Microsoft Publisher - Break Large Site into Sections??? RE: Mike Koewler quote

Author

Break Large Site into Sections??? RE: Mike Koewler quote

chichi432

2007-04-25, 6:16 pm

This is Mike Koewler's quote from a previous thread:

"I'm personally not a huge fan of massive web sites, but I have built one
of over 100 pages. These days, I tend to break the site up into related
sections. If you have any questions, you can e-mail me or visit the forum"

I am having to redo a large website of over 100 pages of goods for sale and
so now is the time to get all the facts in order. This large website has had
problems uploading to ftp in the past also (and not sure what "unable to save
file" amounts to).

Anyway, what do you mean by "sections"? Is this something that I need to do
with my lg site? Please explain this process.

Mike Koewler

2007-04-25, 10:15 pm

Pub might have a slightly different way of doing this but here's the
basic idea.

Create a Master Page, or in Pub's case, a page that has all the items
you want on each page - sort of like a template. Give that file a name
like Main (for lack of a better, more descriptive one!). Pub all you
main pages in it.

For my example, I'm going to pick a used car dealer, who sells almost
new to well used vehicles. His main file has the info such as location,
reputation, way of doing business, if he takes weekly or bi-weekly
payments - things that apply to every car.

Now, our car dealer is a super-big one. He has dozens of different makes
and hundreds of models. So he would create sub-folders on his web site -
Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Kia, etc. He would also create a new file for each
make and call them something like Ford, Chevy, Toyota. Under Ford, his
pages would have different models, along with images or whatever. Same
with all the other makes.

On his Main page, he would have a link. This is the only thing that
takes more work. When creating a hyperlink, instead of choosing a page
in your site, you will need to pick An Internet Page (if Pub gives that
option) and type in the path. Say your web site is called
www.supercardealer.com. The link to the Fords would be
www.supercardealer.com/ford/ If you want a link back to your Home Page,
you would have to create the link - to an Internet Page and type in
www.supercardeal.com/ Same thing for links to other makes.

Why go through this trouble? If your site get huge, over 100 pages (or
maybe 50, if they are heavy with images, JS, etc., making a simple
update takes too long. Saving a 100 page site takes a lot longer than
saving a 25-page one. And heaven forbid, it the file ever becomes
corrupt, you have not lost 100 pages of work, only the ones in that one
file.

One last step - download the free version of Zoom Search from
www.wrensoft.com. Okay, I'm not affiliated with the company and I don't
make any money recommending it. But it's a darn good program, doesn't
have any ads, doesn't search the Internet and take people away from your
site and has lots of other goodies. Use it to index your entire site (it
will follow any links on your pages. Thus, if someone is looking for a
1992 Ford Taurus with less than a gazillion miles on it, if you have one
in your site, it will provide a link. The only thing is the free version
is limited to 50 pages (I think), but you can upgrade to 100 pages for
$50 if you wish. The paid version will also index any pdf, Excel or Word
documents in your site.

Though this example is for a car dealer, it applies to lots of sites
that have what could be called branches. I publish a weekly paper, so I
use subfolders and different files based on issues.

One other thing before I get off this platform and go water some plants
- upload your files to your server. but before you do that, close them
and reopen them. If they open, then upload them. That way, if your HD
crashes and burns or some other major catastrophe happens, you won't
lose a beat. Download the file and go back to work.

Hope this helps, but if it doesn't make sense, type back.

Mike

chichi432 wrote:

> This is Mike Koewler's quote from a previous thread:
>
> "I'm personally not a huge fan of massive web sites, but I have built one
> of over 100 pages. These days, I tend to break the site up into related
> sections. If you have any questions, you can e-mail me or visit the forum"
>
> I am having to redo a large website of over 100 pages of goods for sale and
> so now is the time to get all the facts in order. This large website has had
> problems uploading to ftp in the past also (and not sure what "unable to save
> file" amounts to).
>
> Anyway, what do you mean by "sections"? Is this something that I need to do
> with my lg site? Please explain this process.

chichi432

2007-04-25, 10:15 pm

Hello Mike, once again you have came through with a quick & thorough response
to my inquiry. It may take some thought to pull it off using publisher, but
it sounds like a super great idea and would probably solve my upload problems
as well. Everyone considering constructing a big site should deffinately read
this thread.

Your better than having a shrink to talk to, because you just pulled me out
of insanity! Thanks for the chance to make my life easier in the future.

"Mike Koewler" wrote:

> Pub might have a slightly different way of doing this but here's the
> basic idea.
>
> Create a Master Page, or in Pub's case, a page that has all the items
> you want on each page - sort of like a template. Give that file a name
> like Main (for lack of a better, more descriptive one!). Pub all you
> main pages in it.
>
> For my example, I'm going to pick a used car dealer, who sells almost
> new to well used vehicles. His main file has the info such as location,
> reputation, way of doing business, if he takes weekly or bi-weekly
> payments - things that apply to every car.
>
> Now, our car dealer is a super-big one. He has dozens of different makes
> and hundreds of models. So he would create sub-folders on his web site -
> Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Kia, etc. He would also create a new file for each
> make and call them something like Ford, Chevy, Toyota. Under Ford, his
> pages would have different models, along with images or whatever. Same
> with all the other makes.
>
> On his Main page, he would have a link. This is the only thing that
> takes more work. When creating a hyperlink, instead of choosing a page
> in your site, you will need to pick An Internet Page (if Pub gives that
> option) and type in the path. Say your web site is called
> www.supercardealer.com. The link to the Fords would be
> www.supercardealer.com/ford/ If you want a link back to your Home Page,
> you would have to create the link - to an Internet Page and type in
> www.supercardeal.com/ Same thing for links to other makes.
>
> Why go through this trouble? If your site get huge, over 100 pages (or
> maybe 50, if they are heavy with images, JS, etc., making a simple
> update takes too long. Saving a 100 page site takes a lot longer than
> saving a 25-page one. And heaven forbid, it the file ever becomes
> corrupt, you have not lost 100 pages of work, only the ones in that one
> file.
>
> One last step - download the free version of Zoom Search from
> www.wrensoft.com. Okay, I'm not affiliated with the company and I don't
> make any money recommending it. But it's a darn good program, doesn't
> have any ads, doesn't search the Internet and take people away from your
> site and has lots of other goodies. Use it to index your entire site (it
> will follow any links on your pages. Thus, if someone is looking for a
> 1992 Ford Taurus with less than a gazillion miles on it, if you have one
> in your site, it will provide a link. The only thing is the free version
> is limited to 50 pages (I think), but you can upgrade to 100 pages for
> $50 if you wish. The paid version will also index any pdf, Excel or Word
> documents in your site.
>
> Though this example is for a car dealer, it applies to lots of sites
> that have what could be called branches. I publish a weekly paper, so I
> use subfolders and different files based on issues.
>
> One other thing before I get off this platform and go water some plants
> - upload your files to your server. but before you do that, close them
> and reopen them. If they open, then upload them. That way, if your HD
> crashes and burns or some other major catastrophe happens, you won't
> lose a beat. Download the file and go back to work.
>
> Hope this helps, but if it doesn't make sense, type back.
>
> Mike
>
> chichi432 wrote:
>
>

chichi432

2007-04-25, 10:15 pm

Before I get started in seperating things.....There's one very important
question...

Can I use my java script shopping cart (that I only use to make a "shopping
list", secure checkout not included). The java script code is in an external
file and links to the site pages through html. I am using part of the
"nopcart" script.

This is the only concern that I can think of. Thanks.

"Mike Koewler" wrote:

> Pub might have a slightly different way of doing this but here's the
> basic idea.
>
> Create a Master Page, or in Pub's case, a page that has all the items
> you want on each page - sort of like a template. Give that file a name
> like Main (for lack of a better, more descriptive one!). Pub all you
> main pages in it.
>
> For my example, I'm going to pick a used car dealer, who sells almost
> new to well used vehicles. His main file has the info such as location,
> reputation, way of doing business, if he takes weekly or bi-weekly
> payments - things that apply to every car.
>
> Now, our car dealer is a super-big one. He has dozens of different makes
> and hundreds of models. So he would create sub-folders on his web site -
> Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Kia, etc. He would also create a new file for each
> make and call them something like Ford, Chevy, Toyota. Under Ford, his
> pages would have different models, along with images or whatever. Same
> with all the other makes.
>
> On his Main page, he would have a link. This is the only thing that
> takes more work. When creating a hyperlink, instead of choosing a page
> in your site, you will need to pick An Internet Page (if Pub gives that
> option) and type in the path. Say your web site is called
> www.supercardealer.com. The link to the Fords would be
> www.supercardealer.com/ford/ If you want a link back to your Home Page,
> you would have to create the link - to an Internet Page and type in
> www.supercardeal.com/ Same thing for links to other makes.
>
> Why go through this trouble? If your site get huge, over 100 pages (or
> maybe 50, if they are heavy with images, JS, etc., making a simple
> update takes too long. Saving a 100 page site takes a lot longer than
> saving a 25-page one. And heaven forbid, it the file ever becomes
> corrupt, you have not lost 100 pages of work, only the ones in that one
> file.
>
> One last step - download the free version of Zoom Search from
> www.wrensoft.com. Okay, I'm not affiliated with the company and I don't
> make any money recommending it. But it's a darn good program, doesn't
> have any ads, doesn't search the Internet and take people away from your
> site and has lots of other goodies. Use it to index your entire site (it
> will follow any links on your pages. Thus, if someone is looking for a
> 1992 Ford Taurus with less than a gazillion miles on it, if you have one
> in your site, it will provide a link. The only thing is the free version
> is limited to 50 pages (I think), but you can upgrade to 100 pages for
> $50 if you wish. The paid version will also index any pdf, Excel or Word
> documents in your site.
>
> Though this example is for a car dealer, it applies to lots of sites
> that have what could be called branches. I publish a weekly paper, so I
> use subfolders and different files based on issues.
>
> One other thing before I get off this platform and go water some plants
> - upload your files to your server. but before you do that, close them
> and reopen them. If they open, then upload them. That way, if your HD
> crashes and burns or some other major catastrophe happens, you won't
> lose a beat. Download the file and go back to work.
>
> Hope this helps, but if it doesn't make sense, type back.
>
> Mike
>
> chichi432 wrote:
>
>

Mike Koewler

2007-04-25, 10:15 pm

I can't see any reason why you couldn't - it is basically a hyperlink
with encoding. But while you are redoing your site, why not look into
using PayPal or even Ma's e-commerce as your shopping cart. You won't
have to worry about someone not having JavaScript enabled and the data
they supply is excellent.

Mike

chichi432 wrote:
[color=darkred]
> Before I get started in seperating things.....There's one very important
> question...
>
> Can I use my java script shopping cart (that I only use to make a "shopping
> list", secure checkout not included). The java script code is in an external
> file and links to the site pages through html. I am using part of the
> "nopcart" script.
>
> This is the only concern that I can think of. Thanks.
>
> "Mike Koewler" wrote:
>
>