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      <div class="title">&nbsp; The ELOG Home Page &nbsp;</div>
      <p>
         <div class="menu">&nbsp;Site map :&nbsp; &nbsp;[Home]&nbsp; &nbsp;[<a class="nav" href="userguide.html">User's
               Guide</a>]&nbsp; &nbsp;[<a class="nav" href="adminguide.html">Administrator's
               Guide</a>]&nbsp; &nbsp;[<a class="nav" href="faq.html">FAQ</a>]&nbsp;
            &nbsp;[<a class="nav" href="wishlist.html">Wishlist</a>]&nbsp; &nbsp;[<a class="nav" href="contrib.html">Contributions</a>]&nbsp;
            &nbsp;[<a class="nav" href="http://midas.psi.ch/elogs/Linux%20Demo/">DEMO</a>]&nbsp;
            &nbsp;[<a class="nav" href="download.html">Download</a>]&nbsp;
         </div>
      <p>
         <div class="menu">&nbsp;* this section :&nbsp; &nbsp;[<a class="nav" href="#whatis">What
               is ELOG ?</a>]&nbsp; &nbsp;[<a class="nav" href="#screenshots">Screen shots</a>]&nbsp;
            &nbsp;[<a class="nav" href="#usecases">Use cases</a>]&nbsp; &nbsp;[<a class="nav" href="#license">License</a>]&nbsp;
            &nbsp;[<a class="nav" href="#links">Links</a>]&nbsp; *&nbsp;</div>
      <P class="Sub">Home of the <i>Electronic Logbook</i> package by <a href="mailto:Stefan.Ritt&#64;psi.ch">
            Stefan Ritt</a></P>
      <div class="version">Current version is : 2.7.0</div>
      <hr>
      <a name="whatis">
         <div class="section">&nbsp; What is ELOG ? &nbsp;</div>
         <p>
            <b>ELOG</b> is part of a family of applications known as <i><i>weblog</i>s</i>
         . Their general purpose is :
         <p>
            <ol>
               <li>
                  to make it easy for people to put information online in a chronological
                  fashion, in the form of short, time-stamped text messages ("entries") with
                  optional HTML markup for presentation, and optional file attachments (images,
                  archives, etc.)
                  <p></p>
               <li>
                  to make it easy for other people to access this information through a Web
                  interface, browse entries, search, download files, and optionally add, update,
                  delete or comment on entries.</li>
            </ol>
         <p>
            <b>ELOG</b> is a remarkable implementation of a <i>weblog</i>
         in at least two respects :
         <p>
            <ul>
               <li>
                  its simplicity of use : you don't need to be a seasoned server operator and/or
                  an experimented database administrator to run <b>ELOG</b> ; one executable file
                  (under Unix or Windows), a simple configuration text file, and it works. No Web
                  server or relational database required. It is also easy to translate the
                  interface to the appropriate language for your users.
                  <p></p>
               <li>
                  its versatility : through its single configuration file, <b>ELOG</b> can be
                  made to display an infinity of variants of the <i>weblog</i> concept. There are
                  options for what to display, how to display it, what commands are available and
                  to whom, access control, etc. Moreover, a single server can host several <i><i>weblog</i>s</i>,
                  and each <i>weblog</i> can be totally different from the rest.</li>
            </ul>
         <p>
            <hr>
            <a name="screenshots">
               <div class="section">&nbsp; Screen shots &nbsp;</div>
               <p>
                  <table border="0" cellpadding="5">
                     <tr>
                        <td>
                           <a href="elog.gif"><img border="0" align="top" src="elog_thumb.jpg" alt="elog.gif"></a>
                        </td>
                        <td valign="top">
                           On the left upper panel is a typical logbook page displayed by Netscape
                           Navigator. Each logbook page can contain attachments in a similar way to
                           emails. This makes it possible to store images or text files and retrieve them
                           easily. You could for example attach a sample configuration file which can
                           later be copied to the local machine with the "<I>Save As...</I>" function of
                           the Web browser.
                           <p>
                              Several logbooks can be served though a single <b>ELOG</b> server. Each logbook
                              can use different attributes for its entries. The logbook can then be searched
                              using these attributes. The right pane on the left image shows a search for all
                              entries with attribute "<I>Type</I>" equal to "<I>Configuration</I>
                           ", and the lower pane shows the search result. It is also possible to use
                           full-text search in attributes and the entry body.
                           <p>
                           While logbook entries are usually displayed one entry per page, they can also
                           be listed consecutively which makes it easy to produce a paper printout of a
                           logbook.
                           <p>
                           Logbook pages can be edited or deleted. This feature can be turned off in the
                           configuration file so that a logbook entries cannot be changed after being
                           submitted.
                           <p>
                           An additional feature is the automatic generation of a notification email
                           messages based on a certain type or category of a logbook entry.
                           <p>
                              Also try out the <b><a href="http://midas.psi.ch/elogs/Linux%20Demo/">online demo</a></b>
                              !</p>
                        </td>
                     </tr>
                  </table>
               <p>
                  <hr>
                  <a name="usecases">
                     <div class="section">&nbsp; Use cases &nbsp;</div>
                     <p>
                        The features of <b>ELOG</b> make it useful for several applications:
                        <ul>
                           <li>
                              <b>Personal Logbooks</b>. Personal notes can be written into <b>ELOG</b> and
                              can then be retrieved from anywhere with a Web browser. This makes it handy for
                              PC supporters who have to go around in companies or laboratories and don't want
                              to carry their paper logbook with them. The same holds true for people
                              traveling around a lot. The logbook database consists of plain ASCII files
                              which can copied easily between different computers to have local access, for
                              example on a notebook with no network connection.
                              <p></p>
                           <li>
                              <b>Shared Logbooks</b>. Logbooks can be shared by several people, for reading
                              and optionally for writing. This way workgroups can share and exchange
                              information like in a (simplified) news group. This is supported by the <i>Reply</i>
                              command in <b>ELOG</b> which creates "<I>threads</I>" of entries. Users can be
                              notified by email when new entries are added to the logbook. Compared to that
                              of a news server, the installation of <b>ELOG</b> is much simpler.
                              <p></p>
                           <li>
                              <b>Small Databases</b>. Since arbitrary attributes can be defined for a
                              logbook, it can be used as a small database with search facilities.
                              <p></p>
                           <li>
                              <b>Problem collections</b>. A system can consist of two logbooks, in one of
                              which users enter bugs or problems. If someone adds a problem, an email is
                              automatically sent to the administrator, who can then copy the entry to the
                              second logbook and add the solution to the problem. Users can then look up all
                              fixed problems.
                              <p></p>
                           <li>
                              <b>Shift Logbooks</b>. If the <i>Allow delete</i> and <i>Allow edit</i> flags
                              are off, an entry cannot be modified once it's been entered. This can be useful
                              for shift logbooks for example in accelerator control rooms where each entry
                              becomes a "<I>document</I>" with a time and author stamp. <b>ELOG</b> was
                              originally developed as a shift logbook for the <a href="http://pibeta.psi.ch">PiBeta</a>
                              and <a href="http://meg.psi.ch">Muegamma</a> particle experiments at <a href="http://www.psi.ch">
                                 PSI</a>.
                              <p></p>
                           <li>
                              <b>File collections</b>. Since files can be attached to <b>ELOG</b> entries,
                              the system can be used to store and retrieve files. This can be used to store
                              configuration files, which need to be accessible by several people over the
                              web, or to store images. Since <b>ELOG</b> features an elaborate query
                              facility, entries can be searched for by specifying several categories.</li>
                        </ul>
                     <p>
                        <hr>
                        <a name="license">
                           <div class="section">&nbsp; License &nbsp;</div>
                           <p>
                              <b>ELOG</b> is released under the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU
                                 Public License</a>
                           .
                           <p>
                              <hr>
                              <a name="credits">
                                 <div class="section">&nbsp; Credits &nbsp;</div>
                                 <p>
                                    The author would like to give credits to following people:
                                    <UL>
                                       <LI><a href="mailto:fredp@dial.oleane.com">Fred Pacquier</a> for
                                       this Web site and the French translation</LI>
                                       <LI><a href="mailto:roktas@omu.edu.tr">Recai Oktas</a>
                                       for the Debian package
                                       <LI><a href="mailto:djek@xs4all.nl">djek</a>
                                       for the Dutch translation
                                       <LI><a href="mailto:Heiko.Scheit@mpi-hd.mpg.de">Heiko Scheit</a>
                                       for many bug fixes and fruitful discussions
                                       <LI><a href="mailto:jhcalvo@arnet.com.ar">Julio Calvo</a> for the Spanish
                                       translation</LI>
                                       <LI><a href="mailto:AlberT@SuperAlberT.it">Emiliano 'AlberT' Gabrielli</a></LI> for
                                       his idea of scaling attached images
                                    </UL>
                                 <p>
                                    <hr>
                                    <a name="links">
                                       <div class="section">&nbsp; Links &nbsp;</div>
                                       <p>
                                          If your are reading this documentation from your local <b>ELOG</b> server,
                                          check for updates on the <a href="http://midas.psi.ch/elog/">ELOG Home Page</a>
                                       .
                                       <p>
                                          See also the <b>ELOG</b> project pages on <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/elog">
                                             <img align="middle" src="http://sourceforge.net/sflogo.php?group_id=40505&amp;type=1"
                                                width="88" height="31" border="0" alt="SourceForge"></a> and <a href="http://freshmeat.net/projects/elog">
                                             <img align="middle" border="0" src="http://images.freshmeat.net/logo.gif" alt="Freshmeat"></a>
                                       <p>
                                          <HR>
                                          <div class="footer">&nbsp; Content by <a class="nav" href="mailto:Stefan.Ritt&#64;psi.ch">
                                                Stefan Ritt</a>, Web pages by <a class="nav" href="mailto:fredp@mygale.org">Fred
                                                Pacquier</a> - last modified on 16/01/2002 &nbsp;</div>
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