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Abstract

Specification for a new unified Web framework for official pages of the New Mexico Tech Computer Center (TCC).

This publication is available in Web form and also as a PDF document. Please forward any comments to tcc-doc@nmt.edu.

Table of Contents

1. Requirements
2. Authenticated services
3. Base framework
3.1. Criteria for selection of a framework
3.2. Joomla
3.3. Django
3.4. Pylons
3.5. Pyramid
4. Framework components
4.1. Templating systems
4.2. Database (persistence) layer
4.3. Forms
4.4. Routing
4.5. Authentication
4.6. Session management
5. Design overview: Data flow in a fragmented software environment
5.1. Security design notes
5.2. Navigation design
5.3. Page templating
6. Appendix A: Legacy URLs
6.1. Legacy URLs from the main (http://www.nmt.edu/tcc) web
6.2. Legacy URLs from the help (http://www.nmt.edu/tcc/help) web
7. Appendix B: Joomla vulnerabilities

1. Requirements

These are the broad requirements for a unified framework for all publicly visible New Mexico Tech Computer Center Web pages.

  • An attractive and consistent style throughout all TCC-managed Web pages, with clear and useful navigational links.

  • A single point of authority that defines the structure of all pages with static content.

  • Never a 404: A mechanism that insures that internal links always point to an actual page, and all the URLs in the previous system take the user to someplace relevant.

  • Dynamically generated pages in the same style providing authenticated services for users: changing passwords, managing files and quotas, configuring e-mail, and so on.