The Technophobes Guide to Site Saucing!

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"Ramanathan Guha, the developer of project X (guha@netscape.com), is now working for Netscape, which has advanced MCF a step forward, using XML (eXensible Markup Language, a subset of SGML) to define RDF (Resource Description Framework), which has been submitted to the W3C. Cf. . RDF will be a major part of Netscape's browser and server strategies. Guha says (in an email to the XSpace mailing list): 'Netscape products that read RDF files will also read the Apple MCF files. The end user will not know the difference.' The XSpace/Hot Sauce browser plug-in, of course, is just one way to render, or visualize, MCF spaces."

What this means is up in the air at this point, but for now I don't think the Hot Sauce stuff is available from Apple anymore. But it's still cool, and it will always work! If you try to follow the the link below to get the Application, and find that it doesn't exist anymore, send me some e mail and let me know! I've got all the stuff and I'll make it available here! And if there's anything you'd like to tell Apple about their decision to stop supporting this technology, Click Here!
Anyway, Back to the Guide.........

• This is experimental technology! It works great, but....If anything bad happens from using this software don't blame me, or Apple, or anyone.
• Read the instructions on Apple's page!!!! Knowing how to navigate the X-Space is important if you want to make one!
• I learned how to do this in part by reading Lee Slone's Easy Guide to Saucing Your Site. I am even less technically inclined than he could have imagined so I wrote this page, but you should check out his guide. It's also much shorter than mine!
• This description is totally basic, You can do a lot more with this technology than just websites. Detailed info is available at the Apple site above.
• My info is for the drag and drop method of mapping a site. I'm assuming you have a main page, or some sort of index on a page on your site, which has links to all your other pages. If you don't, then use Lee's or Apple's or somebody else's info to manually create links (Nodes) and attach the proper url's to them. It's not hard, but uh, I did it this way........

1. -Start your browser and open your website. If you're online when you perform the following steps, The url's for the pages that you will be mapping will be correct. If you're not online, and you've opened your site from a file on your drive, you'll have to do a little simple editing of the document that's created when you're done. (more on that below) Despite that, I'd suggest doing this offline if possible. It can take a little while, so why clog up the net? Just my opinion. I hate busy signals. Anyway...

2. -Start the Project X application. The main Fly Through window opens. If you've replaced the data folder, you'll see an oval Topic Node that says "WWW" and nothing else. Single click on the node. It should turn grey.

3. -Go to the Node Menu and select "Edit Node Name". Type in the name of your site (or later on, page or topic) and click OK. Now the node has that name.

4. -Make sure the node you want to work on is selected. At this point it's the one you just named, but this step applies to any selected node. Choose "Finder View" from the Node Menu. An empty desktop style window, with the name of the selected node in its title bar, should open. Position this window so you can see at least part of it when your browser is in the foreground.

5. -In your browser, go to the page with your site index. Click and drag the highlighted links for each of your pages from your browser into the Finder View window you just opened. When you go back to the Fly Through window you'll see new rectangular Document Nodes for all the links you just dragged. Their names should appear as whatever the text you dragged was. To change the name of a node, single click it to select it, and repeat step 3.

   Also, when you drag the links from your browser to the Finder View window to map them, any links on those pages should get mapped in with them. You'll see them in the Fly Through window as different colored Document nodes, called Children, behind the node they're associated with, called the Parent. If there are things that you do want to see that aren't there, don't worry. you can always drag them in later.

   Any sounds or images linked with a url to a page may appear as well. If you don't want them mapped in, you can delete them. From the Finder View window, select them and choose "Remove Link From Here" from the Node Menu. You can delete them the same way from the Fly Through window if you want. (Personally, I just find it easier to do things in the FV window.)

   When you're changing or deleting a node, be sure that only the node you want to change or delete is selected. If the selected node is a Parent, all its Children will be selected as well. To unselect a node in the Fly Through window, click once really fast in the empty space. In the Finder view window, click anywhere in the window.

6. -Go to the Main Fly Through window. You can now click and drag the new nodes to arrange them nicely around the Title (Topic) node. You may have to fly around to get to them all since they get placed sort of randomly when they're created. It also seems like you need to drag them the instant you click them or you'll start flying and screw up your tidy arrangement! You'll need to experiment a little.

7. -Now select the node for a page. All its Children, if any, will also be selected. Choose "Display in New Window" from the Node menu. A new fly through window containing only that node (Parent), and any associated nodes (Children), will appear. Just like before,click the node to select it, then make a Finder View window for it. In your browser, go to the page associated with the new window (node). Again, drag whatever links you want from that page into the window you just made. Arrange everything so it looks good in this Fly Through window, then go back to the Main window to see how the whole thing looks.

8. -Now,just repeat the previous step for all the nodes you made from your index. If a particular page has more than one part to it, you can make your map reflect that. Like, say you have a links page with different categories of links. You can show that in your X Space.
   Click in the Finder View window you've created for the node. Now the window is selected. Choose "Add New Topic" from the Edit menu. Give it a name when prompted.(silly links...... whatever) A little folder icon with that name will appear in the window. (A new node will also be created) If your links are already in the window, drag them onto the appropriate folder (Topic). If they're not already in the window, click on the folder (Topic) to select it, make a Finder View window for it, and drag the links from your page on the browser into that window.

unit: "http://members.aol.com/story.html"
name: "FUNFACTS"
genls_pos: ["http://members.aol.com/home.html" -199 -85]


If you were were offline and opened your website from a file that's on your hardrive, you'll see something like this:

unit: "file:///PhotoDrive/Web%20Pages/CharlieWeb/story.html"
name: "FUNFACTS"
genls_pos: ["file:///PhotoDrive/Web%20Pages/CharlieWeb/home.html" -199 -85]


"name" is the name of the page (node). "unit" should contain either the complete or relative url of the page (node). "genls..." should contain either the complete or relative url's of the page or pages (nodes) that "name" is linked to. And leave those numbers at the end alone or you'll mess up your lovely node placements...... trust me on this one!

If the code looks like the first example, you're done! If it looks like the second example, you can do one of two things. Replace the file paths with complete url's so it looks like the first example, or delete all the path info leaving only the relative url (filename and subdirectory info if any) so it looks something like this:

unit: "story.html"
name: "FUNFACTS"
genls_pos: ["home.html" -199 -85]


The second choice is obviously easier but; and you probably figured this one out already, if for any reason the .mcf file won't be on the same server as your webpages or something, you'll need to use the full url's. You know, the old complete vs. relative thing...... Now you can test it in your browser and then.......

• Put a link on on of your pages to the .mcf document. When someone with the plug-in clicks on it, a fly through window will fill their browser window. You should also add some code so people who don't have the plug-in can find it. Try this:
  <A HREF="url of your doc.mcf" PLUGINSPAGE="http://mcf.research.apple.com/">

• Or, have the fly through window appear as a part of one of your pages. Try this:
  <EMBED SRC="url of your doc.mcf" height=300 width=400 PLUGINSPAGE="http://mcf.research.apple.com/">

  You can, of course, mess around with the dimensions until it looks good. Also, it will appear in your page wherever you put the tag. Again, I highly recommend messing with it for a while!

• The technical consideration is.... Your server needs to be configured for the mime type for .mcf, "image/vasa". Whatever that means... :-)
  I just stuck the file in with the rest of my pages on AOL and it worked! I'm sure I probably just got lucky, so I'd strongly suggest checking with your ISP if you don't host your own site!!!

Well, that's all I know... I hope this little page has helped you out! If you've got comments or questions (which I won't know the answers to) feel free to write me! Please do check out other sources of information about this technology. You'll find a ton of info and links on Apple's site. It's worth spending some time there if you're into this stuff! Also, they're very helpful when you ask dumb questions. Believe me, I asked 'em!
And if you've got more time on your hands, don't forget to visit my Page 'O Stuff and grab yourself a lovely parting gift! Good Luck!!!

Charlie Austin (head geek)

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