release <#2.0.0#>
«LGSP» is an environment for creating the initial version of a site: By evaluating a configuration file LGSP automatically generates all demanded files of your site. Then these pages already respect the wished visual design. And for generating and editing such LGSP configuration files LGSP also offers a full elaborated HTML-frontend:
By this frontend you are not only able to determine the whole logical structure but also the outfit of your site: You write your wishes into the «LGSP configuration file», which then will be used by the site generator « lgsp.php». This tool generates and links all full elaborated framepages and template versions of all contentpages which together constitute your site. And because of the HTML-frontend you can directly let recreate your site. Therefore you can directly view the made changings.
« LGSP » is offered as
GNU tarball. Therefore you can install it by using the three default steps
configure --prefix=$HTTP_SERVER_DOCUMENT_ROOT
make
make install
But - as you might expect - there are some special points which must be respected:
chmod -R ga+w $HTTP_SERVER_DOCUMENT_ROOT/lgsp/build
(Replace $HTTP_SERVER_DOCUMENT_ROOT
by the value of the attribute --prefix). Note:
« LGSP » is not intended
to become online: it should be a local tool on a local machine
for generating a site which itself later will be moved on a real server.
After having installed « LGSP » you should
start your browser and call the url
http://localhost/lgsp/index.html # or
http://127.0.0.1/lgsp/index.html
Now you see the frontend of LGSP which is nothing more than
a site which has been designed and generated by LGSP itself.
You don't like the design? Ok. You could play with the configuration file
lgsp.cfg.inc and generate a redesigned interface.
Nevertheless we can use the LGSP frontend as an explaining
example for LGSP generated sites:
After having started the LGSP frontend you see four areas:
Using LGSP is now nothing more than browsing the LGSP site in the wellknown manner.
For a user of LGSP generating a site is nothing more then editing a configuration file. Therefore one must be able
Using the mainmenu entry «Site Configuration» you find one submenu entry for each of these capabilities:
After having installed LGSP you will find some example configuration files like «default.cfg.inc», «example.cfg.inc» or «lgsp.cfg.inc». You can test these entries using these files.
Generally spoken there's only one little delicacy if you want to generate a site by one configuration file: Each mainmenu entry has a submenu. And each submenu entry is linked to one target file. Hence you may think of a mainmenu entry as a subsite of your site (And by exactly this method LGSP has been implemented: it creates a specific directory for each mainmenu entry). Now normally there exist some default values which should be valid for all pages of all subsites if there has not been determined anything other for such a page. And sometimes one wishes that some values are valid for all pages of one subsite but not for those of the other subsites. And last but not least sometimes one special page shall especially designed.
To solve that problem LGSP uses overwritable configuration parameters. And the configuration itself is organized as a top-down procedure:
Select site configuration/generate file and insert a new filename. You will get the corresponding initial configuration file. It contains a mainmenu with one mainmenu entry. And the mainmenu entry itself has a submenu which contains one submenu entry. You can view the generated configuration file by using the entry site configuration/show all parameters. But note: the view option supresses unset values (= empty strings). Therefore at the beginning the visible set of values is still very small. You will find all changable values if you call the formulars for editing the configuration file. (Note: Empty values will generally be ignored by evaluating the configuration file.)
Select site configuration/change global parameters. You will reach a formular for editing all editable configruation values.
Configuring the mainmenu means
Select mainmenu configuration/add entry. As result you will find a new mainmenu entry at the end of the mainmenu. This entry can now be edited.
Select mainmenu configuration/delete entry and select the id (name) of the mainmenu entry which shall be deleted. As result the corresponding mainmenu entry has been erased.
Select mainmenu configuration/change entry and select the id (name) of the mainmenu entry which shall be changed. You will reach a formular for editing the editable configruation values.
Select mainmenu configuration/resort mainmenu. You will reach a formular where you can give each mainmenu entry a new number. The sequence of numbers determine the new order of the mainmenu.
Configuring the submenu means
Select submenu configuration/add entry and select the id (name) of the mainmenu entry whose submenu shall be expanded. As result you will find a new entry at the end of the corresponding submenu.
Select submenu configuration/delete entry, select the id (name) of the mainmenu entry whose submenu shall be reduced and select the id (name) of the submenu entry which shall be deleted. As result the corresponding submenu entry has been erased.
Select submenu configuration/change entry, select the id (name) of the mainmenu entry of whose submenu an entry shall changed and select the id (name) of the submenu entry itself which shall be changed. You will reach a formular for editing the editable configruation values.
Select submenu configuration/resort submenu and select the id (name) of the mainmenu entry whose submenu shall be (re)sorted. You will reach a formular where you can give each submenu entry a new number. The sequence of numbers determine the new order of the submenu.
Select site generation/generate new site and determine the name of that configuration file whose corresponding site shall be generated. Physically you will find the whole generated site inside of the directory $DOCUMENT_ROOT/lgsp/build/$SITE_ID. But you can directly browse your generated site by using the entry site generation/visit generated site where you must determine the name of that configuration file whose corresponding site you want to see.
In a special sense the outfit of your site is determined by the logical structure too. How to influence that aspect of your site has been explained by the chapters above. For determining the optical outfit of your site you can use very many configuration variables. These variables normally are already presented as groups:
Here is thematical list of wishes how one may want to design it's sites:
Inside of the section «values for writing the index page of a subsite» you find the two parameters "MENU_AREA_HEIGHT" and "GUIDE_AREA_WIDTH": By the first you determine the height of the menuarea where the mainmenu will be presented. (The width is automatically determined by the browser). And by the second you determine the width of the guidearea where the submenus will be presented (The height is automatically determined by the browser). If you found unwished scrollers you should increment the values. But note: you should test your design by using different browsers.
Inside of the section «values for writing more than one page of a subsite» you find a set of variables by which you can determine the wished colors. If you insert a background-picture, this picture must manually be put into the image directory of your site.
Inside of the section «values for writing the logo page of a subsite» you find the two parameters "LOGO" and "LOGO_TOP_MARGIN": If you insert the name of a logo-picture the corresponding file must manually be put into the image directory of your site. By the value "LOGO_TOP_MARGIN" you can determine the distance between the top border of the browser area and the top border of the image itself. Hence incrementing this value means shifting the logo downwards
Using the parameters of the section «values for writing the menu page of a subsite» you can create many different menus:
Inside of the section «values for writing the guide page of a subsite» you find the two parameters "MME_MARKER" and "WITH_IMPRESSUM":
Copyright (C) 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Karsten Reincke
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.