Integrating Undergraduate Catalog Program Information on Department Websites

Skill Set

Comfortable with server side includes (ssi) and php include calls

Overview

Individual program pages of the undergraduate catalog are constructed using server side includes. These includes can be called into other web templates, allowing departments to display current catalog information within their own web designs. This method has three major advantages:

  1. site visitors will have a consistent experience within your department site,
  2. the department web designer will not have to take the time to recreate existing information, and
  3. the information is updated each year when the undergraduate catalog is updated.

Implementation

The program information is broken down into three includes: general department information, degree plan, and course description. You can use any single ssi or a combination.

To create a consistent naming structure, the ssi file names are based on the file name for the display page. For example, the display page for Communication is www.wiu.edu/catalog/programs/comm.php, and the comm.php file name is used as the base for determining the naming structure for the includes.

General Information (filename.inc)
Example: comm.inc
Example Implementation
  <?php include ("/home/miprov/http/ugcat/programs/comm.inc") ?>
Degree Plan (filename-plan.inc)
Example: comm-plan.inc
Example Implementation
  <?php include ("/home/miprov/http/ugcat/programs/comm-plan.inc") ?>
Course Descriptions (filename-courses.inc)
Examples: comm-courses.inc
Example Implementation
  <?php include ("/home/miprov/http/ugcat/programs/comm-courses.inc") ?>