Various noob questions...

[123]

Hello all!

Note: my understanding of coding is very limited.

1. Thank you so much for this CMS! Nice


2. I already messed something up
I am getting these 2 errors
../data/other/components.xml XML Invalid - Error!
../backups/other/components.xml.bak XML Invalid - Error!

I think I disabled the sidebar component and the tagline component. I was trying to remove the content in the sidebar to later replace it, but now I have no idea how to add new content in it, and I am guessing the errors above are related. How do I fix this?


3. Security question:
Wouldn't it be proper security practice to rename the admin folder?
Also, how come the robots.txt file excludes the admin folder? That is a perfect way to tell a hacker where that folder is... right? If I rename the admin folder (if that is possible), is there a better way to ensure that the search engines do not index it (than robots.txt)?


4. What is the get-simplest way to create multiple language sites along with the English one? I was planning to translate in Mandarin first (not me, someone would translate it for me), would Chinese characters be supported?


5. I am guessing I should create my own override template if I make changes to the template? Otherwise during a backup the template will be overwritten? Or how does that work with this CMS?


6. Is there a simple tutorial on how to change the template, like changing colors, putting a banner at the top, etc? (I am guessing I should use the CSS for all that, right?)


7. I must be doing something wrong with the html editor. Everytime I want to put a line break it starts a new paragraph, so I have to edit the code and include a break manually. Is there something I am missing?

I am sure I'll have more questions later

Thanks!

[ccagle8]

Good luck with your issues. Here is what i can help you with now:

1. Thanks!

2. I'm not sure what happened, but if you use your FTP program and delete the components.xml file, then go back in and try to create a new component, what happens?

3. With WordPress the admin folder is always /wp-admin/ and they don't seem to have a problem. If the admin site is secure, then a would-be-hacker wouldn't be able to get anywhere anyway.

4. I'm not sure how you would do this. I'm not sure anyone has ever tried yet

5. If you make changes to the default theme, then leave the folder name the same - yes it has a very good chance at getting overwritten during an upgrade. The best bet would be to just rename the folder to something unique.

6. We have a theme codex that would help you get started with the GetSimple php code, but for the rest you just need to know/learn basic CSS and HTML

7. <enter> will start a new paragraph. I think there is a certain keyboard-combo that will cause a <br /> instead of a </p><p>

[123]

Thank you for the quick reply!!


2. After removing those 2 files the error messages went away.

But how do I re-add the sidebar component?


3. Well, I have been using an e-commerce CMS and they stress this issue a lot. I guess since this is not an e-commerce site, hacking should not be too much of a big deal anyway.

>>If the admin site is secure

I am not sure I understand this. You mean, if the hosting company secures their server?


4. How about I create a 2nd installation under example.com/cn, and then cross-link the two sites to each other? Would that work?

5. All righty. I created an override folder and will start making theme changes in there.

6. At this point I don't understand the codex stuff. I guess I will first resolve the simple challenges and ask about the codex later.

7. What should I google for to find keyboard combos?

Thanks!


PS: Also what exactly is a slug???

I found this:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Glossary#Slug

Must be related with the permalink feature at the bottom of the page, which I removed because I had no idea what was it for? I thought permalinks were for blogs or something.

Anybody can enlighten me on this?

[oToom]

Thank you for the quick reply!!


2. After removing those 2 files the error messages went away.

But how do I re-add the sidebar component?

-- Not sure what your asking, but to get a component into a template you do, <?php get_component('sidebar'); ?> or maybe what your asking, just download another copy and re add those files.


3. Well, I have been using an e-commerce CMS and they stress this issue a lot. I guess since this is not an e-commerce site, hacking should not be too much of a big deal anyway.

>>If the admin site is secure

I am not sure I understand this. You mean, if the hosting company secures their server?

-- What other CMS where you using? And no, what he meannt was, as there is a log in page, and as long as you password cannot be easily guessed, a hacker still will not be able to access your page.


4. How about I create a 2nd installation under example.com/cn, and then cross-link the two sites to each other? Would that work?

-- With this, if it were me, i would personally get a host, and create subdomains off of that host. Say example.com then the subdomains would be for each language. fr.example.com, sp.example.com. Then from the original (example.com) website link to the others. say at the bottom you have Translations: French - Spanish - and so on. Link to the subdomains. French, fr.example.com, spanish, sp.example.com, ch.example.com for chinese or something. Hope you understand.

5. All righty. I created an override folder and will start making theme changes in there.

-- Yeah just make a copy of the original template somewhere. change the name so it doesn't get overwritten then copy the original back in.

6. At this point I don't understand the codex stuff. I guess I will first resolve the simple challenges and ask about the codex later.

-- Wow dude, don't think it's that hard. It is really actually very easy. Go over to my site, http://graphixant.com and check out my downloads. Download one of the themes and open up template.php in notepad or dreamweaver if you got it. No, if you know html, which you should because its sooo easy . Now, look at the title, it's really simple stuff and so little work and code. <title> tags you can put something like, <?php get_site_name(); ?> | <?php get_component('tagline'); ?> this will get the site name, (this is from what you set it to from installation, this is a function that picks the name from your site for you. Then gets the component tagline, (your slogan or w.e you put there).

7. What should I google for to find keyboard combos?

-- The thing i do to erase this, is, press enter, then togglee editor and get rid of the <p> and ending </p> tags. These are paragraph tags, removing them will remove the paragraph. Now above that line add, <br /> this is a line break. Not sure is SHIFT+ENTER will work. Try it

Thanks!


PS: Also what exactly is a slug???

Code:

get_page_slug()
<?php get_page_slug(); ?>
Echos the page's slug. No options. Example would be the word 'download' in the URL http://get-simple.info/download.

Anybody can enlighten me on this?

EDIT: Yes, to number 7. If you press SHIFT+ENTER instead of just enter, it does NOT add the paragraph and goes straight underneath. Enjoy!

[Zegnåt]

Let’s go into those oToom did not fully answer.

But how do I re-add the sidebar component?

Go to the theme tab in your admin panel, there you will find the option “Edit Components”. Here you can add all the components your theme might use.

How about I create a 2nd installation under example.com/cn, and then cross-link the two sites to each other? Would that work?

The cross-linking cannot be automated as far as I know, so this will come with a lot of work on the editors part. Other than that, you can have as many GetSimple installations on one host as you want.

Also what exactly is a slug?

A slug is a shorter variant of the page title, to be used in the URL. Sometimes your page title would be long and you might not want to link to such a long name.

Like, I have a page called “I should study medicine.” I feel that it would be too long for a link so my slug is simply “study-medicine”. This makes the link http://zegnat.net/study-medicine instead of /i-should-study-medicine.

I hope this explains it.

[oToom]

Yeah, or you could just have medicine. This is done by toggling page options in the editor and adding them.

For the cross linking i would do like i said, get a normal domain example.com for the english. Then subdomains for each other installation of GetSimple. That way allow people of that nature, (chinese, french, or whatever translation they will be doing). To have the user and pass for that to edit the pages. Keep the password different from the english one, on example.com if you want to stop them from accessing that.

I hope you understand what i mean.
Ant

[123]

You all are fantastic!

Let me digest all this when my brain wakes up and I will report with my results


Thank you!!

Looks like Twenty Ten is already off to a good start

[internet54]

admin/ is just as secure as asd8ndODnw3dks/ as the folder name. It doesn't matter what the folder name is. If someone can gain access to the site, then they will. However, a daily backup is a nice thing to do.

Honestly, I'm excited that I don't get any spam comments emailed to me for "approval" every hour like on my WP installations.

[oToom]

Yeah, internet54 i also noticed that. Every wordpress site i made in the past. I would get so many fake crappy comments being asked for approval. All got denied as it was all spam.

Must be bots out there scanning through google, once it finds one then bam, it gets attacked. Lool.

[123]

2. Check. This works now. Thank you for your suggestions.

For other noobs like me here is the step-by-step:
In the “Theme” tab click on “Edit Components” -> click “Add Component” -> in the top smaller field enter the entire code specific to the component [eg: <?php get_component('sidebar'); ?> ] -> in the bottom large field enter the content related to the component.


3. Ok. I understand that you all feel that it is unnecessary to change the name of the admin folder and that it is not a problem to have the admin hidden in robots.txt.

Are there any other security practices that I need to be aware of?


Note: my initial question was related to this info:
http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/I...min_folder

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44622


4. I created a cn.example.com subdomain for the Chinese version of the site (instead of a subfolder). To go back and forth between translations I simply added a cross link in both versions (English/Chinese).

The cross-linking cannot be automated as far as I know, so this will come with a lot of work on the editors part.

By "automated" do you mean that the site will automatically switch to the specific page it is on? Because right now if I click on Chinese it will go only to the Home page, no matter which page I click from. Not an elegant solution, but it works.

5.Check. The override theme folder works fine.

6.Codex: ok, let's see if I understand this. I can use all of these code snippets:
http://get-simple.info/docs/theme-codex

...to modify the Theme. Right?

To use them I have to include them within the Theme's php file (from the admin). For some of them I also have to include them as a component. Right?

The problem is that I don't understand what most of those snippets are for.

7. Check. Thanks for the SHIFT+ENTER shortcut!

8. Check. I now understand what a slug is.


Thank you all for your responses!

[ccagle8]

#6 - Yes, any of these code snippets can be used in your theme file. Most can also be used inside components because components allow PHP to be used in them.

Hope everything works out for you.... good luck!

[internet54]

#3 You can do a double password procedure. Just use a htpasswd option. Do a Google search, it's easy.

#4 You could use cookies or sessions to create a language variable that changes the url appropriately.

[Zegnåt]

The cross-linking cannot be automated as far as I know, so this will come with a lot of work on the editors part.

By "automated" do you mean that the site will automatically switch to the specific page it is on? Because right now if I click on Chinese it will go only to the Home page, no matter which page I click from. Not an elegant solution, but it works.

Yes, that’s what I meant.

You could use cookies or sessions to create a language variable that changes the url appropriately.

True, but it won’t work automatically.

The problem, as I see it, that you will need to hardcode what page is what page in different languages. Unless you’re going to use the same slugs on every page? But that would be very silly, because the URL will be using a language I don’t understand. Everyone will tell you that text in links (or URLs if you wish) is getting very important.

[internet54]

^ You can use a cookie or session to create the language variable.
Then this variable is stored as EN or CN.
Name all the pages as EN-contact, EN-about, CN-contact, CN-about, etc...
Then in the menu use the isset() to find out if the language is cookied or sessioned.
If it is then display the correct menu containing the EN's or CN's.

Seems fairly easy, but not as easy as 2 installs in the directory of en/ and cn/

[123]

^ You can use a cookie or session to create the language variable.
Then this variable is stored as EN or CN.
Name all the pages as EN-contact, EN-about, CN-contact, CN-about, etc...
Then in the menu use the isset() to find out if the language is cookied or sessioned.
If it is then display the correct menu containing the EN's or CN's.

Seems fairly easy, but not as easy as 2 installs in the directory of en/ and cn/

LOL! I can't even get my logo banner to show up!!

Unless you wish to volunteer the cookie code + step by step directions for us all to use, I guess I have to stick with the un-elegant version.

Thanks!!


PS: You all are amazing! What a great forum and CMS!

[internet54]

^ Then I would suggest just installing 2 Get-Simples in two different directories.

domain.com (your main directory that will have a php redirect sending visitors automatically to the English version)

domain.com/en/ (English version)

domain.com/cn/ (Chinese version, just copy the theme folder from the English version and your half way done)

[123]

Are there any advantages/disadvantages in using sub-directories vs sub-domains?

www.example.com/cn vs www.cn.example.com

Thanks!

[123]

#3 You can do a double password procedure. Just use a htpasswd option. Do a Google search, it's easy.

I see. Password protect the admin directory with htaccess right?

So... other than this double password procedure, are there any other security recommendations that I should be aware of?

Thanks!


PS: for example, is there a way to add captcha to the contact form?

[ccagle8]

A rudimentary version of a CAPTCHA is already part of the integrated contact form. As of right now, I have never gotten spammed via my contact form on get-simple.info

[123]

A rudimentary version of a CAPTCHA is already part of the integrated contact form. As of right now, I have never gotten spammed via my contact form on get-simple.info

You must be referring to this cryptic note here:

There is input field called "pot". This is hopefully a working CAPTCHA. The set_contact_page() function spits out "display:none" css style to make it hidden. I found that making the input field hidden instead didn't deter the spammers as much.

http://get-simple.info/docs/howto-contact-form

Honestly, I don't understand what that means.

If I click on Send Message on my contact form, it will send it even if the form is completely empty. I can send myself any number of empty messages one after another without the form stopping me.

Am I supposed to somehow activate this "pot" input field?

For the contact page I am using the special contact template page...

Thanks!

[ccagle8]

The "pot" will stop spammers, but it's not going to validate that a form is completed to your liking. This is probably something we need to add to the core for 2.x - required field checking - but it is not in there yet.

You are not a spammer - therefore you should not get caught by the"pot" - and you weren't.

[123]

Are there any advantages/disadvantages in using sub-directories vs sub-domains?

www.example.com/cn vs www.cn.example.com

Thanks!

As far as this question, I'll answer myself with this link:
http://www.bestrank.com/blog/putting-end...ies-debate

[123]

The "pot" will stop spammers, but it's not going to validate that a form is completed to your liking. This is probably something we need to add to the core for 2.x - required field checking - but it is not in there yet.

You are not a spammer - therefore you should not get caught by the"pot" - and you aren't.

Oh. Ok. So I guess I don't have to enable anything uh?

So the worst case scenario would be a non-spammer/actual visitor that will waste time sending multiple messages, which is highly unlikely anyway...

I guess I don't see myself getting bored to the point of spamming myself...

Thank you for everything!!!

My initial questions were all answered!

[123]

Are there any advantages/disadvantages in using sub-directories vs sub-domains?

www.example.com/cn vs www.cn.example.com

Thanks!

As far as this question, I'll answer myself with this link:
http://www.bestrank.com/blog/putting-end...ies-debate

And this comment by the same author is very helpful for this specific subject (site translations):
http://www.bestrank.com/blog/putting-end...omment-312

I decided I will keep it as a sub domain to geo target the translation later on.

I hope this will help others in making a similar decision.

[ccagle8]

My initial questions were all answered!

Great! Good luck on your project!