PASTPERFECT-ONLINE - PastPerfect Museum Software

PASTPERFECT-ONLINEPastPerfect-Online is the fast, affordable and easy way to provide public accessto your PastPerfect data via the World Wide Web. Built on proven MWebtechnology, PastPerfect-Online is capable of quickly displaying hundreds ofthousands of catalog records.PastPerfect-Online is both a tool to create searchable HTML web pages and anonline hosting service. You select the PastPerfect catalog records, images and datafields you want to publish, and PastPerfect-Online will build a fully searchablecollections-based web site.We host your online search site for a modest annual fee. You can create a link froman existing web site to the online search site. PastPerfect-Online includes a freesplash page for all of the important information about your museum. You can usethis page to inform your visitors of suggested search terms and methods.PastPerfect-Online is safe. Only information from the records and fields you selectwill be available to the public, and your online images can be watermarked withoutaffecting your permanent images.No web design or programming expertise is needed to give your museum a worldclassweb presence.Pastperfect-online features include:• A check box labeled “Include in Web Export” is displayed on eachPastPerfect catalog record screen. Users can check or uncheck that boxto choose which records they want to publish to their PastPerfect-Onlinesite.1

PastPerfect-Online 3* If the installation program does not start automatically, click on My Computer,then right click on the CD drive and click Explore. Double-click onthe file PPOnline.exe, then follow the prompts on the screen. Once the programis installed, remove the CD and store it in a safe place. Be sure to savethe enclosed documents which contain your web address, user name andpasswords. You will need them when you upload your files to the server asdescribed later in this document.** PastPerfect-Online must be installed on each workstation that will be creatingwebsites. A single PastPerfect-Online license allows you to install the programon each network workstation.NOTE To use PastPerfect-Online you must have PastPerfect version 4.0D9 or higher. Ifyou have an older version, you can download a free update at: http://www.museumsoftware.com.creating your websiteThe following is a summary of the steps to create and post data to your PastPerfect-Onlinewebsite:1. Select the records and images you want to publish.2. Run the Web Publishing Wizard to:* Select which data fields to publish.* Modify field names as they will display on the web.* Select field display order.* Set up advanced search categories.* Select which creator, people and search-term files to publish.* Watermark images.* Create web ready data and image files.* Upload files to your website.3. Activate your website using the Interface Management System (IMS) fromyour internet browser.4. Allow 24-72 hours for the servers to update the data, then view your siteonline and make final layout and style adjustments.

PastPerfect-Online 5To speed the selection process, you can choose a group of records to publishinstead of selecting them one at a time. This group selection is accomplishedby using the Query or Research functions of PastPerfect. Once you have madea query and the results are listed, you will see a command button at the bottomright of the screen labeled “Include selected records in web export.” Pressingthat command button will check the box labeled “Include in Web Export” foreach catalog record selected by the query.TIPIf you want to select ALL catalog records for publication, this can be done with one buttonfrom the Web Publishing Wizard Browse screen described later.Figure 2Select multiplerecordsby query.After performing a query and the resulting catalog records are listed, pressthe command button labeled “Include selected records in web export”.

6 PastPerfect Museum Software User’s Guideselecting images to exportWhen you select a catalog record, as described above, all images associatedwith that record are automatically designated to be published. In some cases,when records have multiple images, you may not want all images included.This adjustment can be made from the image management screen. Locate thecatalog record, then press the Image Management command button. Next pressthe Metadata command button to the right of the image. The image metadatascreen will display. Notice the check box labeled “Include in Web” at the bottomof the Image Metadata subscreen. Press Edit and remove the check for anyimages you do not want to publish to your PastPerfect-Online website, thenclick Save.Figure 3Selectimages toincludeRemove the check mark toavoid posting this image.New web image files are created for each image you select to publish. Thesefiles will be resized and optimized for the web, making the published imageunsuitable for quality printing. To further protect your valuable images, youcan also add a watermark. This process is described later and shown in figure12. In either case, your archival and discovery images in PastPerfect will not bechanged in any way. Only web-published images are watermarked and resized.

8 PastPerfect Museum Software User’s GuideFigure 6Selectdata fieldsto IncludeUse the tabs to selectwhich database displays.Place a check in the boxto the right of each fieldyou want to display onthe web.Press the Nextcommand buttonto proceed.The next screen allows you to change the data field names as they display onthe web.Figure 7CustomizeFieldNamesType the name youwant the visitors tosee for each field.

PastPerfect-Online 9MODIFY FIELD NAMES AS THEY display ON THE WEBWhen your data displays on the web, each PastPerfect field will be labeled. Bydefault the field labels will be the same as on the PastPerfect screens. You may,however, change the field names or labels to display differently on the web.Use the screen displayed in Figure 7 to make these changes.The data fields you have selected to publish are displayed in the left column.The yellow column on the right shows the fields names as they will display onthe web. You can click on any text in the right column to customize the displayname.select THE ORDER OF FIELD DISPLAYYou can also select the order in which the data fields will display on the webpages. The next screen lists each data field that you have selected to publish.The fields are displayed in the order they will appear on the web pages.If you want the fields to appear in alphabetical order you can press the Alphabeticalorder command button. You may also arrange the order manually. ToFigure 8FieldDisplayOrder

10 PastPerfect Museum Software User’s Guidedo this, click on a field name you want to move. That field will be highlightedin blue and the grey box to its left will turn into an up/down arrow. Move themouse over this arrow, then press and hold the left-mouse button while draggingthe field up or down to the new desired position.Set up ADVANCED SEARCH CATEGORIESThe next two screens allow you to set up Advanced Search Categories. You candefine up to 15 categories which visitors to your web site can select to help narrowthe scope of their search. For example, in addition to having visitors usethe Keyword search option, you can also allow them to search for a specific typeof information such as title, object name, subject, or place. The next screen ofthe wizard allows you to define these advanced search categories.Figure 9AdvancedSearchCategoriesType in the names of the categories you want to provide. You don’t have todefine all 15 categories. To the right of each search category is a column labeled“Order.” To adjust the order in which the search categories appear on the website’s Advanced Search Screen, change the numbers in this column. If youdecide to use fewer than 15 search categories, be sure the unused categories arelisted last and that the names are blanked out.After your categories are defined, you need to link PastPerfect fields to each category.The next wizard screen lists your selected data fields in the left column.

PastPerfect-Online 11Place a search category number 1-15 in the right column to include the text fromthat field in the advanced search. You can link more than one PastPerfect fieldto each category. Fields not linked to an advanced search category should havea “0” in the category column.Figure 10LinkFields toAdvancedSearchCategoriesbrowse filesThe next screen, shown in Figure 11, allows you to view which records andimages have been selected for export. To browse a file, select the catalog thenpress the Browse selected file command button.The screen shown in Figure 11 will list all records from the selected table thatare marked for export. If you want to remove a record from the list, uncheckthe box in the Publish column. This screen also allows you to select whichrecords from the Creator, People and Search Terms you wish to publish.Notice at the bottom of the screen (Figure 11) there are two more command buttons.You can press: Include all in web publishing to mark ALL of the recordsfrom the selected catalog to publish, or Remove all from web publishing.

12 PastPerfect Museum Software User’s GuideFigure 11Browsefiles beforepublishingWATERMARK IMAGESThe next wizard screen is for applying watermarks to your published images.Figure 12WatermarkImages

PastPerfect-Online 13When images are selected for publication, a large image and a small thumbnailimage are created for each image file. Watermarks are applied to all largeimages.The Set up Watermarking Screen (Figure 12) contains a sample image and thewatermark options. The watermark will be applied as text that you enter in thefield labeled “Text of Watermark”. You can select the color and the location ofthe text. The watermark will be the same for all images.CREATE web publish FILESNow that you have made all of your selections, you are ready to create the dataand image files that you need to upload to the web server. The next wizardscreen allows you to select the file types to create. The first time that you performthis operation, be sure all file type boxes are checked. Later, if you havejust made a small change, you could create only selected files. This can savetime, particularly if you don’t need to recreate the images files.Figure 13CreateWebPublishFilesChoose amaximumimage size,measured inpixels.To start the process, press the Createfiles now command button.

14 PastPerfect Museum Software User’s Guidepublish files to the webThe final step of the wizard is to upload your files to the web server. Thisoperation may take a while, particularly if you have a large number of recordsand images. You will generally want to check all three boxes: Control files, Datafiles, and Images.Before starting the upload, you will need to enter login information in the fieldsfor: Host name, User ID, Password, Server Data Folder, and Server Imagesfolder. To determine the correct entries, please consult the documentation youreceived when you purchased PastPerfect-Online or contact PastPerfect support.Figure 14PublishFiles tothe WebTo start the process, press the Upload to Website Now command button. Thiswill open an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) connection to the web server andtransfer the files. An FTP data transfer progress window will display the nameof each file, as it is uploaded.NOTEBecause of the wide variety of computer hardware and network connections, thereis a possibility that this FTP upload function will not work for you. If you experience problems, pleasecontact PastPerfect Support, and they will assist you with alternative FTP options.

PastPerfect-Online 15aCTIVATE YOUR Web siteOnce you have uploaded your data, the next step is to run the preprocessorfrom your Internet browser window. In the address line, enter this address withyour appropriate information filled in: http://userID.pastperfect-online.com/clientnumbercgi/Runpps.exeYou can find the information that replaces the “userID” and “clientnumber”portions of the address by looking at the letter with your login information,which was included in your PastPerfect-Online User’s Guide. Our test siteexample of this path would be http://tlc.pastperfect-online.com/99992cgi/Run-PPS.exe and it should look something like the screen shot below.Enter your “CLIENT NUMBER” “IMS USER ID” and “IMS PASSWORD” in thefields provided, then click the Begin buttonBy addingthis URL toyour favoritesyou can easilyaccess thispage in thefuture.When your site is finished updating, you should receive an e-mail saying theprocess is finished. Please allow 24 to 72 hours for the updated records todisplay on your site. If you do not see these new records after 72 hours, please

16 PastPerfect Museum Software User’s Guidecontact the support office. Our toll free number is (800) 562-6080, or you cane-mail bethany@museumsoftware.com.Once you have uploaded your data and activated your site, you should be ableto navigate to your SEARCH SCREEN LOCATION listed on your welcome letter.Below is an example of a PastPerfect-Online Keyword Search page. The website will include Keyword Search and Advanced Search options for users.The Keyword Search shown in Figure 15 is common to most web sites. Itallows the visitor to type in a word or phrase and then search your entirePastPerfect-Online site. The user can narrow this search to include only recordswith images. They may also narrow the search to include only one type ofrecord, such as Objects, Photos, Library, etc. Searches are not case sensitive.Visitors can press the Help command button on the screen for more informationabout how to search.Figure 15Exampleweb sitekeywordsearchpageAfter a search is performed, the results are displayed on the Search Resultspage. The top of the Search Results page (Figure 16) provides a summary ofthe search and the records that were found. Below the summary, each record islisted with a thumbnail image.

PastPerfect-Online 17Figure 16SearchResultsPageClick on“Painting” to seecatalog record.The search string is identified or highlighted in the results. Visitors may clickthe thumbnail to view a larger image or click the hyper-linked catalog numberor object name to view the full record. (Figure 17)Figure 17FullRecordSearchResultsPage

18 PastPerfect Museum Software User’s GuideThe other search option is Advanced Search. This option allows visitors tospecify more details about the search they wish to perform using the advancedsearch categories that you defined in the Web Publishing Wizard. For example,an Advanced Search can differentiate between “China” in a title and “China” asa location. The former would look for appearances in the fields you mapped tothe Title category. The latter would look to fields mapped to Place.Each Search Category has a box where you can enter search terms. You mayenter either words or phrases. Phrases should be enclosed within double quotationmarks. Searches are not case-sensitive.Figure 18AdvancedSearchPagecustomize your web siteThere are adjustments you can make to the appearance of the site. Thesechanges include: Change Options, Change Messages, Change Layout, ChangeStyles, in addition to custom pagebanner images and website linking.

PastPerfect-Online 19Change search optionsPastPerfect-Online allows you to add two additional search types to your website:Click & Search and Random Images search. These and other changesare made by logging in to the MWeb Interface Management System. YourURL, user id, password and project code to access this management system areincluded with the documents you received when purchasing PastPerfect-Online.To start the process, open your Internet browser and enter the Interface ManagementSystem, IMS SITE ADDRESS in your PastPerfect-Online user guide. Login using your IMS USER ID and IMS PASSWORD to arrive at Figure 19:Figure 19MWebInterfaceManagementSystemPress Change Optionsto select the additionalsearch options.Click on Change Options. The additional search options, Click & Search andRandom Images, are on the Change Options screen. Use the check box toactivate or deactivate these options. (Figure 20) Press Accept New Options toreturn to the main management screen.

20 PastPerfect Museum Software User’s GuideFigure 20ChangeSearchOptionsScreenClick & Search (option in Figure 20, web interface in Figure 21) is a quick wayto search without having to know what terms are in the database. All termsare presented for you in a clickable manner. You will see a list of Search Categories,each of which has a clickable alphabet next to it. Click any hyperlinkedletter to see terms that begin with that letter. After you click a letter, you maysee a list of terms. Click one of these terms to continue the search.Figure 21Click &SearchPage

PastPerfect-Online 21Finally, you will see a drop-down box showing selected records. Click thearrow to the right of this drop-down box and scroll through the terms. Whenyou click on a term, the search is performed for you (Figure 21). If you clickon “Metal/Rubber/Plastic/Fabric” it will bring up all of the items that meet thecriteria.The Random Images search option, also activated at the bottom of the webpageshown in Figure 20, allows for multiple random entry points to your collection.Visitors will see numerous images displayed one screen at a time. If they wantmore information, they can click on the image to expand it or click on the catalognumber to view the full record. (Figure 22)Figure 22RandomImagesSearchChange messagesThis section allows you to change the messages that appear on each page, suchas in the title of the window, the footer, and other headings.Press Change Messages from the main MWeb Interface Management Systemscreen to reveal the screen shown in Figure 23.From this screen you can change text messages that appear on all screens,including the title that appears on the top line of the visitor’s browser, the footer

22 PastPerfect Museum Software User’s Guidetext that appears at the bottom of each web page, and the link to a pagebannerimage that appears at the top of each page.Figure 23MessageMenuYou can also change the heading text that appears on the search results pagefor each type of record found. By default these are set to: Object Record, PhotographRecord, Library Record, Archive Record, Image Record, Creator Record,Person Record, and Search-term Record.Change layoutThe next set up option, Change Layout, lets you pick the color scheme and layoutstyle of the menu system on the web pages. (Figure 24)On this set up page, you can select a layout style for the command button menuon your web pages. It can display horizontally, vertically, or vertically with aseparator. You can choose a variety of color schemes. You can also select centeringfor your page banner logo and the page font style.

PastPerfect-Online 23Figure 24ChangeLayoutScreenChange stylesThe next set up option allows you to change the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)information that formats your PastPerfect-Online site.(Figure 25) These settingsinclude colors, fonts, borders and alignments. Generally you will not need tomake any of these changes. If you are not sure what changes to make, youshould leave the information in the fields as is.All of the changes you make in the MWeb Interface Management System effectthe style and layout of your already existing HTML web pages. That means thechanges you make will take effect immediately.

24 PastPerfect Museum Software User’s GuideFigure 25ChangeStylesScreenADDING A pageBANNER IMAGETo customize the look of your website, you will want to add your own pagebannerimage to the top of each page. The image must be a JPG file and we suggestit be no larger than 800 X 150 pixels. Specific instructions are available inthe PastPerfect-Online Design Guide also located in this binder.linking to your existing websiteIf you have an existing web site, you will want to link it to your PastPerfect-Online Search site. To do this, you will need to add a button or hyper-link toyour existing site that references your PastPerfect-Online URL. The PastPerfectSupport staff will be glad to assist you in setting up the link.

PastPerfect-Online 25adding a splash screenMany organizations find it helpful to use the splash page to help their web visitorsknow how to search. Giving tips may help improve the visitor experienceand help them attain higher quality results. If you don’t have an existing website, you can use this optional splash screen to provide more information aboutyour organization. This screen must be created outside our program as oneHTML page. We will then host that page on our server as a front end to yourPastPerfect-Online search pages. For more information about creating a splashscreen, contact PastPerfect Support.