From spc@conman.org Tue May 2 13:22:28 2006 From: spc@conman.org To: test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org Subject: collection management system for web? Date: Tue, 02 May 2006 14:22:28 -0400 Message-ID: <20060502182228.D3FA573029@linus.area51.conman.org> In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="===============8476954285241678543==" --===============8476954285241678543== Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable It was thus said that the Great Richard once stated: >=20 >=20 > In article <003f01c66d7b$a4ba0fe0$21fe54a6 at ibm23xhr06>, > "John Allain" writes: >=20 > > How I used to publish simple databases. >=20 > Yeah, but what's evolving on my web space is no longer just a simple > inventory list. I want to include interpretive histories, links to > online documentation and software, hardware serial numbers, photos, > etc. Its becoming a big pile of metadata and although I can still > manage it manually, I can also see that this will no longer be the > case in a little while. >=20 > There was a similar "do it yourself" set of advice when it came to > cataloging my books, but instead was the > perfect answer to my problems. I don't want to write my own PHP/MySQL > collection/database management system. (Hell, if I didn't want to be > a database monkey in 1978 when learning RSTS/E on the PDP-11/70, I > sure as hell don't want to be a database monkey in 2006!) >=20 > If noone is using a content management system that they like and would > care to recommend, that's fine, but I thought I'd ask first. I converted my website [1] from hand crafted HTML pages to XML, then use XSLT to convert it to HTML. A typical fragment would look like: The title of the page March 3, 2000 sample, keywords, example A sample page that to show the structure I use

Some verbiage in HTML format about the page.

The actual contents of the page, in HTML.

 Another fragment (an actual fragment from my photo gallery which generates http://www.conman.org/people/spc/photos/top10/car.html): A Long Lost Chevy Nova Vroom vroom car, junk yard “A moving car gathers no moss.” Junk Yard, Powerline Rd south of Copans, Pompano, Florida, Unit= ed States 1991 =20

Okay, so it's technically not moss on the car, but this picture does get several comments, mostly “How did you do that?” and “That's not real, is it?” Yes, it is real. And that is the real picture; it hasn't been doctored at all.

So, how did I get that picture? Well, I went with my friend Greg to a local junk yard and happened to have my camera along. This car was perched up on a rack, covered in ivy.

 The XSLT files not only convert everything to HTML, but also generate all the navigation links as well. For the XML file, I just created whatever tags I needed so I can include as much meta data as I want within each segment. Writing the XSLT was a bitch, but now that I have that done, I don't have to worry about it (and the "look" of the site is provided by CSS anyway). Adding new contents is quite easy now. -spc (Once the HTML files are generated, I then use rsync to upload only thost pages that actually changed to the server) [1] http://www.conman.org/people/spc/ --===============8476954285241678543==--