Melody Scott
asked on
Create an automated page index
Hi, I have a sub-folder on my website, /info/. In that directory, I have maybe 100 original articles which I can separate into 11 topics. I'm trying to create an article index, so that readers can find articles they're looking for,
I add new articles to the directory at least monthly. Due to my inherent laziness and the likelihood of forgetting, I'd rather not update an index of those articles every time I add a new one.
Is there a way I can automatically populate the index? Here's the sort of thing I'm using, the categories are the only thing populated correctly. http://www.magickitchen.com/info/article-index.html
Thanks!
I add new articles to the directory at least monthly. Due to my inherent laziness and the likelihood of forgetting, I'd rather not update an index of those articles every time I add a new one.
Is there a way I can automatically populate the index? Here's the sort of thing I'm using, the categories are the only thing populated correctly. http://www.magickitchen.com/info/article-index.html
Thanks!
ASKER
Ok, great questions, thanks! I'm sorting them into categories now, although I don't know if I want to alter the folder structure, that might affect SEO. Hmm.
I'd want them alphabetically, after sorting into categories. Interesting, thanks! I will have to think about this. Although the file names are somewhat descriptive, they aren't all indicative of category.
Let's say this... What could I do if I sorted them like this:
If I changed the name of each file to include the category at the start, EG. new-heart-healthy.html would become heart_new-heart-healthy.ht ml, and traffic-light-labels.html would become nutrition_traffic-light-la bels.html. In other words, the word before the underscore is the category.
Thanks very much!
I'd want them alphabetically, after sorting into categories. Interesting, thanks! I will have to think about this. Although the file names are somewhat descriptive, they aren't all indicative of category.
Let's say this... What could I do if I sorted them like this:
If I changed the name of each file to include the category at the start, EG. new-heart-healthy.html would become heart_new-heart-healthy.ht
Thanks very much!
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ASKER
Oh- It's PERL, a language in which I am completely untutored.
Me, too.
I'll add PERL to the topics in your question to get the attention of a PERL-person.
I'll add PERL to the topics in your question to get the attention of a PERL-person.
ASKER
Thanks. I appreciate it.
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ASKER
Thanks, everyone! I wanted to know if it was possible, and the basics of how to go about it, and I got great advice!
I actually was thinking of a script that would build the web page based on the directory contents. No database required.
You wouldn't want the user to sit and wait while the script is running, so it would probably be best to have it automatically run (through a scheduled task or whatever), OR, you manually run it when you've added a file to the directory.
You wouldn't want the user to sit and wait while the script is running, so it would probably be best to have it automatically run (through a scheduled task or whatever), OR, you manually run it when you've added a file to the directory.
Also, are the file names the same as the text you want on the page? If not, how is the actual text to be determined?
Is there a particular order (alphabetical, by date, etc) the names should appear in ?
It's entirely possible to have a server side script that would generate the table of contents. You'd just need to iron out the details of how that's done.