ABOUT SKv3.0 BROADSHEET

SKv3.0 Broadsheet is the third full version (and second PHP version) of our personal Weblog manager and RSS editor.

This demonstration links to a sample RSS weblog archive in order to demonstrate SKv3.0B's interface and features.

Visitors can browse, edit, preview and add items to the sample Weblog, as well as edit the weblog's default appearance and display properties.

Changes and additions to sample content and settings will persist while the window is open. However, the demonstration lacks the [Publish] control included in the full version, and changes are discarded when the window is closed.


SKV3: EDITOR/SWITCHBOARD

The SKv3.0B Editor/Switchboard provides a convenient, intuitive control-set for managing, accessing and editing weblog database contents.


SKv3.0B SWITCHBOARD

The Editor/Switchboard controls work very much like those found in familiar desktop mail applications.

Like a mail application, SKv3.0B includes two primary panes:

SWITCHBOARD: VIEWING ITEMS:

To view the full contents of an item entry, select on the item's title in Listing Pane. The full item will load in the Detail/Preview Pane form.

To view a fully formatted version of an item either:

A formatted, web ready version of the item will open in a pop-up window.

SWITCHBOARD: ADDING ITEMS:

To add a new item to the weblog select the [Add New+] button appearing at the bottom of the editor. An 'new' item will load in the Detail Pane including the current date. Enter a title, author and description.

Note that an item must include either a Title or Description.

The Description field can include plain text, common punctation, line breaks as well as 'legal html'. Legal html is restricted the following tags:

Illegal characters and markup are generally stripped by the editor when previewing or saving the item.

* Note that line breaks entered in the Description field are automatically converted to paragraphs and/or html line breaks by the editor. As such these characters don't need to be hand coded.

SWITCHBOARD: EDITING ITEMS:

To edit an existing item entry: select the item from the Listing Pane and apply changes directly the Detail Pane form contents.

To preview changes to the item currently displayed in the Detail Pane, select the [Preview ^] button appearing at the bottom of the editor.

Note that the Description field can include plain text, common punctation, line breaks as well as 'legal html'. Legal html is restricted the tags set forth above

SWITCHBOARD: SAVING CHANGES:

To save changes made to the item currently displayed in the Detail Pane, select the [Save Changes] button appearing at the bottom of the editor

Note that if another item is selected from the Listing Pane before changes are saved, they will be discarded without updating the weblog.

Although changes are discarded when the demonstation window is closes, users can edit and preview multiple items in the demonstration switchboard much as they would with the full version.

Select the [Preview^] button to preview a formatted version of the new entry.

Select [Save Changes] to save the new item in the weblog.


WEBLOG SETTINGS


SKv3.0B SETTINGS

The Settings controls allows users to manage the display and appearance of their weblog content. The Settings controls include four panes:

SETTINGS: METADATA:

The Metadata pane allows users to enter or edit webloge metadata, including: titles, descriptions and copyright statements.

These values (optionally) display in the heading of your weblog and/or are shared with other RSS aware applications (including syndication services)

Note that the contents of these fields can include plain text and common punctution but cannot include any HTML

SETTINGS: PAGE ELEMENTS:

The Page Element pane allows users to select page background and link colors for their weblog.

To select a new color, click on target element's color swatch.


SKv3.0B COLOR PICKER

The HTML Color Picker will load in a small popup window (if this action is disabled by your browser try right-clicking on the swatch control)

Select on one of the 255 html safe color squares appearing in the Color Picker. The Picker will reset the selected property and close.

SETTINGS: CHANNEL ELEMENTS:

The Channel Elements pane allows users to select formatting (text face, size and color) for the metadata elements appearing in the heading of their weblog:

To set the properties for a channel element (title, description, pubDate, copyright, managingEditor) select its name from the leftmost dropdown menum and select the appropriate options from the remaining dropdown selects:

To select a new color, click on the rightmost color swatch. The HTML Color Picker will load in a small popup window. Select on one of the 255 html safe color squares appearing in the Color Picker. The Picker will reset the selected property and close.

SETTINGS: ITEM ELEMENTS:

The Items Elements pane allows users to select formatting (text face, size and color) for the elements comprising the individual items included in their weblog.

To set the properties for an item element (title, pubDate, author, description) select its name from the leftmost dropdown menum and select the appropriate options from the remaining dropdown selects:

To select a new color, click on the rightmost color swatch. The HTML Color Picker will load in a small popup window. Select on one of the 255 html safe color squares appearing in the Color Picker. The Picker will reset the selected property and close.

SETTINGS: PREVIEW:

To preview the current settings (and any changes) select on the [Preview^] buttton appearing at the bottom of the Setting control panel. A full version of the weblog contents will open in a new window.

SETTINGS: APPLY SETTINGS:

To permanently store changes made in the Settings control panel, select on the [Apply Settings] buttton appearing at the bottom of the panel.

Note that if a new view (Switchboard, Page ...) is selected before new settings have been explicitly applied, the unsaved changes will be discarded.

 


PAGE VIEW

SKv3.0 Page View allows users to browse the full text of their weblog entries in a standard html format.

Entries load in a scrollable viewing pane ordered from most recent to earliest.

A VCR control at the bottom of the viewer allows users to sequentially navigate items included in the weblog.

Each displayed item includes a permalink pointing to the original item as well as an EDIT ITEM link. Selecting on the EDIT ITEM link loads the contents of the item in an embeded forms editor. Users can make changes, preview and or save the edited item using the embeded form.


ABOUT WEBLOGS


ABOUT RSS

RSS is an XML specification for describing internet pages and contents.

First created by Netscape to support its My Netscape Internet service, RSS has since become the de facto standard for encoding and exchanging Internet content.

RSS has can be -- and is in fact widely -- used to 'syndicate' (distribute) web content, summaries, headlines and even media content

RSS can also be used to encode and store (and/or manage) the entries of full content database (i.e. a weblog)

SK3.0 weblog contents are stored (and syndicated) using RSS 2.01