(Re)design concept

In taking over again the management of the institute web site, vacant after my original (1993-2004) term, the design contracted to Silvia Saponaro, the retirement of Bruno and the return of Pierluigi to Rome, I followed these guidelines in redesigning the site :

• The layout (CSS) designed by Silvia Saponaro has been and will be mantained with very minor modifications (like the timestamp at end of pages)
• However all dependencies on PHP have been removed. The pages are now written entirely in HTML using SSI includes, and the dynamic parts are managed by CGI scripts. All things I am familiar with, and which can perfectly emulate the previous behaviour.

   

• For the public area in the main site
  • Logos and navigation bar are defined via SSI includes from files in subdirectory Inc_menu (the footer is a .html instead of a .inc file to allow includes of includes)
  • The home page navigation bar has replaced PHP by three "#exec cgi" SSI directives to dynamically list : (a) the first three news items; (b) the third item in the INAF news (don't ask me why the third, this is what I understood it was in the script supplied by INAF); (c) the first three job announcements.
  • The items under "Research projects" and "Projects" are now stored under separate directories (Research, Projects)
  • The dynamic pages for News and Job and thesis announcements are now generated by shell scripts (as "#exec cgi" SSI directives, or called directly as CGI). A common script, soft linked under three different names, manages the three subcategories under "Job and thesis"
  • I have mantained the arrangement of material for News and Job and thesis announcements in numbered subdirectories per item although what now matters for the order of display is not the number but the date of insertion.
    Since previously the rules for insertion of dynamic material were not followed, I have replaced them with scripts which should make sure the supplied information is formally correct and complete
  • ... and final I have capitalized (not really CamelCased, say DromedaryCased ?) all subdirectory names

   

• For the restricted area
  • The idea of an automatic update of the dynamic parts has been abandoned since it was never used. Now the bulk of the information has been concentrated in a single page
  • This page is manually edited and makes reference to documents stored in separate directories (Missioni, Moduli, Software, etc.)
  • For the system-related stuff it makes reference to web pages on the virtual server ifc mantained by Roberto

Lucio Chiappetti

(the font of the above signature is called Cretino:-))