About my homepage

This homepage has evolved from an operational and maintenance system for ship-simulators which Nils Tarjei Hjelme and I made for Ålesund University College in 2004.

The system is programmed in Java (JSP) using the MVC-model, Tomcat is used as the webserver and MySql for database.

Since then I've adapted the system to use it as a framework for personal homepages and later developed it further and added new functions for the new use.

My goal is to make a content management system (CMS) which doesn't require the user to know any HTML (or other web-technologies for that matter), but at the same time it is so flexible that the most common things one might want to do with a webpage is possible (add images, links, headlines and more).

An earlier version of this system used a built-in WYSIWYG-editor for editing the content of the pages. Using this one could i.e. just select an image, push a button and then it was inserted into the page. The same could be done with links, the formatting of text (colors, bold, italicize and so on). Unfortunately this editor produced a lot of unnecessary and often hard to maintain code.

Functions of the current system:

The possibility of editing the content on a page and with the knowledge of HTML-tags one could insert links, images, lists, tables and more.
Upload files using the web-GUI.
Production of thumbnails and smaller copies of images (in various sizes).
Rotation of images.
Text which describes where a page the guest is reading is located in relation to the rest of the hierarki (the "You are here: ..." line on top of this page)
Configurable menu with the possibility of different menus for guests and administrator. The sequence/location of items in the meny can be changed fast and simple
The content can be written in multiple languages.
New pages can be made from an already existing page (template) and the new page can have a custom defined name which is used in places like the menu. Guests and administrator can use different names on a page if wanted.
Guestbook with anti-hacking functionality. Additions to the guestbook must be approved by the administrator before they become public. The e-mail address of a visitor can only be seen be the administrator. (Previously it was possible for a guest to use the WYSIWYG-editor to edit his/her addition to the guestbook). When a guest signs the guestbook an e-mail is sent to the administrator.
The administrators e-mail address is not present anywhere on any pages. Requests must be sent through a form (prevents spam due to e-mail collecting webspiders).
Sitemap-generator (not yet done) which will maintain a structural image of the hierarchy of the pages on the website (sitemap).
The possibility of editing metatags for each page.
Security which makes it possible to block or allow access to pages for guests.
Total change of style with the press of a button.
Backup of database through web-GUI. Other system files will also be possible to backup the same way.

Wanted changes/improvements:

Images, links and other elements must be possible to insert with only a few clicks on the mouse/keyboard.
Smoothing, clipping, color management and more of images.
...and a lot more.