[play.webdev] Best Practices for Atomz Development, v1.2

From: "Chris McGrath (PLAY)" <cmcgrath@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "'play.webdev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'" <play.webdev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2003 11:52:02 -0800
There's been a few Best Practices added to our document on developing in
Atomz.
 
When you're working in Atomz, try to stick to these Best Practices to the
best of your ability. If you need support, contact me or support@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:support@xxxxxxxxx> .
 
If you have any comments or new ideas on this doc, let me know!
 
 
c h r i s  m c g r a t h
internet systems analyst

  p l a y g r o u n d
 division of intrawest

www.greatplaygrounds.com
 telephone 604.675.7532 
 
 
Best Practices for Atomz Development, v1.2



1.      Make the page in Atomz look exactly like the page on the live site.
Users are confused if the Atomz page doesn't look like the live page. For
example, if the header is an included ASP file, the user won't see it in
Atomz and will get confused. Convert all includes to Atomz includes, and
note the next 2 best practices.


2.      If a page element is optional, surround it with
<publish-if-not-empty>. This is especially important on global templates.


3.      Include stylesheets on all pages. Surround it with
<publish-if-not-publishing> so it only shows up on the Atomz server. This
will make page components--headers, footers, nav bars, etc.--look like the
end product.


4.      Use a global include for pre-defining commonly used elements. Use
the file /templates/_global_includes.pbt. Define things like clear gif
spacers, horizontal rules, etc.


5.      Use pub:/ for the paths of all images and hyperlinks. For example,
pub:/_img/spacer.gif. pub:/ rewrites your URLs so that the path will be
correct even if you move something into a new directory. It is especially
important to use pub:/ on templates or on included files, which may be
referenced in several different directories.


6.      Follow this pattern for naming tasks:

[Verb] [noun] - [modifiers]

In other words, [Create|Edit|Delete|Upload] [page|file|navigation|footer] -
[Top level|2nd level|Tech section|Finance section]

Examples:
   Create page - Vertical layout
   Create page - Horizontal layout
   Edit footer
   Edit header
   Upload files
   Upload PDFs, Word docs
   Edit navigation - Top level
   Edit navigation - 2nd level

Do not use words like 'a', 'an' or 'the'
Keep it very short
Group similar type tasks together--all 'Create' tasks together, then all
'Edit' tasks, etc.
If there are more than 6 or 8 tasks, break them into directories by site
structure
Delete all the pre-defined Atomz tasks


7.      Follow this pattern for your directory structure:
/_img/
/_img/user_uploaded/
/_img/backgrounds/
/_img/nav/
/_inc/
/_docs/
/_css/
/_js/
/templates/
/templates/DO_NOT_MODIFY/  (for Playground Web Team only)


8.      In Publish Settings, don't allow Administrators or Editors to edit
Publish settings at time of publish. We need admins to think carefully about
editing these settings. Make them go specifically to the Publish settings
area.


9.      Minimize number of templates. Excellent Atomz implementations have
very few templates. We recommend the following templates:

Templates to be included on master templates (either these templates or
pages based on these templates are included in master templates, depending
on situation)
* Header template
* Footer template
* Top-level navigation template
* 2nd-level navigation template
* 3rd-level navigation template
* 1 to 3 templates for looping tables

Master templates
* Home page template
* 2nd-level page template
* 3rd-level page template
* 4th-level page template
* Unique template for each form

For 20 page sites, strive for a 4:1 page to master template ratio. For 100
page sites, strive for a 10:1 ratio.


10.     Put extra effort into grouping and edit-marker positioning. When
your template is complete, revisit the positioning of Atomz edit-markers.
Use <publish-edit-marker> and the pbeditmarkerdirection attribute to
precisely indicate which information is edited by clicking. Group elements
logically using <publish-group> so that similar elements can quickly be
edited at once.


11.     Make sure <TITLE> tags are editable. The <TITLE> tag for each page
should always be editable. See the Atomz Help documentation on
<publish-title>. When the user starts a Task and is presented with a list of
files for editing, the title of that page should be visible in the list.
[play.webdev] Best Practices for Atomz Development, v1.2

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