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Creativyst™ News Entry
Installation Instructions
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- Create Directories
- Set Script Configuration Variables
- Upload Script Files
- Upload Files to the Page Directory
- Try it Out!
- Secure It
- Syndicate! (Get Listed)
- Sell Creativyst™ News Entry Widget
1. Create Directories
Begin by creating two directories on your server system.
- A directory for the scripts under your cgi-bin (aka CGI) directory
where the program script files will be uploaded. This step is not mandatory;
you may place these scripts in an existing CGI directory if you wish, but
we recommend naming a separate directory just for News Entry Widget.
This step may make future upgrades easier. When making a directory
exclusively for these scripts you may name it anything you'd like.
For
example: /cgi-bin/NewsEnt
The cgi
directory you make should be chmod 777
- A web visible page and data directory where the indexes and
syndication feeds to your announcements will be kept. A base sub-directory for
your news is mandatory and really should be a directory you've made
exclusively for your news. Creativyst News Entry Widget will produce sub-
directories under this directory in the form "../YYYY/MM", so it
should be chmod 666 or better. You may name this directory anything you'd
like, but keep in mind that it must be somewhere inside the public web-visible
(e.g. document, html, www, w3, public_html) area on your server.
Directory
Example: www/News.
2. Set Script Configuration Variables
There are two script configuration variables that have to be set which are in
the perl file called NewsEnt.pl.
- $FilePageDir
This is the file location on your server where you created
the web-visible directory for News Entry Widget. There is
an example currently listed in NewsEnt.pl which you should
replace with the page directory location you've created on
your own server.
- $UrlPageDir
This is the URL that will display the contents of $FilePageDir
when typed into a browser's location bar. It is entered in
the form "http://...". Replace the example shown
with the URL for your server.
You will notice that the scripts themselves include some terse commenting
explaining what each variable does.
Note:
User setable variables in Creativyst scripts employ a simple naming convention.
Any variable that holds a FILE location relating to your server's DISK DRIVE is
prefaced with the word "File" while any variable that is
expecting a web address (as it would be typed into a browser's location bar for
example) is prefaced with the acronym "Url"
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In addition, the single form action URL in the NewsEnt.htm file must be
changed to reference NewsEnt.pl that will be located in the CGI
directory you created in step 1 above (this will be discussed again in
step 4).
3. Upload Script Files
Now upload the script files (NewsEnt.pl & NewsEntFunc.pl)
to the directory under cgi-bin (or
cgi) that you created in step 1 to hold them.
All files uploaded should be chmod 755.
4. Upload Files to the Page Directory
Index templates, HTML pages, and feeds all go into the web-visible base
directory you created in step 1. These include all files in the
distribution with an ".htm", ".js",
".tbl", or ".tpl" extension. Also, the file
named NewsEnt.htm must be altered as described here.
- NewsEnt.htm:
The actual form you will use to enter news
stories and announcements into the News Entry Widget. It currently
lists a URL at Creativyst.com as the form action. You
must change this to the URL of the NewsEnt.pl
file you uploaded in step 3. You may also change the
appearance, title, and logo graphic on this page, but keep in mind,
depending on
how you use News Entry Widget, you may be the only one who ever
sees this page.
- News.htm:
The html index and template to the archived
news stories or outside resources you've entered into the
News Entry Widget.
- Install.htm:
This file. Not a template or index, but
useful to get you started.
- Help.htm:
A help file that describes for you and your
site visitors how to display your news feeds on web pages.
The HELP file comes set up to explain the news feed at a site
called "readerboards.org". You will want to customize
the file by searching for "readerboards" and changing
that URL to your own news URL wherever you see it. You may
also want to change the logo graphic and title text of course.
- Feed.tbl:
A table of links to news items, used to create
the XML (RSS format) and JavaScript syndication files. It's not
very interesting at first, but it gets better as you add news
items.
- Story.tpl:
The html page template used to archive each
individual story you enter as a web page. Some time should be
spent customizing this as it is the page that will display to
anyone reading your news stories. Be especially carefull of the
template fields in the title and description as these will often
be used by search engines listing found articles.
- ArchIdx.tpl:
The html page template used by News Entry Widget
to generate monthly indexes to your news archives.
5. Try It Out!
Now it's time to test out the installation. Point your web browser to the
NewsEnt.htm file you uploaded to your web-visible ("base")
page directory in step 4. The form will display. Fill it out with a
story and then Check out News.htm in the same directory. It should
contain your story title (that will link to a web page with the story you
entered), and a description (which may or may not be the lead-in text on the
story you entered).
Click on the title to see if it works. Add Newsfeed.js to one of your pages
and see how that looks. Check out Newsfeed.xml in your base directory
to see how your news looks in XML. This is the file you will list, if you
syndicate with NewsIsFree.com or any of the other syndication services.
You may notice that the descriptive items for the XML feed are all set for
readerboards.org. To change them simply look for the set of configuration
variables in NewsEnt.pl that begin with "$RSS..." and change
them to what you want to relate in the XML feed.
6. Secure It
If you'd like to secure the News Entry Widget, we recommend you secure
the cgi directory where NewsEnt.pl resides. If secured with an
.htaccess file, this will require a password the first time a user
submits a story for inclusion. Changing the name of the form html file
(from NewsEnt.htm to something else), and the NewsEnt.pl file is considerably
less secure but often sufficient for securing these systems on
informal sites.
7. Syndicate (List Your News on Aggregators)
Once you've installed News Entry Widget on you website, use the
configuration variables in the RSS section of NewsEnt.pl to set up how your
XML feed looks. You may view the XML feed using a text editor or you may view
it on the web with I.E. If you use I.E. you will have the added benefit of
insuring that the XML produced is valid.
The configuration variables will allow you to set up a title, your contact
information, a description for the news feed (sometimes called a
"channel" by aggregator sites), and a small graphic to represent your
site.
Make sure your feed is perfect and has everything just how you want it before
listing it on the aggregators. Once you are sure it is ok, then go and list
it. Keep a log of where you've listed it, the dates you listed it, and the ID
number that was assigned.
Most sites will require a few days of activity before accepting your news feed
for syndication so be sure you have a collection of interesting stories to add
over the next week or so after you've listed. Meter them out for the first few
days so that you are listing at least one new story a day.
Here are some aggregator sites to list your news with:
7. Sell Creativyst™ News Entry Widget
Creativyst offers a generous associate program based (roughly) on
splitting net profits from each sale. For concise information on how to become
a reseller for this product and other products developed by
Creativyst Corporation please visit our associates page.