Required Site Setup

Terms and Definitions

Root folder:

The folder of the web site, containing all of it's files and sub folders. The root folder for the Financial Aid site, http://www.umassd.edu/financialaid/, is /financialaid/. Every site has one root folder, and only one. The root folder may be within another folder, as in the Health Department's site, /studentaffairs/health/, which is in the Student Affairs site, /studentaffairs/.

Required Files and Folders

Application.cfm

Every site must have one and only one Application.cfm. The file name must be spelled "Application.cfm" with a capital "A" and all other letters lowercase. No other file may be named Application.cfm. It must be located in the root folder of the site.

In this file, the first content must be:

<cfapplication name="name_of_site" clientmanagement="Yes" sessionmanagement="Yes" clientstorage="Registry">

<cfinclude template="/xtras/sessionvars.cfm">

<cfset application.path="/path_to_root_folder/">
<cfset application.sitetitle="Site Title Text">

<!--- Additional Variables and Settings Go Beneath Here --->
[optional supplementary content]

Where:

• name_of_site is the name of the site, in one word, in lowercase.
• /path_to_root_folder/ is the root folder of your site.
• Site Title Text" is the title of the site. For example, "Financial Aid" or "Student Affairs" or "Health".
• [optional supplementary content] is anything extra in the Application.cfm that was there already, for example, variable declarations for online applications.

This also addresses the required site variables, application.path and application.sitetitle.

The following should be deleted from the Application.cfm:

• -<cflock scope="session" type="exclusive" timeout="5" throwontimeout="no">
  
  <cfparam name="session.text" default="off">
  <cfif IsDefined('URL.text') IS "True">
  <cfset session.text = URL.text>
  <cfelseif CGI.HTTP_USER_AGENT CONTAINS "Lynx">
  <cfset session.text = "On">
  </cfif>
  <cfset session.meta="-">
  </cflock>
• <cfinclude template="leftmenu.cfm"> - Refer to the site menu documentation for instructions on how to convert an old-style left menu into a modern site menu.

/includes/

Every site must have one and only one /includes/ folder. It must be located in the root folder of the site. Within it must be the following:

• contact.html - described below.
• welcome.html - described below.
• sitestyles.css - described below.

It may also contain other files and folders necessary for OmniUpdate use and other purposes.

/images/

Every site must have one /images/ folder. It must be located in the root folder of the site. Other sub folders in the site may have their own /images/ folder, but they may not replace this folder. It will contain the images for the site.

contact.html

Every site must contain one and only one contact.html. It's must be located within the /includes/ folder (see above). This file contains the contact information for the site, and is included into each page by the layout.

welcome.html

Every site must contain one and only one welcome.html in the /includes/ folder (see above). The file contains the site menu as a bulleted list of links. Refer to the site menu documentation for more information.

sitestyles.css

Every site must contain one and only one welcome.html in the /includes/ folder (see above). The file contains the CSS that applies to one site alone, and to individual pages within that site. Refer to the <cf_layout> documentation for more information.

welcome.cfm

The first web page in any folder, including the root folder, must be named "welcome.cfm". This page will be used as the home page for that folder. If the user does not link to a specific file within the folder (i.e., http://www.umassd.edu/financialaid/), welcome.cfm will be delivered.

Converting Sites

Converting web sites is a step by step process.

1. Determine if the site is an OmniUpdate site or not. If it is, follow the special instructions for OmniUpdate conversions.
2. Gather all files for the site.
3. Make changes to the Application.cfm as outlined above.
4. Set up the required folders /includes/ and /images/. These may already exist.
5. Set up the required files contact.html, welcome.html, and sitestyles.css. These may already exist. If welcome.html is *not* a bulleted list, convert it into a bulleted list.
6. Optionally, if the site does not contain a welcome.html but does contain a leftmenu.cfm with an application.mainleftmenu array, convert that array into a bulleted list in welcome.html. Refer to the site menu documentation for instructions on how to convert an old-style left menu into a modern site menu.
7. Convert cf_layout> tags in all web pages.
   • set the display attribute to redesign. If the display attribute does not exist, create it.
   • remove the following attributes:
     • image
     • imagerange
     • highlightmenu
   • Clean up the title. It should only contain the title of the page, not the site title or "UMass Dartmouth".
8. Apply the coding guidelines to the web pages content. Follow the coding guidelines.
9. Upload and test the site. Make further modifications as necessary.