Documentation tweak.
[libreplanet-static.git] / 2017 / README.md
1 README version for LibrePlanet 2017
2
3 Heads up: to edit the Web site, you'll need a basic-to-intermediate understanding of HTML, git, and command line.
4
5 # SECTION 1: DEVELOPMENT WORKFLOW
6
7 The actual LIVE site, visible at libreplanet.org/YEAR, is served from the "stable" branch of the git repository using a git hook. There is also a development branch called "master" which we use to preview edits on the Web. The master branch is served to the Web at http://wiki-dev0.libreplanet.org/YEAR and publicly visible, but not linked to.
8
9 Full workflow to make, test and deploy an edit.
10 -----------------
11
12 * Check out the master branch and make sure it is up to date with origin/master by doing:
13 * git checkout master
14 * git pull
15 * Is this a large edit or a small edit? If it is small, edit, work in master. If this is a large edit that will take longer than a day, make a new branch based on the master branch and work there.
16 * Make your edits. (See site structure and instructions for editing content below.)
17 * Optionally, test them on your computer with a local development environment. (See instructions below for setting up your development environment).
18 * If you are working on your own branch created for your edit, merge, your branch into master by doing:
19 * git checkout master
20 * git merge BRANCHNAME
21 * Push master by doing:
22 * git push
23 * Review the edited version of the site at http://wiki-dev0.libreplanet.org/YEAR. You can share this with others.
24 * When you are satisfied, merge master into stable and then push stable by doing:
25 * git checkout stable
26 * git merge master
27 * git push
28 * Your edits are now live and visible at libreplanet.org/YEAR
29
30 # SECTION 2: SITE STRUCTURE
31
32 The site is made up of HTML files, each representing part of a page (sidebar, content, footer, etc.). When a browser visits the site, the server finds the core HTML file for the page (for example, the core file for https://www.libreplanet.org/YEAR/getting-around is /YEAR/getting-around/index.html in the repo), then reads special comments in that file to which instruct it to pull various other HTML files in to produce a complete page, using an Apache feature called SSI. To edit part of a page, you will need to find out which HTML file contains the element in question. Do this by navigating to core HTML file and exploring the comments that start with "#include".
33
34 The bios page and the sessions page are maintained through a special workflow to make it easy to have only one canonical copy edited by humans. That canonical copy is saved in brains (the FSF's internal wiki) in a special format. To update the sites' sessions page or bios page, you will need the lps_gen program installed on your computer (<https://ricketyspace.net/lpschedule-generator/>), as well as a local checkout of the SVN repository that contains brains.
35
36 This site is built with [Bootstrap 3.3.5](https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/releases/download/v3.3.5/bootstrap-3.3.5-dist.zip) and [jQuery 1.11.1](http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.11.3.js) but you do not need to understand either of these technologies to make minor content edits to the site.
37
38 # SECTION 3: EDITING INSTRUCTIONS
39
40 To change content on existing pages, use your favorite text editor.
41
42 Here are specific instructions for more complex editing tasks:
43
44 ## Editing the schedule or bios pages
45
46 The workflow for this is Edit the Brains page with the schedule, then run a script to convert it into HTML and dump it into your checkout of the repo, then push that change up to the Web like any other edit.
47
48 See instructions at <http://pythonhosted.org/lpschedule-generator> for installing and running the script. The source files are stored in Brains in markdown but with special tags, so that you can edit them without needing to know this whole process. The jinja2 templates are stored in the the Web site's git repo at assets/templates.
49
50 NOTE: **Before each time you use the script, make sure to update it with this command:**
51
52 pip install --upgrade lpschedule-generator
53
54 Please crop all photos of speakers too 100x100 px (200x200 px for keynotes) and then upload them to <http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/libreplanet/speaker-pics/>. Then include their URL in the bios page to embed them.
55
56 ## Creating a New Page
57
58 *Boilerplate*
59
60 Add the following to your new page (it should remain commented out, as that is the syntax for SSI):
61
62 ```
63 <!--#include virtual="/2017/includes/header.html"-->
64 <!--#include virtual="/2017/includes/banner.html"-->
65 <!--#include virtual="/2017/includes/sidebar.html"-->
66 <!--#include virtual="/2017/includes/footer.html"-->
67 <!--#include virtual="/2017/includes/close.html"-->
68 ```
69
70 This will include the header, banner, sidebar, footer and closing tags
71 saving you from duplicating HTML.
72
73 If JS is needed for a page, then create a file, containing the JS
74 includes, in `/2017/includes/` & use SSI to include it in the page.
75
76 Use `/2017/includes/boilerplate.html` to start a new page.
77
78 *Add Your Markup*
79
80 Add HTML markup in-between the sidebar and footer includes.
81
82 *Enable SSI*
83
84 Files that contain include directives must be marked as executable
85 otherwise Apache will not parse them. (The directive `XBitHack on` in the .conf file pasted above enables this behavior).
86
87 To mark a file as executable, run:
88
89 ```
90 chmod +x foo.html
91 ```
92
93 Replace `foo.html` with the desired file name.
94
95 ## Modifying top-right corner
96
97 In the `/2017/includes/banner.html` find the `...#top-right-desktop
98 start...` section.
99
100 *For register now*
101
102 Include `register-now.html`
103
104 <!-- #top-right-desktop start -->
105 <!--#include virtual="/2017/includes/register-now.html"-->
106 <!-- #top-right-desktop end -->
107
108 *For join LP list form*
109
110 Include `join-list.html`
111
112 <!-- #top-right-desktop start -->
113 <!--#include virtual="/2017/includes/join-list.html"-->
114 <!-- #top-right-desktop end -->
115
116
117 # SECTION 4: SETTING UP A LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT
118
119 Apache is required in order to replicate the appearance of the website
120 on the live and staging servers on your machine. If you don't want to
121 install Apache, you can still work on the site, you just won't be able
122 to see what it looks like until you push to the remote.
123
124 Modifying Apache's configuration files and running its executables
125 typically requires root access. So, you will most likely need to run
126 the commands below as the root user using `sudo`.
127
128 *Enable server-side include module*
129
130 ```
131 a2enmod include
132 ```
133
134 If this doesn't work, you may not have Apache installed. Install the
135 package apache2 from your package manager.
136
137 *Create virtual host*
138
139 Create a new file called libreplanet (libreplanet.conf for Apache 2.4) in `/etc/apache2/sites-available` with the following contents:
140
141 ```
142 <VirtualHost *:80>
143 RewriteEngine on
144 ServerName local-dev.libreplanet.org
145 ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
146 DocumentRoot /local-path/path-to-site
147 <Directory /local-path/path-to-site/>
148 Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
149 AllowOverride All
150 Require all granted
151 Order deny,allow
152 deny from none
153 allow from all
154 SSILegacyExprParser on
155 Options +Includes
156 XBitHack on
157 </Directory>
158 ErrorLog /home/owner/libreplanet-static/logs/error.log
159 CustomLog /home/owner/libreplanet-static/access.log combined
160 </VirtualHost>
161 ```
162
163 Replace all instances of `/path/to/libreplanet-static` with the full path to the root directory of your local
164 git repository.
165
166 *Enable virtual host*
167
168 ```
169 a2ensite your-virtual-host
170 ```
171
172 Replace `your-virtual-host` with the name of virtual host file you made (in this case, libreplanet).
173
174 *Restart Apache*
175
176 ```
177 service apache2 restart
178 ```
179
180 *Edit your hosts file*
181
182 Edit your system's `/etc/hosts` file and add the following to the bottom:
183
184 ```
185 127.0.0.1 lp2017.libreplanet.org
186 ```
187
188 *Test*
189
190 Visit <http://lp2017.libreplanet.org/2017> in your web browser. If
191 everything is configured properly, you will see the LibrePlanet 2017
192 site, complete with header, sidebar, and footer.
193
194 # SECTION 5: TROUBLESHOOTING
195 * I'm doing everything right, but the Web site isn't updating.
196
197 Ask the tech team to look at the git hook that publishes to the live site. When you push to the git repository, this hook is supposed to update what is actually served on the Internet to match the repo.