Shamash:
The
Jewish
Network
WEBMASTERS
Tech
Support
WEBMASTERS is an internal tech support system for individuals who maintain web pages on Shamash and who are tech support for Shamash-affiliated organizations. Shamash WEBMASTERS includes a list, WEBMASTERS, which acts as the place for all questions about
managing archives, web, and gopher pages for discussion about information management and for announcements concerning the Shamash server.
People who should be subscribed to WEBMASTERS are those people who are
affiliated with organizations which have joined the Shamash consortium
and who either manage their organization's web pages or are responsible
for providing technical support to the organization's affiliates which
are putting web pages on Shamash.
If you are such a person, these pages
and the associated list is your prime mechanism of getting support from
Shamash.
If you are the webmaster for an organization which is getting its web services from a Shamash affiliate, then you must go to your Shamash affiliate for web technical support.
(Note: The WEBMASTERS list has been inactive in 1995-1996, but plans exist to reactivate it shortly... stay tuned for subscription information.)
Shamash's growing WEBMASTER help Library
WEBMASTERS: Helpful HTML Links is a list of suggested resources to learn more about HTML, Sound, Graphics, CGI, Java, and submitting your pages to Web Search Indexes.
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Shamash's Graphic's Library contains some
general icons, judaic graphics and photos.
How to configure the Shamash page counter.
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Did you know that....? is a list of factoids and other misc info.
Suggestions for making your Web Pages even better...
HTML
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We suggest that web documents placed on Shamash's system use standard HTML 3.2 coding. Both Netscape's and MS Explorer's Extended Tags provide additional functionality, but not all users ca
n view these extra features. If you use these extended tags, be aware of this.
HTML is developing so rapidly that changes occur each time a new browser is released, and each time W3 creates a new standard.
- Please proofread your pages (both the content and HTML!)
- Have someone else who knows HTML coding proofread your documents.
- "View Source" using a web browser that highlights any HTML syntax errors.
- Use Weblint or another on-line program to proofread your HTML.
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If you've had pages on Shamash for a while (prior to June 1995), there has been a relaxation of a previous rule. Since Shamash now uses
EXCITE searching
techniques instead of WAIS searching methods, we no longer required that
certain HTML tags follow particular capitalization rules.
- Comments and consistent formatting will enable you to write scripts
to automatically update your pages. For example, if you have a footer at the bottom of your pages, you can insert tags just prior to the footer and if you want to change all your footers quickly and easily, just write a script, if you design your pages o
n a UNIX or VMS machine.
Graphics
Graphics have added a fantastic dimension to the Internet, yet they can also cause many headaches for a web designer and for a casual surfer.
- Don't overdo graphics, and in most cases, try to keep the graphics smaller than 50K in size.
- Gif89a graphics are great for animation and transparent backgrounds, JPEG graphics are great for complex photos. For images which don't require animation or transparent backgrounds, try saving your graphics in both formats and seeing which image take
s up less disk space. (the less disk space the graphic takes-up, the faster it loads)
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There are lots of people who use non-graphical browsers or who turn
graphics off when viewing sites. If you use icons for your hyperlinks,
be sure to insert "ALT=" text for these people. If you use mapped gifs,
be sure to include text-only pages or text menus on the same page.
- Using strange colors for background and text will often lead to unreadable material for many users, as they don't have a 32 bit monitor and a new graphics card
- Try viewing your web pages on several browsers. You may be surprised at how your beautiful page suddenly looks weird, or out of alignment with old browsers or a different company's browser. If you use standard HTML 3.2 (see above) then you should ha
ve less problems here.
General Organization
Over time your pages will be linked to other people's pages elsewhere on the Internet, and will be indexed by many search engines. This means
that even though you put your pages in precise order, LOTS of people
will be coming into the middle of your website.
- Put a link on each page which links back to your home page and another link to the page that "called" that page (ie a back button).
- Finally, put some information on each page briefly explaining your website, like a logo, motto, or brief descr
iption.
- Make sure people can find everything on your website. As your
website grows larger, pages may get buried deeper in your menus. Make sure important links are not lost or difficult to find.
Please put a notice at the bottom of each of your pages saying that
your website is an affiliate of
Shamash: The Jewish Network with a link to the Shamash
home page. Thank you!
This site is a member of <a href="http://shamash.org">
Shamash: The Jewish Network </a>
For questions not answered here, send e-mail to
help@shamash.org
Web Authors: David Rosenthal and Chaim Dworkin
Updated: December 1996
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