Description: Places a mandatory limit on how long a summary can be. If the summary exceeds the limit, the user is kicked back to the preview screen with the notice that they have to shorten their summary.

Summary length is controlled in your admin settings, under “Submissions.” If a limit is in place, a small notice appears above your summary field on story submissions notifying your users of the limit. If you turn it off, nothing appears.

To turn it on, simply type in a length. (I suggest at least 750 - 1000 characters.) To turn it off, set it to 0.

This was originally a 2.0 mod, but frankly — it’s a much easier, neater, and more sophisticated mod on 3.0.

As usual, my line numbers are only there as a reference to put you in the general ballpark. They will likely change as you progress through the mod.

This always bears repeating: Please be sure to backup your files and database before you begin this or any other mod.

Requirements: eFiction 3.2.1

Difficulty: Easy - Intermediate (Depends on how well you follow my instructions.)

Files Involved:

• admin/settings.php
• includes/storyform.php
• stories.php
• languages/en.php
• languages/en_admin.php
• 1 Database Modification

Modification History:
- 22 March, 2007 — Mod Released

Modification & Support: eFiction.org

Instructions:

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:

I guess this layout is as complete as it’s going to get. I need to move on to the rest of my project.

I don’t think I can take another 3am bedtime tonight, so I’m going to call it quits. There are still some things that need to be finished, like the blog comments, but I’ve been chasing CSS bugs for most of the day.

I also added screenshots of my eFiction skins and moved a few of my eFiction mods to their posts here. Next thing I have to do is figure out how I’m going to display my portfolio and other items in that section. I wonder if links to DeviantArt would be appropriate? I tried nearly every gallery plugin and they were so buggy, I didn’t want to mess with them anymore.

Next up, I need to format my resume so it will work in an online format. And finally, I think I should be done.

Yeah, I know this whole rush is partially my fault. I slacked off over at Gaia Online’s Official Naruto thread for most of this class, instead of working ahead so this wouldn’t happen to me.

Oh well, I guess. Someday, I’ll learn.

Skin Name: Zenlike

Version: eFiction 3.0

Developer: Sally Anderson (Lazuli)

License: Free to use, so long as the credit in the footer remains intact.

Feel free to edit, modify, or alter this skin in any way. Doing so will not offend, upset, or bother me in any way. All I ask is that you please keep the footer crediting the photographer and brush artist intact unless you completely remove that part of the header graphic.

Description: Zenlike is a slightly oriental themed skin colored white and pale green. This is a very lightweight skin that uses NO custom header graphics. Everything is based on CSS text, font, and background effects.

Note: Since 3.0 isn’t out yet, this skin may not be entirely up-to-date. I will try to have it updated as soon as possible, but with my college schedule, I can’t make any guarantees.

Demo: Demo @ eFiction.org

Download: zenlike.zip (Updated: 3 March 2007)

Excuse me while I “squee!” in geekish glee/delight.

One problem in eFiction is that the display order for the categories occasionally gets messed up. I gave up trying to fix them by hand a long time ago and just had Jasson give me a cheap and dirty work-around.

Well, tonight I came up with a solution all on my own. Sorry, this gets pretty geeky from here on out.

I made a query to the database, asking for all the subcategories in alphabetical order. I then created a while loop that took those 337 results and wrote SQL update statements for me. I offset the count by 9, since I don’t want to reorder the main categories since they’re okay right as they are.

And boom! 337, neat little MySQL update statements that reordered the categories for me. ^_^

There are times where I look at all the designs other people are doing and feel decidely inferior. This just suddenly made me realize just how far I’ve come and how much I’ve learned.

And it feels very good. ♥

Description: Displays the last date your users visited your eFiction site.

As always my line numbers are approximate and meant to put you in the general ballpark. They will likely change as you progress through the mod.

Requirements: eFiction 3.2 or later

Difficulty: Easy

Mod History:
- 27 February, 2007, Marohi added mod to Test site, bug checking begins
- 1 March, 2007, Posted to eFiction forums
- 2 March, 2007, Fixed cookie issue, added language to en.php, changed mysql_query to dbquery

Files Involved:

• user/login.php
• user/profile.php
• includes/get_session_vars.php
• languages/en.php
• skins/YOUR SKIN/profile.tpl
• database modification

Modification & Support Link: eFiction.org

Instructions: