Updated, BUT! :)

[Paul D. Buck]

Thanks for the update, the issues that I have NOW (sorry) include:

1) the style sheet uses so many interlinked styles that it is hard to know just what you are changing. I would still suggest that instead of using so many overrides that you go instead to an item by item configuration. Then each unique item can be updated to the correct values without the fears associated with the current style sheet. To make a compormise that *I* think looks good I had to "break" some of your overrides down so that I could have a more interesting look. You can goto my site at http://boinc-doc.net/_phpMyFAQ/index.php to see what I mean.
I have a mix of light and dark segments.

2) The template should have inserts for the favicon that is mapped in by a configuration parameter. Then copying in the new patches/versions will not be so dependent on the protection of the existing files.

3) In line with that, ALL of the user adds/configurations should be in a directory that is not touched by the upgrade process. So, user mistakes like me stepping on my modified style sheet won't happen.

4) The user should be able to map in their existing stylesheet, again as a automatically generated line in the files (I think you are emitting generated files, aren't you?).

5) The "more" icon is white, I needed blue as my background is light. So I coppied the image, changed the color, but am going to lose this color on the next upgrade. SO, you should have a selection/user defined "more" name that can be used in place of the current "more" icon. Again, you can see the change on my site.

6) Because you use the #content selector for the content AND the links for printer friendly, send to, etc. changing the internal to a "normal" link, means that the other items also get underscored. I am not usre if this is REALLY what I want.

Good news, you did fix two of the bugs I was seeing my links out work, and the insert links does the full name, thanks! ... so now, your reward, is your list kept up-to-date? I would hate to buy you something that you already have ...

[Thorsten]

Hi Paul,

1) the style sheet uses so many interlinked styles that it is hard to know just what you are changing. I would still suggest that instead of using so many overrides that you go instead to an item by item configuration. Then each unique item can be updated to the correct values without the fears associated with the current style sheet. To make a compormise that *I* think looks good I had to "break" some of your overrides down so that I could have a more interesting look. You can goto my site at http://boinc-doc.net/_phpMyFAQ/index.php to see what I mean.
I have a mix of light and dark segments.

phpMyFAQ 1.4.x will get only mantainance releases, new features will be only in the upcoming 1.5 release. The CSS will be better in this version.

2) The template should have inserts for the favicon that is mapped in by a configuration parameter. Then copying in the new patches/versions will not be so dependent on the protection of the existing files.

3) In line with that, ALL of the user adds/configurations should be in a directory that is not touched by the upgrade process. So, user mistakes like me stepping on my modified style sheet won't happen.

hm, you don't need to patch the template files.

4) The user should be able to map in their existing stylesheet, again as a automatically generated line in the files (I think you are emitting generated files, aren't you?).

Normally you don't have to update your CSS during one branch like the 1.4.x updates.

5) The "more" icon is white, I needed blue as my background is light. So I coppied the image, changed the color, but am going to lose this color on the next upgrade. SO, you should have a selection/user defined "more" name that can be used in place of the current "more" icon. Again, you can see the change on my site.

The same answer, just install only the patched files from the update packages. The update package is a complete update since 1.4.0.

6) Because you use the #content selector for the content AND the links for printer friendly, send to, etc. changing the internal to a "normal" link, means that the other items also get underscored. I am not usre if this is REALLY what I want.

I'll have to look at this.

Good news, you did fix two of the bugs I was seeing my links out work, and the insert links does the full name, thanks! ... so now, your reward, is your list kept up-to-date? I would hate to buy you something that you already have ...

My wish list is up-to-date.

bye
Thorsten

[Paul D. Buck]

phpMyFAQ 1.4.x will get only mantainance releases, new features will be only in the upcoming 1.5 release. The CSS will be better in this version.

Ok, when ever ... I want improvements, how I get them is not that critical. When 1.5 comes out I am going to upgrade ...

you don't need to patch the template files.

Well, you do if you want to add the favicon or your own style sheet. What I am saying is that if the "engine" had a slot into which I could "map" my favicon without having to change template/index, then if and when that changes in an update I don't lose my favicon.

Same for my stylesheet. I already have a site stylesheet I want to use, but I have to edit the templates to use this also.

Code: Select all

    <style type="text/css" media="screen">@import "../../_common/site.css";</style>        <!-- My Add -->
    <!-- <style type="text/css" media="print">@import "template/print.css";</style> -->
	<script src="inc/functions.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
    <link rel="shortcut icon" href="../../_icons/favicon.ico" />                           <!-- My Add -->

So, if these were a config parameter, I don't have to edit the base files, and when you need to change the templates, well I don't lose my custom configuration. If you look at my FAQ, in the "Welcome" topics you can see a table I use to store icon links so they look the way I want them too, that comes out of my style sheet.

Normally you don't have to update your CSS during one branch like the 1.4.x updates.

Maybe not, but I did, and stepped on my changes. That is ok, I did a better job this time and it looks closer to the way I want it too ... good enough for now.

The same answer, just install only the patched files from the update packages. The update package is a complete update since 1.4.0.

Yes, but now your product has a nice Upgrade script for doing most of the work, for the rest, your suggesting that I have to manually look at all the files and figure out which ones are updated. I am just saying that customer satisfaction comes from you stopping me from making mistakes because I just don't know ...

I mean, it is YOUR product, but I am telling you the ways that you will make *ME* happier with the tool. You can take the advice or not (though, ahem, in my personal opinion, you would be a fool to ignore it). Many customers will not tell you squat. I tell you what I like and what I don't, and why, to the best of my ability.

I ordered the Guns and Roses CD (I hope), It seemed to know my account, complained abut some things, I hope I answered the questions right. Otherwise I am going to have a CD *I* don't want. I guess I should be stufying german?

[Thorsten]

Hi,

thanks for the CD.

I'll try to add all user requests into phpMyFAQ but it takes some time...

bye
Thorsten

[Paul D. Buck]

Well, you do have the next two versions that have items I want. So, I can wait. The use of PHP in the next one lets me use my current mechanism for my Glossary where I use

Code: Select all

<?php DefinedWord("BOINC Software"); ?>

to do a look up and display of the word using this function:

Code: Select all

function DefinedWord($WordIn,
                      $EchoOrReturn = "echo"
                    ) {
    
    // reference the global value for the path level
    global $gPathLevel;
    
    // find out if we are in the glossary
    $InGlossary = strpos(strtolower(dirname($_SERVER['PHP_SELF'])), "glossary");
    
    // lowcase the word, test for substitutions and make blanks to dashes
    $WordLowered = strtolower($WordIn);
    
    // see if possessive or plural, strip off in either case
    if (substr($WordLowered, -2) == "'s"){
        $WordLowered = substr($WordLowered, 0, -2);
    } elseif (substr($WordLowered, -3) == "ies") {
        // do nothing
    } elseif (substr($WordLowered, -1) == "s") {
        $WordLowered = substr($WordLowered, 0, -1);
    }
    
    // make acronym substitutions
    switch($WordLowered){
        case (strtolower("CPU")):
            $WordLowered = "central-processing-unit";
            break;
        case (strtolower("DIMM")):
            $WordLowered = "dual-inline-memory-module";
            break;
        case (strtolower("ECC")):
            $WordLowered = "error-correcting-code";
            break;
        case (strtolower("FAQ")):
            $WordLowered = "frequently-asked-question";
            break;
        case (strtolower("HTML")):
            $WordLowered = "hyper-text-markup-language";
            break;
        case (strtolower("ISP")):
            $WordLowered = "internet-service-provider";
            break;
        case (strtolower("OS")):
            $WordLowered = "operating-system";
            break;
        case (strtolower("RAID")):
            $WordLowered = "redundant-array-of-independent-disk";
            break;
        case (strtolower("RAM")):
            $WordLowered = "random-access-memory";
            break;
        case (strtolower("RFI")):
            $WordLowered = "radio-frequency-interference";
            break;
        case (strtolower("SCSI")):
            $WordLowered = "small-computer-system-interface";
            break;
        case (strtolower("UPS")):
            $WordLowered = "uninterruptible-power-supply";
            break;
        case (strtolower("URL")):
            $WordLowered = "uniform-resource-locator";
            break;
    }
    
    $WordTranslated = strtr($WordLowered, " ", "-");
    
    // if we are in the glossary, force the pathname
    if ($InGlossary > 0) {
        $MyDir = "./";
    } else {
        $MyDir = $gPathLevel."site-common/glossary/";
    }

    // Now lets put it all together!
    if (strtolower($EchoOrReturn) == "echo"){
        echo "<a href=\"".$MyDir."letter-".substr($WordLowered, 0, 1).".php#".$WordTranslated."\">".$WordIn."</a>";
    } else {
        return "<a href=\"".$MyDir."letter-".substr($WordLowered, 0, 1).".php#".$WordTranslated."\">".$WordIn."</a>";
    }

}    
 

rendering as:

Code: Select all

<a href="../../site-common/glossary/letter-b.php#boinc-software">BOINC Software</a>

So, I will wait, of course, for this to work I am going to suggest that you have the ability to link in, EASILY, the PHP function script that the developer already has. Again, I would suggest a method that would not require the user to have to edit the template files ...

[Thorsten]

Hi

thanks for the piece of code but I think the glossary support will be using the database.

I'll start working on the 1.6 version, code named "Prometheus" after the final release of phpMyFAQ 1.5.0.

bye
Thorsten

[Paul D. Buck]

And well it should. I just did not have a database when I did my work. So, I did a flat file. Now the issue is how to do the images as inserts. I have some other code that works well, using CSS so orient in left, right, center, scaled and unscaled. you can look around my site and see what and how they work, and now they are PHP functions ...

So, Yes, one of the reasons that I did the DefinedWord Function is that now I can use it in all my site with the exception of the FAQ, When v1.5 comes out I can change my hard links for the PHP functions and move on. v 1.6, well, you get the idea ...

[Thorsten]

Hi,

every new feature we're talking about won't be in 1.5.0 because the feature freeze was on december 31th 2004. But everything is noted for 1.6...

bye
Thorsten

[Paul D. Buck]

Thorsten,

Yes, I know. Just to put your mind at ease, though I am mentally ill, and at the moment fully disabled because of it, I used to be a Systems Engineer specializing in the logical design of relational database systems.

And I have been working with computers personally and professionally since 1975. So, I am aware that you have to PLAN ... if I was unhappy with ANYTHING you were doing (or the system is/was) I would be telling you.

For some reason I am not shy ...

So, bug fixes when you can, planned features, and a good product, a developer that listens, ...

What is NOT to like?

We are on the same page ... and only answer this if you want another reply ... I have to have the last word ... [/b]

[Thorsten]

I have to have the last word ...

8)

[Paul D. Buck]