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The Manual

Welcome to the Civil War Character Creator Manual Pages! Within this document you will find the when, where, who, and how of the Character Creator. This WWW page is structured like a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list, and proceeds to traverse from the broad to the specific. This page has been created in this fashion in hopes that it will be easier for you (the users of the page) to quickly find everything that you need. NOTE: As the ThinkQuest contest is currently only open to United States residents (K-12), all references to the Civil War are assumed to be the American Civil War. And so, it begins......

What is the Character Creator, from a user and server standpoint?

Well, without getting too technical we can say that the Character Creator is a process or a function of the Civil War Live homepages. Other processes of the Civil War Live pages include: the reference section (which also includes a search engine), link and tool pages, and guestbook. When put together, these processes form the Civil War Live pages. However, the Character Creator is a unique process very much unlike any that the development team has ever seen.

The Character Creator process involves HyperText documents (such as the one that you are currently reading) as well as Common Gateway Interface (CGI) programs. Some of the HyperText documents are forms (those which have yet to be filled out) that change with the press of a button, while others (those that have already been filled out) are immovable.

What is the idea behind the Character Creator?

The Character Creator was created with hope that the end result would be a "Choose your Own Adventure" story. This type of document structure allows users to make choices, and then, depending on their choices, possibly go along different paths of life. In this way it is possible for a visitor of the site to never see the same information twice.

A user can add to, or create anew, a Civil War character by filling out an online form. This form is sent to a program on the server, which checks for errors, and then creates a new document for other users to view. In this way a user can add their ideas to the content of the site, hopefully adding onto the ideals of a globally interactive medium..... the Internet.

What is some of the terminology that users should know to read the rest?

The terminology used to describe the individual parts of the Character Creator process is similar to that of forestry. Well, at least the main idea is. If you think of the character as a tree, and all of the characters as a forest, the rest of the document should be easy.

Tree - The actual character, which looks similar to a plants roots, with the area closest to the surface being the beginning of the character.
Branch - A section of root which (when you look DOWN it) branches off into individual steps and other branches.
Step - An individual HyperText document on the World Wide Web. This could be either a form, or immovable text.
Choice - When a user is presented with a choice of links in which the user would begin to traverse along a different branch or tree.
End - When a character can no longer be added to. The character does not have to be dead... the war could be over.

What should be placed on the character pages and what is recorded?

A character page is created when a user submits an acceptable form to the Character Creator and the Character Creator creates a HyperText page with immovable text. Within these character pages can be anything that the user would like to put, as long as the entry length is acceptable to the Character Creator, which will check to make sure that there is some form of substance. However, it is hoped that the following guidelines will be followed:

Only information pertaining to the American Civil War is posted on the site (and placed within the text fields).
Vulgarity should be avoided.
Links to user homepages, or homepages that are not appropriate to the education of K-12, should be avoided.
Links to other reputable Civil War pages is encouraged.
Image links should pertain to the Civil War (realize that if the picture moves, the page will be invalid)

The information which is sent to the Character Creator is output as HTML code. If you know how to code in HTML, feel free to add links, images, lists, or whatever. However, please respect our wishes by following the above rules. If you do not know how to code in HTML, that's O.K. These pages were designed with quite a bit of flexibility, and HTML is not necessary. However, there will be a difference in how the pages look. If you would like to learn more about HTML, try here. As always, it is hoped that the characters which are added onto the site are full of information, and hopefully somewhat fun to read through. Please try and keep the tense of the original creator of the character (i.e.: first, second, or third).

How do you add to a character?

To add to a character, you must find a branch or tree that has a empty choice. In other words, you must move along a characters life until you come across a blank form. When a form is found you should fill out your name and e-mail address at the top of the page. You should also fill out the page description, and the next two options (which will appear as links on the bottom of the page, to more empty forms.... until they are filled out). These fields will be output as HTML and will replace the form you filled out. Most of the example characters were created in first person, however, feel free to write in the tense with which you are most comfortable.

How do you create a character?

A character is created by going to the index (where all of the character names are displayed) and choosing to create a new character (at the bottom of the page). Fill out the fields the same as you would if you were adding to a character. However, you will first need to create a background for the character (first large textfield), and then create the first actual page.

How do you end a character?

A character is ended when the radio button to end the character on the current tree is selected. When this is selected, the Character Creator will output the page description, but not the options. Instead there will be a link back to the main Civil War Live pages. In order to ensure characters which are longer than two or three steps (a very small tree) the selective buttons to end a characters life do not appear until the fourth addition on the character.

How does the Character Creator benefit students?

The Character Creator benefits students in several ways. We hope that the pages are a resource to the same information that can be found in any textbook, however, we hope that it is presented in an easier-to-learn, and more entertaining fashion than the standard textbook. Also, this will allow students to improve their writing skills in the first (I went....), second (You went....), and third person (He went.....) perspectives. Also, as time progresses and more and more characters are added, we hope that these "diaries" will allow students to clearly visualize what actually occurred during the fateful Civil War.

Can the development team edit the characters?

Yes. An administration program has been developed that allows the team to remove entries which are deemed unacceptable. These are the same entries that don't follow the above guidelines, so don't worry... you won't be kicked out because of writing quality.

What is recorded on the pages?

So that we can better trace who actually is adding onto the character pages, several bits and pieces of information is recorded within the pages. For instance, your IP address (should you have one) is recorded on the page. So is your host name (service provider) and user name (most likely anonymous). These fields are embedded within the actual page and are not visible to the average user. However your name and e-mail address will be on the page, and visible to everyone.

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