Automating Web-Site Maintenance Part 3
Dynamically Updating with WebPost
By Paul Helinski
People react to WebPost in one of two ways. They either compare it to FrontPage, or write it off as yet another proprietary database system. Actually, WebPost is a server-based CGI back-end system that automates the insertion of HTML pages through a Web form. You simply cut and paste text into a <TEXTAREA>; select a group, title, and author for the entry; choose a page layout; and hit Submit. WebPost automatically formats the page and hot links it into the site, and can insert the markup tags using a simplified syntax. Back and Jump links are added automatically, and the entire system is password secure.
WebPost is not a Webmaster administration tool, however. It is not WYSIWYG like FrontPage or HoTMetaL. It does not use proprietary "bots" or server-parsed SQL. All of WebPost's component architecture is written in Perl and resides on the server. The Web forms, through any browser, are its only client components; see
Figure 1. WebPost eliminates the need for HTML programs, templates, and converters for creating and linking repetitively formatted pages. Thus, the menial tasks of a Webmaster's work can be handled by a novice.
WebPost was built to overcome the "Webmaster bottleneck" of large companies. Typically, large companies with offices spread throughout the world must email or fax their contributions to one or more "Web departments."
