PDF-ikonen
This sample illustrates a basic online newspaper layout. Note that the current CSS works in Firefox, but not in Internet Explorer (this is on my to-do list). To get the samples online, you have to (first make sure you have no valuable content of your own in the system) and then copy the contents in the DB/layout and DV/contents folders into eXist. You could also add the files one-by-one by upload, but that takes some time.
The texts were created using the Lorem Ipsum generator, and the images are all free for use from Stock.XCHNG.
You should see something like the above if you go to the News Alpha front-page (if you have installed the system with the sample contents). The page has the three kinds of page elements you need to publish basic online newspapers. It also has a fourth, common, element.
The page has a navigation menu on top, which leads to each section, and to the front page. The order of sections can be changed by drag-and-drop (see the authoring page). The menu is a css-styled list, of the six top sections (alternatively, you could have a menu of all sections, of any other fixed number of sections).
This page has a more complex headlines element. Contents are styled depending on their position in the headlines. The top two, and bottom two elements are shown with a short introduction, and a picture. The mid-elements are shown with no picture. This illustrates that headline elements can have different layout. As described below, the first item has two related news items, shown below it.
The headlines were selected from the available test contents. Any content can be published as a headline, and stays that way until a new headline is selected. The order of headlines can also be changed.
The page also shows that the top item has two related news items. These are shown with a short introduction. These are associated to the first item using a keyword, in this case a name of a “story”. This kind of element is becoming more and more common in online newspapers.
The section front-pages have a latest-news stream (see below), showing the most recent news in that section, with a time stamp in front. It is possible to also make a latest-new stream for all news.
