-
-
ACS Templating Requirements
-by Karl Goldstein,
+
+by Karl Goldstein
+,
Christian
-Brechbühler, Peter
-Su, and Yonatan FeldmanI. Introduction
+Brechbühler
+, Peter
+Su
+, and Yonatan Feldman
+
+I. Introduction
+
The following is a requirements document for the ACS Templating
System version 0.5. It has also been called Karl's Templates, the
Dynamic Publishing System (DPS), and Stencil. The official package
-name for the system is now acs-templating.
-II. Vision Statement
+name for the system is now acs-templating
+.
+
+II. Vision Statement
+
On websites of sufficient size, a consistent look and feel (the UI,
or user interface) for users is important, while for site
publishers and administrators, de-coupling the UI from programming
@@ -27,7 +35,9 @@
fills the blanks in the template. In addition, the templating
system provides a way to use a single layout specification for the
majority - if not all - of a website's pages, so the overall layout
-of a site can be more easily administered. III. System Overview
+of a site can be more easily administered.
+III. System Overview
+
The templating system provides:
- A set of custom markup tags (using ADP, AOLserver Dynamic
@@ -38,7 +48,10 @@
the layout (from a layout template) into a single dynamically
generated HTML page.
- A mechanism for specifying a single master template to be used
for multiple pages.
-
IV. Use-cases and User-scenarios
The template system is designed to be used by two classes of
+
+
+
IV. Use-cases and User-scenarios
+The template system is designed to be used by two classes of
users: programmers and designers. In bulding a web site,
programmers are generally responsible for defining and implementing
the application logic of the site, while designers are more
@@ -47,10 +60,13 @@
the user. The template system must provide mechanisms that supports
both of these tasks and allows the designer and programmer to work
seperately, but for their work to be combined at runtime into
-something that the user sees as a single page.
Thus, pages are naturally split into two parts. The logic
+something that the user sees as a single page.
+Thus, pages are naturally split into two parts. The logic
part executes application logic and generates data, and the
presentation part that specifies the layout of the page and
-so on.
What is needed is:
+so on.
+What is needed is:
+
- A notation and API for the programmer specify the application
logic and to generate the data to be displayed. In ACS, we call the
data that we wish to display a data source or page
@@ -65,16 +81,23 @@
notation will generally take the form of some kind extended
HTML.
- A mechanism for communicating the data sources and page
properties from the logic part of the page
-
Jane Programmer writes a page contract and a draft template,
+
+Jane Programmer writes a page contract and a draft template,
that uses the promised page properties. Joe Designer takes that
template and makes it look nice, using his design skills and HTML
literacy. Meanwhile Jane Programmer writes code to generate the
page properties, typically by querying the database. When both are
done, the page is ready for Jim User, who requests it using his web
-browser.
+browser.
+
Alternate scenario: Judy Designer is familiar with the
template system. She starts directly from a defined page contract,
-so Jane Programmer doesn't need to write the draft template.
V. Related Links
VI.A Functional Requirements
+so Jane Programmer doesn't need to write the draft template.
+V. Related Links
+
+
+VI.A Functional Requirements
+
-
10.0 A Common Solution
Programmers and designers should only have to learn a single
system that serves as a UI substrate for all the functionally
@@ -172,7 +195,10 @@
template specifications and work on templates remotely without
needing shell access to the server.
-
VI.B Non-functional Requirements
+
+VI.B Non-functional Requirements
+
-
100.0 Distribution
The Templating System must be releasable as part of the ACS and
as a separate product. When distributed as part of the ACS all
@@ -185,7 +211,9 @@
page load speed by more than 10% versus a Tcl page with inline
HTML.
-
VII. Revision History
+
+VII. Revision History
+
| Document Revision # | Action Taken, Notes | When? | By Whom? |
@@ -195,7 +223,9 @@
| 0.3 | Edited, reviewed, pending freeze | 8/28/2000 | Kai Wu |
-
yon\@arsdigita.com
+
+
+
yon\@arsdigita.com
+
Last modified: $Id: requirements.html,v 1.2 2014/10/27 16:40:14
victorg Exp $
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