Planning Sites

StudioLine easily accommodates web site projects of any size. If all your web sites consist of only a small number of pages and files, then there is no need for advance planning. You can add an organizational scheme later, as your sites grow.

In contrast, some planning considerations apply for large web sites, possibly with several distinct sections, each with hundreds or even thousands of pages, plus associated images, media objects and other files. With StudioLine, a web design firm can easily manage large projects or an extensive list of client sites by organizing all associated files into folders.

 

Choosing Names

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Names for sites, pages, images and folders are internal to StudioLine. Descriptive names may be used without regard to character set limitations. Choosing sensible words and proper spelling improves the likelihood that you’ll later successfully find a page or image with the help of the StudioLine search feature.

Valid, permanent external names will be generated for the web server, when a page is first published by StudioLine. An external name closely resembles the initial internal name.

The advantage to separating internal from external names becomes apparent as the site grows or the structure of the site changes. With the StudioLine Explorer, a web master can freely rename objects or organize them in folders, even after the site has already been life for a while. External names and web addresses (URLs) are not effected by this reorganizing. Search engine positioning is maintained and visitors’ bookmarks continue to be valid.

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Using Folders

Folders may be created and maintained in StudioLine Explorer and from most panels that create or save an object. You can freely invent and revise any organizational scheme using StudioLine folders, without regard to the published site. Folders are used only to organize your work inside StudioLine, they do not become part of the external web site address (URL).

image\ebd_Ebd8.gifOrganizing with Folders

Sites

Most users may only maintain a very small number of sites, thus won’t require site folders. However, if you have a number of clients, some with an Intranet site, a staging site and a production Internet site, you could create a folder for each client to hold all related sites.

Layout Templates

If you are maintaining more than one site, each with multiple layout templates, it would be a good idea to organize your custom templates in folders per client and/or per site.

Pages

Grouping related pages into folders will help un-clutter a large site or to make use of automated folder links.

Image Archive

Image Archive folders may be created to represent clients, sites, subject areas, application or even periods of time. The best organization for you will depend on the type of images you collect over time.

StudioLine has a very powerful search engine to look for pictures across any folders. As long as you diligently store sensible descriptions with every picture, you’ll be able to locate them later in a snap.

The folders for the different object types are entirely separate of one another. One may choose to use folders for one type of object and not for another.

Sectioning a Large Web Site

Large web sites are often maintained by a team of web masters. Distinct sections, such as Products and Services, Customer Support, Corporate Public Relations may have different requirements or employ a specific look and feel. In StudioLine, one could treat each major web site section as a unique site. This way, each can be based on different layout defaults and be maintained on different workstations.

Sample Structure

Web Site Section URL
StudioLine Site
Remote Dir.

www.Kingfisher.StudioLine.net/Products/

Sites\Kingfisher\Products and Services

Products

www.Kingfisher.StudioLine.net/Support/

Sites\Kingfisher\Customer Support

Support

www.Kingfisher.StudioLine.net/Corporate/

Sites\Kingfisher\Corporate PR

Corporate

www.Kingfisher.StudioLine.net/

Sites\Kingfisher\Root

 

Creating a Site in a Folder

After you have worked on the Products and Services site, you can create any of the other sites in the “Sites\Kingfisher” folder, if this section is to be maintained from your workstation. If you ever make a mistake, simply use the StudioLine Explorer to rename or move existing sites into the correct folder.

Publishing Considerations

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Once a site is completed, it must be published to the respective subfolder on the web server. This is accomplished by specifying the appropriate “Remote Directory” in the publishing profile of a site.
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Implications when Linking

When sites are kept on a single workstation, then it is simple to create links between pages by using simple drag and drop. If multiple workstations are used to maintain distinct sections of a large site, then web designers have to manually enter appropriate URLs to link between pages contained in different StudioLine sites.