Hi, over the past weaks, I was inactive, and started testing out Portals for different sotwares.
Portals Tested:
MKPortal C1.2.1
MKPortal C1.2.2
SimplePortal
EzPortal
Porta MX
I checked each and one of them out, and I was wondering why TinyPortal cant have them...
Requests for Next Version:
1- TinyPortal Menu System: You should add the ability like on MKPortal where you can add a navigation that isnt availvable for guests. I want this feature becuase, I am about to open up a free webhosting script, and only want users to access this...
Example: Menu Permision Settings
2- Pages instead of the Articles:
Since you can do articles systems through the forum instead of using the TinyPortal Article system, I wanted you to get rid of it, or replace it with the following:
--HTML Pages: http://yoururl.com/index.php?action=page.html
--PHP Pages: http://youurl.com/index.php?action=page.php
3- Forum and Catagory Menu:
Feature from PortaMX:
I wanted this long ago... This would have all your catagories listed, then there would be dropdown items where you click down, all your forum boards would show in that catagory, includs sub forums.
You may also click up, to bring them in (Expand;Close)
Those are the major areas that TinyPortal doesnt have... I would enjoy if those would be released in TinyPortal 2, or bring up an update including those, or even make a new version such as TinyPortal v1.1 Beta 1
1. Already possible. You can show a menu block for guests, and show a different menu block for users.
2. I don't understand what the difference is that you are describing. What's the difference between index.php?page=article than index.php?action=page ?
3. That shouldn't be a feature of TinyPortal in my opinion. It should be a feature of a theme.
Different portals may have different ways of doing things, or even being called something different. Nothing you have listed as possible features are beyond what TP or SMF currently does. Some of the portals you have listed, no names mentioned, have blatently taken ideas directly from TP.
Not one thing that would be a major addition or benefit to TP, in my opinion.
So, did you come to any conclusion as to which portal you think is better? Just interested.
Well, if I didnt like TinyPortal, why would I use it???
1- MKPortal is complicated to add modules, install, and upgrade...
2- PortaMx is not updated lately becuase Feline broke her arm, and PortaMx isnt all that great.
3- Simple Portal isnt fully integrated with SMF as TinyPortal, the reason is, a lot of people hear about it then TinyPortal, but the themes of it are not compatable directly, thats why a lot of people have hard time, so they all come back to TinyPortal wants they hear about it on the SMF website (Same way as I did), but the people that downloaded SMF 2, just didnt get the information... Its in beta.
4- EzPortal isnt a great portal, the blocks are so messed up, they dont divide from each other, but it still has great features... (Just wish that vBGamer would just give it up and give it to TinyPortal to add more stuff)
But these portals also have great features...
Overall: TinyPortal= Best Portal
Overall: SMF= Great Forum
Count to think of it, SMF is similar to IPB and vB, but its free... No charge, and easy edit then all that CSS, PHP, xHTML, HTML junk that you have to go through to manage IPB and vBulletin...
Answer for IchBin:
1- I didnt mean the whole menu... I meant each Menu Link... Its a great feature, limited for Guests, and more for Users, that would bring more traffic to your comunitty if you force the guest to register, lmao.
2- The Difference between the article and the page I was talking about is that you can have 2 different things, Article in different link, and the Page in the other, this would help you organize items so that the guest doesnt think that the page is an article etc...
3- OMG, this is a block, not a theme... I know that the theme has this feature, but if you add it to the block, not the forums, THE BLOCK...
Regards:
REDSEW
Quote from: blizz-craft on July 23, 2009, 02:39:22 AM
3- Forum and Catagory Menu:
Feature from PortaMX:
I wanted this long ago... This would have all your catagories listed, then there would be dropdown items where you click down, all your forum boards would show in that catagory, includs sub forums.
You may also click up, to bring them in (Expand;Close)
Quote from: blizz-craft on July 23, 2009, 12:28:00 PM
3- OMG, this is a block, not a theme... I know that the theme has this feature, but if you add it to the block, not the forums, THE BLOCK...
The Recent Topic Nav block. In TinyPortal, this would simply be a block code snippet. Basically, a recent topics dropdown with a little creative javasctipt thrown in to expand and collapse the boards, and perhaps a limit on the time or number of topics to show. There is already one block code snippet here (http://www.tinyportal.net/index.php/topic,17909.0.html) which does something similar but not quite.
There are other blocks of code available as well. Try doing a search for "recent topics" in the Block code Snippets board.
If you want something like that, then put in a request in the Block Code Snippets board and maybe someone will consider doing it for you, if you're nice to them.
ZarPrime
Its great you like TP best lol :) ..about the looks, TP does have the advantage of me starting out with themes first. VBgamer for example, is a much more experienced programmer than myself, and Feline probably tops any mysql coding I can do lol. But I always felt I should stick to what i know(even if others can do better :P ) and above else, make it appealing.
Then again, its people who prefer one over the other for quite different reasons so I tend to start at what i would like to see in a portal + then combined with users feedback, very important.
Well, even though VBGamer is an expierienced programmer, he uses TinyPortal for his main site: SMF Hacks. lol.
Well, but its outdated...
Anyways, TinyPortal is one of the most frequenlty updated, supported, integrated programs for SMF...
Also, can I be a alpha or beta tester for TinyPortal in the future to support it??? I really enjoy it and I have a lot of time, so I thought maybe I should join up with you and learn some Mysql, PHP, HTML, BBC, XHTML, etc and help release it.
Regards:
REDSEW
NOTE: I wont download any themes from Torrent, thats where I got The Risen Guild Wrath of the Lich King theme... A lot of files were missing... They even deleted the index.template that I couldnt modify it...
I should check my sources better, lol.
Update:
Anyways, the Menu Link Permissions is a good way to make the side Menu, I like the side menu idea becuase Im too lazy to modify the theme, and want it to be my only best navigation, The Permission would help you manage such as login, register, Admin, other links to be visible or nonvisible to guests.
--Bump
Waiting for reply from Bloc or any other support team members...
blizz-craft, there is really no need to bump this topic, Bloc checks it when he is here and most Team members look at it daily.
okay, but I was looking for an answer lol.
What question are you awaiting an answer on? Is it this?
Quote from: blizz-craft on July 24, 2009, 11:52:51 AM
Also, can I be a alpha or beta tester for TinyPortal in the future to support it???
If so, the answer wrt beta testers is that every member of TinyPortal is a beta tester if they want to be, including you.
If it is wrt alpha testers, only people who have demonstrated a remarkable knowledge of TP and how it works, and contributed to assisting others to a great extent are ever selected for this honor. Many of them are theme designers or Mod authors, but that is not necessarily a criteria. It is by invitation only from Bloc and generally only after the entire team has agreed that the person would be good for the position. Alpha testers have never been invited just because they want to be one and there is no formal application process. It's been quite awhile since anyone has stood out well enough in the eyes of the Team to be invited to be an alpha tester, but that doesn't mean that we couldn't select someone to do it at any time we choose to. I will end this now, and if Bloc, or Ichbin or G6, or any of the other Team members wants to comment further, they can do so.
If you want to know more, this page on the Docs site may give you additional information, thought the part about beta testers is slightly changed since pretty much everyone is a beta tester now. The page is here ...
http://docs.tinyportal.co.uk/index.php/board,14.0/sort,subject.html
ZarPrime
Quote from: blizz-craft on July 23, 2009, 12:28:00 PM
Answer for IchBin:
1- I didnt mean the whole menu... I meant each Menu Link... Its a great feature, limited for Guests, and more for Users, that would bring more traffic to your comunitty if you force the guest to register, lmao.
I'm guessing you never understood what IchBin said.
There's two ways I can think of doing this.
First one is create two seperate html blocks.
One viewable only to guests.
One viewable only to members.
Both contain the same HTML menu listing, except the guest one has whatever menu items you don't want guests to access, text only with no link.
Other method would be to create a php block, wherby it checks to see if the user is a guest or member, then depending on that, either includes links, or just displays the basic text.
First method would be a bit harder to maintain, but the second would make maintenace a bit easier, at the expense of the extra coding required.
I'll be very interested to see the first beta release of this. Since this is a feature requests thread I'll add one of my own.
A decent panel collapse/expand ability accessible from anywhere on the site would be good. Tiny upshrinks that are stuck in a corner and scroll away are not optimal IMO. ;)
What would like to see in TP? (http://www.tinyportal.net/index.php/topic,29130.0.html)
I would think that collapse/expand accesibility was more of a theme issue, rather than a core TP issue...
Quote from: mc on July 25, 2009, 03:14:01 PM
Quote from: blizz-craft on July 23, 2009, 12:28:00 PM
Answer for IchBin:
1- I didnt mean the whole menu... I meant each Menu Link... Its a great feature, limited for Guests, and more for Users, that would bring more traffic to your comunitty if you force the guest to register, lmao.
I'm guessing you never understood what IchBin said.
There's two ways I can think of doing this.
First one is create two seperate html blocks.
One viewable only to guests.
One viewable only to members.
Both contain the same HTML menu listing, except the guest one has whatever menu items you don't want guests to access, text only with no link.
Other method would be to create a php block, wherby it checks to see if the user is a guest or member, then depending on that, either includes links, or just displays the basic text.
First method would be a bit harder to maintain, but the second would make maintenace a bit easier, at the expense of the extra coding required.
I did understand what IchBin said, and thats not the feature I wanted...
In TP 1.0 beta 3 and 1.0 beta 4, you can make menus and put them in a block...
Now what I wanted was, instead of a block changing, I wanted a "MENU LINK" to change.
By this:
Go to: Admin>TinyPortal>Menus then make a menu catagory with menu links
Then:
Go to: Panels and Blocks> Blocks> Create> Menu> Internal
Then you get it...
But I want:
Admin>TinyPortal>Menus>Creat Link> Permission:
Visible to Guests? Visible to Members? Visible to Moderators? Visible to Administrators?
like that...
Quote from: mc on July 26, 2009, 12:16:25 AM
What would like to see in TP? (http://www.tinyportal.net/index.php/topic,29130.0.html)
I would think that collapse/expand accesibility was more of a theme issue, rather than a core TP issue...
And you'd be wrong. ;) It's core TP functionality.
I am working on a better upshrink routine - and yes, it is indeed a core function sent with the headers.
Blizzcraft, adding permission checks(or at least member/guest check) is something I'll consider, it seem to be a useful feature , instead of having two different menus+blocks.
It could be useful if you were able to select which blocs to display in forum. Now i have right & left blocs shown at my frontpage in an order i like, In the forum, i just want to have blocs displayed on left side, but it needs to take blocs from both left and right side in forum.
Example:
If i have bloc 1, 2, 3, 4 on left side, and 5, 6, 7, 8 on right side, visible at frontpage. Then i want 1,3,5,8 displayed on the left side in forums, that i guess is not possible now.
Greets
Kim
I would think that would be pretty complicated both to program and to configure for everyone, especially when it's something few people would need. Most of all, though, it would be confusing for the users of your site. If they are used to looking for block 5 on the right side, they will expect to see it there all the time. Mixing things up can be quite annoying.
Just my two cents worth. :)
Confusing perhaps, but to get the message out, it would atleast help me out. Anyways, just a suggestion. :)
Quote from: Kim on July 26, 2009, 09:26:32 PM
If i have bloc 1, 2, 3, 4 on left side, and 5, 6, 7, 8 on right side, visible at frontpage. Then i want 1,3,5,8 displayed on the left side in forums, that i guess is not possible now.
Kim,
JP Deni is absolutely correct. Something like this can be confusing for your users. However, if you really want to do it, it can be done.
If I am correct here is what you would like it to be ...
FP Left ...
1,2,3,4
Forum Left ...
1,3,5,8
FP Right ...
5,6,7,8
Forum Right ...
None
To do this, you'd do the following ...
1. Blocks 1L and 3L are to be shown on both the FP and the Forum, so those can stay as they are.
2. Blocks 2L and 4L are to be shown ONLY on the FP in the Left Panel. Set to show on FP only.
3. Blocks 6R and 7R are to be shown ONLY on the FP in the Right Panel. Set to show on FP only.
4. Now it gets slightly complicated.
5. Blocks 5R and 8R in the Right Panel need to be set to show ONLY on the Forum.
6. A second instance of both 5 and 8 need to be made for the Left Panel on the FP. Call them 5L and 8L.
7. The newly created blocks, 5L and 8L need to be set to show only on the FP.
I think I have that right but I can't be sure. It's been a long day. A little complicated but not too difficult to get through.
ZarPrime
Yes, I agreed..its too complex to add panel location along with all the individual page locations. Between membergroup access and page locations it should be enough to make quite complex setups still.
Consider this: even if its a bit cumbersome to make 2 blocks like ZP explains, you got more freedom. For example - if its a recent topics block - set the left instance to 4-5 topics, while the right one could have for example 12-14, if you got more space there.
Moved to Feedback.
Quote from: Bloc on July 26, 2009, 12:01:33 PM
I am working on a better upshrink routine - and yes, it is indeed a core function sent with the headers.
Blizzcraft, adding permission checks(or at least member/guest check) is something I'll consider, it seem to be a useful feature , instead of having two different menus+blocks.
I've been thinking about this since I posted.
Howabout a new type of block, which is based on a .php file, but can have extra functionality compared to a normal php block?
For example, say you have a SuperBlock with the code contained in SB.php (in reality it would be SuperBlock.php, but I don't like typing the same name many times!)
Within SB.php, you have several functions.
SB_title, SB_admin, SB_core.
SB_title would simply return a variable with the necessary details to create the block title (ie. Name, link, hideable...).
SB_core would provide the functionality to generate the block contents, pretty much the same as existing php blocks.
SB_admin, would then link into the block manager within TP, and provide a way of setting permissions for within the block (ie. membergroup permissions, content options)
SB_admin could be optional, so you could essentially have similar funtionality to a php_block, but adding a block would be a simple case of copying the php file to a directory (or via an upload similar to the package manager).
Off course, I've no idea how feasible this could be, and I'm just rambling to try and get some thoughts out my head to make way for some more new ones!
Quote from: Kim on July 26, 2009, 09:26:32 PM
It could be useful if you were able to select which blocs to display in forum. Now i have right & left blocs shown at my frontpage in an order i like, In the forum, i just want to have blocs displayed on left side, but it needs to take blocs from both left and right side in forum.
Example:
If i have bloc 1, 2, 3, 4 on left side, and 5, 6, 7, 8 on right side, visible at frontpage. Then i want 1,3,5,8 displayed on the left side in forums, that i guess is not possible now.
Greets
Kim
Kim... Dont do that... Your completly off the topic... Its about the TinyPortal menu not the TinyPortal block.
So dont post those senseless stuff onto another person's topic, it really ruins it.
Excuse me?!?!?! This topic is called "Feature Requests for TP 2". Kim added a feature request. It was completely on topic.
Please leave the moderating of the forum to the staff.
Oh... LoL, my bad... I accidentally posted it there after forgeting what name of the topic I have added.
My Bad... LoL...
Well, you can do that by making duplicate blocks for example:
Left Blocks: 1,2,3,4,5,8
Right Blocks: 5,6,7,8
Quote from: mc on July 27, 2009, 05:27:58 PM
Quote from: Bloc on July 26, 2009, 12:01:33 PM
I am working on a better upshrink routine - and yes, it is indeed a core function sent with the headers.
Blizzcraft, adding permission checks(or at least member/guest check) is something I'll consider, it seem to be a useful feature , instead of having two different menus+blocks.
I've been thinking about this since I posted.
Howabout a new type of block, which is based on a .php file, but can have extra functionality compared to a normal php block?
For example, say you have a SuperBlock with the code contained in SB.php (in reality it would be SuperBlock.php, but I don't like typing the same name many times!)
Within SB.php, you have several functions.
SB_title, SB_admin, SB_core.
SB_title would simply return a variable with the necessary details to create the block title (ie. Name, link, hideable...).
SB_core would provide the functionality to generate the block contents, pretty much the same as existing php blocks.
SB_admin, would then link into the block manager within TP, and provide a way of setting permissions for within the block (ie. membergroup permissions, content options)
SB_admin could be optional, so you could essentially have similar funtionality to a php_block, but adding a block would be a simple case of copying the php file to a directory (or via an upload similar to the package manager).
Off course, I've no idea how feasible this could be, and I'm just rambling to try and get some thoughts out my head to make way for some more new ones!
I think I see what you mean..but for what use? Fetching blocks into scripts outside of SMF?
A main example I can think of, would be the menu one above.
At it stands, at the moment, you'd need to custom write a HTML/BBC block with all the links you need, then create duplicate blocks for each membergroup(s) that you want to display specific things for.
Or, you'd have to write a php block that checks for membergroups, then alters content accordingly.
Although both those methods would work, implementing and maintaining them would not be very straightforward, especially as the number of menu items increased.
Now imagine if you could write a script, that would then create an extra menu within the admin panel (I'll admit I missed adding this bit to my previous post), that you could then use for customising the block, where you could create/modify/delete menu items, and also select if/how they're shown to the available membergroups.
I know this could be done currently, but it would involve modding the core code to create the extra menu, and would need installed via the package manager.
Off course, the content needn't be confined to menus, it could be pretty much anything where you may want content to vary depending on who's viewing it, or where you'd like more advanced content within the block, which is not acheivable with the existing block system, or a way of making the content easier to edit.
Another example could be a gallery image block, where you could choose to display the latest image from a certain gallery depending upon the users membergroup.
Benefits I can think of are-
- Easier to install blocks (simply copy a php file to the selected directory)
- Easier development for advanced features (no need to alter code or write a package installer script to create an extra menu within admin)
- Easier maintenance for more complex blocks
As for being able to use blocks outwith SMF, I don't see why you would want to, but I'm, sure somebody would find a need for it.
However, I'll admit, I've not really got a need for this at the moment. It was just one of those ideas that seemed to keep bouncing around my head with little bits getting added.
Plus it may crossover into the module capabilty that you're adding..
I see.
I think this will be too much for blocks only, because it involves adding custom content types. The block cannot know what you need to create, so some sort of pre-arranged setup which it can follow must be there.
It does stray into modules area, because I have plans for a custom content module, where you define pages and data types yourself, and where blocks can show these types and layouts you define, with whatever access you define.It will be able to provide a sorting system, and searching within it. It can for example make you construct a review section, where you define the fields, the input form, the layout and the categorisation. its still in planning stage, but I think it will be quite useful.
So def. a interesting idea this one, but not possible within the block system only atm.
I would like to see a dynamic menu system for the themes in tp2. An section in the admin panel where you can add buttons and choose either a conventional button strip or dropdown menu. That would be fairly simple to execute and be a fantastic feature for Tiny Portal!
Gerry
Quote from: pheasant_plucker on July 29, 2009, 09:21:41 AM
I would like to see a dynamic menu system for the themes in tp2. An section in the admin panel where you can add buttons and choose either a conventional button strip or dropdown menu. That would be fairly simple to execute and be a fantastic feature for Tiny Portal!
Gerry
These are theme features... and as most themes, if not all have their own index.template.php file.. it's unlikely that TP itself would have any direct influence on custom theme templates. If at all, it would be more a feature of SMF.
i've two more idea but this topic is long to read for me :) i don't remember if these posted before. if they posted before, sorry
maybe optional ajax mode can be possible. if the ajax mode is on, blocks, article categories and frontpage were always updated.perhaps this mode include some smf functions too such as pm.
and community summary block can be good for community sites. in this block, recent user's changes can be displayed. like this
- bbturk add a new article
- bbturk add a new file
- bbturk vote brn's article
- bbturk change his avatar
- bbturk post to forum a topic
- bbturk reply brn's topic
- etc...
To me that seems a little bit over the top :-X
The idea both SFM and TP aim for is less stress to the DB with a lot less db queries, these ideas makes it the opposite IMHO ???
In a way yes..at least if you simply check each of these things on each page-load. ;) But, as TP beta5 is already doing, if you cache the links and actions when they are actually been created/done, then all you need is to read that cached list back in one single db call.
The biggest problem is actually SMF. For TP to record the many things happening within SMF, we have to mod many source files. So right now it only does this for TP functions.