XML DRIVEN WEB SITE FOR A SCHOOL NEWSPAPER
solution b y :
A school newspaper is almost always an upstart. It has small amounts of
content. The main aim is to let the students get hands on experience in
journalism before they move on.
The emphasis is on giving a "taste" of it;
- a bit of all, - in a tasteful style.
THE CONCEPT
The information that the site presents is kept in a ->flat file in XML format.
The layout of the pages in the site is defined independently of the info in XML.
A ->set of tools help regenerate the site automatically when a well formed
XML base is given.
Another set of tools help maintain the XML base by incremental additions
such as new articles, new announcements, or on the fly comments from the
site visitors.
All editing is done on the editors PC and only what is added or changed among
those pages to be displayed is uploaded to the server.
THE VISION
The characteristic "small-amount-of-data" gives some advantages:
- Simple technical setup:
Site data may be handled by one or more XML files with a manageable size.
All data and programs needed for it may fit into a small USB memory stick.
All editing and administration may be carried out from a regular PC.
The use of XML as format for data gives these:
- Authors and site manager freed of layout concerns:
A few XSLT procedures may be used to generate the final files to be
posted to web or printed.
The use of web pages as UI with behind the scenes business logic:
- Reduced effort for operation of the site :
Some simple script may help regenerate only those files that need be
added/changed/printed each time content changes are put in.
- Authors freed of XML syntax worries:
A web wizard (series of webforms) may help write articles
and equip it with necessary metadata (timestamp, marks for
category, author, title, summary, paragraphs, quotations,
links, subtitles, images, comments by readers).
- Administrative policies' enforcing automated :
Similar web wizards may help enforce policies (approval by
responsible editors before publishing, flagging of comments
by fellow readers that are watching for offensive content).
THE SPECIFICATION
VERSIONS AND USE CASES (SCENARIOS OF USE):
VERSION-0 : Basic
0- manually edited pages/visitors may only read. Contact page has form for email,
all pages have field for search (kvasir).
VERSION-1 : reader comments/ads anonymous but contactable by email
1.- Readers will be able to comment the article, receive a confirmation mail, respond to
confirm that the comment is indeed submitted by the person with this valid email address.
2.- Editor will be able to review and approve or reject comments. If the editor finds it
appropriate the comment may be added to the relevant page automatically, if not the
commentator may be informed of the decision and the reason for it.
3.- Readers will be able to post small ads using the same email verification mechanisms
VERSION-2 : simple automated page generation
4.- Readers come to first page to get an overview
5.- Readers go to an article to read the article itself
6.- Readers may fill a form to contact the editor
7.- Editor maintains the site.xml file, generates the firstpage, article pages automatically
8.- RSS: Enabling to check our site automatically or aggregate our news links with others'
VERSION-3 : class and case as article grouping/navigation concepts
9.- Readers go to class page to get overview on articles of the same class (kultur, sport)
10.- Readers go to case page to get an overview of articles on the same case
11.- Editor maintains the site.xml file, generates the class and case pages automatically
VERSION-4 : class, case and external links in the article page automatically
12.- Readers will find on an article page other articles on the same or similar cases
13.- Readers will find on an article page links to external resources on the subject
14.- Editor maintains the site.xml file, generates the links in the article page automatically
15.- Editor can generate overview of exiting categories, cases, links etc...
VERSION-5 : author/editor help using wizards
16.- Authors will be able to enter their stories from a web page that lets them see how the
result will look and make corrections before submitting it finally.
17.- Editor will be able to review and approve or reject stories, then combine the result
automatically into the publication.
VERSION-6
18.- Local search : As content volume increases
IMPLEMENTATION STATUS
Data:
All that needs to be changed if the setup should be used for another shool newspaper
Almost all data used in the site is in the latest version gathered in one XML file.
This file exists only on the responsible editors PC; is not uploaded to the ISP web
server.
Pictures:
These are data but they are available as separate files. The XML data refers to these.
Picture files are uploaded and shown in other pages. They are gathered in one folder.
Layout:
All that needs to be changed in case the setup should produce a new layout for the
same content.
All files needed for the specific layout are gathered in one folder.
They are almost independent of the content i.e. very little needs to be changed here
in case the setup should be used with another look for this shool newspaper.
Only a cascading style sheet and a javascript file for protection of email
adresses from email harvesters need to be uploaded to the ISP web server.
Administration:
Almost all the logic that is needed to run the newspaper is gathered in one folder.
They are almost independent of the content i.e. very little needs to be changed here
in case the setup should be used for another shool newspaper, or in case a
complete different layout for the web pages should be implemented.
None of this needs to be uploaded to the ISP web server.
In future there may be pages to help reporters to send in complete articles and
pictures; these would have to be uploaded and may be also protected with password.
Change log:
2005.03.13 - Designed error page.
2005.03.xx - Designed article example
2005.03.xx - Designed the front page example.
2005.03.xx - Designed the contact example.
2005.03.xx - Updated this readme.html file with the long term view
2005.03.xx - Enabled Search against kvasir for searches within Norway
2005.03.xx - Added web e-mailform
At this stage the newspaper may be published with careful hand editing of html
2005.03.xx - Protected e-mail addresses against spammers spiders
2005.03.15 - uploaded the simple demo version to "fingerprints.no/skoleavisen"
the only full article was borrowed from another shool newspaper.
2005.03.xx - Coded style-loc/frontview.xsl
2005.03.xx - added display of one article thru style-loc/articleview.xsl
2005.03.xx - added display of comments thru style-loc/articleview.xsl
2005.03.26 - uploaded the simple demo version to "fingerprints.no/skoleavisen"
the only full article being now original material.
2005.03.xx - added form for comments in article page thru style-loc/articleview.xsl
2005.03.xx - added commands to regenerate page for first page and kontakt page.
2005.03.28 - added commands to regenerate page for arbitrary article number.
At this stage the newspaper may be published with careful hand editing of XML file
but automatic generation of all new HTML pages and still unautomated/manual upload
2005.03.30 - added commands to extract and show XML fragment for arbitrary article number.
2005.03.31 - uploaded production version with the two very first articles.
all was automatically generated, but we kept the first original demo article
with nice fatures that are not yet automated (links, editorscomment, etc..).
2005.04.03 - Developed page with tabs to display site data (no editing, no aticle content yet).
2005.04.03 - Restructured the way files are stored to increase modularity.
2005.04.03 - Registered the site at google and kvasir.
2005.04.03 - Restructured the site added new article and comments.
2005.04.10 - Added about-us page with link info (all old links work now) and latest comments.
2005.06.03 - Added automatic syndication interface (others may refer to and present the
content automatically).
2005.11.18 - Added a page for authors, an x-forms page to help authors see their article
in near final appearance, and ease some of the tedious xml editing from
the shoulders of the site maintainer. The page is slow to open. It uses
an X-forms implementation in javascript thus not requiring ISP permission
but requiring a javascript enabled browser to be useful.
2005.11.26 - Repaired email form that had stopped working due to changes in ISP practice
2006.01.18 - Added robots.txt to help search engines use less time on the site
At this stage the newspaper may be published with much less hand editing of XML,
automatic generation of all new HTML pages but still unautomated/manual upload
Planned changes
- Automate better the building of article's XML fragment (also the adding of comments).
- Automate regeneration of the new/changed web pages.
- Automate upload to web server of the ISP.
- Automate incremental regeneration and upload (just what needs to be changed).
- Automate comment verification using .asp scripts on server side.
- Add automatic category pages (not needed early with few articles)
- Add automatic local search (not needed early with few articles)
- Add automatic case pages (not needed early with one article for each)
- Add registering of visitors, to start forming a community also from outside the school.