Flak Magazine: Posting Guidelines

In order to post content to Flak's front page, there are five files you must update. For this example, let's say you were posting a film review of The Majestic. Here are the files you'll need to update:

/index.html – Flak's front page.

/admin.html – Flak's administration page.

/film/majestic.html – The film review you're posting.

/film/archives.html – The film archives page.

/film/film_includes/nav_film.html – The left-hand navigation bar for film.

Updating is all about list management. Imagine a list like this:

1) Star Wars
2) Apocalypse Now
3) Three Kings

All of Flak's lists (on index.html, popup_film.html, and nav_film.html) have the most recent piece of content on top. When you add new content to a list, you do it by replacing the oldest piece of content with your new piece of content, like this:

1) Star Wars
2) Apocalypse Now
3) The Majestic

And then moving the newest piece of content from the bottom slot to the top, like this:

1) The Majestic
2) Star Wars
3) Apocalypse Now

Result: The oldest piece of content is snipped, and the newest piece goes to the top of the list.

/index.html

Index.html is the trickiest of the files to update. It has nine main menu items in the central column, and then a bank of three text links for each section.

The text links go to the three most recent pieces of content in that section NOT already among the main menu items.

So, let's say our nine main pieces of content look like this:

FILM Kandahar 1-18-02 by Jessica Chapel
REJECTED Cyrus Vance 1-18-02 by Greg P. Freeman
FEATURES Best of Music 2001 by Flak Staff
MISC Oral Cancer Ads 1-17-02 by James Norton
TV 24-Episode 8 1-16-02 by Sean Weitner
BOOKS Cave-In 1-15-02 by James Norton
OPINION Too Much Butter 1-14-02 by Luciano D'Orazio
TV The Family Guy 1-14-02 by Ben Wikler
SPORTS Kick Out the Sports! 1-13-02 by Bob Cook
BOOKS Before and After 1-13-02 by James Norton

Since we want to add The Majestic, we'll be clipping "Before and After." But "Before and After" needs to be warehoused in the three book links, first. So:

1. Copy the title "Before and After" along with the link to the review.

2. Go to the Books links, which now look like this:

Books:
The War Against Cliché
Schnitzler's Century
Samuel Johnson is Indignant

3. Copy "Before or After" over "Samuel Johnson," and then move it to the top of the list. 4. Make sure the class="navlink" in the newest of the three book links that you just updated. It was just "link" when it was in main column.

Now, you can overwrite "Before and After" on the front page with The Majestic.

To do so, you will need to change the following:

1. Change the image from /books/images/beforeafter100.jpg to /film/images/majestic150.jpg

2. Change the section head of "Books" to "Film"

3. Change "Before and After" to The Majestic

4. Change "by James Norton" to "by Rasheed Newson"

5. Change the summary of "Before and After" to the summary for The Majestic, which you'll write on the spot unless someone's emailed it to you in advance

6. Change the link to "Before and After" (/books/beforeafter.html) to The Majestic (/film/majestic.html). NOTE that there are two places the link appears – around the title, and around the image.

7. Change the first "TD width" from 110 to 160, and the second from 270 to 220. 8. Change the "width" and the "height" of the image from 100 to 150. Et voila. Now, grab the entire review item, from

to

inclusive and move it from the ninth slot to the top slot. 8. Go down to the item that was demoted from top slot to second slot, Kandahar. Change its image from kandahar150.jpg to kandahar100.jpg. 9. Change Kandahar's "width" and "height" to 100. 10. Change Kandahar's first "TD width" from 160 to 110, and the second from 220 to 270. You're done with index.html, and the front-page order now looks like this:

FILM The Majestic 1-20-02 by Rasheed Newson
FILM Kandahar 1-18-02 by Jessica Chapel
REJECTED Cyrus Vance 1-18-02 by Greg P. Freeman
FEATURES Best of Music 2001 by Flak Staff
MISC Oral Cancer Ads 1-17-02 by James Norton
TV 24-Episode 8 1-16-02 by Sean Weitner
BOOKS Cave-In 1-15-02 by James Norton
OPINION Too Much Butter 1-14-02 by Luciano D'Orazio
TV The Family Guy 1-14-02 by Ben Wikler
SPORTS Kick Out the Sports! 1-13-02 by Bob Cook

Fortunately, the other files are all much easier.

/admin.html

This is a snap. Find the listing for the item you're putting onto the front page. Delete it.

/film/majestic.html

Similarly easy. Go up to the date in the TITLE section of the file, which should be something like 01-xx-02. Just put the date you're posting the review, 01-20-02, for example.

/film/archives.html

Just grab any of the pre-existing film archive entries, copy it, and overwrite all the old information with your new author name, director name, film name, summary, date, and link.

Put the new entry in the correct part of the archives, alphabetically.

/film/film_includes/nav_film.html

There are a listing of ten films here. Overwrite the tenth with The Majestic, the new director and the new link.

Move it to the top of the list.

And that's it. If you've got questions about posting, you can email jim@flakmag.com or eric@flakmag.com.