--- Forwarded Message from Johnathon Beals <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date:         Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:17:17 -0400
>From: Johnathon Beals <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #8984 Inquiry: Creating a Conversation Exchange Partner Site
>To: [log in to unmask]

Hi Barbara,

Unfortunately, what you want to do isn't really possible with HTML and CSS
alone, I don't think anyway. You would need a dynamic backend application
(like PHP or Ruby/Rails) and a database to hold all of your information.

The good news is that there are existing platforms that can make achieving
your goal a lot easier. I'm not quite sure how you envision this in terms of
how the final product operates, but just off the top of my head, what you
could do is set up a Wordpress installation (wordpress.org) where students
could post entries either advertising availability or asking for a partner.
Basically it would be a blog that anyone could post to. You could moderate
and approve entries if you wanted as well.

This would be pretty easy for someone in your IT department to set up as
long as they have knowledge of setting up a PHP-enabled webserver, and a
MySQL database. From there you could customize the HTML and CSS to your liking.

Wordpress has some great plugins and tools, and is highly customizable, so I
use it quite a lot, but it isn't the only option. Your IT folks might have a
preferred platform that they like to use (Joomla comes to mind).

Good luck, cross-department cooperation is always an admirable goal.

--John Beals


On Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:42:26 -0400, LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>--- Forwarded Message from "Barbara Baraff" <[log in to unmask]> ---
>
>>Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:31:33 -0700
>>From: "Barbara Baraff" <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>Subject: Inquiry: Creating a Conversation Exchange Partner Site
>
>A newcomer to the Language Center and Dreamweaver CS3, I would like to
>create an interactive, password-protected site to make it easier for
>language students to locate a conversation exchange partner and to bring
>together the ESL Department, Foreign Language Department, and
>International Program student communities.
>Before undertaking this project, I was hoping someone might already have
>experience in this area and be able to offer advice. (Currently, the
>center's website is static, and I'm just beginning to learn CSS.)
>I've ordered the IALLT Design Kit and apologize in advance if this kind
>of information is clearly contained there or posted prominently
>elsewhere and I missed it.
>Thank you to all.
>Barbara
>
>
>--------------------
>Barbara Baraff
>Assistant Coordinator
>Language Center
>Italian Instructor
>City College of San Francisco
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
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>Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask])
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