This web site is an implementation of the KippsWare web framework, which is a portable framework intended for the creation of web sites for individuals, clubs and small businesses. It does not make use of any third party generation system or any third party code libraries (and therefore has no licence dependences) and makes no use, at least in the basic version as implemented here, of any client-side scripting.
The results should therefore be compatible with any browser likely to be used to view them.

Prerequisites

The site is constucted for hosting on any commercial web service provider that allows the installation of html and php pages from any source (i.e. does not insist on the use of a specific site construction kit) and supports php scripting.

The framework is compatible with php V4.4.9 and above.

Security

The security features implement user management and password protection independently of any security system implemented by the underlying host. The only requirement is that the user is not able to view the server directory structure.

We support

• any number of users (but see below)
• assigement of any number of users to any number of user groups
• protection of individual web pages, so that a page is available only to specified users and/or members of specified groups.

The site is not intended for high security or high volume applications (we're not offering it to Amazon). We do not require it to be hosted on a secure server. The password protection implemented should be adequate for for the intended applications, but is not (for instance) intended to protect financial transactions or critical personal data.

Administration features

The site supports file up/download (in the current implementation, upload by registered users only - this is configurable) and messaging without recourse to the user's email system.

Site content (text) can be edited on-line by site administrators or users to whom appropriate rights have been assigned.

Functions available on-line to the site administrator include

• user management
• management of system log (access, error reports, etc.
• management of upload area
• message management (view, archive, delete messages)

Site construction

The framework implements a clear division between format, structure, and content.

Format

This is specified in ccs files and is independent of content. ccs files can be edited and installed using an offline editor and available site installation software (ftp, etc.). Online editing of site format is intentionally not supported.

Structure

The structure of the site administration functions is fixed. The site content - the information you actually want to make available to users - must be implemented for each site. For this, framework modules are available

• generic text pages (like this one)
  These are pages with a fixed format which contain any number of text sections with optional graphics. Such pages are always editable online by specified users.
• generic picture albums
  These consist of an overview display of all pictures in the album and display of the individual pictures. All such albums use the same html pages (one for the album, one for the individual picuture) and therefore all look the same. What is displayed is defined by an ascii control file. Thus adding a picture or a caption, or changing the display order, does not require a change to the html pages.
• specific pages
  These are specially constructed pages. They use the same framework (menus, banner, etc.) as other pages, but the content is specified individually. Such pages may incorporate the online editing features of generic pages if required.

Content

For pages that are editable online, content is held separarely from structure as ascii text. The online editing function allows simple editing of ascii text (paragraph or heading) and insertion of simple tags for more extensive formatting. For expert use, text may be defined and edited as html source. Graphics can be uploaded and attached to edited sections. Editing text (except when using html) does not permit the format of the page or the appearance of the text to be changed.

Data Management

Structured site data can be manipulated using predefined modules, which must be adapted to specific requirements. Data may be held in a conventional data base, but for small applications, the use of the KippsWare Trivial Data Manager is normally surficient. This maps data to an indexed structure that can be serialised to standard sequential system files and therefore avoids the need to install and manage data base software on the host. The system is adequate for a few thousand records. Access locking is implemented by locking the access code, which is adequate for the number of users the site is intended to support.

The site user management is a pre-defined implementation of this data management system.

The following features are implemented as fully portable modules:

• User management (login names, passwords, group membership)
• Messaging, file up- / download
• Administration of message log, error log
• Generic text pages, editable online
• Generic photo albums