USING THE INTRO (SPLASH) PAGE

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USING THE INTRO (SPLASH) PAGE

Your DIY Template can be used to create multiple websites using the same company name. You can create separate websites for weddings, portraits, art etc. The splash page allows you to use a single domain name and directs the viewer to up to 4 different websites.

What you need to manage your new website:

• To manage your new website you only need a HTML/ASCII text editor like Notepad, TextMate, TextWrangler or Dreamweaver etc.

• DO NOT use a word processor or rich text editor like Microsoft Word (Windows or OS X) or TextEdit (OS X).

• You will also need a photo editing program such as Photoshop, Lightroom or Fireworks to resize your splash screen photo.

• The website requires that PHP 4 or higher is installed on the web server and that your website can execute scripts. The website DOES NOT require a database. – CONTACT YOUR WEBSITE HOST REGARDING THESE SERVER REQUIREMENTS.

NOTE: If your hosting service uses a different Default Page then Default.htm you can change the page name to whatever is needed. Example: Index.html or Default.html

Skills you will need to manage your new website: • Ability to resize photos

• Ability to use a text editor

• Ability to upload files to a web server

• An understanding of Directory (Folder) Structures

• You will need to read this help file completely.

Index

Setting Up Multiple Websites Page 2

Adding A Photo To The Splash Page Page 3

Editing the Configuration File Page 3

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SETTING UP MULTIPLE WEBSITES

1. Copy the splash screen files into the “root” directory of your website.

2. Create a separate directory under the root directory for each website you want to create.

3. Copy the directories and files from the template website into each of these directories to create separate websites.

4. Setup the configuration file for the splash.

Example of the directory structure used for multiple websites

The “root” directory contains the files for the Splash Screen and each website has its own directory under the “root” directory.

Each website directory will contain all its own sub directories. This allows each website to be unique and display different photos and information.

The example below shows the files in the root directory and 2 separate websites (Portraits and Wedding). Each website contains its own directories and files.

Root_Directory

Wedding(Directory can be renamed to anything you wish. Update the Splash_Configuration.xml if you change this name)

See DIY Template Instructions

Portraits(Directory can be renamed to anything you wish. Update the Splash_Configuration.xml if you change this name)

See DIY Template Instructions expressInstall.swf index.html Splash_bg.jpg Splash_Configuration.xml SplashScreen.swf swfobject.js

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ADDING A PHOTO TO THE SPLASH PAGE:

The splash page uses a single photo for your introduction. You simply create a single photo using your favorite photo editor the following size

950 pixels wide 550 pixels height 72 to 96 dpi

You can create your introduction photo using any combination of images you wish.

Name your image “Splash_bg.jpg’ and save the image to the root directory of your website. Note: you can change this in the configuration file if you want to use a different name.

YOUR PHOTO MUST BE IN JPG FORMAT

EDITING THE SPLASH PAGE CONFIGURATION FILE

You can edit this file using a text editor. The file is named “Splash_Configuration.xml“. An example of the file is below:

DO NOT CHANGE THE TEXT IN RED - Only change the BLUE text outlined below.

The purple text is only there for information purposes and is not needed.

EDIT THIS FILE WITH CAUTION

DO NOT PUT EXTRA SPACES BEFORE OR AFTER YOUR DATA <configuration>

<websitebackground>Splash_bg.jpg</websitebackground> Photo Used for Stage Background (950x550px)

<button1>Enter Wedding Site</button1> Text to be used by the 1st button

<button2>Blog</button2> Text to be used by the 2nd button

<button3>Enter Portrait Site</button3> Text to be used by the 3rd button

<button4>Not Used</button4> Text to be used by the 4th button

<button1url>Wedding/index.html</button1url> Enter the URL for button 1

<button2url>http://www.yourblog.com</button2url> Enter the URL for button 2

<button3url> Portraits/index.html</button3url> Enter the URL for button 3

<button4url>http://www.someurl.com</button4url> Enter the URL for button 4

</configuration>

You must enter information for the first button. Button 2, 3 and 4 are optional and if you do not want to use them simply enter “Not Used”.

If you use the following syntax the linked page will open up full screen: javascript:popup('default.html')

default.html can be any link you wish

If you want the linked page to open in the current browser window simply enter the url to the linked page without the javascript.popup code.

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ENTERING META TAG INFORMATION

Meta Tag Information is used by the search engines to index your website. It is important that you take the time to enter information that will help the search engines locate your website.

You should modify the HTML code in the index.html file so that it displays your website title and edit the meta tag information so that search engines can find your new website.

Open the index.html file (Located in the root directory of the website) and edit it using a text editor and find the following code near the top of the page:

EDIT THE TEXT IN BLUE ONLY

<title>Your Company Name Here</title>

Change the blue text to anything you want to use to identify your website. We recommend that you include your city and state information in the “description” and “keywords” sections to help people find your website easier. You should enter text in the keywords section in lowercase only. The exception to this is if you enter a

state/province abbreviation.

You can also change the background image used on the HTML page by pointing the following code to a different image:

background-image: url(Backgrounds/Black.jpg);

Note: You can remove the background image completely by deleting this line of code.

If you do not want to use an image as the background of the HTML page you can simply give it a solid color background by changing the color code in the line of text below:

background-color: #000000;

You can open the HTML pages with any text editor. There are comments within the files to guide you through adding your information.

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NEED ADDITION CUSTOMIZATION?

If you need additional customization to the website please feel free to contact Nerds Software with the additions you would like and we would be happy to send you a quote. “NERDS TO THE RESCUE”

If you would like help to setup your new website Nerds Software would be happy to assist you for a small fee. Nerds Software is available for all your website needs.

Nerds Software

[email protected] www.nerdssoftware.com