Q. What exactly is a Blog?
A. See the article.
Q. What is the first thing I should do as the author?
A. Login and change your password. Make sure that the rest of the user information has been provided. Do enter the secret question and answer so you can recover your password in the future. Do bookmark the http://www.itbhuglobal.org/cgi-bin/mt.cgi page.
Q. I have been handed over a customized blog. Now what do I do?
A. Login as above. Browse through whatever you see. Familiarize yourself with the interface. Define the categories you would like to have in your blog.
Q. How do I change the welcome message of my blog?
A. Login
-> Click on the Blog name
-> New screen will have a list of menus on LHS
-> click on "Templates"
-> scroll down
-> click on "PreBlogBody"
-> Edit the content in the "Module Body" box
-> Save-> click on Rebuild on the LHS list
-> opens up another dialog which say Cancel or Rebuild
-> select "Rebuild all files" option in the drop down combo box
-> click rebuild
-> if the build is successful it will let you know and you can then close the small dialog
Q. How do I change the history (milestones) that appears on the LHS column of my section?
A. Login
-> Click on the Blog name
-> new screen will have a list of menus on LHS
-> click on "Templates"
-> scroll down
-> click on "LinksHistory"
-> Edit the content in the "Module Body" box
-> Save-> click on Rebuild on the LHS list
-> opens up another dialog which say Cancel or Rebuild
-> select "Rebuild all files" option in the drop down combo box
-> click rebuild-> if the build is successful it will let you know and you can then close the small dialog
Q. What is a category?
A. A category provides a logical way of clubbing together various entries. For instance, the EEE blog may have a category of "Alumi Assisted B.Tech. Projects" to hold all projects where the alumni are helping out the students with their B.Tech. projects. On the other hand, the Hyderabad chapter may define a category for "Chapter Discussion" to hold all entries for the chapter related issues being discussed. You can also assign multiple secondary categories to an entry if it is relevant for more than one category.
Q. How do I add a new category?
A. Login
-> Click on the Blog name
-> new screen will have a list of menus on LHS
-> click on category
-> specify the name of the category
-> save
Q Are there any gotchas with respect to the categories?
A. Yes. There are 2 things that you should be aware of ..
1. When you add an entry to a category it reflects on the LHS list as
Category 1
Entry 1.1
Entry 1.2
Category 2
Entry 2.1
Entry 2.2
The gotcha is - the categories will show just the 6 latest entries. So when you add the 7th entry, the earliest will roll off the list.2. The category "Announcements" has a special purpose. Any entry added
to this category would be avaliable as an entry on the sections main page and
would also appear in the "New Posts" on the top of the itbhuglobal.org main page.
Q. How do I post a message?
A. See the article.
Q. How can the message I post get visibility on the itbhuglobal.org main page?
A. If you you assign the message (an entry) a primary or secondary category "Announcements", a link to your entry will automatically appear on the main itbhuglobal.org through the blog trackback mechanism. This is a really cool tool and what has made blogs so successful by linking them together based on content.
If you are serious about starting a geographical, class or departmental chapter, this writeup describes the work involved in setting up the website for the chapter.
This document outlines the steps to create a chapter site (or also called a blog) under ITBHUGlobal.org. Most of the work is done by the core group ITBHUGlobal.org volunteers that does system administration and blog management while the rest by the chapter owner(s).
Don't let the details faze you! Most of the details apply to the core group of volunteers while you, the chapter owner, are to focus only on the posting content to your site using a simple web interface.
If you love working on blogs and would enjoy joining the core team that does a yeoman's job to empower all sites, we would love to hear from you!.
- ITBHUGlobal.org administrator creates a a new chapter blog.
In this example, we create the blog for the chapter class of cse87.
- Superuser (root) creates a unix account for the Chapter Owner
# /export/home2/chapters/addchapter.pl class cse87
Other examples for the arguments are "dept library", "geo bangalore", etc.The command gives an option to automatically transfer the contents of a remote website and install them as http://www.itbhuglobal.org/chapters/class/cse87/. This can be a temporary non-blog website until the chapter is ready for the next steps.
The chapter owner can ssh or ftp to www.itbhuglobal.org using the username. The blog owner gets the password from the administrator separately.
- ITBHUGlobal.org Blog coordinator configures the Chapter Blog
Sigup up at http://www.itbhuglobal.org/cgi-bin/mt.cgi as the editor and create a new MT blog:
Blog Config->Core Setup:
ITBHUGlobal.org: Class of CSE87 /export/home2/chapters/class/cse87 http://www.itbhuglobal.org/chapters/class/cse87/ /export/home2/chapters/class/cse87/archives http://www.itbhuglobal.org/chapters/class/cse87/archives/ UTC-8 Pacific Time Blog Config->Preferences-> make "draft" to "publish" Blog Config->Preferences-> make "html" to "php" Blog Config->Archiving Enable Category Archives by checking out the Category Archive Type.
- Superuser (root) creates a unix account for the Chapter Owner
- Customize the blog's templates to match with the ITBHUGlobal.org look and feel.
The idea here is to have a single set of templates under the "chapters proto" blog, http://www.itbhuglobal.org/chapters/ that are managed by theITBHUGlobal.org blog coordinator. They are shared by all chapters so the chapter owners don't have to create their templates from scratch. Sharing in this context means a chapter blog would define each template or module by creating it but for its contents link to the respective template file from the "chapters proto" blog. (Contrast this with defining the body of the template by typing the template content in the text window)
FAQ ON TEMPLATE SAVE: When you are editing a template or a template module, you map that template to a block of movable type code that is used to generate the actual HTML for the corresponding web page or page module. The template/module edit menu allows you to name a template or a module, a large text window to define the MT code and optionally a file to save that code into. If the file name is not specified, the code is saved in the internal MT database. Naming a file gives us the flexibility of sharing the same code across similar modules in multiple blogs.
The SAVE option does one of the following two when the file to link the template to is specified: a) if the template body is blank, it pulls out the contents of the file specified, making it the new template. b) otherwise it saves the whatever is in the text window overwriting the file in the parent space!! You WANT TO AVOID b) by making the text completely empty.
- Templates
- Click on "Index templates->Main Index" Link:
- Check entire Template Body with Ctrl-A and deletet it! Make sure there is not even a space in the body. Next enter ../../templates/index.tmpl exactly in the Link This Template to File input box above. Go down and SAVE. That will pull up the contents from the index.tmpl file. Save Again.
- Go Back to Templates and repeat the above two steps for the following Index and Archive-Related Templates ((REMEMBER TO BLANK OUT THE TEXT BEFORE ENTERING THE FILENAME AND DOING SAVE!):
Click on Links Link this template to a file Stylesheet ../../templates/itbhu-chapters.css Category Archive ../../templates/category.tmpl Date-based Archive ../../templates/datebased.tmpl Individual Entry Ar ../../templates/indentry.tmpl
Next we do the same thing by definining Template Modules shared between our chapters.
- Go into Templates-> scroll down to Template Modules.
- Click on Create new template module.
- Repeat the following steps to link a Template Name of the module to a corresponding file:
"template name" "link this template to a file": BlogHeadBody ../../templates/mod-BlogHeadBody.tmpl CatHtmlHead ../../templates/mod-CatHtmlHead.tmpl Comments ../../templates/mod-Comments.tmpl Copyrights ../../templates/mod-Copyrights.tmpl DatHtmlHead ../../templates/mod-DatHtmlHead.tmpl DropDownMainMenu ../../templates/mod-DropDownMainMenu.tmpl EntryHead ../../templates/mod-EntryHead.tmpl EntryTail ../../templates/mod-EntryTail.tmpl HtmlBanner ../../templates/mod-HtmlBanner.tmpl HtmlHead ../../templates/mod-HtmlHead.tmpl IndHtmlHead ../../templates/mod-IndHtmlHead.tmpl JavaScripts ../../templates/mod-JavaScripts.tmpl Links ../../templates/mod-Links.tmpl LinksArchives ../../templates/mod-LinksArchives.tmpl LinksHistory ../../templates/mod-LinksHistory.tmpl LinksSyndPow ../../templates/mod-LinksSyndPow.tmpl Logo ../../templates/mod-Logo.tmpl MenuBar ../../templates/mod-MenuBar.tmpl PostReviewComments ../../templates/mod-PostReviewComments.tmpl PreBlogbody ../../templates/mod-PreBlogbody.tmpl PreBlogIntro ../../templates/mod-PreBlogIntro.tmpl RecentComments ../../templates/mod-RecentComments.tmpl
Enter Template Name and Link this template to a file. Save. Make sure it loads something into the template body. - Click on Templates->Template Modules -> Create New Template module and repeat the above steps.
- CUSTOMIZE A FEW TEMPLATES for your particular chatper. Customizing means making a change to the template code AND saving
that code into a LOCAL FILE for your own chapter. This is typically "templates/*"
area as opposed to "../../templates/*" above. Remember to go through the content of these templates as you can edit them and they will be specific to your blog. Also, please DO NOT do the above for too many files. The only templates which need to be modified, and that too, only lightly, are as follows (REMEMBER TO REMOVE THE ../../ PART IN FILE NAME AFTER LOADING THE TEMPLATE BEFORE YOU MAKE THE FOLLOWING CHANGES):
Links Uncomment the $$MTInclude module="Logo" line. Comment out, using "!-- ", the ChaptersListing and YahooGroupsListing MTInclude lines. Also change the text "THE FAQ" to "CATEGORIES" SAVE. LinksHistory Change "ITBHUGlobal.org Chapters" to "Chapter Milestones". Change the links below to specific milestones for your chapter. PreBlogIntro For future customizations. PreBlogbody Change the entire announcement to welcome visitors to your chapter. Give coordinators' joint email address or itbhu group name or simply the coordinators. Make sure your visitors don't write to the editor at itbhu dot org.
- Categories ->
Create Categories. One required category is Announcements that would always keep rolling on the main page as and when things are posted. Others could be anything you like such as Academics, People, Organizations, Research, About Us etc. anything that is relevant to what the chapter does. Under each category you will have a few entries posted. The category names and entries will help with navigation. Each entry is like a "page" that is viewed at any given time.
- Templates
- To copy contents from one blog to another, i.e. articles and comments and not templates or stylesheets: a) use the import/export menu on the old blog to export it into a text file on your desktop. b) FTP upload that file in the /cgi-bin/import/ directory of the MT area, you may have to do ssh for this purpose and/or get help from the corewg at itbhu dot org mailing list who have the password for the user itbhu. Then go in the new blog, use the same menu this time to import that file. Rebuild.
SSH FAQ: ssh(cygwin) and ftp(WS_FTP) worked but F-Secure didn't. Most probably, it was sending a wrong username. You want to manually type the username. The best is the publicly available, lightweight, free ssh client "putty". Google it. You can even download to a cybercafe computer and get going in two minutes when travelling.
- Rebuild and Create entries
Create a test entry under one of categories, giving it a title. Save it. Then rebuild the blog and view your site.
- Trackbacks to post under ITBHUGlobal.org chapters events
As the pinger, or sender of notification of specific types of posting for visibility on the main ITBHUGlobal.org page, the chapter blog designates a category named "Announcements". The attributes of this category is such that any newly created entry in that category results in automatic ping notification for listing under "news from chapters" on the main ITBHUGlobal.org page. The category attribute will use the following URL:
http://www.itbhuglobal.org/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/1/up2itbhu
In general, any chapter blog may choose that its specific new entries generate a notification for listing under the main ITBHUGlobal.org page. These listing categories and notification URLs are:
1. Trackback URL to post news from Chapters on the main site: http://www.itbhuglobal.org/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/1/up2itbhu 2. Trackback URL to post IITization articles announcements on the main site: http://www.itbhuglobal.org/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/7/up2itbhu 3. Trackback URL to post Events announcements on the main site: http://www.itbhuglobal.org/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/8/up2itbhu 4. Trackback URL to post announcements from the Institute http://www.itbhuglobal.org/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/9/up2itbhu
- Maintenance and Customizations
Email editor at itbhuglobal dot org notifying that you are now using templates for chapters and would like to be notified when the templates change. All you would do is click on Templates-> and the specific template or module name and it will load the latest template that you can then save. Then you rebuild your site and it has a new presentation with your own contents.
Articles of an ITBHU Alumni Association ChapterITBHU Alumni Association, is the umbrella organization for all alumni of the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University. The alumni of ITBHU include alumni of its predecessor colleges.
To further its mission, the board of directors of ITBHU Alumni Association hereby resolves that it will actively encourage alumni to organize themselves into focus groups for geographical regions, graduating classes and departments.
A geographic group consists of ITBHU alumni that live or work in a geographic region, such as the Silicon Valley, the city of Bangalore, the state of Florida or Australia. A class group consists of graduates of a class such as all 1999 Electronics Engg, ITBHU graduates. A department group consists of graduates from a given department, whether as part of ITBHU or one of its predecessor colleges. Additionally, for the sake of ITBHUGlobal.org chapters, alumni with interest in specific inter-departmental projects such as improving the institute Library or promoting Technex may organize as a group interested in the library or Technex "department".
A group as defined above may be designated an ITBHU Alumni Association chapter by the ITBHUGlobal.org board upon compliance with the following articles of an ITBHU Alumni Association chapter:
- A chapter can be started by at least two ITBHU alumni with affiliation to the group. As the initial coordinators of the chapter, they give their commitment to start the chapter and conduct its activities in accordance with these guidelines by writing to the ITBHUGlobal.org board member who is responsible for coordination of its chapters. The current coordinator's name and email address shall always appear at the bottom of this online document.
- All members of a chapter must be registered in the alumni database at www.itbhuglobal.org and must have the affiliation to the chapter group as described above. Alumni may register as ITBHU Alumni Association members on the ITBHUGlobal.org website. Until the online registration facility is operational, they may register by giving their name, graduating class and contact information to an initial coordinator of the chapter they wish to join.
- Any ITBHU alumnus, advisor or staff may attend the meetings of a chapter that (s)he is not a member of as non-voting observers.
- During the first year of a chapter's operation, any of its members may volunteer to be an additional coordinator by requesting the initial coordinators. The initial coordinators shall not unreasonably reject such a request subject to the maximum of ten coordinators.
- All coordinators agree to holding a general meeting at the beginning of a new calendar year. The general meeting shall democratically elect upto ten coordinators from candidates at the meeting.
- A chapter may raise funds only in one of the following two
ways:
- Cash or checks collected to cover incidental costs of organizing a chapter meeting. Examples of incidental costs are, but not limited to, food, meeting rooms and group outings.
- When authorized in writing by the board of ITBHU Alumni Association and in the form of an online payment to and on the ITBHUGlobal.org website, checks in favor of ITBHU Alumni Association or wire transfers made directly to the publicly posted ITBHU Alumni Association bank account. Such funds may be raised either for the ITBHU Alumni Association general fund or for exclusive utilization on a specific initiative of interest to the chapter that has been agreed in writing between the ITBHU Alumni Association board and the chapter coordinators.
- In case the ITBHU Alumni Association non-profit account can not be used to accept contributions for a specific project at the institute that a chapter promotes, the chapter coordinators and the ITBHU Alumni Association board may mutually designate a third-party non-profit account to manage funds for the project.
- A chapter shall not charge any membership fee.
- A chapter shall not maintain a bank account.
- The chapter, its members and coordinators agree that in the event at least ten chapter members collectively dispute in writing to the ITBHU Alumni Association board of directors the continuation of any coordinator, the board has the final authority through a resolution to withdraw the privileges of the coordinator and/or appoint additional coordinator(s) for the remaining calendar year. The board reserves the right to reject summarily any such request. The board shall exercise this right only after giving all parties sufficient time to present their side and by specifying a reasonable cause for its action.
- A chapter will be assigned a public website such as http://www.itbhuglobal.org/chapters/geo/svalley/ or http://www.itbhuglobal.org/chapters/class/ece99/ or http://www.itbhuglobal.org/chapters/dept/met/ or http://www.itbhuglobal.org/chapters/dept/library/ . The initial coordinators agree to create and maintain the chapter's website in cooperation with ITBHU Alumni Association volunteers who manage the presentation and hosting of all ITBHU Alumni Association sites.
- The coordinators shall post announcement of every meeting on its website at least one week in advance. They shall also post minutes of every meeting within one week.
- ITBHU Alumni Association or its directors shall not bear responsibility for the contents of the chapter website. This responsibility rests with the chapter coordinators who have full control of its content. ITHBU Alumni Association or its directors do not edit chapter contents in the normal course of its operation. However, only if specific chapter content is brought to the board's attention as improper or illegal, the board retains the final authority to suspend dissemination of such content.