WEB SITE LINKS

The default page of the Links section will provide the user with a list of link categories which contain links to other sites. Selecting a category will link the user to a listing of all links in that category.

The links will be displayed in order of presendence so that the first article in the list is the most important. The list will take the form of the link heading, a brief description of the site, and the URL.

Selecting a link heading will link the user to the other site which will open in a new window.

EDIT SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

It is required that an edit-system be created to allow administration of the content of the links section by SPEEDO staff and other non-expert users.

The user interface will be frames based to allow ease of navigation with graphical styling and iconography being based upon familiar GUI environments.

Access to the tool will be provided through a drop-down menu at the top of the browser window in a frame of approximately 30 pixels in height. Selecting the tool will load the default frameset of the news system as a sub-frameset into the lower section of the browser window which represents the remaining window space ("*").

The system itself should provide the following functionality:

BROWSING THE LINKS

Links are to be divided into categories (user defined with the exception of "Miscellaneous").

To access a list of links in a category the user will be able to select the category they are interested in from a drop down list located in a frame of approximately 30 pixels in height. Selecting category will load the list of the lnks contained in that category into a frame beneath the category selection frame which represents the remaining vertical frame space ("*").

Each link will be displayed with a "file" icon, the headline of the link and the link presendence number.

LINK CREATION/EDITING

To create a new link the user will be required to select the "new link" icon positioned adjacent to the link list. This will call up a blank form allowing entry of all the information and data pertaining to the new link.

To edit an existing link the user will be required to select the "file" icon positioned adjacent to the link itself within the link list. This will call up a filled-out form containing all the information and data pertaining to the link for alteration or deletion of the link.

Each link should encompass the following aspects:


   Heading         To be added as a single line of text.

   Summary         To be added as free-text into a textarea.

                   When parsed into HTML, single carriage returns 
                   are to be treated as line-breaks, while double 
                   carriage returns will be treated as paragraph marks, 
                   when parsed to HTML.

                   It is required that the textareas in all the admin tools 
                   have WRAP="virtual" provided as an explicit attribute to
                   the TEXTAREA tag. 

   Category        Selected from a drop-down list generated according
                   to user-defined categories the default setting of which
                   should be "Miscellaneous".

                   An additional category admin tool is required to control 
                   which categories are available in the list as these will 
                   not be fixed.

                   This tool will allow the user to add new categories; 
                   edit existing category names (except "Miscellaneous"); 
                   and delete categories (except "Miscellaneous").

                   If the user tries to delete a category which has links
                   attributed to it, then the request will be refused and 
                   the user advised to alter the category contents as required 
                   (eg. re-categorisation or deletion).

                   Having made these alterations the user would then be 
                   able to delete the category.  


   Presedence      Numeric text entry allowing the user to define the 
                   importance of a given link when published on the site. 
                   More detail regarding this function is provided below.

   URL             To be added as a single line of text into a field. "http://"
                   should also be provided so that user does not input more 
                   data than is required and cause potential problems when the
                   link is displayed.

LINK ORDERING

Link lists will allow links to be re-ordered individually according to the user's preference. As one link is rated higher in the list, those below it "shift down" in there importance. This is to be implemented using multiples of 100 (please refer to the news spec.).

CREATE NEW CATEGORY FUNCTION

On selecting this function a simple form will be presented to the user enabling them to create a new link category. This will include the name of the new category (text entry) and the presendence of the category (numeric text entry) in the link category listing the default value of which should be the next logical number available.

On submitting the new category the entire sub-frameset will refresh and the default category being displayed will be set to the new category.

Should more than one category in the list be assigned the same number, then presendence for these items will be set by creation date where later dates appear with precendence over those which are published before it respectfully.

EDIT CATEGORIES FUNCTION

On selecting this function a form will be presented to the user enabling them to edit the names of existing link categories; re-order existing link categories; and delete existing link categories.

No actual change will take place until the user selects the "Done" button at the bottom of the form.

Each category will have a delete button horizontally aligned to it. If the button is selected a warning dialogue box will inform the user of the relevance of the request. If the user selects "OK" then it is required that the category is empty before deletion is allowed. If a category contains any links then the user should be alerted to this and required to remove them before re-submitting the request. Else, if the category is found to contain no link items, then the edit categories form will be returned with the deleted category replaced by a note explaining that the category is marked for deletion which will take place when the user selects the "Done" button.

On submitting the adjusted categories list the entire "Links" sub-frameset will refresh and the default category being displayed will be set to the default first category now available in the list. This is done so that neither a deleted category nor a category which has been renamed is displayed as this could mislead the user into thinking that the request has failed.

Should more than one category in the list be assigned the same number, then presendence for these items will be set by creation date where later dates appear with precendence over those which are published before it respectfully.

SECURITY

Access to this area of the site should be restricted by the provision of an approved username and password.

It is our requirement that no access by any means to any of the admin tools be provided unless a valid username and password - ideally stored separately on the system in a suitable encrypted form - has first been submitted to the system by the user during that session and that the username and password submitted to the system will not be recorded as an entry in any server logs and statistics. Under no circumstances should access to any administrative tool be given to the user without an approved username and password first being supplied.