The Project Manager - Manual Anansi
Last change: 5 March 1996

* * * What is a project? * * *

A project is the whole of all the files that make up your homepage. Most internetusers only have one provider and therefore one location for their homepage. However, the Project Manager supports an unlimited amount of projects.

* * * Why a Project Manager? * * *

Anansi enables you to upload your new and changed files with only one click. The Project Manager keeps account of all the files belonging to your homepage and of all the new and changed files since your last upload. So you don't have to tell which files you want to upload, although you can. And if you want to do a projectwide search and replace, you don't have to tell which files should be used. For the advanced builders who use subdirectories with their homepage, the Project Manager will automatically use the correct paths for imagefiles.

In addition each project can be given its own email address, to be used for the mailto tag.

* * * How does the Project Manager work? * * *

Use File| New Project File and File| Open Project File. As long as you use these two functions, the Project Manager will know which files belong to the homepage and which files need to be uploaded by the next FTP-session.

File| Add File and File| Remove File do what they say. Add File will add files of an already existing homepage to your project. Remove File removes files from the project. If you need to add a whole batch of HTML files to your project, just drop them on the window you get by File| Open Project File.

Forget File| New File and File| Open File. These functions should only be used in case you want to do something without affecting your homepage.

* * * Which settings does the Project Manager need? * * *

Projects are defined by File| Select Project. Each project has a name, which can be renamed anytime. The Project Root Directory stands for the starting directory of your homepage. A sample:

Project Name                  
Project Root Directory        
Default HTML Directory        
Default Gif and JPG Directory 

In the sample above c:\windows\homepage stands for the  rootdirectory of this project. All the files of this homepage are in c:\windows\homepage or in subdirectories of c:\windows\homepage. Definitely impossible for this homepage would be a file in say c:\windows\psp.

As soon as you have started working with your project, you won't be able to change the Project Root Directory again. In some cases it will be practically impossible. Consider having files in c:\windows\homepage and then trying to change the Project Root Directory to c:\windows\homepage\welcome. If you want to try, go ahead. Anansi will forget all the files belonging to the project.

The Default HTML Directory and the Default Gif and JPG Directory are not that important. They determine the opening directories of the File Open Dialog. I find this useful because I have a separate directory for my images.

The Default HTML Directory will only be useful in case you're migrating existing files to the project with File| Add File.