Miscellany

All given sections of the site are under the jurisdiction of a specific individual, generally recognized by office. That person is known as the Maintainer, and is responsible for providing the Internet Department with new content, requesting the deletion of old content, and for ensuring that their section complies with all relevant IDept regulations.

Naming Requirements

ALL directories and files will be named in all-lowercase.

• GOOD: top-banner.png
• BAD: top_banner.png, topbanner.png, topBanner.png, TopBanner.png

The main page of any directory must be named index.html (or index.php if appropriate). All other index page names are forbidden. (Example: MainPage.html, fleetpage.html, etc.)

All file names should be descriptive of what they are, even if that results in a longer name. Thus:

• GOOD: top-banner.jpg, awol.html, lcars-left-bar.png
• BAD: img08.jpg, file.jpg, lclbr.png

Directories managed by non-IDept Personnel

Fleets

Each fleet will be given a directory of the form /stfX/, where X is the number of the fleet. The current FComm of each fleet will be recognized as Maintainer.

Ships

Each ship will be given a directory of the form /stfX/shipname/, where X is the fleet in which the ship resides and shipname is the standard name of the ship. The current CO of each ship will be recognized as Maintainer.

The "standard name" of a ship is defined as the name listed on the WeBB, converted to lower-case, minus any leading "USS" designation, minus any spaces. Thus, for example:

• USS Montgomery, Fleet Four, is /stf4/montgomery, but not /stf4/monty.
• Outpost 42, Fleet Three, is /stf3/outpost42, but not /stf3/op42.
• USS Ark Angel, Fleet One, is /stf1/arkangel, but not /stf1/Angel.

Departments

Each department will be given a directory named for the two- or three-letter abbreviation of the department, or other established "short name". For example:

• Personnel Department is /pd
• Gamemaster Department is /gmd
• Starfleet Academy is /acad
• STF Library is /library

The current QDir of each department will be recognized as Maintainer.

Sub-directories

The Maintainer of each directory may create an arbitrary number of subdirectories as needed, provided that each conforms to the naming rules specified in this document and remains in active use.

Maintainers are strongly encouraged but not required to use the current Internet Department template in order to maintain a consistent site-wide look-and-feel.

Directories managed by the Internet Department

All directories not falling under the jurisdiction of a Department, Fleet, or Ship as listed above are under the direct jurisdiction of the Internet Department. Historical directories may, under special circumstances, be granted leave to remain at their current location.

Selected subdirectories may be symbolically linked to the root web directory by the IDept upon request, but only if a reason can be shown for them to require "top billing". Department-specific directories may not exist at the top level; they may only be linked to there. For example, /id/irc/ -> /irc/.

Resource Directories

The following top-level directories will be maintained by the Internet Department:

• /images - Archive of all images on the site
• /styles - Archive of all stylesheets on the site

Both directories will contain resources maintained by the Internet Department directly. Subdirectories may be created to ease organization of images. Image names will be selected by the Internet Department, and may be used by any STF web page or MOTD.

Additionally, each section of the site will have a subdirectory under the resource directory dedicated to it, and symbolically linked to their respective resource directories throughout the site. That is:

• /images/stf3 -> /stf3/images
• /images/brandywine -> /stf7/brandywine/images
• /images/gmd/ -> /gmd/images

The reason for such "double-naming" is so that the Internet Department may maintain a centralized archive of all images to ensure that they remain consistently named and in use, while page and MOTD authors may maintain "local" archives of their sites that still have all of the links working.

The Internet Department reserves the right to rename resource files (images and stylesheets) to maintain a standard naming system. As per the STF Terms of Service, the Internet Department reserves the right to move a resource file to another directory if it is applicable to the club as a whole. By submitting a file for upload, the Maintainer gives permission for STF to do so and make the resource file available for other Maintainers to use. For instance, all rank pip images will reside under /images/ranks/... so that they may be referenced by all Maintainers without having duplicate copies cluttering up the system.

The Internet Department reserves the right to remove resource files that are not in use. If a resource file is to be moved or deleted, the relevant Maintainer will be notified at least one week prior to the removal.

Under no circumstances save for historical directories exempted above may resource files be placed in any directory except those described here. Such files will be removed immediately.

Resource files must be hosted on the STF server. Web pages on the STF server may not link to off-site resources, in order to maintain the performance and integrity of the system. Any references to off-site resources will be removed immediately, with appropriate notification to the Maintainer.

Special Resources

The following image files will have special significance:

• /images/stf-logo.img : This file is the main logo for STF, used by most official pages.
• /images/X/X-logo.img : Where X is the name of the department, fleet, or ship.

Thus the following are valid:

• /images/pd/pd-logo.gif
• /images/montgomery/montgomery-logo.gif

The following style sheet files will have special significance:

• /styles/main.css : This is a symbolic link to the main CSS file used by the current IDept standard template. When the template is changed, this file will be changed to point to the new file.
• /styles/idXY.css : This is the IDept standard template CSS file, version X.Y. Maintainers who wish their pages to be automatically updated with each version (recommended) should link to the main.css file. Maintainers who prefer to lock themselves to a specific version may link to that file directly.
• /styles/webb/ : All files in this directory are used by effWeBB for MOTD stylesheets. Maintainers may link to them from web pages as well if they wish.
• /styles/X/main.css : The "main" stylesheet for each section should be named "main.css". Thus:
  • /styles/ogawa/main.css
  • /styles/stf5/main.css

Those directories will, of course, be linked to each section's resource directory.

File Types

Maintainers may provide HTML/XHTML documents for upload for their respective sections. Maintainers may provide PNG, JPG, or GIF images or CSS stylesheets to be added to the resource directories.

Maintainers may provide PHP-based scripts to be uploaded for dynamic pages if they prefer. However, all PHP code MUST be reviewed by at least one member of the IDept before it is uploaded to ensure that there are no security holes, and the IDept reserves the right to reject PHP scripts on security grounds.

Web Applications

Departments may at times need to use a web-based application, either developed by STF or a 3rd party open source application. That is permitted, subject to the following conditions:

• If a 3rd party application, it must be available under an open source license. That is so that the IDept may, if necessary, examine the code and modify it if needed.
• All departments are given one and only one MySQL database for use by web applications, named for the department's abbreviation (eg., stfleet_gmd, stfleet_ed, etc.). It is up to the department's Maintainer to ensure that multiple web applications that use the same department database do not conflict with each other.
• Web applications should be confined to their own directories and not intermingled with other, static files within the department. That makes it easier for the IDept to determine which files belong to the web application and which are part of the web site itself.
• Web applications may violate the rules regarding file naming if necessary to support some functionality (for instance, a 3rd party or legacy application that has its own naming rules). That exemption applies only to web applications that are confined to their own directory.

The Internet Department reserves the right to review and audit all web applications and reject them on security grounds in order to protect the integrity of the system.

Uploading Files

All files to be uploaded should be sent to upload@star-fleet.com. The files must be sent as attachments, and the message must include the following:

• The full path name of the directory to which any HTML files are to be uploaded.
• A brief description of any image files included to aid in renaming, if necessary.
• A list of any files on the server that are no longer in use so that they can be deleted, if applicable.

You may choose to either:

• Send just the changed/added images to upload@star-fleet.com. The IDept will upload them for you, possibly renaming them. If so, you'll be told the new names. Then edit your HTML files to use the new names and submit those the same way. If you want a file removed because it's not in use, just say so.
• If you're editing more than a very few files, then the far far far preferred way is to zip up your entire local directory and e-mail it to upload@star-fleet.com (as alliance.zip is done in the tutorial below). Let us know that it's a full replacement, and we'll delete the entire old directory and replace it with your new files. Please remember to delete anything you're not using before you zip it up! Help keep the server clean.

The IDept will upload the files as soon as possible, and inform the Maintainer when it has done so as well as the name of any submitted images, if they were changed.

How to Create a Web Site

As a practical example of how this works, here's how a CO would go about creating their ship's web page. The same applies for pretty much any other Maintainer. For this example, we will use the USS Alliance.

Create a directory (folder) on your own computer named "alliance". In that directory, create the following skeleton:
alliance
|
|- /images
|
|- /styles
| |- main.css
|
|- index.html

index.html is, of course, the main page for the site. main.css is the CSS file that applies to the entire site. Any other CSS files that apply to only part of it should be named something else, but also go in that directory ONLY. Image files should go in the /images directory ONLY.

When linking to an image file that is in your own image directory, use a relative URL, like so:

<img src="images/alliance-logo.png" alt="Logo" />

When linking to an image file that is in the main STF image directory, however, use a FULL URL:

<img src="http://www.star-fleet.com/images/ranks/collar/blue/cmdr.jpg" alt="Commander" />

The same applies for linking to CSS files.

The advantage of doing it this way is that the local copy will work completely fine, but when uploaded, it will still continue to work fine, even if the ship is moved to another fleet.

If for some reason you want to link to an image in another section (say, to the Fleet Four section), use a full path through the /images/ directory, like so:

<img src="http://www.star-fleet.com/images/stf4/stf4-logo.jpg" alt="Fleet Four" />

Do not do:

<img src="http://www.star-fleet.com/stf4/images/stf4-logo.jpg" alt="Fleet Four" />

While it may seem like it doesn't make a difference for a fleet, it does make a difference when linking to other ships and we'd like to be consistent.

Global, Fleet, and Ship Characters

effWeBB stores "characters" for members in a number of different places. There are three places: At the ship level, at the fleet level, and at the global level. Ship-level characters can be edited from the ship's Admin Menu. Fleet and Global characters can only be edited manually by the Internet Department. In order to ensure accurate and up-to-date data, the following rules apply to what characters may be created and by whom:

Ship

Ship characters are at the discretion of the ship commanding officer or other primary administrator. Department ships are at the discretion of the appropriate Department Director. Other ships are at the discretion of their edictified Maintainer.

Fleet

Fleet characters are unused, as any official positions are handled at the global level.

Global

All official Command positions will have a global character created for the appropriate individual by the IDept. That includes Fleet Commanders, Assistant Fleet Commanders, Department Directors, Assistant Department Directors, the President, Vice President, and any Executive Assistants. It does not include internal department positions like Dockmaster or Academy tutors. Member ranks will be included. Joke characters will not be included.