Structure of the web site

The SKIRT web site includes two categories of files. These categories are discussed in turn in the sections below.

HTML pages

The HTML pages (and some images embedded therein) are hosted on the Ghent University web server (see Write access to the SKIRT project's online presence). These files are generated through Doxygen (see Software tools for the administrator) directly or indirectly from various sources by the ~/SKIRT/Web9/git/stageWebSite.sh shell script. The script constructs the complete web site in a local staging area, ready to be copied (published) to the web server as is.

The scripts first executes Python programs to automatically generate Doxygen input pages for several web site areas from other sources:

The web pages in the Publications section are derived from the publications database, a manually edited text file listing the known publications related to SKIRT. This procedure also verifies that the corresponding .pdf and .png files are present in the designated directory (see the "Data Files" subsection below).
The ski file reference in the documentation section is derived from the SMILE schema produced by the SKIRT build procedure (see Updating SKIRT).
The download page is derived from the contents of the directory containing the SKIRT resource packs (see Creating resources and resource packs).

The script then invokes Doxygen (see Software tools for the administrator) to generate HTML pages from the following sources:

The text and image files in the ~/SKIRT/Web9/git/root directory, comprising the main body of the web site. This includes the community section and the various guides (installation, user, developer, administrator).
The C++ .hpp header files in the SKIRT9 repository, leading to the SKIRT reference documentation.
The Python .py source code in the PTS9 repository, leading to the PTS reference documentation.

Finally, the script downloads and installs the MathJax repository, if not already present in the staging area. This javascript code is used for displaying formulas on the web site.

For more information, refer to the documentation and implementation of the stageWebSite.sh shell script.

Data files

The files offered for download by links on the web site are hosted on the Ghent University data file server (see Write access to the SKIRT project's online presence). File types include .txt, .pdf, .ski, .png and .stab. These files are created or located through manual procedures and assembled in one of the subdirectories of the ~/SKIRT/ResourcesC directory.

Benchmarks: files offered for download by the Benchmark pages in the Community section of the web site.
Publications: files offered for download by the Publication pages in the Community section of the web site.
Tutorials: files offered for download by tutorials in the Documentation section of the web site.
DustPediaData: files offered for download by a "hidden" section of the web site (not reachable from the main page).

The Publish subdirectory contains a shell script to publish the above files to the data file server.

Moreover, the SKIRT resource packs (see Creating resources and resource packs) can also be downloaded from the web site. This option is provdided for users that run SKIRT on a platform that does not support the download shell script, such as Microsoft Windows.

Updating the web site

HTML pages

The textual sources, embedded images, Doxygen configuration files, and Python programs to generate the HTML pages of the web site are mostly contained in the Web9 repository. The exceptions are discussed in the previous section (e.g., the documentation in C++ and Python source code).

The contents of the Web9 repository is currently updated solely by an administrator, so it is acceptable to simply push changes to the master branch. Complex changes that take a long time to complete could be prepared on a topic branch and merged into the master when ready. This allows updating other aspects on the web site without exposing the unfinished new portion.

Note: Do not use PDF files as embedded images. Viewing embedded PDF files in a browser works fine on some systems, such as macOS, but not on many other systems. Use PNG with its lossless compression as the preferred image format, and JPEG for photograph-like images if necessary to limit the file size.

Data files

The data files offered for download on the web site are located in the ResourcesC and Resources9 directories, as discussed in the previous section. These files can be updated and new files can be added at will, as long as the corresponding links on the web pages are properly synchronized.

Because of their size, these files are not part of the Web9 repository. Consequently, they must be backed up separately as described in Making backups.

Publishing the web site

Data files

To publish changes in the contents of the ResourceC directory to the data file server, run the ~/SKIRT/ResourcesC/Publish/publishResourcesC.sh shell script. For more information, see the documentation in the script and Write access to the SKIRT project's online presence.

To publish new resource packs in the Resource9 directory to the data file server, see Creating resources and resource packs.

HTML pages

To publish the HTML pages with embedded images to the web server, proceed as follows:

Make sure that the SKIRT9, PTS9, and Web9 repositories have their master branch checked out and "pulled".
Make sure that SKIRT9 has been built for the current master branch, including doxstyle and MakeUp.
With ~/SKIRT/Web9/git as default directory, run the stageWebSite.sh shell script to generate the complete web site in the local ~/SKIRT/Web9/stage directory. If the procedure logs any warnings or errors, fix the issues and retry.
Open the ~/SKIRT/Web9/stage/index.html file in a browser and navigate to any updated pages to verify that everything works as intended. Fix any issues and retry.
Still with ~/SKIRT/Web9/git as default directory, run the publishWebSite.sh shell script to copy the contents of the staging area to the web server. This happens in two steps in an attempt to limit the number of actually transferred files. For more details, refer to the documentation and implementation of the publishWebSite.sh shell script and to Write access to the SKIRT project's online presence.