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If you haven't made web-pages before, then try
the following:
-) save one of our picture pages to a new
folder on your hard drive ('Save As...' and choose 'HTML source').
-) select your photos and
name them consecutively according to the order you wish to put them
in the web page.
-) adjust their dimensions to fit the
layout, and save as 'jpeg' with quality of 50%. Save them in the same
folder as the HTML file.
-) change
the links in the web page so as to refer to *your* pictures.
-) add your own captions and headers
in place of what was there.
Most computer users are familiar with Microsoft Word which has a "Save
for web" option, *but* it lays down very clumsy source code, and
the result often only works presentably in Microsoft's own browser - Explorer,
and not others.
A safe motto for web-pages seems
to be: 'Keep it simple.' Different browsers, different versions
of the same browser, different preference settings, different computers
and different operating systems, all have the potential for surprisingly
different (and sometimes disastrous) views of the same web-page. So
keep it simple for a better chance for everyone to see what you expect
them to. It seems 'Explorer' is the most common browser, so at least
check that your pages display OK in this programme.
Please *don't* use Microsoft Word to make web-pages. Its "Save
for web" option invariably produces clumsy source-code often causing
the resulting web-page to behave strangely in some browsers. Instead,
'Frontpage' is Microsoft's programme for creating web-pages.
Web pages normally have the extension '.html' or .htm.'
These are plain text pages. Web pages show pictures by linking to them.
i.e. the pictures are not embedded in the html page but the page
instructs the browser to view pictures by 'linking' to them.
Therefore when sending a webpage by email (or uploading it to the web),
the accompanying pictures must also be sent.
Ensure your page and (only)
the linked pictures are in one folder. The maximum size for one webpage
with its accompanying linked files should be kept within about 200 K,
300 K at the most. If you have more pictures, make more pages.
Then use Stuffit or Winzip to compress the folder. Attach the compressed
file to an email and send this to us.
The world of code behind the webpages
we see in our browsers is a constantly changing one, so all the more reason
to keep your pages simple and safe. However if you need specific reference
information or really want to go into the intricacies of web-page design,
the following should prove helpful:
Still, if you are unable to send web-pages, please do continue to send
photos. Srila Gurudev is the number one fan of pictures, and your news
via pictures is a substantial source of His Divine Grace's satisfaction.
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This section is to share further tips
that have proved useful especially for those making their own sites:
-
Name files consistently
beginning with the date of the event in form yymmdd-filename,
where y=year, m=month, d=day. i.e. a webpage for 13 October 2004
would have a name: 041013-eventname.html. Why? Because it will
sort chronologically and its date will be clear for ever.
- Keep file names within 32 characters, including its extension.
Why? So it's compatible with almost all current platforms.
- When making captions, please bear in mind the following usage:
'Srila' is for the Guru-varga only;
'Sripad' is for sannyasis and senior Vaishnavas;
'Sriman' is used for Mahaprabhu, but (to use clumsy 'diacritics')
'Srimaan' is used for those without initiation, or junior persons.
Bear in mind that the web is not yet diacritic-text friendly.
- Dates within pages, etc. should specify the month by name:
'7 October 2004' or 'October 7, 2004' or whatever. The web reaches
a world audience, and by putting the date as '10-3-2004' half the
world will read it as '10th March 2004,' and half as 'October 3rd
2004.'
- File names on the web:
-) don't use spaces. Use - or _ instead.
-) ONLY use numbers and regular letters, - or _ only.
-) the web is CASE SENSITIVE so be careful.
If you have a website it basically works just like an external hard-drive
which anyone can access via its address, or URL. If you have 'ftp
access,' the following are useful for uploading files:
- Mac: Dreamweaver has proven efficient. 'FrontPage'
seems to work quite well, but 'Microsoft Word' and 'GoLive' write
all sorts of complicated stuff in the background which can make compatibility
and troubleshooting a headache. Try doing 'Clean up html' in GoLive
and it writes even more script in the background(!).
However the best web-design programme for
you will be the one you are already used to.
- Mac: TextToHTML is the super-simple way
to convert a text page into a web-page, maintaining simple formatting
such as bold and italic. First save your document in RTF format (in
Microsoft Word and most word-processors) then simply drop that RTF
file onto the TextToHTML icon.
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/kristiaan
- PC: Arachnophilia
is a CareWare programme. In addition to several other features, this
also converts RTF files to webpages.
- PC: The HTML Editor is FreeWare and will
also get you started:
http://www.coffeecup.com
For maintaining consistency in several
webpages, frames can be useful but tricky to make work properly, also
they apparently don't show up in Search Engines such as Google, etc. However
'Server Side Includes' can help serve a similar function of maintaining
a consistent feature on each page and thus simplify management of a site.
-
First, for most servers you will
need to change the extension of your web-page to .shtml (not just
.html), then:
-
With
the following code added, it's the *server* and not the browser
that joins the elements of the shtml file together *before* sending
it to the browser: <!--#include virtual="element_name.txt"-->
- Note that the include file (element_name.txt
in this example) contains no html headers, etc.
- Use SSI with care: any links in the include file
are relative to the 'mother' document. Also, if you plan to make your
site available on CD (as we do) then remember to first do a search-and-replace
for all those server includes.
-
It is probably
safest to avoid the temptation to use JavaScript as it seems to
be one of those pesky things that may or may not work for everyone.
Most readers of these 'Tips' pages are likely to be
making web-pages for Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math
and its many branches around the world. Especially for us, no doubt it
is the content and not the formatting that is all-important. Above all
we must take good care to avoid misrepresenting our Sri Guru-varga, so
if in doubt about something, always err on the safe side.
And...
...please let us know good sources
of practical information and useful tips you may have for web-pages
or anything related to the technical side of service. It's only because
we haven't found such sources that these pages have been made.
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Nuestras líneas telefónicas
en Nabadwip a menudo son muy lentas,
asi que, por favor, envíen fotos razonablemente pequeñas.
Como una guía general, usen un programa para editar fotos en
su computadora que haga cada foto de una amplitud de 500 pixels máximo,
luego 'guárdenlas como...' ("Save as...") un archivo
jpeg con una calidad del cincuenta por ciento. Esto generalmente ofrecerá
un arreglo razonable entre la calidad de la foto y el tamaño
del archivo (documento).
 Si
ustedes envían fotos de eventos de la localidad,
será muy útil que las envíen ya preparadas en una
web-page lista para colocarse en nuestro site (portal o sitio en la
red) y/o en la computadora de Srila Gurudev. Si ustedes no han elaborado
antes web-pages, entonces traten de guardar (save) una de nuestras páginas
de fotos en su disco duro, después simplemente usen eso para
sustituirlo con sus propias fotos, títulos y encabezados. Sin
embargo, si no pueden enviar web-pages, por favor, continúen
enviando fotos. Srila Gurudev es el fan número uno de las fotos,
y las noticias de ustedes por medio de fotos es una fuente sustancial
de satisfacción para su Divina Gracia.
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