Internal website authoring guide

Overview

We currently use Microsoft Frontpage to provide a collaborative environment for website authoring.

The website "Author" is the person (or team) who create and update the web pages. The website "Admin" is a technical person who looks after the inner-workings of the web, and any tasks that require programming. Good practice is to allocate different folders to each team. The Admin (tech) looks after the following folders:

/_private, /Admin, /Images, /Inc, /MailLists, /Scripts and the "root" folder

and the Author looks after

/Htms and all folders below it

It's important the web author does not accidentally delete or change anything outside the Htms structure, as this would stop the whole site from working!

The Htms folder structure

The web is slightly different than creating stand-alone Word documents, in that you have the power to cross-link from one topic to another - the end user doesn't know (or care) where each document is stored. Conversely, the web is not so forgiving if a document gets moved or renamed. For these reasons, it's best to choose a simple folder structure, but to LEAVE things where they are once in place. Adding a new folder is no problem, but renaming or deleting could well be, so always first and check dependent hyperlinks. A logical strategy for these folders would be to have ONE folder for each MAJOR category of the navigation system (see below).

The Navigation System

The navigation system uses scripting to offer super-fast expandable menus. This avoids screen clutter and means you can get to nearly all information with two clicks. It also allows you to keep the menus in view while the pages are being read (no need for a "back" button). The downside of this is that it requires a technical person to make any changes to it (at least in the short term).

Consistent styles and avoiding fonts

One of the advantages of using the web, is that you can easily achieve consistent "look and feel" across all pages provided you follow some simple guidelines.

• Plan styles and formatting in advance
• Use heading levels
• Do NOT use the "font" facility! (this is actually illegal now)
• Use the tools to create bullets and numbered lists, don't just type them in
• Don't use underline (it looks too much like a hyperlink)

Best practice is to have just ONE stylesheet for the whole website. All you then have to do is "link" any new page to it. This gives you the power to change the look of the WHOLE website by just changing one simple file. If you had 100 Word documents, you'd have to open each one to achieve the same.