Re: [Simplog-devel] modular approach to customizing appearance and behavior

[Jim Hu <ji...@ta...>]

Jason,

I'm a little confused...I'm viewing what I posted as propose first, get=20=

feedback...with code to try since I want to make sure that it works (or=20=

at least works almost - I found a minor problem with previewing with my=20=

altered config).  I've been trying all of my tweaks first before=20
posting, just to make sure that they don't crash and burn horribly.   =20=

This was a pretty trivial change to implement, so I thought I might as=20=

well try it.  Are you suggesting I should propose the concept without=20
coding it first (even on my own site?! - note that I didn't post this=20
to the bbs, just to the dev listserve for exactly the reason that you=20
allude to) so that others can suggest better ways to do it?  I can do=20
that in future if that's better.  I had thought that it would be better=20=

to have a working example.  I'm very new to this developer list=20
culture, so I apologize if this isn't the way it's done.

On Aug 29, 2004, at 9:51 AM, Jason L. Buberel wrote:

> Jim,
>
>  Now this would have been a good case for 'propose your changes first,=20=

> get feedback, and make the changes afterwards'. Although your approach=20=

> does work, I'm not convinced it's the right approach.

To be honest, I think my approach is a kludge, and the right way would=20=

probably add some fields to the blog_list table in the database for the=20=

page_template (I'd probably store the path/filename instead of the html=20=

itself, as is done for the entry templates) and to indicate whether a=20
login should be required to view the blog.  However, I've been trying=20
to avoid making changes to the database schema.  I'm also enough of a=20
newbie to try to make changes in a way where I can go back easily if=20
something goes wrong!

>
>  simplog's current mechanism for this kind of thing, as seen in the=20
> first few lines below, is to check for a file (config.php), then=20
> create it from a master or template if it does not exist (via=20
> install.php process).=A0

Note that I am NOT doing this to customize the appearance of the blog=20
entries - I understand how Simplog does that now, and although the=20
template admin script doesn't work on my setup (I've been editing them=20=

directly in mySQL), the entry templating is unchanged by my proposal. =20=

I'm changing the ability to customize the web page wrapper that lays=20
out the header/menu/entries/edit/admin/blocks/other.  As far as I can=20
tell, the release of Simplog doesn't currently include that, and the=20
standard approach is to make a wrapper that calls blog.php or the rss=20
feed to place the content inside a custom layout.  I don't see where=20
config.php comes into it.. I may be missing something...but it seems=20
like this is what we tell people on the bbs all the time.

The problem with this is - and I was led to think about this by=20
visiting your blog (which is much prettier than anything I've done with=20=

Simplog so far) - that you can have your main entry views laid out as=20
you want, but when you search, pick categories, go to archives, or=20
whatever, Simplog runs archive.php, takes its default header, and now=20
your page doesn't look like your other pages...for example, when I go=20
to http://www.buberel.org/myphpblog/jason.php, you have that nice blue=20=

margin, black on white header, tasteful grey background etc.  But when=20=

I click on "Cooking", I get no blue margin, dark grey text on light=20
grey head banner and so on.  When I click "back to jason's blog at=20
buberel.com" instead of using the back button on my browser, I'm still=20=

in the grey blog version.

Looking at your blog makes me hungry, btw!  If you ever make it down=20
here to central TX, look me up and I'll take you out for BBQ or=20
Mexican.


>  Although separating index.php and header.php is probably a good=20
> thing, what if the 'new blog' creation process was reformulated to do=20=

> the same thing?
>
>  1. Click 'Blog Admin'
>  2. Click 'Add Blog'
>  3. On the 'new blog' form, there would be a checkbox for 'Use custom=20=

> templates'
>  4. When the user clicks 'Save', we check the value of the checkbox
>  5. If selected, we create copies of the blog layout and formatting=20
> template files, using the blog_id as part of the file name, then show=20=

> a message to the user with the names of the files they can now=20
> customize.
>
>  How about that approach?

That might be a nice way to do it - and would be compatible with the=20
approach I proposed, unless I misunderstand you.  However, I think a=20
simpler alternative would be to leave off the checkbox and just create=20=

the copies of the files - and tell the users in the help=20
file/documentation/bbs how to customize.  The copies are small, so the=20=

extra storage is pretty trivial, and if the user doesn't want to=20
customize, it would be transparent that the different blogs are running=20=

off different but identical template copies (I have a feeling I could=20
have said that more clearly but I hope you see what I mean...).

Jim


>
>  -jason
>
<snip>=