Pre-requisites
You need to know how to create html web pages using any technology. You can hand code them using html tags. Or you can use such tools as front page or dreamweaver.
Knowing CSS will be a great help. Try to get a basic understanding of CSS from any of the online web sites.
Knowing Flash can further enhance the appeal of the website
What is a master page in AKC
AKC is a collection of users, documents or files, and folders. A document is just an html page in akc. A master page in akc is just another html document. You can take any document in your akc account and specify it as a master page for your account.
Once you have identified a document as a master page, all of your documents and folders will be displayed with this master page as your back ground.
This has the benefit of setting your and font styles once and reuse them again and again for a consistent look and feel and also provides a context for navigation irrespective of what page you are on.
This article talks about how to create a master page from the ground up.
Structure of a master page
<html>
<head>
<!--ASPIRE_MP_HEADER_BEGIN-->
your common css styles go here
Your common javascript files go here
<!--ASPIRE_MP_HEADER_END-->
</head>
<body>
<!--ASPIRE_MP_BODY_BEGIN-->
some top html segment
{{ASPIRE_MP_CONTENT}}
some bottom html segment
</diV>
<!--ASPIRE_MP_BODY_END-->
</body>
</html>
Datamodel of the master page
Using the above master page, akc collects the following from the above
header top half bottom half
In the above example these are
header wille be
your common css styles go here Your common javascript files go here
top half will be
some top html segment
Bottom half will be
some bottom html segment
How is the final page constructed
<html>
<head>
akc built in segment
header
</head>
<body>
tophalf
dynamic content
bottomhalf
</body>
A very simple master page
<html>
<head>
<!--ASPIRE_MP_HEADER_BEGIN-->
<style>
.top-row
{
background-color:orange;
}
.bottom-row
{
background-color:orange;
font-size:10px;
}
</style>
<!--ASPIRE_MP_HEADER_END-->
</head>
<body>
<!--ASPIRE_MP_BODY_BEGIN-->
<table width="100%">
<tr class="top-row">
<td>
<h2>Aspire Knowledge Central</h2>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{{ASPIRE_MP_CONTENT}}</td>
</tr>
<tr class="bottom-row">
<td>
<hr>
<p align="center">Made possible by Aspire/J2EE</p>
</td>
</tr>
</diV>
<!--ASPIRE_MP_BODY_END-->
</body>
</html>
What does this do?
Your body is divided into three rows with the help of a very simple html table that has three rows in it. Top and bottom rows have been give CSS class names. This will allow you to control the colors and fonts for those rows. A style is defined in the header section that gives a background color and font sizes.
How can you set this document as the masterpage?
Create a note in akc whose body is the above. Make a note of the id. Now use the following path
author content/Manage master page for this user
Now specify the master page item id as the number you chose. Once you do this, all your pages in the account will now be shown with this master page background.
How to use existing master pages as examples to create new ones
A number of master pages already exist in knowledge folders. You can locate one of these master pages by either talking to the owners of other accounts in knowledge folders or using one of your own from previous work. Read up on DisplayNoteBodyURL to see the master pages in the web browser. You can then do view source of the browser to retrieve the body of the master page. Copy this to a local html file and open with any text editor to make your modifications.
Here are some examples of existing master pages.
1. Knowledge folders master page as of June 2006
2. Satya's master page as of June 2006
3. Here is an early print master page used by Saty's account . This is useful for exposing the basic master page structure with out a lot of other details
References
1. How to use DisplayNoteBodyURL to retrive just the body of a document You can use this reference to retrieve master pages for your modification later