The Guide to Wood Design Information

Task To Be Addressed

  Beginning with the 1994 version of that printed publication, preserve as much of the format as possible while making use of the options offered by HTML.  Organization web sites and e-mail addresses were offered in the printed publication, but could not be easily updated until the next publishing.  Later versions of the Guide in 1997, 2001-2002 and 2004  moved the Guide from web pages to a PDF file and back to web pages.  Many of the publications offered by the organizations are offered free of charge via PDF files at their respective web sites.  The next update of the Guide should incorporate quick links to the free publications or at least offer a quick link to a site where the publication can be found.

Development

The basic elements of the Guide are as follows:

  The table of contents defines the page structure.  Each topic area resides on its own page.  It may be noted that TOC pages vary in format bases on user preference.  A program developed to use roman numerals and numbered sections may fall out of favor as the pages are updated in later versions.  It was decided to hard-code the TOC page within the input text file to allow for future formatting preferences.

  Organization names (plus addresses, e-mail and web addresses) receive special attention to create a uniform format and to create anchor points for links from other document pages.  Full text matching is required since the use of acronyms may result in duplicate anchors.  This does require that every organization listing throughout the document be identical.

  For all publication groupings, wherever an organization name occurs within the Guide's pages, the user should be able to click on the name and be directed to the address listing for contact information.  Each publication should appear in an a document index with direct linking back to the page where the document is cited...which then allows users to click the organization name and be directed to the contact information.  Where free PDF files are available, note this fact under each publication's listing.  Direct users to the website where publications may be purchased if no free PDF is available.

Programs should be thought of as components that can be assembled in a sequence to accomplish the desired task.

Implementation

Start with a text file of the document to be converted.  Based on the development requirements, we will need to insert the following 'tags' into the document so each program knows what to do with the following (or preceeding) text entry:

Outside Links

<The OLINKS or "Outside LINKS" file. All direct connections with the individual documents
<are listed here.  While it is nice for proofreading purposes to have the keys ordered
<alphabetically, it is not necessary.  The program that uses this file is looking for an
<exact match and will run through the whole file until it finds one.
<It is important that publications be grouped by organization for ease of editing/maintenance.
<Please note that all lines beginning with the "<" sign are ignored by the program. You should
<provide comment text above each entry for ease of access/editing/use. Copy from the browser's
<Address bar and paste into the link location.
<
<Link Format:
<<Organization>:<Document Identifier><sp>=<sp><Full link text>
< where <sp> indicates a "space".
<
<
< Examples:
<-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<American Fiberboard Association Publications - Default page.
AFA = http://www.fiberboard.org/pubs.html
<
<Sound-Deadening Board
AFA:SDB = http://www.fiberboard.org/pdf/deadening.pdf
<
<Fiberboard Roofing Substrate
AFA:FRS = http://www.fiberboard.org/pdf/roof.pdf
<
<Fiberboard Sheathing
AFA:FS = http://www.fiberboard.org/pdf/sheathing.pdf

 

Sequence Is Important

The first pass through the file must identify all anchors, convert the identified text into an HTML anchor, and record the location of each anchor so later programs can reference them properly.  If the anchor text is also a sub-heading, then creating the HTML anchor before formatting maintains the look of the document index.

The input is in the form :
<!--ANCHOR-->
Titles Which Contain Capital Letters<CR>
(miscellaneous text or a blank line)

Desired output to the modified file is in the form :
<A NAME="####">Titles Which Contain Capital Letters</A><CR>

Desired output to the second file which is to be used as an input to the
indexing program is in the form :
Titles Which Contain Capital Letters@PAGEXXX.HTM####

The indexing program takes the list of anchors and divides them into groups by letter.  A simple DOS sort is used to order the list prior to use.

DOS SORT command is used on the output from ANCHOR to save work.
SORT <input_filename> /O <output_filename>
This minimizes the data structure of the program.

The input is in the form :
Text Line; <160 characters maximum>@<directory path to pagename><CR>

Desired output is in the form :
<A HREF="[pagename]">[keyword]</A><CR>
for linked text <-This Version.
...OR
<A HREF="[pagename]"><IMG SRC="[graphicfile]" [attributes]></A>[keyword]<CR>
for text with a linked graphic icon.

Miscellaneous formatting is next.

The input is in the form :
<!--HEADER-->
A Line Of Text<CR>
(miscellaneous text or a blank line)

Desired output to the modified file is in the form :
<FONT>A Line Of Text</FONT><CR> No Formatting Commands.

See procedure for text (fixed) color.

Two tasks involving the simple conversion of web page links and e-mail addresses are next.

The input is in the form :
http://<text>
(miscellaneous text or a blank line)

Desired output to the modified file is in the form :
<A HREF="http://<text>">Website</A><CR>
 

The input is in the form :
e-mail:<text>
(miscellaneous text or a blank line)

Desired output to the modified file is in the form :
<A HREF="mailto:<text>">E-mail</A>

We are now ready to format the address areas.

The input is in the form :
<!--ADDRESSES--> Turns this formatting option on until a <!--PAGEXXX.HTM--> element is encountered.

<A NAME="<text>"><text></A><BR>
(
text)
(text)   Note: number of text lines is unimportant.  The blank line signals the end of a single address.
(text)
(blank line)

Desired output to the modified file is in the form :

<I>
<A NAME="<text>"><text></A><BR>
(text)<BR>
(text)<BR>
(text)<BR>
</I>
<blank line as before>

Now we turn our attention to converting the PDF flags into respectable URLs.  See above for the description of the Outside/Offsite Links file.

The input is in the form :
<!--PDF<sp><Key string><sp>--><CR>
(miscellaneous text or a blank line)

Desired output to the modified file is in the form :
If a PDF file...
<A HREF="<Offsite link>">(Display Adobe PDF icon)</A><CR>

If NOT a PDF file...
<A HREF="<Offsite link>">(Display alternate icon)</A><CR>

Similar effort is required to turn all of the HOT links into URLs.    See above for the description of the Outside/Offsite Links file.

 The input is in the form :
[HOT<sp><Key string><sp><Text to display>]

Desired output to the modified file is in the form :
<A HREF="<Offsite link>">Text to display</A><CR>

We're almost there.  Link the organization names throughout the pages to their addresses.

The input is in the form :
<!--LINKHEADER-->
Titles Which Contain Capital Letters<CR>
(a blank line)

AND

<!--LINKHEADER-->
Titles Which Contain Capital Letters<CR>
<!--LINKHEADER-->
Titles Which Contain Capital Letters<CR>
etc.
(a blank line)

Desired output to the modified file is in the form :
<FONT><A HREF="page001.htm#<anchor code>">Titles Which Contain Capital Letters</A></FONT><CR>

This is our last chance to remove errant formatting tags from the single file before it is broken apart.  I call for a CleanUp.

 The input is in the form :
<!--SomeText--> (To be lost in this process)
<!--PAGEXXX.HTM--> (To be retained)
<text>

And finally, the program that breaks the single file into individual pages and interlinks them.

 The input is in the form :
<!--PAGEXXX.HTM--> (To be lost in this process)
<text>

Desired output to the modified file is in the form :
Standard HTML Header
Text Body with simple formatting as is inherent in the document's structure.
Standard HTML Tail with Directional Buttons

Simple formatting rules : An EOLN equals a BR.
                                     A blank line equals a BR.

Since the GWDI publications have been retired from this site, a view of the result is no longer available.