The system is very easy to use for creating new websites. Websites using the system may be very easily maintained and there are many additional useful features too. Any website can take advantage of search technology, alternative designs (e.g. text version), statistics etc. Sophisticated transition to HTML allows creating static webpages with "nice names" and the customer doesn't have to know the fact the system has been used.
In the case study Doctor Starling asked the company to create a small website for him. The texts are delivered in a Word document - notes.doc (28 kB). The customer buys a webhosting with PHP support and one MySQL database. The customer plans to update his website regularly. The design has been proposed and the customer has approved it.
See the final webpages for better understanding.
STEP 1 - adjusting scripts
The data (i.e. files, static webpages and display scripts) will be stored at the customer's server and accessed via FTP. The display scripts are the same for all webpages. They must be only copied to the server. The only specific script is design-inc.php that contains the design definition. The script consists of the HTML with several predefined functions added. These functions are easy to use and they link the design with the system and data.
See design-inc.php of the Doctor Starling's webpage:
STEP 2 - adjusting database
The customer has its own MySQL database. The minimum database containing the structure and several basic data (one section, design etc.) must be created. Usually a SQL file is uploaded via phpMyAdmin.
Necessary variables defining filepaths, FTP and database access etc. must be set. Some of the variables must be defined twice (for use in the system whilst editing and at the customer's server used by the display scripts).
STEP 3 - filling data
The previous steps connected the system with the customer's server and now it is ready for filling in the data. The documents are created.
The texts of the webpages provided by the customer in the Word file, are easily copied to the created webpages using the WYSIWYG editor.
When the documents are filled, the navigation menu must be set. There is a simple interface to do it.
STEP 4 - saving static webpages
Because the website is small and only sometimes updated, it's wise to save the pages as static. "Nice names" of the static pages may be used:
RESULT
The website has been finished. The customer can see only the final static webpages. If there is a need of statistics, search, navigation-bar and other features, they may be easily added (e.g. statistics - just add "GetStatisticsHTML()" into the design file). As you can see at the final webpages, there is available a text version of the website, even though no special step to do it was mentioned (in fact there was one, but it took only about 30 seconds).
