I found it difficult to edit my pages with the templates as they are
because I like to use a WYSIWYG editor (I use, sigh, FrontPage) to edit
my HTML. But because the HTML is in a PHP variable in the current
template, FrontPage won't edit it. So I changed the template around to
this: (the bolds are the standard template text; the rest of it is
things I added)
<?php
include("first-header-file.php");
require_once($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] .
"/projects/fragments/project-list.php");
$listhtml = "<ul>" . project_list_as_html(
"home-page-one-liner.html" ) . "</ul>";
include("last-header-file.php");
?>
<div id="maincontent">
<div id="midcolumn">
<h1>Projects</h1>
<h3>Top-Level Projects</h3>
<?= $listhtml ?>
<p>This is a paragraph of text.
</div>
</div>
<?
include($App->getFooterPath($theme));
?>
I find this easier to work with because I can use FrontPage. Susan,
have you tried this with Dreamweaver or whatever you are using?
My "first-header-file.php" contains:
<?php
require_once($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] .
"/eclipse.org-common/system/app.class.php");
require_once($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] .
"/eclipse.org-common/system/nav.class.php");
require_once($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] .
"/eclipse.org-common/system/menu.class.php"); $App = new
App(); $Nav = new Nav(); $Menu = new Menu();
include($App->getProjectCommon()); # All on the same line to
unclutter the user's desktop'
?>
And my last-header-file.php contains:
<?php
include($App->getHeaderPath($theme));
include($App->getMenuPath($theme));
include($App->getNavPath($theme));
?>
It would be even better for me if the CSS style sheet were referenced
in the html file rather than having it hidden in the $App object. That
way FrontPage would understand the CSS and I could see the page more
closely laid out the way it's really going to look. Of course then I
would only have one theme, but I think multiple themes is silly anyway.
I am quite worried that if even I, a PhD software nerd, find this
current template scheme difficult to understand, the project teams are
going to rebel and never use this. Yes, I know, if I spend enough time
figuring it out, I understand how all the files and includes and
objects work, but I don't want to spend my time doing that. And I'm
only spending my time learning that because one of my MBOs is forcing
me to. I shouldn't need to be a software engineer to edit my website.
If I were a project lead, who doesn't really care about the website to
begin with (and you know they don't are - look at the sub-sites they produce - if
they cared, the sites would be much better), then I
would just throw up my hands and say "I'm going to leave my site with
the old look". We don't want that.
I realize that it's a little late in the process for me to say "I don't
like this" which is why I'm trying to find a way to use the existing
PHP code with my WYSIWYG editor. But I worry that we are heading for a Macintosh
Portable style disaster. I think we need to get a number of
projects (four or five) to try this out and give an opinion before we
roll it out and try to convince/force _everyone_ to use it.
Or maybe my worries are just the fact that I'm still working at 12:30am
and I should go to sleep...
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