Over the past few months, IT Services has added to its portfolio of Web tools available to the Stanford community: WebAFS, Collaboration Tools Installer, and the Stanford Web Forms Service.
WebAFS
WebAFS allows anyone using AFS to access directories and files using a Web browser. Using the tool, you are connected directly to your AFS home directory, but can navigate to other directories for which you have permissions, create directories, upload and download files, set permissions...almost all of the most common AFS tasks. For many clients, WebAFS provides a more convenient method for accessing AFS and does not require an application (e.g., SecureFX, OpenAFS) other than a browser to be installed on your desktop computer.
Collaboration Tools Installer
The Collaboration Tools Installer allows Stanford departments and groups with AFS space and a cgi-bin directory to use a central, do-it-yourself Web form to more easily install a few supported applications.
The main advantage of the installer is that it's quicker and easier than a self-install of any of these applications. For example, initializing one of the applications with the installer takes only a couple of minutes of filling out a Web-based form. Contrast this with a self-install that, when configured properly for the Stanford environment, could otherwise require as many as 50 steps, command-line expertise, and more than 30 minutes of your time. Additionally, the installer ensures that the application is properly configured for the Stanford environment, provides "skins" that match Stanford's web theme, and provides you with support from IT Services for future application upgrades. There is no charge for the service.
The tool includes installers and upgraders for a few popular tools already used by many campus departments:
- MediaWiki:a free software wiki package for collaborative document creation and information sharing.
- WordPress: a free open source blog tool and publishing platform.
- Drupal: an open source content management system for web publishing and collaboration.
Stanford Web Forms Service
This service is available to anyone at Stanford with a full-service SUNet ID for making contact forms, short surveys and polls, instructor evaluations, and other forms free of charge. No knowledge of HTML, JavaScript, or SQL is required, and the resulting forms are fully integrated with Stanford's web infrastructure. The form-building application provides a selection of pre-formatted fields and elements (both general-purpose and Stanford-specific), as well as pre-defined actions, which make it quick and easy to construct Web forms. Data collected through the forms can then be emailed to the form owner and/or stored in a MySQL database, where it can be viewed through a secure Web interface. For more information, visit webforms.stanford.edu.
