How to share and edit files?

[Richard Treadgold]

Our family are collaborating on writing a book. Some of us do not live
close to the others. I would like to display a text file (from Word, but
it only has to be an ascii file) on a (password-protected) web page, let
the user make alterations and save them back to the server.

I don't want to have to teach them how to use an ftp client.

I've forgotten any html file manipulation commands I read in the past.
So, my apologies, but can anyone make this easy for us, please - what
would you recommend as the simplest way to accomplish this task?

The files can be fairly large - up to perhaps 8000 or 10,000 words - say
up to 250kb as a Word file.

My thanks,
Richard Treadgold

[Rijk van Geijtenbeek]

On Thu, 15 Apr 2004 08:09:15 GMT, Richard Treadgold
<ri*****@NOSPAMwordshine.com> wrote:

Our family are collaborating on writing a book. Some of us do not live
close to the others. I would like to display a text file (from Word, but
it only has to be an ascii file) on a (password-protected) web page, let
the user make alterations and save them back to the server.

I don't want to have to teach them how to use an ftp client.

I've forgotten any html file manipulation commands I read in the past.
So, my apologies, but can anyone make this easy for us, please - what
would you recommend as the simplest way to accomplish this task?

The files can be fairly large - up to perhaps 8000 or 10,000 words - say
up to 250kb as a Word file.

Maybe you can use a Wiki to do the sharing and editing?

--
Rijk van Geijtenbeek

The Web is a procrastination apparatus:
It can absorb as much time as is required to ensure that you
won't get any real work done. - J.Nielsen

[Rijk van Geijtenbeek]

On Thu, 15 Apr 2004 08:09:15 GMT, Richard Treadgold
<ri*****@NOSPAMwordshine.com> wrote:

Our family are collaborating on writing a book. Some of us do not live
close to the others. I would like to display a text file (from Word, but
it only has to be an ascii file) on a (password-protected) web page, let
the user make alterations and save them back to the server.

I don't want to have to teach them how to use an ftp client.

I've forgotten any html file manipulation commands I read in the past.
So, my apologies, but can anyone make this easy for us, please - what
would you recommend as the simplest way to accomplish this task?

The files can be fairly large - up to perhaps 8000 or 10,000 words - say
up to 250kb as a Word file.

Maybe you can use a Wiki to do the sharing and editing?

--
Rijk van Geijtenbeek

The Web is a procrastination apparatus:
It can absorb as much time as is required to ensure that you
won't get any real work done. - J.Nielsen

[Richard Treadgold]

"Rijk van Geijtenbeek" <ri**@opera.com> wrote in <opr6hv4euaicz8n2
@news.individual.net>:

Maybe you can use a Wiki to do the sharing and editing?

What's a Wiki, Rijk?

[Richard Treadgold]

"Rijk van Geijtenbeek" <ri**@opera.com> wrote in <opr6hv4euaicz8n2
@news.individual.net>:

Maybe you can use a Wiki to do the sharing and editing?

What's a Wiki, Rijk?

[Andrew Urquhart]

Richard Treadgold wrote:

Rijk van Geijtenbeek wrote:

Maybe you can use a Wiki to do the sharing and editing?

What's a Wiki, Rijk?

11,400,000 answers already at www.google.com/search?q=WIKI
--
Andrew Urquhart
- FAQ: www.htmlhelp.org/faq/html/
- Archive: www.tinyurl.com/2zw7m
- Contact: www.andrewu.co.uk/contact/
- Employ me: Front/middle tier ASP developer with WAI & web standards

[Andrew Urquhart]

Richard Treadgold wrote:

Rijk van Geijtenbeek wrote:

Maybe you can use a Wiki to do the sharing and editing?

What's a Wiki, Rijk?

11,400,000 answers already at www.google.com/search?q=WIKI
--
Andrew Urquhart
- FAQ: www.htmlhelp.org/faq/html/
- Archive: www.tinyurl.com/2zw7m
- Contact: www.andrewu.co.uk/contact/
- Employ me: Front/middle tier ASP developer with WAI & web standards

[Richard Treadgold]

Oh, ok, thanks, Andrew. I'll take a look. Thanks for your help.

Look, unless someone comes up with another brilliant idea (though it would
have to be one so brilliant you could use it to map the far side of the moon
on a stormy night), I've decided to just link to the files they want to read
and provide a textarea for them to type into. They can click a button to e-
mail their contributions to us.

It's free of complications and easy for innocents to manage. I hope that
sounds best to you. Thanks for your time!

Richard

[Richard Treadgold]

Oh, ok, thanks, Andrew. I'll take a look. Thanks for your help.

Look, unless someone comes up with another brilliant idea (though it would
have to be one so brilliant you could use it to map the far side of the moon
on a stormy night), I've decided to just link to the files they want to read
and provide a textarea for them to type into. They can click a button to e-
mail their contributions to us.

It's free of complications and easy for innocents to manage. I hope that
sounds best to you. Thanks for your time!

Richard

[Long - CM web hosting]

"Richard Treadgold" <ri*****@NOSPAMwordshine.com> wrote in message
news:Xn******************************@203.96.92.12 ...
: Our family are collaborating on writing a book. Some of us do not live
: close to the others. I would like to display a text file (from Word, but
: it only has to be an ascii file) on a (password-protected) web page, let
: the user make alterations and save them back to the server.
:
: I don't want to have to teach them how to use an ftp client.
:
The simplest and most economical is file share by email, although
more work is required to coordinate things.

: I've forgotten any html file manipulation commands I read in the past.
: So, my apologies, but can anyone make this easy for us, please - what
: would you recommend as the simplest way to accomplish this task?
:
What you probably want is a CMS with a web interface where you
can manage files online. If you have the technical background you can
set up your own using available open source CMSes. Alternatively,
use a hosted solution with CMS services such as ours. More info
is available at our web site http://www.webcharm.ca/cms/

Long
www.webcharm.ca - content management web hosting

[Long - CM web hosting]

"Richard Treadgold" <ri*****@NOSPAMwordshine.com> wrote in message
news:Xn******************************@203.96.92.12 ...
: Our family are collaborating on writing a book. Some of us do not live
: close to the others. I would like to display a text file (from Word, but
: it only has to be an ascii file) on a (password-protected) web page, let
: the user make alterations and save them back to the server.
:
: I don't want to have to teach them how to use an ftp client.
:
The simplest and most economical is file share by email, although
more work is required to coordinate things.

: I've forgotten any html file manipulation commands I read in the past.
: So, my apologies, but can anyone make this easy for us, please - what
: would you recommend as the simplest way to accomplish this task?
:
What you probably want is a CMS with a web interface where you
can manage files online. If you have the technical background you can
set up your own using available open source CMSes. Alternatively,
use a hosted solution with CMS services such as ours. More info
is available at our web site http://www.webcharm.ca/cms/

Long
www.webcharm.ca - content management web hosting

[Rijk van Geijtenbeek]

On Thu, 15 Apr 2004 14:06:39 +0100, Andrew Urquhart <re***@website.in.sig>
wrote:

Richard Treadgold wrote:

Rijk van Geijtenbeek wrote:

Maybe you can use a Wiki to do the sharing and editing?

What's a Wiki, Rijk?

11,400,000 answers already at www.google.com/search?q=WIKI

Quite :)

I've worked with UseModWiki, which is really easy to set up if you can run
Perl scripts on your webserver.

http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?UseModWiki

--
Rijk van Geijtenbeek

The Web is a procrastination apparatus:
It can absorb as much time as is required to ensure that you
won't get any real work done. - J.Nielsen

[Rijk van Geijtenbeek]

On Thu, 15 Apr 2004 14:06:39 +0100, Andrew Urquhart <re***@website.in.sig>
wrote:

Richard Treadgold wrote:

Rijk van Geijtenbeek wrote:

Maybe you can use a Wiki to do the sharing and editing?

What's a Wiki, Rijk?

11,400,000 answers already at www.google.com/search?q=WIKI

Quite :)

I've worked with UseModWiki, which is really easy to set up if you can run
Perl scripts on your webserver.

http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?UseModWiki

--
Rijk van Geijtenbeek

The Web is a procrastination apparatus:
It can absorb as much time as is required to ensure that you
won't get any real work done. - J.Nielsen

[Saqib Ali]

> I've forgotten any html file manipulation commands I read in the past.

So, my apologies, but can anyone make this easy for us, please - what
would you recommend as the simplest way to accomplish this task?

Try WebDAV http://www.webdav.org (WebDAV = Web based Document
Authoring and Versioning)

In Peace,
Saqib Ali
http://validate.sf.net

[Saqib Ali]

> I've forgotten any html file manipulation commands I read in the past.

So, my apologies, but can anyone make this easy for us, please - what
would you recommend as the simplest way to accomplish this task?

Try WebDAV http://www.webdav.org (WebDAV = Web based Document
Authoring and Versioning)

In Peace,
Saqib Ali
http://validate.sf.net

[Richard Treadgold]

Long - CM web hosting wrote:

The simplest and most economical is file share by email, although
more work is required to coordinate things.
I agree, but in our case the challenge lies more in the area of handling
attachments and moving between Word and Eudora (I mean, e-mail). That's why
I chose to let them edit in the browser, if they wish. Of course, the
skilled relatives can still compose in Word and either paste into the
textarea or simply e-mail the file in the "usual" way.
What you probably want is a CMS with a web interface where you
can manage files online. If you have the technical background you can
set up your own using available open source CMSes. Alternatively,
use a hosted solution with CMS services such as ours. More info
is available at our web site http://www.webcharm.ca/cms/

This is very interesting. I'd not heard about this, though it's been a long
time since I was looking for anything like it. Clearly there's a lot of
potential here. However, it's way too much trouble (expense?) for our
relatively small project. Also, it's not something we can run "from home".

Thanks for your suggestion, Long.

[Richard Treadgold]

Long - CM web hosting wrote:

The simplest and most economical is file share by email, although
more work is required to coordinate things.
I agree, but in our case the challenge lies more in the area of handling
attachments and moving between Word and Eudora (I mean, e-mail). That's why
I chose to let them edit in the browser, if they wish. Of course, the
skilled relatives can still compose in Word and either paste into the
textarea or simply e-mail the file in the "usual" way.
What you probably want is a CMS with a web interface where you
can manage files online. If you have the technical background you can
set up your own using available open source CMSes. Alternatively,
use a hosted solution with CMS services such as ours. More info
is available at our web site http://www.webcharm.ca/cms/

This is very interesting. I'd not heard about this, though it's been a long
time since I was looking for anything like it. Clearly there's a lot of
potential here. However, it's way too much trouble (expense?) for our
relatively small project. Also, it's not something we can run "from home".

Thanks for your suggestion, Long.

[Richard Treadgold]

Saqib Ali wrote:

Try WebDAV http://www.webdav.org (WebDAV = Web based Document
Authoring and Versioning)

In Peace,
Saqib Ali

A most fascinating development. And all that effort going on entirely out of
my awareness! Thank you for bringing it to my attention, Saqib, although, as
I remarked to Long, I fear it offers far more complexity than we want to
confront.

And peace with you, my friend.

[Richard Treadgold]

Saqib Ali wrote:

Try WebDAV http://www.webdav.org (WebDAV = Web based Document
Authoring and Versioning)

In Peace,
Saqib Ali

A most fascinating development. And all that effort going on entirely out of
my awareness! Thank you for bringing it to my attention, Saqib, although, as
I remarked to Long, I fear it offers far more complexity than we want to
confront.

And peace with you, my friend.

[Long - CM web hosting]

"Richard Treadgold" <ri*****@NOSPAMwordshine.com> wrote in message
news:Xn******************************@203.96.92.12 ...
: Long - CM web hosting wrote:
:
: >The simplest and most economical is file share by email, although
: >more work is required to coordinate things.
:
: I agree, but in our case the challenge lies more in the area of handling
: attachments and moving between Word and Eudora (I mean, e-mail). That's why
: I chose to let them edit in the browser, if they wish. Of course, the
: skilled relatives can still compose in Word and either paste into the
: textarea or simply e-mail the file in the "usual" way.
:
: >What you probably want is a CMS with a web interface where you
: >can manage files online. If you have the technical background you can
: >set up your own using available open source CMSes. Alternatively,
: >use a hosted solution with CMS services such as ours. More info
: >is available at our web site http://www.webcharm.ca/cms/
:
: This is very interesting. I'd not heard about this, though it's been a long
: time since I was looking for anything like it. Clearly there's a lot of
: potential here. However, it's way too much trouble (expense?) for our
: relatively small project. Also, it's not something we can run "from home".
:
I think a hosted solution would be more cost effective compared to
"run from home" since you would not need a dedicated server, required
software and effort in installation, configuration and maintenance.

I know our site lack hosting plan offerings, but we are working
on them and will be making a announcement in the coming weeks.

: Thanks for your suggestion, Long.
:
You're welcome.

Long

[Long - CM web hosting]

"Richard Treadgold" <ri*****@NOSPAMwordshine.com> wrote in message
news:Xn******************************@203.96.92.12 ...
: Long - CM web hosting wrote:
:
: >The simplest and most economical is file share by email, although
: >more work is required to coordinate things.
:
: I agree, but in our case the challenge lies more in the area of handling
: attachments and moving between Word and Eudora (I mean, e-mail). That's why
: I chose to let them edit in the browser, if they wish. Of course, the
: skilled relatives can still compose in Word and either paste into the
: textarea or simply e-mail the file in the "usual" way.
:
: >What you probably want is a CMS with a web interface where you
: >can manage files online. If you have the technical background you can
: >set up your own using available open source CMSes. Alternatively,
: >use a hosted solution with CMS services such as ours. More info
: >is available at our web site http://www.webcharm.ca/cms/
:
: This is very interesting. I'd not heard about this, though it's been a long
: time since I was looking for anything like it. Clearly there's a lot of
: potential here. However, it's way too much trouble (expense?) for our
: relatively small project. Also, it's not something we can run "from home".
:
I think a hosted solution would be more cost effective compared to
"run from home" since you would not need a dedicated server, required
software and effort in installation, configuration and maintenance.

I know our site lack hosting plan offerings, but we are working
on them and will be making a announcement in the coming weeks.

: Thanks for your suggestion, Long.
:
You're welcome.

Long

[Richard Treadgold]

Long - CM web hosting wrote:

I know our site lack hosting plan offerings, but we are working
on them and will be making a announcement in the coming weeks.

I'll keep an eye out for it.
Richard.

[Richard Treadgold]

Long - CM web hosting wrote:

I know our site lack hosting plan offerings, but we are working
on them and will be making a announcement in the coming weeks.

I'll keep an eye out for it.
Richard.