Publish Your Information on the Web

Adding content and searching capabilites to your Web site or intranet site can be difficult, not to mention confusing. askSam makes it easy. The askSam Web Publisher lets you quickly publish large amounts of information to the Web -- without HTML or any other programming knowledge. Simply import files or type information into askSam, put the askSam file on the Web server and it's ready to be searched on-line. It's that easy. Here's how...

Why use askSam's Web Publisher...

Most programs on the market help you create Web sites or individual Web pages by converting information you type into HTML format. askSam goes to the next step in Web creation - adding content (manuals, research notes, meeting minutes, etc.) to your site. The askSam Web Publisher makes it easy to publish and search whole collections of information to the Web - not just create one page at a time.

With askSam you simply import existing files (Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, PDF, email) or type your own information in our word processor. Once your information is stored in an askSam you copy the database to your Web server. There is no need to convert your information to HTML. The askSam Web Publisher automatically converts necessary documents to HTML as users access them. Because your information is stored in an askSam database, you can easily add, update, and delete information - without programming. Also, the askSam Web Publisher has built in search capabilities so your information is ready to be searched immediately.

askSam will dramatically reduce the difficulty and cost of maintaining your Web site. You will be able to put all types and collections of information on the Web or intranet with ease.

How Web Publisher Works:

1.   Put Your Information into an askSam Database ...

      Use askSam to collect, format, and organize the information you want to publish. With askSam you can import information from other sources (texts, word processing documents, databases, spreadsheets, email messages, and more), or you can enter the information  using askSam's WYSIWYG word processor.

NOTE: This document was written and formatted in askSam.

      When askSam imports documents, it can automatically divide them into pieces. Rather than importing a 300 page Microsoft Word file as a single document, askSam can automatically divide it into sections. askSam even lets you define hypertext links to each of the sections. This makes it very easy to divide and provide links to a manual, presentation, or other large pieces of text.

2.   Publish Your Documents and Databases on the Internet with the Web Publisher ...

      The Web Publisher is installed and runs on your Web server. It allows Internet users to browse, search, and follow hypertext links in your askSam databases. When an askSam document is accessed from the Internet, the Web Publisher automatically converts it to HTML. The Web Publisher runs with all popular Windows based Web Servers.

NOTE: This document is being displayed by the askSam Web Publisher from an askSam database.

NOTE: If you do not have a Web server, askSam offers monthly web hosting for your database files.

Use askSam to import, type and format your information

askSam Web Publsher will automatically display the information on the web. The WP provides you with browse (first, previous, next, last) and Search capabilities. Clicking on the Search link takes you to a search page where you can search the database.

3.   Configure the Web Publisher with the WebAdmin Utility ...

      The WebAdmin utility has a variety of features that let you easily configure and customize the look of your databases. You can customize...

      A. Colors and Backgrounds - Set a default foreground color, background color, and background image for your askSam databases.

      B. Header and Footer - Define what is displayed at the top and bottom of each page output by the Web Publisher. This option will allow you to make the askSam database output look more like the rest of your site. Simply cut and paste HTML code into the prope boxes and askSam will use the header and footer you specified.

      C. Search and Help - Set custom search and help pages for your askSam databases. You can write your own HTML search and help pages and tell the askSam Web Publisher where to locate the pages.

      D. Search Results - Modify how the Search Results are displayed for your askSam. You can set the Search Results View (Default, Summary, Detailed, or Entire Page) and set your own HTML code for the start and end of the search results as well as for the odd and even rows in the results. You can also define the number of hits to be displayed on each page.

Web Publisher Administrator Utility

Web Publisher Examples

http://www.asksam.com/four/surf33/wpexamples.asp

Download a Free Trial

http://www.asksam.com/four/surf33/webpub.asp

Watch the Animated Demo

<a href="javascript:openDemo('/tutorials/asksam/webpub',715,500);"><img src="/tutorials/asksam/playbutton.gif" border="0"></a>

We hope you found this month's tip helpful.

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