Ground Rules for Content Projects

Directories on Crow

Each group will develop its content in a directory on crow.ubalt.edu for which all group members have full access privileges. These directories are named:

• e-books
• learning
• xml
• music
• communities
• global

Each group will have full read/write/delete privileges for this directory. The directories are now available.

Index Page

Every project directory should have an appropriate index page to serve as arrival point for this area of the publication. This is a page named index.htm at the top level within your group directory. The index page should probably provide a table of contents for the project's various parts, but it may have to serve other purposes as well. We will reconsider the matter of the index pages later in the semester. For the moment, develop something that seems sensible.

Image Directories

All image files (GIFs and JPEGs) should be stored in a subdirectory within your group folder called images. Even if they are working on distinct projects, all group members will use this directory to store their image files.

Also create separate folders for sound files and multimedia elements if necessary. You may name these whatever seems appropriate (e.g., sounds, MOVs, flashfiles, etc.).

A separate images folder will be created within the users directory on Crow (i.e., on the same level of the structure as your group folders). You will also have R/W/E privileges for this folder. Here we will store graphics files needed for the publication's general pages as well as utility graphics, such as logo icons and transparent spacers, which will be used throughout the publication.

File Extension

Use ".htm" as the extension for all Web pages you produce in this course.

Structure Within Group Directories

Substructure within the group folders is up to the groups to decide. However, you must keep careful track of any subfolders or other relationships you create and be able to explain them to me and the Managing Editor.

Duplication and Bifurcation

As you revise pages and other content files, you may wish to keep the old versions around as backup: it's a good idea. Please keep such redundant files in some clearly marked place, for instance a subdirectory of the group folder called oldFiles, or perhaps in your personal folder.

Do not create a new version of a crucial file without notifying other members of your group. If we're not careful about this, we could end up with a mess of inconsistent versions in which some links point to unrevised pages and some to revised pages. This problem, called bifurcation, can easily wreck a publication.