/cmrf.org.ohio-state.edu

Website of the Council for the Medieval and Renaissance Faire at The Ohio State University

Primary LanguagePHP

This file has a lot of things in it.

  1. resources for the webmaster and recommended tools
  2. FTP credential template
  3. Updating the site
    • dates
    • Madrigal descriptions
    • Madrigal sales
    • Index

Resources

Software prerequisites

  • an FTP client such as Filezilla. OCIO recommends Filezilla.
  • an OSU name.# account
  • a good text editor such as Notepad++, Komodo Edit, Brackets, jEdit, gEdit, Kate, emacs or vim. Ben used Komodo Edit and gEdit.

Recommended: a local install of Apache, for testing purposes. Or set up your own server.

FTP settings:

  • host: web.osu.edu
  • port: blank/default
  • protocol: SFTP
  • logon type: Normal
  • user: name.#@cmrf
  • password: your name.# password
  • server type: default/autodetect

Website editing

Treat PHP files like HTML files. Use HTML syntax inside them, except for areas within <?php ?> where you use PHP. All of the 'pages' on the site will pull in files from includes/ for the footer and header, for dates and for other purposes.

<?php include("includes/dates.php") ?> is PHP code copying in the contents of includes/dates.php.

<?php echo $fair_day . ", " . $fair_date . ", " . $fair_year ; ?> is PHP code outputting the contents of the $fair_day, $fair_date, and $fair_year variables. Those variables are set in includes/dates.php.

Updating the dates

Dates for most of the site are set in includes/dates.php. Changing the appropriate variable there will change the date on all pages. Update that file at the end of the year, after Faire.

Madrigal page and ticketing

Madrigal page modes

The madrigal page has several modes. The active mode is set by changing the value of $season in includes/dates.php:

  • premadrigal
    • Once we have a Madrigal date
    • contents in includes/madrigal-premadrigal.php
    • "Madrigal is $madrigal_date!"
  • ticketing
    • when doing ticketing (edit madrigal.php with appropriate information for tickets)
    • contents in includes/madrigal-ticketing.php
    • "Madrigal is $madrigal_date!"
  • ticketing-nofood
    • still selling tickets, but not selling food.
    • contents in includes/madrigal-ticketing-nofood.php
    • "Madrigal is $madrigal_date! Buy tickets before we close online ticket sales tomorrow!"
  • ticketing-soldout
    • after ticket sales are closed
    • contents in includes/madrigal-ticketing-soldout.php
    • "Madrigal is $madrigal_date, but we've stopped selling tickets online! Come anyways, because there might be seats!"
  • faire
    • after madrigal up to faire
    • contents in includes/madrigal-faire.php
    • "Faire is coming, be prepared!"
  • postfaire
    • after faire
    • contents in includes/madrigal-postfaire.php
    • "Faire is over, you should join us and come to Madrigal in fall $madrigal_year!" using the updated $madrigal_year

Changing the value of $season will change what visitors see when they visit http://cmrf.org.ohio-state.edu/madrigal.php

Generating PayPal buttons for Ticketing

To generate buttons for sales, you must log into PayPal's website. This is a scary and daunting process, since if someone forgets the password to the PayPal website, we don't have a way of resetting it. The Gmail account associated with the PayPal account has no password. :/

  1. Log into PayPal using the gmail email address and the PayPal password given to you by the previous webmaster.

  2. Generate a button

  3. Paste the button code into the table. The first cell of each row is the description; the second cell is the buy button. Rows are colored #ccc and #eee alternating by the rules regarding table.striped in /css/cmrf.css.

  4. Repeat until all items have buttons.

  5. Generate a "View Cart" button and place it in the div.center at the bottom of the page.

Updating index.php

Taking credit

Webmasters, please sign your name in humans.txt and in includes/footer.php.