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About The RWD Help Documentation
FirstClass is a very comprehensive and complex platform and there are often many ways to do a particular thing; each way more or less advisable based on a variety of issues such as the local server configuration, the level of technical expertise of the administrator and users, etc. as well as many other variables. Often when writing help, there is a temptation to cover every possible way of doing something - so much so that it can actually create confusion, not reduce it. In these help documents, when there are several ways to accomplish something, we will try to limit our instruction to only one method and perhaps mention the possiblity of others.
Because RWD is a product that fully integrates with FirstClass, there are a large number of skills and functions that overlap between the two. The scope of this help is limited to the function of the RWD application itself and only touches on the functionality and configuration of FirstClass when absolutely necessary.
The basic format of the help for RWD is to explain the tabs, sections, fields, and buttons that comprise the RWD form. We usually show a screen shot of a tab in the form, and then smaller screen shots of the various sections within that tab or SubTab. In these partial screen shots, we number the fields and buttons in the image and then provide help for the use of those fields. At the end of each section, we have an area entitled Tips and Tricks which gives a little extra insight into the various features of RWD and how you might use them. No amount of explanation can substitute for experience so we recommend that you experiment with your pages and see just how much you can achieve with a little creativity.
If you are a FirstClass user who is reading this help to build RWD pages, it is assumed that you have a good working knowledge of FirstClass and that you already know about how to edit a document using the standard FirstClass document editing menus and tool bars. We also assume that you can create a document, make a copy of it or move it to another location. Finally, we assume that the web pages you create using RWD are accessible on the web either because they are being created in your personal Home Page folder and that you have web publishing privileges, or your pages are being created in a conference or folder that either exists in or is aliased to the WWW folder.
If you are a FirstClass Administrator and are reading this help to understand the implications of RWD on your server, how to install it, or how to make it available to your users, we have included a section that is just for you.
Conventions Used In this Documentation
Screen shots are taken from a Windows machine. Mac users, this is nothing personal, honest.
When RWD fields are named in the body of the help text, they are in bold.
Reference to actual content entered into fields, including selections from lists will be surrounded by single quotation marks 'like this'.
Emphatic or imperative statements will often be IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
Unless otherwise stated, the term "Web Page" will always refer to a page created with RWD
Labels on screen shots are in burgundy text that has a shadow effect applied to make it appear separate from the image itself
Glossary of Terms
The following terms are used in the entire body of RWD documentation and are defined here so that they do not need to be explained within the text, although they may be explained.
Container - A folder or a conference that contains documents, files, or other containers. (note: calendars are also containers however in the RWD documentation, calendars are not referred to in this definition but will always be referred to as calendars)
Home Page - The one page that opens automatically when users access your web site with a web browser. (Note: because FirstClass can also serve standard HTML files on the web, pages with any of the following names will also open automatically when a browser is used to access the container they are in: index.htm, index.html, default.htm, default.html. For the purposes of this help, we will always refer to the Home Page as the RWD page with the literal name 'Home Page')
RWD - The Rapid Web Designer application, specifically the page builder form itself
RWD Page Builder Form - a custom FirstClass Form that enhances the standard FirstClass Web Page form by adding a number of features that can be set by the user to add custom HTML sections to the web page. These sections in turn contain additional features that can be turned on and configured to display additional information on the web page such as graphics, Navigation Links, content, etc. Each web page in a website is based on a separate instance of this form (I.e. 1 RWD Page Builder Form = 1 Web Page).
RWDE - The Rapid Web Designer Enterprise application, which works in conjunction with the RWD builder forms to control aspects of all pages in a site or group of sites. The primary interface of RWDE is the RWDE Administrator Form, which is a customized FirstClass .Sitepref form. One RWDE Admin form must be located in the root container for each site registered in the Multiple Sites And Languages form in FirstClass in order for RWDE to be used in that site.
RWD page - a web page created using the RWD form
Object / FirstClass Object - A document, message, conference, folder, calendar, or uploaded file
Page Body - the area of a web page that is in the center of the page and that is NOT part of the RWD Header Selection, Header or Footer Links Bars, Navigation Sidebar or Information Sidebar. On the RWD form, the Page Body is the part of the form that is visible regardless of which tab in the form is selected as it is below the tabbed sections of the RWD form. The Page body is the area that is part of native FirstClass functionality. The page body may also be referred to as the document window.
Site Container - A container that specifically contains a web site
URL - (Uniform Resource Locator) An address for a web page or a FirstClass object. URL is used interchangeably with path/filename.
Web Site - A collection of web pages that relate to one another and that are usually stored together in a container. Web sites can be located in your own Home Page Folder (My Website in FirstClass 8), or in any other container that is available for web viewing. While web pages can be created using regular FirstClass web page documents or even HTML files, we will usually refer to web pages as RWD pages that are being viewed by a browser on the web
What is RWD?
RWD builds on the fantastic capabilities of FirstClass to render content on the web. It consists of a very customized set of templates and an easy to use FirstClass form that work together to give you the power to create very professional looking sites very quickly and easily - without having to use HTML and other types of web building software. Because RWD is fully integrated into FirstClass, you can share your web publishing tasks with any number of other users easily and seamlessly.
How does it work?
RWD interprets the content you provide (text, pictures, links) from your RWD Page Builder form, and renders it into HTML on the web. The RWD Page Builder form is built on top of a regular FirstClass document form which most FirstClass users are already familiar with. In addition, the RWD page Builder form contains other fields and checkboxes that perform a variety of functions such as turning the various RWD web page sections or features on or off. These features include the various page sections (Header, Header Links, Navigation and Information Sidebars), as well as features within the sections themselves such as a logo and other graphics in your page, or a scrolling message. As you make changes to the checkboxes and drop-down lists, your changes are reflected immediately on the web - no need to
upload changed files to a web server using ftp.
With RWD, you simply fill out the content for your page and allow RWD to manage the way it looks on the web.
RWD surrounds native FirstClass web pages with a feature-rich 'wrapper' that contains a Header Section, a Header and Footer Links Bar, a Navigation Sidebar, and an Information Sidebar - all of which can be included or not included in your web page. Each of these sections have features within them that can be turned on or off to achieve a wide range of effects on your web page. Below is a screen shot of a web page with all of the RWD sections turned on and labels showing each section. Remember, this image shows just one possibility - your particular website design (set by your RWD Site Administrator) could have one or more sections turned off, things moved around, and all of the colors and graphics may be quite different. Almost always, as a builder, you will not be responsible for any of the design work
involved in your website (that's the job of the RWD Administrator) but you will have lots of freedom in the middle part of the page (the Page Body) to do as you like.
But remember, just because you CAN do something it doesn't mean that you SHOULD...
Main Parts of an RWD Web Page
Installation of RWD
RWD is installed on your server by FirstClass Depot. Once installed, each user who wants to use the RWD Web Page Builder form needs to install the resources associated with RWD onto their local computer. Fortunately, this installation is automatic and done for you when you open an RWD Website container - which will have been placed there by your RWD Site Administrator.
Depending on the speed of your internet connection, you may not see the RWD icons and the RWD Web Page Builder form immediately when you log in to FirstClass. Be patient and in a few seconds, the icons associated with RWD will change to the ones that come with the product.
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