Most of the settings are located in the column to the left of the report screen.
Kipper keeps track of your various configuration info through saved job files. The CURRENT JOB displays the loaded configuration.
The control buttons are right here, too. To save revised information, click SAVE. To save a new job, type a new name and click SAVE. Pressing ENTER on your keyboard will work, too.
LIST generates a list of saved job files. If your job file does not appear in the list, type the name in CURRENT JOB and click LOAD JOB.
If you are done with a job file, click DELETE. The information is still loaded, however. If you change your mind, click SAVE right away.
The directories for your various files are set independently to allow maximum flexibility.
Kipper needs the filename and relative path (from Kipper) to your template.
Kipper needs to know the filetype of your source files and the relative path to them.
If you're making an image archive, Kipper also needs to know the RELATIVE PATH FROM PAGES. This is the path from the finished pages to the source directory you set here.
For example, the path from Kipper to your images directory might be something like "../root/comics/", but if the pages folder is on the same level as the comics folder, the relative path from the pages would be "../comics/"
Kipper needs to know the kind of webpage you want to make and the relative path to the place you want the pages made.
We also need to know the FULL URL to the pages folder for making absolute links, when necessary.
If you've ever used FTP, these fields should require no explanation. The server information might look something like this:
server www.mysite.com
path home/root/
username captainahab
password j8Gh12fI
Set the interface to DESKTOP or WEBSITE for proper use. Many features will not work properly if this is set wrong.
Font, link, and background colors can be set here. This isn't just for fun; if you are vision impaired, you might prefer a black background and white text. We thoughtfully include a color chart that can be accessed from the toolbar.
Kipper includes a good luck charm, because we need all the luck we can get. Drop web images in the "charms" folder and pick one to keep an eye on your reports.
It's important to keep in mind that the security we offer is bare minimum. Kipper is intended as a desktop application, but since it can be used on the web, it has this simple password function.
When Kipper security is turned on, you have the option of setting a new username and a new password. You can also set the length of time of your session, and a failure redirect for anybody who finds Kipper on your website and tries to guess your password.
When Kipper makes the pages, it creates a page title from the available data. First, it appends the SITE/SECTION NAME to the title tag in the template. Then it appends the individual page title. You may have to play with this a few times until you get the results you want.
For example, your template's title tag:
<title>Crazy Love</title>
Your section is named "Romance" (via the settings) and an individual page is titled "Getaways" (via the source file). Kipper appends this as:
<title>Crazy Love Romance Getaways</title>
Ack! All run together! Kipper plays dumb for a reason: so you can define the divisions the way you want.
Let's change the setting to " ::Romance:: ". The new result:
<title>Crazy Love ::Romance:: Getaways</title>
If you don't need a section name, change the setting to " - ". Result:
<title>Crazy Love - Getaways</title>
Moving on, the IMAGE ARCHIVE PAGE TITLE gives Kipper some text when there's nothing else supplied.
The DEFAULT DESCRIPTION and DEFAULT KEYWORDS replace the description and keywords in your template head. This information is used when not set within the specific source file. If none of this data is present, the description and keywords on the template are left alone.
AUTHOR, WEBMASTER EMAIL, and COPYRIGHT YEAR are optional data for the RSS feed.
Choose HTML style if you want Kipper to correct some common XHTML/HTML errors.
To include navigation in your pages, you must also mark the location of the navigation links in the template with this comment tag:
<!-- archive:navigation -->
AUTO LAST LINK inserts dynamic code into your navigation links, and prevents users from advancing past current updates. This requires that you begin the name of files with an 8-digit date code, i.e. "20090126randomtext.jpg", and it requires that your finished webpages be PHP.
TIMEZONE determines if the auto last link rolls at midnight server time, or midnight GMT.
The RSS feed can be turned on and off, here. It's a very basic feed, and, unlike navigation, has no future updating options. This would be appropriate for a "latest news with your comic" type blog, and not something with lots of immediate updates, like the comic itself.
Here, you can set the number of items included in the feed, and the name of the feed itself (usually "rss.xml").
