Jan-9th - a XHTML skin and a new setup assistant
Skeleton is the first of our reference skin that validates at the w3c. Of course, many modifications have been required in skin files. But many other scripts have been impacted as well, most frequently because of the different end of tag. The next steps will be more simple, since we only have to convert template files and style sheets of other reference skins.We have listen to your complains and have introduced many enhancements to the installation process. Additional validation checks have been added. The setup assistant has been streamlined and requires half mouse clicks than before. Some weird behavior of MySQL has been fixed. Also, YACS requirements have been reduced (the
.htaccess is not necessary anymore). My secret objective is to have less queries than before on installation issues, and to put the focus on other aspects of YACS.202 files have been updated or changed.
As usual, it is highly recommended to upgrade your server. For further information check How to achieve incremental upgrades of a YACS server?.
YACS now has one XHTML skin that validates correctly against the w3c validator. This simple result has actually required a lot of work, because of the so many tags to close properly (">" in HTML, but "/>" in XHTML). The constant
Some basic tests, related to the PHP version number and to the presence of some extension, have been added to setup.php. All scripts used during the installation now feature buttons instead of bare links to go from one page to the next one.
Also, the skin '
If the user provides invalid information to access the database, YACS will complain while saving new parameters. See control/configure.php
On first installation YACS asks for a first user name and password in control/populate.php. This mechanism is by far more simple than the random password we had previously...
To cope with a nasty bug of MySQL 4.1, auto-incremented fields have no default values anymore. Also, YACS now asked explicitly for MyISAM tables, since this is requested to support full-text indexes (control/setup.php). Thank you to Anatoly for having spotted these bug. With these in hand, less people should be frustrated with some irritating messages during the creation of tables in the database.
YACS is now provided with a "safe"
One of the motivation for the
Also, the populate script (control/populate.php) that creates default pages now adds links to modify the cover page and samples navigation and extra boxes. People new to YACS should have less difficulty to customize their site after the initial setup.
The script that creates and maintains the structure of the database now also OPTIMIZE tables. And, if triggered unattended, the script will explain what it is doing and ask for confirmation before starting something. See control/setup.php.
The skin can now be changed visually, from the index page for skins. Click on a thumnail image and the main configuration panel will save new parameters. See skins/index.php and control/configure.php.
The test page for skins (skins/test.php) has been extended to show more of the styles generated by templates. Give it a try.
The index page for scripts now offers to associates to update the server against a reference which is, by default, www.yetanothercommunitysystem.com. See scripts/index.php.
The main index page for the on-line help (at help.php) has been entirely reviewed. Associates now have a nice list of shortcuts, including commands to change the cover page, to check navigation and extra boxes, to create a section. Some parts have been reshuffled. Links to the code source now points to the configured reference server, if any.
Several scripts are provided to ease the transition from a previous release. One script changes the name of configuration files. The next one takes care of skins updates. The last one updates many non-PHP files. See in
The side panel editor (panel.php) does not ask for login anymore. Form fields are always displayed, and YACS main editor will authenticate the surfer if necessary.
In forum and discussion boards, place the mouse over an article title to get its permanent id in a popup. Many thanks to Anatoly for this small but useful suggestion.
When YACS displays a draft page, it now adds a small link to publish it (in articles/view.php). A handy shortcut, according to some beta users...
On many pages that involve huge back-end processing, or late feed-back, some text has been added to warn end-user and to ask them to be patient...
One of the most common task on a web is to reference some element in the page you are writing. YACS has specific codes to link to internal elements, whether is is an article, a section, a category, one user profile, or a location. With this release you can supplement the title with your own label. For example, instead of writing
cron.php now detects if it's running from the command line or not, and adapt generated messages accordingly. Of course, shared/global.php has been adapted as well.
If a webmaster looses his password he can recover by deleting the switching file (
In a previous release I turn every
Also, mail messages and newsletters are now converted from Unicode entities to UTF-8, and this character set is indicated to the mail agent. See letters/new.php.
The error script (error.php) builds a feed-back page only if the agent accepts text-based MIME types. Else it dies on a very short message. If a browser asks for a broken image, it's useless to send him a smart page explaining the issue. We are always looking for some CPU cycles to save you know...
Many typo errors have been fixed in labels, for example in query.php.
Documentation has been added to search.php.
YACS codes are transformed to HTML in excerpts used for pings. See agents/messages.php and agents/uploads.php.
As usual, it is highly recommended to upgrade your server. For further information check How to achieve incremental upgrades of a YACS server?.
YACS now has one XHTML skin that validates correctly against the w3c validator. This simple result has actually required a lot of work, because of the so many tags to close properly (">" in HTML, but "/>" in XHTML). The constant EOT (End Of Tag) has been defined in skin files, and used in many (yes, many) scripts. Most of reference skins have been updated accordingly. Some basic tests, related to the PHP version number and to the presence of some extension, have been added to setup.php. All scripts used during the installation now feature buttons instead of bare links to go from one page to the next one. Also, the skin 'skeleton' is silently selected on first installation. See control/configure.php. If the user provides invalid information to access the database, YACS will complain while saving new parameters. See control/configure.php On first installation YACS asks for a first user name and password in control/populate.php. This mechanism is by far more simple than the random password we had previously... To cope with a nasty bug of MySQL 4.1, auto-incremented fields have no default values anymore. Also, YACS now asked explicitly for MyISAM tables, since this is requested to support full-text indexes (control/setup.php). Thank you to Anatoly for having spotted these bug. With these in hand, less people should be frustrated with some irritating messages during the creation of tables in the database. YACS is now provided with a "safe" .htaccess file, in which every active line has been commented out. The objective is to avoid as much 500 Internal Error messages as possible on first installations. One of the motivation for the .htaccess was to prevent hackers to download parameters files. To compensate for the commenting out of .htaccess, every configuration file has been turned to a PHP file. For example, shared/parameters.include is now shared/parameters.include.php. If someone attempts to load the file, he will just receive a blank page. A simple idea actually, but it had a huge impact on source files, since configuration files are included from everywhere... Also, the populate script (control/populate.php) that creates default pages now adds links to modify the cover page and samples navigation and extra boxes. People new to YACS should have less difficulty to customize their site after the initial setup. The script that creates and maintains the structure of the database now also OPTIMIZE tables. And, if triggered unattended, the script will explain what it is doing and ask for confirmation before starting something. See control/setup.php. The skin can now be changed visually, from the index page for skins. Click on a thumnail image and the main configuration panel will save new parameters. See skins/index.php and control/configure.php. The test page for skins (skins/test.php) has been extended to show more of the styles generated by templates. Give it a try. The index page for scripts now offers to associates to update the server against a reference which is, by default, www.yetanothercommunitysystem.com. See scripts/index.php. The main index page for the on-line help (at help.php) has been entirely reviewed. Associates now have a nice list of shortcuts, including commands to change the cover page, to check navigation and extra boxes, to create a section. Some parts have been reshuffled. Links to the code source now points to the configured reference server, if any. Several scripts are provided to ease the transition from a previous release. One script changes the name of configuration files. The next one takes care of skins updates. The last one updates many non-PHP files. See in scripts/run_once. The side panel editor (panel.php) does not ask for login anymore. Form fields are always displayed, and YACS main editor will authenticate the surfer if necessary. In forum and discussion boards, place the mouse over an article title to get its permanent id in a popup. Many thanks to Anatoly for this small but useful suggestion. When YACS displays a draft page, it now adds a small link to publish it (in articles/view.php). A handy shortcut, according to some beta users... On many pages that involve huge back-end processing, or late feed-back, some text has been added to warn end-user and to ask them to be patient... One of the most common task on a web is to reference some element in the page you are writing. YACS has specific codes to link to internal elements, whether is is an article, a section, a category, one user profile, or a location. With this release you can supplement the title with your own label. For example, instead of writing [article=403], which is rendered as The 2005 roadmap, you could type [article=403, your contribution is welcome in 2005], which states that your contribution is welcome in 2005. Also, we have added references to server profiles, to any comment, and to some shared file. See codes/codes.php and Skin::build_link() in skins/skin_skeleton.php. Help pages still have to be updated. cron.php now detects if it's running from the command line or not, and adapt generated messages accordingly. Of course, shared/global.php has been adapted as well. If a webmaster looses his password he can recover by deleting the switching file (switch.on) and by triggering the script control/populate.php. He will be able to create an alternate associate user profile, to authenticate, and to change the forgotten password. In a previous release I turn every CRLF to the octal string \015\012. After all, this is what the IETF is asking for in technical specification for mail protocols. But unfortunately, Unix servers started to send weird mail messages. Therefore in this release everyhting has been turned back to simple new lines "\n", and librairies called from PHP are now in charge of being conform with the IETF requirements. See articles/mail.php, letters/new.php and users/mail.php. Also, mail messages and newsletters are now converted from Unicode entities to UTF-8, and this character set is indicated to the mail agent. See letters/new.php. The error script (error.php) builds a feed-back page only if the agent accepts text-based MIME types. Else it dies on a very short message. If a browser asks for a broken image, it's useless to send him a smart page explaining the issue. We are always looking for some CPU cycles to save you know... Many typo errors have been fixed in labels, for example in query.php. Documentation has been added to search.php. YACS codes are transformed to HTML in excerpts used for pings. See agents/messages.php and agents/uploads.php.Rate this page
Posted by Bernard on Jan. 9 2005, (popular)
