[hunchentoot-devel] site structure

[Austin Haas]

How does one generally structure their source files for a multi-sectioned site?

I have a site that has several disparate sections, including:

1. main page, company information, etc.
2. portfolio of past works
3. client projects
4. various other interactive demos

When I initially setup the project, I put the source files for each section into it's own directory, and included it as a module in my main defsystem. The main dispatch table would branch from there using "create-prefix-dispatcher" and call a "dispatcher" method belonging to the appropriate module.

Each client project gets it's own source file and dispatcher, because they usually contain many unique sections themselves, such as pages for alpha demos, betas, etc. Some also need various dynamic features, too, so it's not as if I can just create some template system and pull unique data from a DB. I really need to be able to through up entirely new branches to the site on a weekly basis.

The main issue that I've faced so far is that I have to add any new files to the :components section of the main defsystem method, which is inconvenient.

It is very likely that I'm just not understanding the basics of setting up a lisp project, but I don't think most projects require the same structure as a large website. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

I'd appreciate any suggestions, pointers, or advice that anyone might have.

Thanks.

-austin

-- 
Austin Haas
Pet Tomato, Inc.
http://pettomato.com