How to Personalize the Created Web Page

package Netcomics::HTML::Themes::ThemeName;
use vars '@ISA'; @ISA = ("Netcomics::HTML::Themes::Default");
use strict;

my (%html,%imgs);

sub new {
    my $class = shift;
    return $class->SUPER::new("Theme Name",\%imgs,\%html);
}

1;

Then for each part of the default theme you want to change, copy it from the Default.pm theme file into yours and modify it. If you don't want to use any of the Default theme, then make your's ISA line be "Netcomics::HTML::Theme".

To make a theme with images, use the mktheme script in the contrib directory (or doc directory if installed from an rpm) to produce the perl code from a set of images. To get the actual images out of their mime-encoded form, use the theme to create a set of html pages, and it will place them in a subdirectory ".theme". See the CleanRound theme for an example. Note that you can name the image files whatever you want--and they don't even have to be images either.

The html hash has 10 keys, each of which is refered to in here as a "section":

• head:
  • The string <DATE> is replaced with the date of the form "mon day, Year". This can be changed using the -wf option ($webpage_datefmt in the rc file). This can be used in any section, though.
  • If <DATE> is provided with the optional attribute, FORMAT="", the text between the quotes is used as the format specifier for the POSIX::strftime() function. The whole <DATE FORMAT=""> is replaced with the string produced by strftime(). Escaped double quotes are not allowed between the quotes. See the man page for strftime() on your system.
  • <PAGETITLE>: title of the page. This can be used in any section, though.
  • <CTIME>: time at which the page is created. Can be used in any section.
  • <THEME_DIR>: location where the theme images are placed. This can be used in any section.
  • <NUM=FIRST>: Number of the first comic in the page of the whole set.
  • <NUM=LAST>: Number of the last comics in the page.
  • <NUM=TOTAL>: Total number of comics in the whole set.
  • <LINK_COLOR>: User's selection of the color applied to unvisited links.
  • <VLINK_COLOR>: User's selection of the color applied to visited links.
  • <BACKGROUND>: User's selection for the background attribute for the page.
• links: provides the links for going forward & backward through a set of pages. Used when the page has no corresponding index page (in index pages themselves & in the comic pages when the user has selected to not have an index created).
  • <FILE=PREV> is replaced with the filename of the previous webpage file.
  • <FILE=NEXT> is replaced with the filename of the next webpage file.
  • <NUM> is replaced with the number of comics per page.
• links_index: Both of the file types in links are also replaced in this one, plus <FILE=INDEX> which is replaced with the filename of the page's corresponding index page. This template is used instead of links if an index is created (by default).
• pre_body: include anything you want between the head and the body. This is usually the start of a TABLE.
• body: A body is used to contain a single comic, so this is typically a table row.
  • <COMIC_ID> is replaced with the id of the comic so that it can be uniquely hyperlinked to (the date is also attached to the id).
  • <COMIC_NAME> is replaced with the name of the comic.
  • <ELEMENT> is replaced with 1 to n body_el sections. A body_el section is used for each image that makes up the comic.
  • <CAPTION> is replaced with the caption section or a blank string if the comic doesn't have a caption.
  • <WIDTH> is replaced with the HTML <IMG> attribute WIDTH=#. This is needed for theming with images used to frame the comic. Although not a perfect way of determining the width for multi-file comics, width is that of the widest image in the set that makes up the comic.
  • <HEIGHT> is replaced with the HTML <IMG> attribute HEIGHT=#. This is needed for theming with images used to frame the comic. Although not a perfect way of determining the height for multi-file comics, height is the sum of the heights of all the images that make up the comic.
• body_el:
  • <COMIC_FILE#> is replaced with the filename of the comic.
  • <SIZE> is replaced with the HTML <IMG> attributes HEIGHT=# and WIDTH=#. This make rendering the web page happen more quickly in most browsers.
• caption:
  • <CAPTION_DATA>: replaced with the comic's caption data.
• tail: The string <CTIME> is replaced with the date as returned by POSIX::ctime().
• index_element: When created, an index webpage is constructed using head, an instance of this template for each comic, and tail.
  • <FILE=CURRENT> is replaced with the name of the webpage in which the comic is included.
  • <COMIC_ID> is replaced with the id of the comic so that it can be uniquely hyperlinked to (the date is also attached to the id).
  • <COMIC_DATE> is replaced with the date of the comic.
  • <COMIC_NAME> is replaced with the name of the comic.
  • <COMIC_AUTHOR> is replaced with author of the comic.
  • <COMIC_STATUS> is replaced with the status of the comic. If it a local file, "local"; if it is a URL, "remote".
  • <PAGE=CURRENT> is replaced with number of the webpage in which the comic is included.

How to Personalize the Created Web Page (Old Style, pre-0.14 release)

The web page is created from three template files: a head (contains more than just the html head section): head.html, a body element: body_el#.html, and a tail: tail.html. The head & tail are used once, and the body element is repeated for each comic strip. The files are installed by default under /usr/share/netcomics/html_tmpl/.

There are multiple body_el#.html files. The number indicates the number of image files in a comic that template handles. For example, some comic strips provide each panel on Sunday in a seperate file. If there are 5 frames total, then body_el5.html will be used. Inside it are 5 places for the file names to be inserted. (Yes, I don't like this design, but it was quick. At some point, I'll change it so that there's 2 templates for the body elements--a template wrapper around a set of file element templates, and a file element template.)

Since you are allowed to specify a different directory to contain these files with the -m option, if you do use that option, you must create a set of template html files, or the web page will not be created when using the -w or -W options. I suggest copying the template files and modifying them instead of starting from scratch.

What's replaced in the template files when writing out index.html

• head.html:
  • The string "<DATE>" is replaced with the date of the form "Month day Year".
  • If <DATE> is provided with the optional attribute, FORMAT="", the text between the quotes is used as the format specifier for the POSIX::strftime() function. The whole <DATE FORMAT=""> is replaced with the string produced by strftime(). Escaped double quotes are not allowed between the quotes. See the man page for strftime() on your system.
• body_el#.html:
  • "<COMIC_FILE#>" is replaced with the filename of the comic.
  • "<COMIC_NAME>" is replaced with the name of the comic.
  • "<SIZE>" is replaced with the <IMG> attributes HEIGHT=# and WEIGHT=#. This will help make rendering the web page happen more quickly in most browsers.
• tail.html: The string "<CTIME>" is replaced with the date as returned by POSIX::ctime().
• links.html:
  • "<FILE=PREV>" is replaced with the filename of the previous webpage file.
  • "<FILE=NEXT>" is replaced with the filename of the next webpage file.
links_index.html: Both of the file types in links.html are also replaced in this one, plus "<FILE=NEXT>" which is replaced with the filename of the next webpage index. This template is used instead of links.html if an index is created (by default).
• index_body_el.html: When created, an index webpage is constructed using head.html, an instance of this template for each comic, and tail.html.
  • "<FILE=CURRENT>" is replaced with the name of the webpage in which the comic is included.
  • "<COMIC_ID>" is replaced with the id of the comic so that it can be uniquely hyperlinked to (the date is also attached to the id).
  • "<COMIC_DATE>" is replaced with the date of the comic.
  • "<COMIC_NAME>" is replaced with the name of the comic.
  • "<COMIC_AUTHOR>" is replaced with author of the comic.
  • "<COMIC_STATUS>" is replaced with the status of the comic. If it a local file, "local"; if it is a URL, "remote".
  • "<PAGE=CURRENT>" is replaced with number of the webpage in which the comic is included.