Revised Thursday, January 29, 2009
A great deal of Kipper's interface consists of customizable settings. Through the settings, you can determine Kipper's color scheme, its layout (desktop vs. website), etc.
Here, we're just going to look at the buttons in the top icon box. So this is a pretty easy topic; once you get through the settings, Kipper's actual operation is very simple.
The main Kipper buttons:
Below the buttons, you have two additional fields that affect the behavior of these buttons more directly than the other settings.
And in the bottom corner:
Make pagesOnce you are sure of the settings, press make pages to process the source files.
Image archiveIf you are making an archive from image files along with your source files, press image archive.
The difference is that make pages makes pages just from your text-based source files, while image archive creates complimentary source files from all found GIF, JPG, and PNG files. Kipper then uses these as temporary files to build pages along with your saved source files, image-based and text-based, together. Then Kipper deletes the temporary source files that it made just for the images.
The available field below, image archive path, must be the relative path from the final pages to the image folder, which is different than the relative paths you set for Kipper so that it can find your files. For example, Kipper's paths might be:
Source file directory ../root/comics/
Pages directory ../root/d/
Your image files are in a directory called "comics", while your pages are next door in "d". Kipper has to go through the root directory; but the path to the comics from the outputted pages in the "d" folder is simply:
Image archive path ../comics/
While we considered some fancy regex to do this automatically, setting it yourself guarantees that it's right.
Test FTPTest FTP simply doublechecks your server settings, if you are using Kipper from your desktop.
UploadUpload pages FTPs your output to your website.
UpdateUpdate makes and uploads the last x number of files, in an alphanumeric sequence. Use this in a folder where the files are named sequentially, like with a date string somewhere near the beginning.
This will also automatically upload your RSS feed, if the feed is turned on. Be sure to set the update count to include the number of items in your feed.
If using navigation, it's best if you are also using "auto last link", which makes the "last" link dynamic; all of your previously uploaded pages will automatically point to the new page, without having to be rebuilt. And the "next" button will prevent users from moving past current updates.
Lucky charmsFor those of us in the grip of superstition, we can include a lucky charm to appear on all the reports. It can be a cute mascot, a picture of someone dear, or something gruesome. Whatever makes you smile.
Find the folder named charms inside the kipper folder, and drop in any browser-supported graphic file you like. The default lucky charm is an odd-looking herring.
For best results, use a moderate sized image, about 300 x 300 pixels. But that's just a rough suggestion. It can be anything that works for you, big or small.
You can even use animated GIFs, if you like.
All the graphics you include in the charms folder will be available in the list when you click charms in the icon box. Click on a charm from the list; if you decide to keep it, save the settings, so your lucky charm will return for your next session.
Time permitting, we'll put together a little archive of lucky charms. For now, here is a Greta Garbo charm:
