Unit 4: Directory Structure and Links

Background Information:

 The title page of your module should have a filename that reflects the title of the module. For instance, if the title of the module is Professional Ethics in Geography you might call your title page ETHICS.HTML. Choose the name carefully, because it will also be the name of the directory your module is placed in on the web-server.

 4.x Links within your module

 
• The title page will be the only file in your module's top-level directory. All other html files should be placed in a subdirectory called HTML and all graphics placed in a subdirectory called GRAPHICS.
• Use relative links when possible. It greatly facilitates moving modules from one server to another.

 The Virtual Department Home Page is designed so that Working Group pages and Modules appear in a large frame (83% of the viewer) alongside a smaller frame which is purely navigational and remains static. This navigational frame contains links to all the materials maintained at the top level of the Virtual Geography Department. You may wish to include some of these links in your pages. They are as follows:

 Items that always link to the University of Texas Web server:
 
 

(back to) The Virtual Geography Department	http://www.Colorado.EDU/geography/virtdept/contents.html target=_top
News about the Virtual Department	http://www.colorado.edu/geography/virtdept/about/news.html
How to Participate	http://www.colorado.edu/geography/virtdept/about/participate.html
Getting Started	http://www.colorado.edu/geography/virtdept/about/start.html
Quick Guide to the Virtual Department	http://www.colorado.edu/geography/virtdept/about/quickguide.html
Educational Resources	http://www.colorado.edu/geography/virtdept/resources/contents.htm
Other Geography Courses in the Web	http://www.colorado.edu/geography/virtdept/resources/educatio/courses/courses.htm
Geography Departments in the Web	http://www.colorado.edu/geography/virtdept/resources/depts/depts.htm

It is very important that your links to the Virtual Geography Department Home Page specify that the target=_top. Otherwise, the frames will nest, resulting in multiple navigation frames on one screen.

Guide for Instructors

Working Group Leader Instructions:

We strongly recommend that you use the following conventions when building directories for serving VGP modules in the World Wide Web. Although it is recognized that you must follow the rules set forth by the server administrator at your institution, following the conventions outlined below will greatly facilitate the transfer of files from one place to another, should that ever prove necessary (and because of the distributed nature of the VGDP, such transfers are inevitable).
 
 

1. Establish a directory called VIRTDEPT
2. Each module is a directory below VIRTDEPT. The directory name should reflect the module title, and all the files necessary for that module should be placed in that directory. For example. If the module title is Professional Ethics in Geography, you might name the directory ETHICS.
3. Module Title Pages should bear the same name as the directory in which they are placed. In the example used above, the title page should be called ETHICS.HTML. The full path to the Title Page of the module is:

http://www.yourserver.edu/yourpublishingdirectory/virtdept/ethics/ethics.html

4. Other HTML files should be placed in a subdirectory called HTML.
5. All the graphics belonging to that unit should be placed in a subdirectory called GRAPHICS