I see in the website To Do List the topic "HTMLize the Homeowners' Manual." If no one else has taken this on, I would like to volunteer to do it. I have a lot of experience with straight HTML but none with content-management systems like the one the web site uses.

Excellent, thanks for your help!

I just got started the other day (but haven't updated the To Do list yet). Because the Windsor's website is so deficient, I've started the work on my testbed site, so the HTML'ized version (in progress) can be uploaded to the official site when it's done. That way we can use my site's collaborative features like revision control and comments to keep from stepping on each other's toes as we work.

I could get started right away on the content, then explore with your help how to implement it. Please let me know how/whether to proceed.

Unfortunately, the provided PDF doesn't contain text, but images of pages of text. So I ran it through an OCR program and extracted some fairly accurate, though unformatted text. So all that's left to do is correct the OCR errors and HTML'ize it (removing carriage returns and formatting (to be implemented in CSS later), and apply semantic HTML).

So, if you create an account on my website (let me know if it gives you any trouble, it's been a while since people have signed up), and start editing from where the HTML ends and the plain text begins, that'd be great.

Thanks.

Thank you! Hopefully I wasn't too confusing.

I've been having Website Committee meettings on an "as needed" basis. If you'd like to get started with this in person, let me know.

Ok, I'm logged in and 'legal' and I see how to edit text.

Cool.

I can see that it would be much easier to work offline than try to edit in that small window -- would this be ok?

Of course. Just save the work you do offline back to the webpage so we dont' duplicate work (copy from the edit window into your offline tools, work, copy, paste back into the edit window (replacing what was there) and submit the webpage changes).

Also, may I propose classes and ids to be styled? and CSS?

That would be great!

So far I was just wrapping the sections identified in the table of contents in a div with an id of "in" where n is a number, to be linked to from the table of contents later.

Maybe you could hide in an HTML comment at the top what ids and classses you've created and what their purpose is (if it's not obvious)?

For the CSS, maybe just define it in a style element defined at the top for now. Although the resulting page won't be legal, I think most browsers will render it anyway. Once we're closer to finished, we can move it out to it's own file to be linked in, or something else. What do you think?

Are you envisioning this as a single, long page,
or can it be divided into multiple pages? If so, how is that
accomplished?

For now I was just thinking a single page. Simplifies our work a little bit, it's difficult to work with multiple documents on the current official Windsor website, and users can search through it in their browsers (using Find).

If we do decide to divide it into multiple pages, in what way do you think we should do it? By section? Subsection? By page number?

It's so great to have someone else to work with!

I suggest that what I do is make the single file work like a regular web page, with CSS styles embedded at the top and a Table of Contents that jumps to bookmark anchors within the same file. I did think that dividing it up might make maintenance easier but thatcan wait.

I agree.

Another issue that will come up is, which version is the "official" version, the pdf or the web page --

I understand your point. The PDF would be closer to official, being generated directly from the source (a printout or fax of an MS Word document possibly?). And since our HTML is a bit of a hack, it would be even less official.

does the Maria send that pdf to new owners?

I'm not sure.

If so, we need to have an easy way to keep them in sync --

We should! I asked Maria some time ago about gaining access to the originals for HTML'izing.

that may be the deciding factor in whether to divide it or not. I just tried printing a multiple page web page to pdf -- that's exactly what to do.

Not sure I follow you.

Does the content management system have any default styles?

The TOPS IWSS styles are an ugly combination of definitions declared in the style element of the head, and pre-CSS inline styling by attributes. Styles seemed to be specified for generic elements (no classes or ids), with exception of the navigation list. AtHomeNet allows choosing from pre-defined styles through their Website Style Selector, but does not allow customization beyond that (at our service level).

I'm going to be on vacation tomorrow, at home. This will be an entertaining way to spend some of that time instead of just vegging out.

To our website's benefit!

The issues Susan found are now online as well.

I've yet to hear from the Communications Committee on how we should move forward.