General questions on RN 2.20.00

webservant · Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:13 am

I've just downloaded the new version, and beginning my compare so that I don't lose my modifications. I have a few questions (based on very early information about the release) that effects my efforts. For instance, if the code is the original Downloads, then it's useless for me to compare my directory structures as I use NSN Downloads and the code different.

1) Did you integrate NSN Downloads or is it the original Downloads modules? If so, what release?

2) Did you integrate NSN News or is it the original News modules? If so, what release?

3) Did you integrate Nuke Treasury? If so, what release?

4) Which themes have been updated, and of them which are compliant?

Thanks for another relase! Based on past experience, I'm sure it will be AWESOME!

Wave

kguske · Site Admin Joined: Jun 04, 2004 Posts: 4853

1 and 2: Original modules, but significantly improved, tested, compliant, etc.
3. No.
4. Not sure about this.

fkelly · Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:46 am

There was no major effort with themes in 2.20. This post that came out with 2.10 is still generally accurate as to theme status:

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I'm sure there were a few minor bug fixes along the way. For instance looking thru the log I see that we fixed one compliance bug in Anagram (a missing space before an onchange event) and fisubice was made xhtml compliant in the Forums.

webservant · Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:16 pm

Outstanding! Thanks for the quick response.

fkelly · Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:53 pm

Two other optional and use with care features have been added. Take a good look at rnconfig.php where they are documented but in summary:

1. Ya-Dropdown ... When you are editing user accounts in Your Account administration there is an optional (turned off by default) quasi-search like dropdown box where you can put in part of a users name or email and it will find all users who match it. This is done with Javascript and I know there were some concerns about performance but I stress tested it with up to 15,000 users. It's probably most useful on smaller sites ... I use it all the time on my 1100 user site for instance. Almost always I know the email address but have no clue what the user chose as their username (and often they don't either) so this makes it possible to do a search of sorts. Give it a try, the settings are explained in rnconfig.

2. Dblogging. We've implemented a primitive form of database logging. For good reason it is turned off by default. It can log either errors or all SQL queries. These go in a file called dblog that is in a directory called rnlogs. The option to log all queries should only be used in a single user development environment since, even with improvements, you can easily get 100 or more SQL statements for a single page load. I personally leave the error logging feature on on my production site. But in any case, if you turn this on as admin, then you need to take the responsibility to periodically check the log file and empty it out.

montego · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:56 am

fisubice, by the way, is not 100% XHTML 1.0 Transitional compliant even in the forums, Private messages and members list thanks to Gremmie.

So, it will server as a good example for theme designers.. however, I am sure fkelly would rather it not be using eval() and separate .html files Wink

Gremmie · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:21 am

Oops, I think there is a "not" in your logic montego. Smile

kguske · Site Admin Joined: Jun 04, 2004 Posts: 4853

not -> now (a simple typo). Thanks for your efforts on that, Gremmie...

fkelly · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:03 pm

This is turning into a knotty topic. But as for fkelly, I can safely say that he would prefer it NOT be using eval and separate html files. I believe there's only two themes left in our distribution that do that and I'd love to convert them as well make all the themes we distribute be compliant. It's just, sigh, a matter of time and effort.

montego · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:23 pm

Gremmie wrote:

Oops, I think there is a "not" in your logic montego. Smile

Thanks!

Guardian2003 · Site Admin Joined: Aug 28, 2003 Posts: 4824

Definitely agree there, eval() is a no-no and it just encourages theme designers to keep making sloppy themes by re-hashing sloppy code - I hasten to add that not ALL theme designers are like that.
fkelly has done a sterling job on the themes!

fkelly · Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:23 am

Thanks Guardian. But sadly I have just done enough to realize what a quagmire they are. I'm guessing it's probably one to two months of full time programming work just to finish making the current themes in RN compliant and to refactor them to eliminate duplicative code. Heck, thinking about that and the testing required, probably like 2 to 4 months. That's time I don't think anyone on this project has. And it wouldn't really address the bigger picture questions of moving the themes more fully to CSS.

Guardian2003 · Site Admin Joined: Aug 28, 2003 Posts: 4824

It would be interesting to poll users to see if anyone is even using one of the included themes apart from fisubice or Deep Blue - third party themes seem to be the norm so it would be really hard to warrant that sort of time investment.

bobbyg · Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:08 pm

The "not" is correct if you add a marquee to your website. It only takes a slight change to "not" qualify as xhtml transitional

Gremmie · Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:25 am

I've never understood where that eval() thing came from. It would be far easier to just drop out of PHP, have the HTML, and sprinkle in <? php tags ?> around variables. PHP just gives people too many options.

bobbyg, yes, the marquee tag is not an official HTML (or XHTML) tag. Another Microsoft "we'll do what we want" thing that now most all browsers support. I don't think it will ever be adopted because it is probably very difficult to implement on a text only browser.

Guardian2003 · Site Admin Joined: Aug 28, 2003 Posts: 4824

Gremmie wrote:

I've never understood where that eval() thing came from. ....

I think FB might have come across it and though hmm, I could use that (without thinking of the consequences). Not that I'm bashing the **** or anything Smile

evaders99 · Moderator Joined: Apr 30, 2004 Posts: 2847

eval() was always meant for the newbie...

Code:

$variablename

is easier than explaining

Code:

<? echo $variablename ?>

or even

Code:

<?=$variablename?>

We're not all PHP gurus.

wiz · Client Joined: Oct 09, 2006 Posts: 357 Location: UK

Guardian2003 wrote:

It would be interesting to poll users to see if anyone is even using one of the included themes apart from fisubice or Deep Blue - third party themes seem to be the norm so it would be really hard to warrant that sort of time investment.

For the record im using extralite. This is usefull for when away, and checking my site via phone.

nextgen · Client Joined: Sep 28, 2006 Posts: 53

If you have a certain theme you want updated to raven standards i would consider doing an update of your theme. I could even do a small detailed how to to make themes move closer to compliance but it would be very broad as theme code varies ALOT and there are a few theme designers themes i flat out wont use.