ToL-MacClade Tutorial

by Wayne Maddison, Katja Schulz, and David Maddison

Here we present a simple tutorial to show you how easy it is to construct basic Tree of Life pages using ToL-MacClade. The tutorial takes the easiest path to get results, which means we sometimes avoid explaining details and possible complications. You can learn more details from the Technical Reference guide. We will assume basic familiarity with MacClade (how to make a new data file, enter taxon names, build trees). If you are using MacClade for the first time, you may want to look at the page about MacClade basics before you begin the first lesson.

Throughout the tutorial we will use a ficticious group of animals, the Fubonidiidae. (Even if you don't want to follow the tutorial exactly, to the point of creating all of the files mentioned, you might want to read the tutorial and imagine how you would do the same sorts of things for your taxa.)

The final product of the basic tutorial (through lesson 10), can be seen here.

Please note: This tutorial was originally written to instruct authors how to create pages for the old Tree of Life which was composed of a collection of static HTML pages. Since ToL-MacClade cannot implement the new format that is currently used on the ToL website, the pages you build during the tutorial will still be in the old Tree of Life format with old-style toolbar buttons at the top and bottom of a page. However, when authors send their pages to us for publication, the information contained in the ToL-MacClade files will automatically be translated into the new format.

Basic Tutorial

• Lesson 1: Getting Started
• Lesson 2: Toolbar Images
• Lesson 3: Information about authors
• Lesson 4: Adding text
• Lesson 5: Using some basic HTML codes
• Lesson 6: Title Illustrations
• Lesson 7: Links up and down the tree
• Lesson 8: Organizing folders and files
• Lesson 9: Preparing for the Searchable Index
• Lesson 10: Odds and ends
• Conclusion


Tutorial Extras (Things you needn't learn yet)

• Tutorial Extras 1: Inserting a picture into a text topic
• Tutorial Extras 2: Creating links to other internet sites
• Tutorial Extras 3: Creating a link to a deep containing clade
• Tutorial Extras 4: Creating leaf pages
• Tutorial Extras 5: Creating an accessory page