The Box Web Page System

• configuration files are in XML
• content can be edited per logical box that is linked into the main page via SSI
• the primary page doesn't have to be regenerated via perl unless the layout changes (e.g., add/delete boxes or move them around)

• changes to the *.xml configuration files are not published until the web page is regenerated
• the Last updated tag currently reflects the last time that the page layout was updated and not when the page content was updated. It is possible to quickly implement a work-around to this limitation; but it would require the use of a cron job.

• a reasonably up-to-date Perl
• a webserver that supports server side includes (SSI)
• an ASCII text editor with which to edit the configuration files.

1. download the bwps code (zip)
2. Unpack the archive within the web page directory where you wish to build your page. Alternately, you could install and use Box.pm and the *.pl perl scripts in some directory outside of your web directory and just place the generated *.shtml (e.g., index.shtml) file and the content directory (index/*) in the web directory.
3. Edit the *.pl perl scripts and ensure that the perl interpreter specified (/opt/exp/perl/bin/perl or /usr/local/bin/perl) is correct for your webserver system.
4. Edit the boxdb.xml file and define your boxes. I often do this by copying and pasting boxes and then modifying the pasted content; if you do this, make sure you update the box title. Anything can go into the <content></content> field but it is usually most effective to use a SSI to call in a file. I suggest using a directory to organize these: e.g., index/*.
5. Use the init_index.pl script to create the empty index/* files based on your boxdb.xml definitions. Note that links in the index/* files should be written, if relative links, relative to the web directory and not relative to index. E.g., if I have a link to a word.doc file that I've placed in the web directory, I would write it as

   <a href="word.doc"> </a>

   and not:

   <a href="index/word.doc"> </a>

6. Edit the index_template.xml file (can be renamed) that defines the layout. You can have one or more <boxes> </boxes> sections defined. The <boxid/> tags must only use boxid's that are defined in the boxdb.xml file specified in <boxsource>boxdb.xml</boxsource> in the index_template.xml file.
7. If you want an internal page navigation bar at the top and/or bottom of your page, you will need to modify index_template.xml to SSI include one:

   <!-- include virtual="index/map.html"-->

   You can use the create_map.pl script to generate this map file with: ./create_map.pl > index/map.html
8. Execute: ./regen.pl > index.shtml to create the HTML file.
9. Let me know if you are using this system, what features you'd like to see added and if I can list your link here.

See the freshmeat list of other web content management systems.
Here is an article about web content management systems