Re: Formatting question

I do greatly appreciate the replies that I have received so far; once again
I'm impressed by the knowledge of the people on this list and their
willingness to help others. Here are some responses to the solutions that
have come in so far, offered in the hope that they might spark additional
suggestions.

Two people suggested that I use Dreamweaver to clean up the code from the
newsletters. Problem is, I don't have Dreamweaver, nor do I have the money
to invest in it at this time. I do have Front Page 2000, which has an HTML
converter. Unfortunately, I've never been able to get it to work, despite
much tinkering around. So, that option is out. I've also tried using my own
Word program to save files in HTML format, but that doesn't seem to work on
my particular computer, despite attempting to download patches and fixes at
Microsoft's site.

Hank  and Brian both suggested creating a database to drive a template for
the newsletter. I have absolutely no idea how to do this. If someone could
give some instruction to a person who is a moderate-level HTML user, and a
CSS newbie, that would be wonderful. I should note that the particular host
that the church uses does not support PHP or databases. (I know, the answer
to this is find a new host. I'm looking into getting into business as a
reseller, and if that happens I can donate some space to the church, but for
now they're stuck with what they have.)

As for converting the file to a PDF format -- As I recall, this requires
using a program that I do not have and cannot afford at the present time.
(If I'm mistaken, I'll gladly stand corrected.) However, I do have a pet
peeve about sites that require me to download a program before I can read
their content. My usual practice is to leave the site and go elsewhere for
the information I want.

Cheryl referred to a template and macros that she uses for this kind of a
situation. I would love to take a look at them and see if they would be
usable in my situation.

Again, thanks for all the input. I've enjoyed reading all of the replies,
and have learned much already.

Dusty


----- Original Message -----
From: "Hank Marquardt" <hmarq(at)yerpso.net>
To: "Dusty" <designsbydusty(at)tiadon.com>
Cc: <hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 8:42 AM
Subject: Re: Formatting question


> The hurdle you sometimes have to get over in these situations is that
> the web isn't print -- and while that makes perfect sense to most of us,
> it may not to the church elders, so they want consistency even if it's
> to the detriment of the reader of a specific medium -- can't really help
> you over that hurdle, you need to do that yourself. ...
>
> But once there -- you can then assure them that the *content* will be
> the same and the format will be pleasing, but an article will look like
> this, the calendar will look like this, etc.  Then depending on your
> skill level you can either just cut and paste the content into static
> pages, or create a little admin script that dumps new data into a
> database and drive the site from a series of templates -- that latter
> can be eventually turned over to the church for self service, the former
> still will take you some time, but maybe less than cleaningup the
> htmlized word document.
>
> As for frames, I don't like them much, though they can be handy for
> large indexed documents where you can stick the index in it's own frame
> while the target shows the detail -- this saves the bandwidth of
> reloading the large index each time ... otherwise, the frame effect of
> banner/menu/content layout can be achieved with either tables and/or
> css depending on how you choose to approach it.
>
> On Fri, Aug 16, 2002 at 08:07:07AM -0500, Dusty wrote:
> > Hello......
> >
> > I recently agreed to re-design my church's website. One of the things
that
> > is on the existing site, and which the church would like to maintain on
the
> > new site, is a link to the church's monthly newsletter. What was done in
the
> > past is that the person who wrote the newsletter (using Word 9), when it
was
> > complete, saved it in HTML format. The young man who was then doing the
site
> > then just uploaded the page into the site and created a link.
> >
> > While this works, and is probably adequate, the result is a page that
has
> > miles and miles of excess and non-standard code. I have thought about
> > creating an external style sheet for this, but there are so many
different
> > formats used in the newsletter (looks great in print, but not so hot on
a
> > computer screen) that, even doing it this way, I would be spending a
couple
> > of hours every month doing the coding for one newsletter. When you
consider
> > that I do work full-time and have a family, you can see where that would
not
> > be the most practical of solutions.
> >
> > Does anyone have a suggestion for a way to get these newsletters onto
the
> > site easily, and still have some nice clean code? (Other than ask the
pastor
> > to use a simpler format for the newsletters? Hehe.)
> >
> > Another problem I have been pondering is a general visual design for the
> > site. Although I normally avoid frames, and totally understand their
> > disadvantages, I think that in this instance they might be the way to
go. I
> > would like to have some sort of banner at the top of each page, to tie
the
> > site together and provide for navigation. To save time and bandwidth,
what I
> > had considered doing was creating a frameset with a frame at the top for
the
> > banner and navigation, and then a frame at the bottom that the
newsletters
> > and other content could be channeled into. Here again, does anyone have
> > ideas for a better solution?
> >
> > I appreciate any and all suggestions.
> >
> > Dusty
> > http://www.tiadon.com/designsbydusty/default.htm
> >
>
> --
> Hank Marquardt <hank(at)yerpso.net>
> http://web.yerpso.net
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