4: Adding New Sections
Iosphere enforces a strong link between physical folder struture and navigational structure. Each section corresponds to a folder on the disk. In keeping with the object-based nature of Iosphere, sections are defined by container objects.
Container objects do just that - they contain other objects, allowing you to define sections of your site. Currently we have three, the main section ('My Site') and two sub-sections ('About Me' and 'My Main Interest'). You can add extra sections by dragging container objects across. We started with the 'Virtual Folder' so you should continue using it. The 'File System Folder' is covered later.
The container objects allow you to configure the way that they create their index lists to suit your needs. After double-clicking a container to open it, select the "Index List" tab. You will see the screen below:
There are currently seven sort options available on this page, six of these are three sets of pairs (ascending and descending options). You may sort automatically by filename (vName), title or last modified date. Alternatively, you can set a custom sort order, if you want to manually organise subsections/pages (using the up/down buttons on the project tree). Please note that resources are always sorted alphabetically at the bottom of the project tree, as they do not appear on index lists.
The option "Above Index" allows you to enter the text which will appear above the main index list. By default it is "<ul>, to begin a bulleted list. You may change this to add some text above the list, or add table elements to display the list inside a table.
The text which you set after clicking "Index List Item" is displayed once for each item in the index list. By default this is an <li> element, to display the title of the page as a bullet point.
The "Below Index" option lets you set the text which appears below the main index list. This should close any bullet lists or tables which you started in "Above Index".
On Your Own: Now you know how to add and edit files and basic containers, it's time to carry on on your own. Add some pages and sections to your site - it doesn't matter what they contain or what they are called. When you have finished creating a sample site, proceed to the next step.
