The news module

Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2005 3:08 am

One of the things we have been looking at is the functionality of various modules in PHP-Nuke. An interesting quirk is the "Read More" function in the news module. Should this appear if there is in fact nothing more to read? Should it display if there are no comments? In the case of no comments being attached to a story should it display at all? We would value your comments on this..

Sells PC To Pay For Divorce Joined: Posts: 5661

Your right on these parts,but its just something thats already in your theme.
So you will always have those link,no matter what..

Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2005 5:02 am

ok given that a site has the NSN theme (grey) (and i know NSN themes are not supported here but its an example)

When displayed in Single or Dual column mode the readmore link displays if there is OR isnt any more text to read.

If there are comments OR if commenst are enabled The readmore link DISSPEARS ????

This appears to oocur in most thems not just the NSN ones..eg deepblue and so on inlcuded in releases on nuke..

Is there a theme where this anomily does not occur that you know of ??

Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2005 5:07 am

no,

i never seen one.
or you have to find someone that will do a litle rewriting for you cause that is what has to be done.

Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2005 9:47 am

There are several different variables depending on:

1) Your Version of Nuke
2) Your Theme
3) The News Module that your are using

I'm sure there are probably a few other variables that I'm not thinking about as I'm on my first cup of coffee of the day.

Anyway, What it boils down to is:
In DEFAULT Nuke News Modules -
1) The "Read More" function should display if:

1a) The data within the "Story Text" portion of the article goes beyond the default size of the homepage news article display block size, but this ONLY happens with certain "Special format" Nuke themes.

NOTE: If the Size of that block is restricted by your theme, versus expanding to fit whatever data is within the "Story Text" field. The difference for example, is viewable here at Raven's where unlike your theme, the block size expands to accomadate the data.

1b) There is "extended" text to an article. (Defined by when you create the article). Whenever you add extended text, you are by default defining to add the "Read More" Function.

Having Comments should not trigger a "Read More" function. Rather, the "Comments" tag is always displayed to support:
a) Users being able to see the number of comments
b) To Permit Users to read any comments that exist
c) To Permit Users to submit comments to an article.

Now, if you disable comments, that tag will go away completely. (as is the case at phpnuke.org, where comments are disabled)

So in summary, the other side of the coin is that:
The Read-More function SHOULD NOT display if:
a) The story fits into the default field size of the News Module on your homepage with one of those funky themes.
b) If you are using a regular nuke theme and the default news module, the size of the default story block will automatically adjust itself.
c) There is no extended text.

If this is not the case, chances are good that the theme in question is missing the variable definitions that say "If extended text then do this, if not, don't" and thus the buttons would appear all the time, or there is some other problem associated with predefined sizing.

Personally, I don't care for some of the themes/custom News Modules that have articles appearing via a PopUp window when you click "Read More" function as they fail to leverage many of the Nuke features including polls, rating an article, and other valuable "side block" information.

Additionally, those same themes/News Modules seem to have formatting issues within the story text portion itself fitting right into the default block as well as both fields having the problem of ignoring default theme rules like underlining, bold, etc.... especially where links or other specially formatted data is concerned.

If you are having an experience different from what I describe, chances are good that:

a) You have one of these (what I personally would call) "funky" themes
b) You have a customized News Module.
c) You have a+b

I hope this helps!