This page explains how to make any webpage look like
an official
FSU Mathematics department webpage. This conversion is handled by a
computer program called "transform".
This page contains the full documentation for the "transform"
program.
transform [ <.basis filename> |
<filename> | -a | -c | -q ]
You pass the name of an HTML webpage
(renamed to end in ".basis")
as the first option to transform. The program writes out
a webpage, minus the ".basis" extension (and thus using the
original filename), that has the look and
feel of an official FSU Mathematics webpage.
Alternatively, you can leave out the ".basis" part of the
filename and transform will automatically figure it out.
If instead you pass the option "-a", transform
will recursively apply the conversion to all ".basis" files in
the current directory tree, including subdirectories.
The "-q" option makes transform perform quietly, and the
"-c" converts a page from standard input to standard output.
index.html.basis
|
V
transform
|
V
index.html
The webpage that you want to convert must conform to a minimal set of rules.
Please note that if
you are using a webpage editing program such as Netscape Composer then you
are probably safe and can skip this list. However,
if you are writing your own webpage
then please make sure the webpage follows these rules:
- There must be exactly one pair of
<title></title>
tags.
- There must be exactly one pair of
<body></body>
tags.
- The webpage must not use frames, i.e.
<frameset></frameset>.
- Basically everything in the
<head></head>
section will be removed,
so do not place important stuff in that section other than the title.
Although not required, it is worth noting that you should also have exactly
one pair each of the <html></html> and
<head></head> tags to comply with the HTML
standard. To check and see if your HTML is valid, please visit the
W3C HTML Validation Service.
Another prerequisite is that you be able to login (ssh) to
one of the FSU Mathematics department's UNIX machines.
If you are already
on a UNIX computer then you are probably fine. If you are on a Macintosh or
are using Windows, then you should use SSH.
In either
case you should open a connection to "hilbert.math.fsu.edu", or any
other FSU Math
UNIX computer, and login with your FSU Math username and password.
For more information please see the "Hitchhiker's
Guide" links in the
Tech Support section of
the FSU Math website, or e-mail
someone in Computer Support.
| Steps to convert a webpage to FSU Mathematics style: |
 |
|
|
Extremely simplified instructions:
- Log in.
cd public_html
mv webpage.html webpage.html.basis
transform webpage.html
- Follow the instructions below to do any updating.
Detailed instructions:
- Login to a FSU Mathematics UNIX computer.
- Change directories to the location of your webpage. For example:
hilbert>
cd public_html
- Rename the file to whatever it was before, but with the addition
of "
.basis" to the end. Here is a command in UNIX as an example
(the first word, "hilbert>", is a typical prompt, not
part of the command):
hilbert>
mv index.html index.html.basis
- Run the
transform command, located in
/opt/bin. The
program is called like this: "transform <name of .basis
file>".
If "/opt/bin" is in your path (it probably is, you
can check by typing
"echo $PATH"), then you can just enter:
hilbert>
transform index.html.basis
(Incidentally, just "transform index.html" will also work.)
This step takes the webpage stored in the ".basis" file
("index.html.basis")
and writes out a new webpage, storing it in the same filename but without
the ".basis" extension
("index.html"). This filename should be the original filename
of the webpage.
| Start with: |
|
index.html |
| Rename: |
index.html
to
index.html.basis |
| Transform: |
index.html.basis
to
index.html |
| End with: |
index.html.basis |
|
(original webpage) |
index.html |
(modified webpage) |
|
First you started with
"index.html" and then you renamed it to
"index.html.basis". Now this program
writes a new file and calls it "index.html" which is the same
filename as the
webpage you started out with.
In the end you have two files:
one with a ".basis" extension at the end, which
contains the original webpage,
and a second without the ".basis" extension at the end,
which contains the modified page. This second file is the webpage you want
people to see.
- Check the permissions of the file, making sure it is world-readable.
This may or may not be a necessary step. Do "
ls -l index.html" and make sure
the result looks something like this:
-rw-rw-r-- 1 kbeason 2500 Apr 27 18:41 index.html
|_ make sure there is an "r" here.
If there is no "r" on the 8th character, you should run this
command:
hilbert>
chmod o+r index.html
To view the converted page in your browser, view it the same way
you did the original page (You can do this because it has the same
filename as the original page). E.g., with Netscape.
Please note that after you have converted a page, you now must edit
the ".basis" file, not the converted file. The
reason for this is that the converted file is over-written
every time you
run transform (and all the changes you made to it are lost).
Remember: Edit the ".basis" file.
The steps are simple:
- Edit the "
.basis" file and make any changes you want. For
example:
hilbert>
pico index.html.basis
- Run
transform on the webpage.
hilbert>
transform index.html (OR)
hilbert>
transform index.html.basis (It doesn't matter which)
That's it! Just in case you forget to edit the ".basis" file
and not the converted file, transform stores a backup copy
of the converted file (before it is over-written)
in the /tmp directory of the computer you are logged into.
|  |
Cut and paste this example
into your own index.html.basis file. Note: Microsoft Internet
Explorer (MSIE) users will have to select
View->Source.
|
| |
Type "transform index.html" and press <enter>.
|
| |
Now you have this. Again, MSIE users
will have to select View->Source.
|
| |
Before and
After.
|
|
|
|
This information is printed out when you run transform by
itself, without any filenames or options.
NAME : transform
AUTHOR : Kevin Beason
DATE : 7/18/1998 through 3/11/2002
PURPOSE : Turns simple (no frames) web pages into FSU Math web pages
USAGE : transform [ <.basis filename> | <filename> | -a | -c | -q ]
SYNOPSIS:
`transform` takes a webpage whose source is stored in a file containing
a ".basis" extension, and creates a new page having the same filename, but
without the ".basis" extension. The new page will look similar to other FSU
Math department web pages.
INSTRUCTIONS:
To turn an existing webpage into a FSU Math page:
1) Rename the file to include the extension ".basis" at the end
EXAMPLE: "mv index.html index.html.basis"
2) Run `transform` giving it the name without the ".basis" extension
EXAMPLE: "transform index.html"
This will create the new index.html from the index.html.basis file.
After you have renamed the file to include the ".basis" extension, all
future modifications should be done to the file with the ".basis" extension,
and then you should run `transform` on the file to update it. Every time you
run `transform somewebpage.html` somewebpage.html is overwritten by a new
webpage based on the source code in somewebpage.html.basis.
If you want to change a webpage that you have already used `transform`
on, first edit the source in the file with the ".basis" extension, and then
run `transform` on the file again. For example:
1) Edit the file having the ".basis" extension
EXAMPLE: "pico index.html.basis"
2) Run `transform` on index.html again
EXAMPLE: "transform index.html"
OPTIONS
-a transforms all files (that have a corresponding .basis file) in
the current directory and sub-directories.
-c transform a page given on stdin and output the transformed page
to stdout.
-q suppresses normal messages (quiet mode).
MORE INFORMATION
Please visit http://www.math.fsu.edu/Misc/transform.html for the full
documentation.
If you need further help or discover a bug, please e-mail
webmaster@math.fsu.edu
If you still need help, even after you have read this entire document,
please email Webmaster.