Creating a Website From My Template

Step 1: Create the New Database

The template is actually a database and not a .ntf so you can either create a new database from it or simply use it as your database. I recommend using it as your own design template and refresh changes to the "production" version. Don't forget to create the full text index!

Step 2: Edit the Database Profile

In the notes client, click on Actions - Edit Database Profile. There are only a few fields to fill out here and not all of them are used. The site URL and Path MUST be correct. The categories should be all of the default document types (blog, review, etc).

Step 3: Create the Tabs

The tabs are defined in the "layout.properties" file resource (open in Designer). There are some instructions in this document that show how to define the tabs, footers, etc. While you are here you may also want to check out the "strings.properties" file in the same area as it defines some default values.

Step 4: Creating the Data

As of this writing data can only be created using the Notes client. There is a "Create" icon in the left pane of the navigator - this will open a new document. If you wish to copy the values from a previous document (so that you do not have to re-select the Type, levels, etc), use the "Create" button in the view itself.

The content is created using different levels. At each level there is a "Splash" page that serves as the homepage for that category. Also, each document type has a "Category Master" that serves as the overall splash page for that document type. You can best see this by looking at the "Content by Levels" tab.


Here is an example. Note that there is a document created with the values listed below.

a. Category Master. Blog (keyword = "Blog", CategoryMaster = "Yes", Splash = "Yes". Note that for the category master document, the keyword MUST be the same as the type)

You will only have to create this once as it is the master document at the top level.

b. Year Splash Page. 2010 (keyword = "2010", Splash = "Yes", Rank = 1).

You will create one of these for every year.

c. Month Splash Page. January (keyword = "2010_January", Splash = "Yes", Rank = "12").

You will create a new one of these for every month. The rank is 12 because we want the months to show in order. February will be 11, and so on.

d. Content Page. First Blog (keyword can be anything, Splash="No", Rank = "1").

It is at this level that you will actually create your content. If you set Rank to "1" the content will sort by date created.

Please note that this hierarchy is only an example. You can easily create your own levels for other document types (recipes, technical stuff, photos, etc).