Creating and Editing HTML/Template Files: Bibliographic Class

BibClass relies on default templates for the "simple" and "advanced" search interfaces and builds these from variables in the collection database, as presented through collmgr. An index.tpl is required for each collection and placed at /{DLXSROOT}/web/c/collid. Instructions on editing the index.tpl are provided below. It is also possible to build specialized web pages (e.g., a browse page for a relatively small collection) and link these from index.tpl.

Editing index.tpl for a Collection

A sample index.tpl is provided as a working example of an index.tpl. Items that should be added or changed are in curly braces (e.g., { }).

  1. Add the HEAD element with the following components: 
      <head>
    <title> </title>
    <meta content="template generated html">
    <link rel="MADE" href="mailto:">
    <link rel="STYLESHEET" type="text/css" href="$STYLE_SHEET_URL">
    <link rel="STYLESHEET" type="text/css" href="$STYLE_SHEET_SPECIFIC_URL">
  </head>
    Provide a title for the collection and add the "help" e-mail address in the LINK element, as in LINK rel="MADE" href="mailto:umdl-help@umich.edu".
  2. You may choose to add a banner or textual title for the collection within the body of the template.
  3. You may choose to provide one or more paragraphs of descriptive text about the collection within the body of the template.
  4. Provide links to the "simple" and "advanced" search pages using the template variables $SIMPLE_SEARCH_LINK and $BOOLEAN_SEARCH_LINK, e.g.: 
                  <p align="left">
                <a href="$SIMPLE_SEARCH_LINK">
                  <font size="4">Simple Search</font> </a>
                Search for a word or phrase in a title, a main heading or anywhere in the entry. 
              </p>
              
              <p align="left">
                <a href="$BOOLEAN_SEARCH_LINK">
                  <font size="4">Advanced Search</font></a>
                Search for combinations of words or phrases in a title, main heading or anywhere in the entry.
              </p>
  5. You may also provide links to other web pages with embedded links to support activities such as browsing.
  6. Add a link to help pages about a particular collection using the $COLLECTION_HELP variable. The following is one form this might take: 
       <center><p><a href="$COLLECTION_HELP">Help</a></center>

Creating Additional Web Pages

Information will be provided about creating supporting web pages for other types of access (e.g., browsing). For working examples of this, please see the Digital Library Federation's Digital Library Documents collection.