Description: I originally had this bright idea to write up a detailed guide to putting php in your TPLs, but my schoolwork is keeping me from doing anything decent.

Please note that I have not had the chance to try this out, but according to the Template Power web site it is possible. The keyword throughout this entire post is “should” — meaning theoretically, it should work.

At any rate, there are two ways you can do this easily. The way you do it depends on how ambitious you’re feeling. This should work in 3.0 and 2.0 but again — don’t quote me on that.

As usual, please be sure to make backups in case I’m wrong. ^^;;

Requirements: eFiction 2.0 or greater, Template Power 3.01 (should already be included)

Difficulty: Easy

Modification History:
May 31, 2006: Released untested instructions for eFiction 2.0
March 21, 2006: Determined that these instructions should also apply to eFiction 3.0

Instructions:

Description: This mod is merely an attempt to discourage spammers from hitting your reviews through logging of IP addresses, adding rel=”nofollow” attributes to links, and a few other, little things.

Please note that this is NOT going to stop everyone and I can’t guarantee this will stop them if they’re currently hitting you. I’m not even sure when the spammers got tired of trying to hit my reviews and moved on.

The general idea behind this mod is that we’re trying to make it difficult enough on them that they decide to move on to easier sites.

As usual, I can’t take total credit for this mod. Tammy, Carissa, and Seiji helped me a lot as these mods were taking shape.

Also, a note about IP addresses. IP addresses change, especially with dial-up users. They can also be spoofed or the spammer could have a relay set up so they post from an impossible variety of IP addresses. They simply aren’t a good way to control anyone. On my site, we mainly use them for statistical purposes and passive behavior control. However, that being said, one of my worst spammers seemed to be posting from just one ISP out of China. I banned the whole ISP for about six weeks and the spam from that person stopped.

I should also explain what rel=”nofollow” does. rel=”nofollow” is an attribute you can add to hyperlinks that tells search engines (especially Google — [1] [2]) not to figure the link in when their determine page ranks. Since the spammers are attempting to increase their page rank, this means they aren’t benefiting by spamming your reviews. Again, it doesn’t stop them… it just makes your reviews less appealing.

If you wish, you can skip adding the rel=”nofollow” tags to the links pointing to your reviews. Just make sure you leave the link replace function alone so it can add the nofollow tag to any links anyone attempts to leave.

For this mod, I used files from the latest release. (2.0.7, 28 Aug 2006 patch) The line numbers are all approximate and will likely change as you progress through this mod. Please consider them simply a guide to put you into the general area.

Requirements: eFiction 2.0.7 — Please make sure you are completely up-to-date

Difficulty: Intermediate - Advanced

Mod History:
12-November-2006 — Released mod to public
13-November-2006 @ 12:28am — Fixed a mistake. For line 97 of reviews.php I wrote chapter.title as title instead of series.title as title.
14-November-2006 @ 6:44pm — Added explanation of what rel=”nofollow” does
01-December-2006 — Solved edit review bug

Demo: http://www.lunaescence.com/fics/search.php?action=tens&list=reviewedstories

Files Involved:

• viewstory.php
• series.php
• reviews.php
• func.reviewform.php
• storyblock.php
• seriesblock.php
• languages/en.php

Instructions:

Just thought I'd share some assorted things I've been learning in my DHTML/XML class. These more or less come from my class notes and textbook. Hopefully this makes sense, I'm tired and not feeling especially great.

Most modern browsers handle style sheets, but did you know they read your styles in a very specific way?

Here's the order that CSS styles are handled:

1.) Anything with the !important tag next to it is given top priority.

Example:

By doing this, you can also override any stylesheets the visitor is using with their browser. Just be sure to use this wisely and to not abuse it. (Also be sure to put it BEFORE the semi-colon or it may not work right.)

2.) Does the style sheet belong to the Visitor or Author?
Most browser's today allow will favor their user's settings. That means that if they're using their own style sheet, it'll get higher priority than your's.

3.) The more specific the rule is, the more important it is.

There's an actual scoring system used to determine this:

• #IDs are the most specific. (100 points)
• .classes are medium (10 points)
• HTML tags are the least specific. (1 point)

These can also add up.

For example:

• DIV = 1 point
• .login DIV = 10 + 1 = 11 points
• #header DIV = 100 + 1 = 101 points
• #header .login DIV = 100 + 10 + 1 = 110 points

That would mean that the last one would get highest priority because it's the most specific.

4.) Last rule in the style sheet

The further down the page a set of css definitions are, the more important they are. In other words, the last thing in your style.css file is actually ranked higher than things at the top.

5.) Existing or inherited attributes are the last things considered.

Existing attributes: the the bold tag normally makes something bold, italic tag makes things italic. These sort of tags already apply a style to any text you use them on.

Inherited attributes: For example, if you embed one tag inside another, the inside tag inherits the style from the outer tag.

Description: This is a guide to creating your own modifications to the user page. This includes discussions of PHP, MySQL, and other things you will need to know in order to modify your user page.

Requirements: eFiction 2.0

This guide is also written as though you currently have user.php, viewuser.php, and your database open as you're reading.

Mod History:
29 June 2006 -- Created this guide and submitted to developers for review
09 July 2006 -- Guide Released
14 July 2006 -- Edited for clarity

Download HTML version

Modification & Support: eFiction.org

Table of Contents

• Page 1: Introduction & Requirements
• Page 2: Understanding your Database Structure
• Page 3: Planning your Database Addition
• Page 4: Inserting your new field
• Page 5: Introduction to user.php
• Page 6: Understanding SQL statements
• Page 7: The Edit Bio Form

INTRODUCTION

So you want to create a custom user page? Great! Customizations to the user page are probably one of the areas that receive the most modification requests for eFiction 2.0. While this page may look confusing, it's actually pretty straight forward once you get the hang of it.

As with any mod, making frequent backups is essential. If you want to be really safe, I suggest making multiple copies of your modifications as you progress through each step, for an easy return to that step should something go wrong.

Another thing to note is that eFiction 3.0 will allow you to add your own custom fields to the user profile. I'll update this guide or release a new one once it is released to explain how to customize your install and how to do further modifications.