2. The Basics in 20 Minutes

PowerSeek should be very easy to use and is mostly self-explanatory. Please read this guide as it will save you time. This section has been written to get you started in the shortest time possible. It provides you with the basics of creating your Directory & Search Engine. It will also give you a good feel of how everything works together.

Step 1. Create your category/directory structure and add links.

Video Demonstration - Right Click and choose 'Save As' - (Requires Windows Media Player) Video: How to create categories/directories. File Size: 300 KB File Type: Self extracting .exe file Video Length: 7 Minutes

Note that there is an ODP importer and 2 Crawlers to speed up the process of adding links. You can find out more about these by clicking the links below:

• 4.13.2 ODP Link Importer

• 4.15 Crawling for titles, descriptions and keywords

• 9.12 The Link Crawler Plugin

Step 2. Customize Your Front Page

Video Demonstration - Right Click and choose 'Save As' - (Requires Windows Media Player) Video: Example of customizing Front Page. (Template method) File Size: 3.8 MB File Type: Self extracting .exe file Video Length: 5 Minutes

The front page can also be referred to as the Index page of your Directory. There are a couple of options available to create your front page. The easiest is to use the template method that will be covered in this section.

First log into the Control Panel and click the 'Templates' tab. Now click on 'Create/Configure Front Page'.

The first option will read: 'Front Page Template'. Beneath it will be a link to your Search Engine & Directory's front page. You can place this link anywhere on your web site so that visitors can access your Search Engine and Directory.

If you would like the front page of your Search Engine & Directory to be the Index page of your Domain. (The page that is loaded first if only your domain name is loaded in a browser) then you will need to use the Javascript or Iframe Tags or Server Side Includes method to create your front page. You can find out how to do this here:
5.11 How to customize and create your front page

To customize the look and feel of your front page template (if you are using the front page template method to create your front page) go to the Control Panel >> Templates >> Create/Configure Front Page >> Front Page Template

You will see a box with HTML code. This is the HTML code for your front page template. Copy and paste this HTML code into your web editor and customize it to your liking. You will most likely want to add your own logo's, buttons, etc.

Once you have completed the customization of the page inside your web editor, copy and paste it back into the box and press the 'Save' button to save your front page template.

Note that there are words enclosed by %% and !! - These words (also called variables) must be left inside the template as they are replaced by data.

You can set the style (Fonts, Columns, etc) of the categories that will be listed on your Front Page by going to the
Control Panel >> Templates >> Create/Configure Front Page >> Front Page Category Creation/Generation Settings

Note that when you make use of images in in your Front Page Template, you must use a URL link to indicate their locations. For example:

<img src="someimage.gif"> will not work.
 
You have to indicate the entire URL where someimage.gif is located. For example:
    
<img src="http://www.yourdomain.com/someimage.gif">
   
The <img is an HTML tag indicating that you want to insert an image in the HTML page. The src= part indicates that you want to specify the location of the image to be inserted. Some web editors will support inserting images from a web url and some won't. If your web editor does not support this, insert the image into the HTML page like usual and, when finished, edit the the HTML source code and manually insert the URL path's to the images. Ensure that the images are on the server for the URL path's you specify.

Example: Editing the HTML source code:

Replace <img src="someimage.gif"> with
<img src="http://www.yourdomain.com/someimage.gif">

You may also use the following if you placed the image inside PowerSeek's 'html' directory:
<img src="!build_url!/someimage.gif">

PowerSeek's 'html' directory is the directory where PowerSeek generates HTML files. PowerSeek images (of the control panel) are also stored in this directory. You can easily find out where the PowerSeek 'html' directory is by right clicking on any image inside the PowerSeek control panel. After right clicking on the image select properties. Your web browser will then indicate the URL path where PowerSeek's HTML directory is situated.

 

Step 3. Customizing the look and feel of your Search Engine

The Template concept in a few short words:

The templates that is used by PowerSeek is just ordinary HTML files. The only exception is that the templates or HTML files contains variable words that PowerSeek uses for pointers where it needs to place data. You can basically open the HTML files with your favorite web editor or with what ever you prefer and edit away. The thing that confuses some new users of PowerSeek is that some templates use other templates in combination with each other. This is actually very easy to understand. Some templates combine into each other to form an entire page. We'll talk more about this later. For now, remember that the templates are ordinary HTML files.

How to edit the templates:

You can edit the templates from the Template Manager. To go to the Template Manager, go to the Control Panel. Then click the 'Template Manager' tab. Click on any of the template links in the template manager to edit templates.

Templates can be edited by copying and pasting the HTML code directly into your web editor when editing templates from the Template Manager. Once you have changed the template contents, you may copy and paste it back into the edit box and save it.

You may also open the template files directly with your web editor to edit them. The templates are stored inside your PowerSeek ‘data’ directory. You can get the file names from the ‘Template Manager’ inside the Control Panel – Click on each template name to get the file name of the template you would like to edit.

What is the variable words in the templates/HTML files?

The variable words are enclosed by !! or %% characters. Examples of such variable words are:

%%date%% or %%pages%% etc...

These variable words are replaced by chunks of data supplied by PowerSeek when users browse your directory & search engine. The location of the variables in the HTML template acts like pointers where PowerSeek substitutes the variable words with data. In some cases templates are combined with each other via these variable words.

For example:

%%date%% is replaced by the date of a link listing and %%pages%% are replaced by the number of pages that contains link listings, etc...

Note: It is very important that most of these variable words are present in your templates. Without them your Search Engine & Directory may not function correctly. Only remove variable words if you know what they do.

Template Customization – Default Directory Template Customization Explanation

The HTML files or templates used for the Default Directory Template Set is:

defdir.html
tmplsearch.html
tmplsearch_prem.html
subdirs.html
directories1.html
related1.html
related2.html
linkinfo.html
linkinfop.html

The above files are situated in the 'data' directory. The 'data' directory is explained in the installation instructions.
 
Most of these files above are combined into one when displaying the contents of your directory. Another way of saying this is to say that the above files are used in combination with each other to form one template or page that is used when displaying the contents of your categories. The combinations and details of these files is explained below.

Explanation of each HTML file or template used in the Default Directory/Category Template Plug-Ins:

defdir.html (Directory Template)

This is the main template used when displaying the links/contents of your directories or categories.

This template and tmplsearch.html, tmplsearch_prem.html, subdirs.html, directories1.html, related1.html and related2.html is combined to form a category page.

Video Demonstration - Right Click and choose 'Save As' - (Requires Windows Media Player) Video: Example of how to customize the category/directory template. File Size: 3.7 MB File Type: Self extracting .exe file Video Length: 6.41 Minutes

tmplsearch.html

This template is used in conjuntion with defdir.html - It is substituted by the %%searchresults%% variable in defdir.html - In other words, %%searchresults%% is replaced by the HTML code of tmplsearch.html in defdir.html

This template indicates the actual style of the link listings. The HTML code for this template is repeated for each link that is displayed in a category.

Note that <html> and <body> must not be present in this template.

Video Demonstration - Right Click and choose 'Save As' - (Requires Windows Media Player) Video: Example of how to customize tmplsearch.html (link style template) File Size: 2.6 MB File Type: Self extracting .exe file Video Length: 3.30 Minutes

Video Demonstration - Right Click and choose 'Save As' - (Requires Windows Media Player) Video: Example of variables inside the Link Style Template File Size: 1.8 MB File Type: Self extracting .exe file Video Length: 3.47 Minutes

tmplsearch_prem.html

This template basically does the same thing that tmplsearch.html does, but it is only used for premium listings so that premium listings can have a different look or appearance.

Note that <html> and <body> must not be present in this template.

subdirs.html - Sub Directories/Categories Style 1

This template is used in conjunction with defdir.html - It is substituted by the %%subdirectories%% variable in defdir.html - In other words, %%subdirectories%% is replaced by the HTML code of subdirs.html in defdir.html

The HTML code of subdirs.html is used for displaying sub categories/directories of the current category/directory when browsing the directory.

Note that <html> and <body> must not be present in this template.

Video Demonstration - Right Click and choose 'Save As' - (Requires Windows Media Player) Video: Example of how to customize subdirs.html (Sub Directories/Categories Style 1) File Size: 1.4 MB File Type: Self extracting .exe file Video Length: 1.50 Minutes

directories1.html - Sub Directory Link Style 2

This template is used in combination with subdirs.html - The function of this template is the actual style of each sub directory/category displayed. You can add a graphic next to each subdirectory in this template.

The variable %%substyle%% that is used in this template is replaced by actual directory category names.

Let's say you want to add a graphic next to each category displayed. Then the contents of directories1.html would look something like this:

<img src="http://www.yourdomain.com/smpdirl.gif"> %%substyle%%

Note that <html> and <body> must not be present in this template.

Video Demonstration - Right Click and choose 'Save As' - (Requires Windows Media Player) Video: Example of how to customize directories1.html (Sub Directories/Categories Style 2) File Size: 1.2 MB File Type: Self extracting .exe file Video Length: 1.53 Minutes

related1.html – Related Directories/Categories Style 1

This template is used to display related directories/categories for the existing directory/category. This template is used in combination with defdir.html

It is substituted by the %%related%% variable in defdir.html - In other words, %%related%% is replaced by the HTML code of related1.html in defdir.html

related2.html - Related Directories/Categories Style 2

This template is used in combination with related1.html - The function of this template is the actual style of each related directory/category displayed.
 

linkinfo.html - Extra link information template for standard links

This template is used to create an individual page for each standard link in your directory. This means that each link can have it’s own page.

If the variable !!more_info_url!! is present inside tmplsearch.html or tmplsearch_prem.html  then each link displayed in your directory will have a link to an extra page where the link information can also be displayed. You can for example display more extended information about the link on the extra page. The extended information could be contained in extra fields/keys.

linkinfop.html - Extra link information template for premium links

This template is used to create an individual page for each premium link in your directory. This means that each premium link can have it’s own page.

If the variable !!more_info_url!! is present inside tmplsearch.html or tmplsearch_prem.html  then each link displayed in your directory will have a link to an extra page where the link information can also be displayed. You can for example display more extended information about the link on the extra page. The extended information could be contained in extra fields/keys.

You can find out more about premium links here:
9.1 The Premium Link Manager
 

General Template Guidelines

A lot of the templates work in combination with each other and others work independently where they are not combined with other templates.

The rest of the templates work in more or less the same manner as explained here. The moment you open (with your web editor) a template you should know or have a good idea where it is to be used.

Probably the easiest and best way to know exactly how the templates work is to experiment and play around with them. If something went wrong and your directory doesn’t seem to be working anymore because of template problems, you can just go back to the default templates that were present when you first installed PowerSeek. You can go back to the original templates by clicking the ‘Restore Default’ button when editing templates from the ‘Template Manager’.

Also look carefully at the templates that was present when PowerSeek was first installed to get a good idea of how they work and what each variable word does. You can find these in the .zip installation file.

See the following for more detailed information on template customization:
5. Customization (Look & Feel)