such WYSIWYG web design programs. This FAQ is geared
more to explaining how our apache web server is setup, and attempt to
set policy for how our users should design their web pages.
The Basics for New Users
------------------------
1. What is this FAQ about and who should be reading it?
This FAQ was written to explain how the college web server works,
and how to best utilize the features that have been created to
assist the web designer in creating their web pages. This FAQ
should be mandatory reading for ALL web designers with an account
on the OLC web server.
2. I am a new employee at the college, how do I get a web account?
Hate to say it, but the fastest way is to send us an email. You
can send an email to webmaster@olc.edu or support@olc.edu and
most likely get a reply within an hour. If we don't know who you
are we will most likely ask Jonnie Clifford, she is our resident
expert on who the new people are so that we can get you an
account as soon as possible. You can also call the switchboard
at: (605) 455-6000 and ask for computer support, or call the tech
line directly at (605) 455-1713. That will likely get you routed
to someone that will get your account set up.
3. I am a new student at the college, how do I get a web account?
The short answer is YOU DON'T. There is a separate machine that
we can use to create an account for you, but it is actually quite
rare that this happens. Unless you are enrolled in an MIS or IT
course that requires you to create your own web pages, or you can
demonstrate that you really have the skills and the need for an
account to publish in, odds are that your request for an account
will not be made. Students DO however have many resources that
they can use to publish information on the web. Every OLC email
account (including students) is created with a personal blog.
The information on setting up a blog is described in an article
on the OLC Wiki. Anyone (including students) can create an
account on the OLC Wiki and publish information on the web.
4. I am an employee with a new web account, what is my password?
Faculty and staff accounts will usually have their password
passed to them by word of mouth from an associate, or by a
technician over the phone.
5. What is the Internet address of the Oglala Lakota College web
server and what protocols are supported?
This one is easy. From any web browser: http://www.olc.edu using
the hypertext protocol, or ftp://user@www.olc.edu using the file
transfer protocol.
6. I have logged into the college web server using ftp. Where
should I put my documents so they can be accessed from the web?
Once you are logged in, you will find your system account files,
as well as a public_html folder. The only system account files
you ever need to be concerned with, is a file named ".email", a
file named ".plan" and any number of ".project*" files. The
.email file (1 line only) should contain your OLC email address
as a hypertext mailto link. For security reasons, this
information should be hex encoded characters to prevent spam.
The .plan file (1 line only) should contain your job title. The
.project file (1 line only with no terminating line feed
charcter) should contain a hypertext anchor as to the department
page (project) that you are responsible for. Additional .project
files can be created if you are responsible for different
department pages (ex: .project2 .project3 etc.). The public_html
folder is where you put everything else that you want the world
to have access to.
7. I have updated my .plan and .project files with my job title and
department web page information. Where will this information be
displayed and how often can I update it?
Every night, the information from the .email and .plan files, as
well as the meta data information for "dc.title" to each
Webdesigners blog on the email server, is extracted and included
into the "Webdesigners" page. You can therefore update your
information one (1) time every day and see those changes
displayed on the Webdesigner page. You can see this updated
information here: http://www.olc.edu/webdesigners
The .email, .plan, and .project* files are also used in each
users webfolders which will show any changes you make
immediately.
8. I'm ready to put files into my public_html folder and I notice
the folder already contains other files. What are these files
and why are they in my folder?
The apache server has been setup to disallow folder browsing by
default. This is a change from the past implementation where the
server was setup to allow folder browsing so webcrawlers could
search the server for content. Some of our users have expressed
concern about the information they placed in their public_html
folders being categorized by various search engines. With this
in mind, folder browsing has been disabled, and the webdesigner
will have to create their own web pages that link to the
information they want to have available on the web. For users
who have yet to create their own web pages, a php webfolder has
been placed into each users public_html folder, in case they need
a place to store content for their students. An accompanying
.htaccess file that redirects to their webfolder has been
installed for use until the user can create an initial index
page. There is also a gallery page located inside each webfolder
for users to diplay photos.
9. Can I use my account to upload documents and photos utilizing
the webfolder/webgallery software (do I have to learn html)?
Many of our users are fearful of learning html but still need
some location to upload content for their students or
departments. The webfolder/webgallery software works very nicely
for this and most of our users will be quite content doing this
and never learn anything about html or have any desire to create
web pages. Please note however that the webfolder software
contains its own database for users which is completely
segregated from the server password database. Also note that the
webfolder software in your account is actually "owned" by a
system process which means that you have to use the webfolder
software to upload/download content to/from it.
10. I don't like my password, don't think the default password that
was given to me is safe enough, don't remember my password. Can
you tell me what my password is, change my password for me, help
me to change my password myself?
If you have never changed your password it is most likely the
same one that we originally gave you, or you gave us. Try that
first before you call to ask what your password is. We don't
know your password (it is encrypted) so if the original doesn't
work then it is lost. Yes, we can put a new password in for you,
or better yet you can change your password yourself at:
http://www.olc.edu/passwd.php
Please note (again) that EACH webfolder on the system contains
its own password database that is different than the server
password database. Changing your system password above is only
valid if you intend to create web pages in your workspace. Also
note that if you have a user account in multiple webfolders,
changing your password in one webfolder does not change it for
any other webfolder.
Beginning Web Design
--------------------
11. When I create my initial index page, what name should I give it?
The default page that apache will look for in your directory goes
by the name "index". You should create your page with either the
name "index.html" or "index.php". You will have to use the "php"
extension if you are going to use the Olc include resources.
12. What are the Olc includes and how do I use them?
The web portal design is a 5 block php web page that is created
by combining a series of php and html files to create the current
look of the 2011 portal page. The advantage of using the portal
design is that you have access to all of the portal resources,
without having to manage any of the changes to them. The 4
blocks of the OlC portal are:
The Banner and Header
The Left Column (Designated as Col1) - Main content area
The Right Column (Designated as Col2) - Supporting menus
The Footer
The simplest way to use the portal 5 block design is to recreate
the actual portal page and then make your modifications to this
index.php file. Below is the content for the portal page:
01. <?php include '/www/xhtml.html'; ?>
02. <head>
03. <title>Oglala Lakota College Home</title>
04. <?php include '/www/metacss.html'; ?>
05. </head>
06. <body>
07.
08. <?php
09. $banner = '/images/banner.jpg';
10. include '/www/header.php';
11. include '/www/colstart.html';
12. include '/www/col1.html';
13. include '/www/col2.html';
14. include '/www/colend.html';
15. include '/www/footer-blue.html';
16. ?>
17.
18. </body>
19. </html>
For most designers, you will likely change only lines 3, 9, 12
and maybe 13 depending on which columns you would like to
replace with your own department html information. Information
specific to creating your own html column information is defined
below.
13. I want to include javascript in my web page designs. Can I still
do this if I use the php portal includes as described above?
Yes. Unlike the previous 3 block portal design which was created
to gather content and limited the user to the middle block, this
design is completely open from the top to the bottom, but DOES
require that the user understand more about html and php than the
previous portal revision.
14. I notice the new portal design is now XHTML 1.1 compliant and not
HTML 4.01. Does this mean that we have to create our pages as
XHTML 1.1, or can we use a previous DOCTYPE?
The new portal is designed around XHTML, but as before, you can
still create any kind of web page that you desire. Just realize
that if you do not use the portal design to create your pages,
you "may" spend more time keeping your pages current and up to
date. If you need to use any deprecated tags that still exist
in XHTML 1.0 STRICT, you can change the top and bottom includes
to regress to a 1.0 STRICT design, and your pages "should" still
validate. To do this, change lines #1 and #15 to:
1. <?php include '/www/xhtml1.0.html'; ?>
15. include '/www/footer-blue.html';
If you prefer the blue W3C validation tags, you can change the
footer line #15 to:
15. include '/www/footer-blue.html';
15. I realize that I should change line #3 to reflect the name of the
webpage that I want to create, but how do I change line #9 for
the banner (and where do I get one)?
The banner that is displayed at the top of your web page could
actually be any picture that you want it to be. Just realize
that any banner you use will be displayed with a width of 600
pixels, and a height of 113 pixels. We would hope that you would
want to keep your pages looking similar to the existing design
and submit any information that you would need on your banner and
let the graphics artist that designed the portal banner, create a
banner for your department. Once your banner is created, we
would like it to be stored in the main images folder so that any
department will have access to it and know where it is. Changing
line #9 to display your banner is then as easy as editing it like
this:
09. $banner = '/images/mathbanner.jpg';
16. I've created the index.php page as described above, now how do I
create the content for my specific department?
You will most likely want your department information to appear
in the middle of the page (this is column #1). Edit line #12
above to represent where your column #1 information is comming
from:
12. include 'col1.html'; #This would be the local directory.
Now create a file called "col1.html" and place your content
between the division tags. It should look something like this:
<div class="col1">
<h2>Nursing Program</h2>
<p>
The Oglala Lakota College has had an
Associate Degree program in nursing
since 1986. It is reservation based,
being located in Pine Ridge, South
Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation. The program bases its
model of nursing on the four
traditional Lakota values of
Respect, Generosity, Wisdom, and
Courage.
</p>
<p>
This program offers academic
excellence and prepares an Associate
Degree nurse who is aware of
existing nursing (health) care needs
of individuals and families.
</p>
</div>
17. If I have links to other resources, where should I place those
resources and how do I link to them?
Every department page has a webfolder identical to the one
created for user accounts. The webfolders for the department
pages have the name "docs". You can either upload your resources
into your docs folder (using a browser and the autoindex
interface), or you can create your own folders within the
department work area and upload files using ftp.
You can create any of the 2 columns to place your links into, but
it is prefered that you try to keep them within column #1 or #2.
Please use relative addresses (to the department page) when you
link your resources. This can either be addressed from the local
folder or from the symbolic link to the department page:
<a href="resource.pdf">Some File</a>
#This represents your local departments root folder.
<a href="docs/resource.pdf">Some File</a>
#This represents your departments document folder.
<a href="files/resource.pdf">Some File</a>
#Or you could (ftp) create a container folder.
<a href="/local_links/nursing/docs/resource.pdf">Some File</a>
#This represents a symbolic link to your document folder.
18. Is it better to use symbolic linking instead of local links to the
directory that I am working in?
This depends on the content that you want to distribute, and if
other departments might want to use your columns for their own
web pages. A good rule to follow is that the majority of your
department content is going to display in the middle (column #1),
and that you most likely will place ONLY linked resources into
the 2nd column. It is best to use symbolic linking in that 2nd
column in case someone else may want to use it.
19. I noticed that the "Instructional Division" web page has links to
all of the other academic departments on the left hand side. Can
I use this column in my own web page so that I don't have to make
links to these other departments?
Yes, in fact we would prefer that you use this method so that
your web pages don't break when people/departments/programs get
shifted around. In your index page, use the symbolic link to the
academic division folder to use this column:
12. include 'col1.html'; #Your department Content.
13. include '/www/academics/col2.html'; #The Academic Links.
20. Can this also be done with the other main links located in the
header of the portal page?
Yes, as long as those main links conform to this standard. If
for example you want to use the simple calendar located on the
"home" page you can replace your col2.html with the one from the
"home" root page:
13. include '/www/col2.html';
If you wanted to use the administrative columns links, you would
change it as follows:
13. include '/www/administration/col2.html';
Advanced Web Design
--------------------
21. My WYSIWYG program creates it's own css information as individual
files. Where can I put these css files? Will my web pages still
be W3C compliant?
Cascading style sheet files normally reside in a users css folder
or a master css folder (http://www.olc.edu/css/) managed by the
web-master.
If you have created additional Cascading style sheets, you can
either submit them to the webmaster, or locate them inside your
own directory and insert them into your index.php page like this:
04. <?php include '/www/metacss.html'; ?>
--. <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="my.css" />
05. </head>
22. I notice that some of the college web pages link to certain areas
of the phone database. What kind of links can I make to the
phone database and what are the options?
You can use a search string on the phone database to retrieve any
information based on one (1) of the four (4) categories:
lastname
firstname
title
phone
Remember that if you want to narrow your search to only one item,
you may have to provide alot of information in your link. Using
a search string of 605 on the category phone would most likely
get you every entry in the database. Here are four link
examples:
<a href="/phpdir/search.php?category=lastname&searchstring=Janis">
All with a last name of Janis</a>
<a href="/phpdir/search.php?category=firstname&searchstring=John">
Only people named John</a>
<a href="/phpdir/search.php?category=title&searchstring=Director">
All College Directors</a>
<a href="/phpdir/search.php?category=phone&searchstring=6021">
Only this phone number</a>
23. I notice that some of the college web pages link to certain areas
of the photos database. How can I do this?
The photos database is not as versatile as the phone database,
but it is still convenient to use. You can access the photos
database by volume or individual picture, but you have to know
the number of either one to access it. The format for linking
to a volume or a picture would look like these:
<a href="/phpoto/picture_list.php?album=10">Picnic</a>
<a href="/phpoto/picture_list.php?picture=508">Cake</a>
I have also created special redirect links for the staff pictures
that you can use as links based on the users email username. Ex:
<a href="/local_links/staff/cdelong">Cliff</a>
24. I have uploaded certain information into my public_html folder but
I don't want anyone to be able to access it. Is this possible?
I'm sure people will wonder why anyone would put sensitive data
into a public folder, and want this data locked, but this
scenario does happen quite frequently. There are two (2) ways to
lock this information, however only one (1) of these ways is
probably useful for the designer. The system way is to change
the protection bits (most likely a topic better discussed inside
a class). The apache web server way is with an .htaccess file.
Create a file called .htaccess in the folder you want protected.
The contents of the file should have only one (1) line that
contains:
deny from all
25. I have created an open (discussion board, news forum, blog, wiki)
that anyone can access. Is there a way that I can limit the
users who access this to only a few people, or just the college
centers?
You can create an .htaccess file in this directory to contain the
addresses of the users (or college centers) that you allow
access:
allow from 10.2.5
deny from all
(The example above would specify HeSapa addresses. For addresses)
(to other college centers please refer to the TSS NSA page at: )
(http://www.olc.edu/local_links/tss/tssnsa)
26. The users that I want to access my information are on the
Internet so I won't know what their addresses are. Can I
password protect my web-page information instead of using domain
or address names?
You can password protect your web-pages, using the .htaccess
file. Use the following information inside your .htaccess file
changing the username(s) and password location where specified:
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Text to describe your protected area."
AuthUserFile /usr/local/apache/passwd/password
Require user doe jones smith
The password file can be located anywhere, however it should be
placed in a location where the public can not browse to it. The
location specified above is such a place, but can only be created
by the web-master. Passwords are created with "htpasswd".
27. Previously, I could drop documents into a folder and then create
an .htaccess file with AddDescription entries that would describe
these documents. With folder browsing shut off, is there still a
way that I can upload documents and have descriptions of them?
Can I do this without having to write an html page to do this?
The Apache FancyIndexing browsing that we used to use was not W3C
compliant, nor would it work with php. This produced quite a bit
of maintainance when any portal changes were made. The recently
installed php AutoIndex script software has been modified to be
XHTML 1.1 compliant, handles upload/download/rename/create users,
folders etc, and a built in function for document descriptions.
28. I have moved my page to some other directory, or another server.
How can I create a simple redirect so that my links aren't
broken?
This is easily accomplished using .htaccess to provide either 301
or 302 html redirects. A 302 html redirect means that your page
has temporarily moved to a new location. A 301 html redirect
means that your page has permanently moved to the new location.
Below are two (2) examples of what these entries look like:
redirect 301 /~user/some.html http://www.other.edu/~user/some.html
redirect 302 /~user/some.html http://www.other.edu/~user/some.html
Excluding the numeric redirect number, the default is 302.
FAQ Disclaimer
------------------------------------------------------------------------
We disclaim everything. The contents of this article might be totally
inaccurate, inappropriate, misguided, or otherwise perverse - except for
our names (you can probably trust me on that).
Copyright (c) 2005-2012, by Brett Bump, James Dudek, all rights reserved.
This FAQ may be posted to any USENET newsgroup, on-line service, web
site, or BBS as long as it is posted in its entirety and includes this
copyright statement.
This FAQ may be distributed as class material electronic disk or memory
device as long as there is no charge (except to cover materials).
This FAQ may not be distributed for financial gain.
This FAQ may not be included in commercial collections or compilations
without express permission from the author.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brett Bump - bbump at olc.edu
James Dudek - jdudek at olc.edu
© Copyright 2001-2013, all rights reserved.
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