Replacement for SSI

[David Webster <cog@seul.org>]

Perhaps if the use of SSI does limit the people who are able to help, then
it should be looked at.

What is SSI used for? AFAIK it is used only for the inclusion of the
header and footer.

I toyed with the idea of using SSI for the header and footer, but decided
against it. Instead I wrote a bash script that automatically adds the
header and footer to my page.

I write the body of the page in VI, and then save it to a file and issue
the command:
mkhtml <file>
This asks me some questions (like the title of the page, etc... and then
outputs the file to <file>.html (unless otherwise specified on the command
line).

What if we want to change the header/footer, after we've made the page? 

I've done this. I wanted to change part of my header, so I wrote a script
that strips the included header and footer. To remake to files you just
run mkhtml again. Support for more than one file has also been added.
Whole directories/lists of files can be changes with just one command (it
might include a few pipes, but that could be fixed). 

This is slightly more work than SSI, but not massively so, but that would
probably be made up for if we got one extra person helping with the site.
This script would require bash to run, but the pages could be edited
without the script, just like normal pages.

I've not checked the state of this program and can't remember how useable
it is, so it may be a day or two before I release it.

OR:

A 'compiled' version of the site could be made up (using wget?) and posted
with the indy.tar.gz file. It is not hard to convert .shtml to .html (it
is done everytime a request for that page is made), so I don't see why
this can't be done. Any alterations to the site could be feed to someone
with access to machine with SSI capabilities, like me or Donovan, and the
altered pages then converted back to SSI.

I suggest going for the latter option (creating a 'compiled' version), as
that would be easier to implement, I feel. And currently I wouldn't mind
taking submissions and turning them back to SSI.

thoughts/comments/flames/rants/other suggestions welcome.

David
--		   ,------------------------------,
,==================| S H U N  A N T I O N L I N E |=================,
| David M. Webster '------------------------------' (aka cogNiTioN) |
|===| I use Linux everyday to up my productivity - so up yours! |===|
|=================|-| PGP KeyID: 0x 45 FA C2 83 |-|=================|
| <cognition@bigfoot.com> |-|===========|-| http://www.cognite.net/ |
`===========| I walk to the beat of a different drummer |==========='