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8.3  Customising your web pages: destination, colours, and fonts

The default options will generate a website on your local machine. But if you want to upload the catalog and resources to a remote web server, or to change the default colours or title, you can use the publish options outlined below.

Setting the Destination - a local folder, or remote FTP / SFTP server

The Destination page lets you upload the web pages to a local directory or to a remote web server for wider access. This means your catalog will be accessible on the Internet.


It is possible to add password protection to protect uploaded websites - but the precise mechanism depends on your webserver. Ask your system administrator how to add access control mechanisms (the most common method is with .htaccess files for Apache webservers) to make private areas of your website.

  1. Click the Destination page to display the following panel:

    Destination Page


  2. Select an option from the Publish to drop-down list:
    • Local directory
    • FTP server
    • Secure FTP server
  3. Enter values in the fields for the deployment method you have chosen.

    If you are publishing to an FTP or Secure FTP server, enter the name of the computer you are publishing to, and your username and password.

    If you want your password to be saved with the catalog, check the Save password to catalog checkbox. The password will stored with your catalog, in encrypted form. If you leave this box unchecked, your password will not be stored and you will need to enter it each time you publish your website.

    You can click the Purge remote directory before uploading checkbox if you want Catalyzer to empty the destination directory before it uploads the newest information for the website. This avoids the directory filling up with unused web files.

Controlling what happens to your data files - the Resources options

The Resources options lets you choose whether the resources (data files) your catalog refers to will be uploaded along with your catalog.

Click the Resources page to display the following panel:

Resources Options


The following fields are available:


Resource policy This drop-down contains options that determine how your resources are uploaded to the web server:
  • Upload resources to remote server: select this option make a complete copy of your resources and create links to them on the remote server.
  • Preserve resource links: select this to keep your original links. Other users may not be able to see the resources unless they are on the same network as you.
  • Remap resources: select this to change the web address for a resource to a more globally acceptable name. The URL fields are active; enter the old and new URLs.
  • Supply contact information: select this option if you want to provide a link with contact information. For example, do this if you want to make it mandatory for a user to contact you before they access a resource on the website so that you can monitor its use, or if you want users to pay for access to a resource.
Generate thumbnails for resources Select this checkbox if you want to generate thumbnail images for your resources and display them on the website.

Controlling the information which is uploaded : the Catalog optons

The Classes tab page lets you choose the precise information that you want to publish.

  1. Click the Classes tab to display the following panel:

    The Catalog options let you exclude private fields


  2. Select the class of the records that you want to organize. The types belonging to that class are displayed.

    The following buttons are available in the Catalog options panel:


    Include Field, Exclude Field Use these buttons MoveRight.png MoveLeft.png to select which fields you want to include in your website. For example, if you select a field and then click Include Field, the field appears in the Included fields panel and will be included on your website. You can also double-click a field to move it from one panel to another.
    Include All Fields Use this button MoveAllRight.png to publish all fields
    Exclude All Fields Use this button MoveAllLeft.png to publish no fields
    Move Item Up, Move Item Down Use these buttons MoveUp.png MoveDown.png to change the order of the fields as they will appear on the website.
    Sort Fields Use these buttons SortAlphabetically.gif Sort.gif to sort the fields alphabetically or put the fields back into their original order.

  3. You can use the Sort by drop-down list to change the display order for records in list views.
  4. You can click Publish to create your web pages, but you may want to configure the options on the other tab pages first.

If the class you select contains List fields, an information icon is displayed next to the Sort by drop-down; hover over the `i' to display the information. You can't sort by a field that is a List type, but if the class contains other types, you can sort by one of them.

Controlling the look and title of the website : the Website panel

The Website panel lets you set the title of the website, and alter the colours.

Click the Website option to display the following screen:

Website look and feel options


The following fields are available:


Title Enter a name for your website that reflects the contents.
Contact name Enter the name of the person who will be responsible for the website.
Contact email Enter an email address that can be used for queries about the website.
Contact URL Enter the address of a relevant website containing more information. This might be your personal web page or the web page of your organization.
Header, Footer and Logo URL Use these fields to customize the content of your website, for example to enter your own organization's logo. These fields have browse buttons and preview buttons. Use the browse buttons to locate URLs for the header, footer and logo. Use the preview buttons to preview the header, footer and logo before you publish them.
Paginate lists Click this checkbox to determine how many items will appear on each web page. For example, in some views the records are displayed in a tabular list and this option lets you decide how many records appear on each page.

The Notify options - adding your catalog to a server

The Notify options let you signal a server of your catalog's existence when you publish it.

Notify a server of the uploaded catalog