[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
| Strip administration panel |
| The strip administration panel provides access to the
main strip administration functions of iStrip. From this panel you can
add new comics, edit the parameters of strips you have previously uploaded
and delete comics from the strip archive. Information on manipulating strips
is provided in the sections on the strip edit panel,
the news edit panel and the strip
delete panel.
|
[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
| Add strip |
When iStrip is first installed, the "Add a new Strip" option
will initially be the only option available to you from the strip administration
panel. Selecting this option will take you to the Add Strip page, from
which you will be able to select a strip to upload and optionally enter
some news. See the documentation on the strip edit
panel, the news edit panel and the news
edit toolbar for more information on adding and editing strips.
Note: You can only add one new strip per day. Attempting
to add more than one strip in a day to the strip archive will result in
an error message, warning that you have already uploaded a strip. You can,
however, change the strip image, edit the news item, delete the strip etc
by editing the strip from the manage strips
menu. |
[ Help index ] [ Strip admin ]
[ Close window ]
| Manage strips |
If you have uploaded at least one strip then in addition
to the "Add a new Strip" option you will also have the option
to manage the strips you have already uploaded. A list of previously uploaded
strips will be presented to you, in the following format:
The columns contain the following data:
- ID: The numerical ID of the strip. The first strip uploaded
has ID 1, the second strip has ID 2, etc. Deleting a strip partway
down the strip index will cause all subsequent strips to assume a new
ID. If you have a 5 strip index and delete strip 3, then strip 4 will
become strip 3 and strip 5 will become strip 4
- Date: The date on which the strip was uploaded, along with
a display of the numbers of days that have elapsed since then. The
default format for the date is day/month/year, but this can be changed
if desired from the date format configuration panel.
- Info: This column contains 2 rows with information about the
strip record:
- Strip: Contains the title of the strip (A default value
will be displayed if no strip title was set), and a link to the
actual strip image. Clicking the link will display the strip image
in a new window.
- News: Contains the title of the news item (A default value
will be displayed if no news title was set), and a link to the
item in question, provided that a news item has been entered for
this strip. Clicking the link will display the news item in a new
window. If a news item wasn't defined then a message will be displayed
here instead to indicate this.
- Size: Displays the physical dimensions (width and height)
of the strip image
- Edit: Contains an input field that, when clicked, will take
you to the Edit Strip page. From this page you can modify the strip's
parameters or delete it entirely. For more information, see the help
on the strip edit panel, the news
edit panel and the strip delete panel
Note: This table will not be displayed if there have
been no strip uploaded, or if the .stripindex file cannot be opened.
|
[ Help index ] [ Strip admin ]
[ Close window ]
| General administration panel |
| This panel provides access to other administrative features
provided by iStrip. Currently you can use this panel to gain access to
the iStrip configuration page and to perform an audit of the files and
directory that iStrip uses to build it's archive of strips and news.
|
[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
| Backup strip index |
iStrip uses a text file to maintain an index of strips
and news items. If this file becomes corrupted or lost then iStrip will
lose all the information it maintains regarding strips. For this reason
it is an extremely good idea to make regular backups of your strip index
file.
Backing up the strip index is simply a matter of following the "create
strip index backup..." link. When followed, a text file will be downloaded
to your machine that contains the current strip index. This text file can
be used by the stripindex restore system to recreate a missing or damaged
strip index. To help you keep track of your strip index backups, the date
on which the backup was created is encoded into the filename in the form
YYYYMMDD |
[ Help index ] [ General admin ]
[ Close window ]
| Restore strip
index |
If you have a backup of your strip index, you can restore
that backup via this feature. The restore feature will allow you to upload
a strip index backup file. This file will then be analysed and, if found
to be valid, used to rebuild your strip index file.
WARNING: This operation will overwrite any strip index file that already
exists on your server. If you update with a backup that is out of date
then any changes you have made to the strip index since the backup was
made will be lost. You should therefore backup
your strip index on regular
intervals.
WARNING: Every precaution is taken to ensure that invalid strip index files
are rejected. Only plain ASCII text files are accepted and some validation
checks are performed to try and determine of the uploaded file was a valid
strip index. However, it is possible that some files that are not valid
may still pass the checks and be used to generate a corrupt strip index.
Don't try to upload files that aren't valid strip index files
To use this function you need to have created a valid strip index backup
and have a copy of it on your computer. This can be done by logging onto
your website FTP server and downloading the .stripindex file, or it can
be done automatically with the backup strip
index feature. There is a text
field with a "browse" button next to it. If you select the browse button
then a file dialog will pop up. Use this to select your strip index backup
As this feature overwrites existing strip index files on your server you
are required to confirm that you really want to perform the restore operation.
There is a checkbox marked "confirm stripindex overwrite". Check this checkbox
to confirm that you really want to restore from the backup you selected.
Finally, click the ""restore..." button to upload your selected strip index
file to the server. iStrip will then analyse the file and attempt to restore
your strip index from it. You will be presented with a status report on
the success or otherwise of this operation. |
[ Help index ] [ General admin ]
[ Close window ]
| Audit filesystem |
| This option will perform a scan of the iStrip strip index
file to ensure all files specified in it can be located where they are
meant to be. It will also perform a scan of the directories iStrip uses
to store files, to look for files that aren't associated with the strip
index, such as files that belonged to strip entries that have been deleted
and should have been deleted along with the entry but weren't, or files
that have been incorrectly named. To perform the scan, simply follow the
link. You will then be presented with a report showing the results of the
audit. |
[ Help index ] [ General admin ]
[ Close window ]
[ Help index ] [ General admin ]
[ Close window ]
| Archive properties panel |
| This panel displays fields that provide some useful information
on the status of the strip archive. Information, such as the amount of
space being taken up by strip files on the server and the date on which
you uploaded the newest and oldest strip in the archive is displayed here.
|
[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
| Number
of strips |
| This field displays the total number of strips that you
have uploaded. This figure is derived from a count of entries in the strip
index file. |
[ Help index ] [ Archive properties ]
[ Close window ]
| Number of news
items |
| This field displays the total number of news items that
you have posted. This figure is derived from a count of entries in the
strip index file that have news items associated with them. |
[ Help index ] [ Archive properties ]
[ Close window ]
| First strip
uploaded on |
| This field displays the date on which the first strip
in the archive was uploaded. The format of the date is based on the short
date format setting specified in the iStrip configuration and can be
changed from the date format configuration panel.
A count of the number of days that have elapsed since that date is also
displayed. |
[ Help index ] [ Archive properties ]
[ Close window ]
| Latest strip
uploaded on |
| This field displays the date on which the most recent
strip in the archive was uploaded. The format of the date is based on the short
date format setting specified in the iStrip configuration and can be
changed from the date format configuration panel.
A count of the number of days that have elapsed since that date is also
displayed. |
[ Help index ] [ Archive properties ]
[ Close window ]
| Strip
directory size |
This field displays the total size, in kilobytes, of
all the strip images that have been uploaded so far. This value is computed
by scanning the default strip upload location and adding together the sizes
of all the files found there. Therefore, this value can be non-zero even
if the strip index has no strips listed in it. A non-zero value when there
are no strips in the index or a value that seems to be excessivly large
could indicate that the strip index file is missing or corrupted, or that
there are orphaned files in the strip directory. To determine if there
are orphaned files in the strip index, a filesystem
audit should be carried out.
This value is rounded to the number of decimal places specified in the file
round setting on the file and directory configuration
panel and can be changed to the preferred value from there. |
[ Help index ] [ Archive properties ]
[ Close window ]
| News directory
size |
This field displays the total size, in kilobytes, of
all the news items that have so far been posted. This value is computed
by scanning the default news store location and adding together the sizes
of all the files found there. Therefore, this value can be non-zero even
if the news item count indicates that
there have been no news items posted. A non-zero value when there are no
news items in the index could indicate that the strip index file is missing
or corrupted, or that there are orphaned files in the news directory. An
unexpectedly large file size for this directory may also be an indication
of orphaned files. To determine if there are orphaned files in the strip
index, a filesystem audit should be carried
out.
This value is rounded to the number of decimal places specified in the file
round setting on the file and directory configuration
panel and can be changed to the preferred value from there. |
[ Help index ] [ Archive properties ]
[ Close window ]
| Index
file size |
| This field displays, in kilobytes, the total size of
the .stripindex file iStrip uses as an index of the strip archive. This
value is rounded to the number of decimal places specified in the file
round setting on the file and directory configuration
panel and can be changed to the preferred value from there. |
[ Help index ] [ Archive properties ]
[ Close window ]
| Server properties panel |
| This panel displays information that iStrip collects
about the environment on which it is running. This information is useful
for debugging purposes and for diagnosing problems with an iStrip installation.
|
[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
| Server software |
| This field displays information about the software that
is being used on the server. It should provide you information on the HTTPd
being used (Apache, IIS, etc), the version of PHP installed on the server
and some additional information. |
[ Help index ] [ Server properties ]
[ Close window ]
| Host OS |
| This field displays information about the operating system
that is being used to power the server iStrip is installed on. Typical
values for this field include linux and winnt. |
[ Help index ] [ Server properties ]
[ Close window ]
| Server hostname |
| This field displays the Dynamic Name Service (DNS) name
of the server iStrip is running on, eg www.foo.bar |
[ Help index ] [ Server properties ]
[ Close window ]
| Server IP address |
| This field displays the Internet Protocol (IP) address
of the server, eg. 127.0.0.1. Note: A server may be running multiple
virtual hosts. In this case, the IP address will point to the host machine,
but not necessarily to your virtual server. |
[ Help index ] [ Server properties ]
[ Close window ]
| Server port |
| This field displays the port through which HTTP requests
are being handled. by default, the HTTP port number is 80 |
[ Help index ] [ Server properties ]
[ Close window ]
| Strip edit panel |
| This panel will let you change the parameters of a strip
record entry. It is also the panel from which you can specify the strip
image you want to upload to the server.
|
[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
| Strip title |
| This field allows you to specify a title for the strip
you are editing. You can only use plain text in this field, no HTML is
allowed. A default title length of 80 characters is imposed. This field
is optional. |
[ Help index ] [ Strip edit ] [ Close
window ]
| Strip file |
This field allows you to specify a file on your local
machine. This file will be uploaded to the web server and used as the strip
image. This field is compulsory if you are adding a new strip, optional
if you are editing an existing strip. Uploading a new image to an existing
strip record will cause the existing image to be replaced.
Note: iStrip imposes a maximum file size on strip file
uploads of 2,000,000 bytes (slightly less than 2 megabytes), but this should
be far more than adequate for strip images. Be aware, however, that PHP
will also have a maximum upload file size set by the server administrator,
and if it is smaller than the figure specified by iStrip, that size will
take precedence. If a file exceeds the maximum size allowed you will be
shown an error message explaining this.
Note: iStrip will only accept files for this field that
have an image/* MIME type. For example, PNG images have a MIME type of
image/x-png and will be accepted as valid images by iStrip, but Photoshop
PSD files use the default binary MIME type of application/octet-stream
and will be rejected by iStrip. If you upload a file that's in a format
iStrip doesn't recognise as an image you will be shown an error message
explaining this. |
[ Help index ] [ Strip edit ] [ Close
window ]
| Review image |
| When editing an existing strip, you can review the strip
image you previously uploaded by clicking this link. The image will be
shown in a new window. This option is only available when editing an existing
strip record. |
[ Help index ] [ Strip edit ] [ Close
window ]
| News edit panel |
| If you wish, you can post a news item along with a strip.
This news item will be displayed along with the strip when a visitor views
it. These news items are entirely optional. You can choose to add one with
every strip you upload, only on days when you need to make announcements,
or never. If you choose not to add a news item with a strip, then iStrip
will search backwards through the strip archive for the most recently posted
news item and display that instead. If there are no news items specified
at all then a default message will be displayed in place of the new.
|
[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
| News title |
| This field allows you to specify a title for the news
item you are editing. You can only use plain text in this field, no HTML
is allowed. A default title length of 80 characters is imposed. This field
is optional. |
[ Help index ] [ News edit ] [ Close
window ]
| News item |
This is the main text box where you edit news items.
The text you enter here will be displayed as-is on the index page of your
site in the space reserved for news items. A HTML line break tag will be
inserted wherever a line break is entered in the text box to allow you
to easily format entries. Points where the text in the text box wraps around
due to space limitations doesn't count as a line break, only line breaks
that have been manually entered will be used.
In order to avoid formatting problems due to users making inappropriate
use of formatting tags such as <br>, <p> and <table>,
most HTML tags are stripped from news items before they are submitted.
However, some HTML markup can be used, the allowed tags are listed below
the news item text box in the Allowed
HTML field. If you find that the allowed tags are too restrictive,
you can add more from the news editing configuration
panel
This field is optional. The contents of the text box are saved to a file
when you submit the form. If you wish to delete a previously entered news
item, then delete the contents of the text box. iStrip will delete the
news file and remove all references to it in the strip index automatically.
Make sure to completely clear the text box if you're going to do this,
any lone spaces or line breaks will still be saved as a news item.
If a news item isn't entered for a given strip then iStrip will search
backwards through the strip archive until it finds the most recent previously
entered news item and display that instead. If no news items have been
entered then a default message will be displayed instead in the space reserved
for news items on index page. You can edit this message by editing the
appropriate template file. If you don't want to use news at all then you
can also remove the news item template variables from the appropriate pages.
See the iStrip documentation on template creation and on template variables
for more information on doing this. |
[ Help index ] [ News edit ] [ Close
window ]
| Allowed
HTML |
| This is a read-only field listing what HTML tags you
are allowed to use in news items. This can be set from the news
editing configuration panel on the iStrip configuration page. |
[ Help index ] [ News edit ] [ Close
window ]
| News edit toolbar |
The column of buttons to the left of the news
item entry text field constitute the news editing toolbar. These
buttons provide you with a means to enter some commonly used HTML tags
to make editing news items with HTML easier.
Note: The tags that these buttons insert into the news item you are editing
will only be allowed if they are on the allowed
HTML list. If they are not, they will be stripped when the news item
is submitted. You can fix this from the news editing
configuration panel by adding the tags the buttons insert to the list.
|
[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
| Bold |
Inserts bold tags. This button operates in 2 different
modes, insert and enclose. To operate the button in insert mode, simply
click it once. The opening tag will be inserted and the button's label
will change colour to indicate that there is an open tag that requires
closing. To close the tag, simply click it again. The appropriate closing
tag will be appended to the entered text and the button label will revert
back to it's normal colour.
To operate the button in enclose mode, first highlight the section of text
in the news entry box you wish to enclose, then click the button. The highlighted
text will then be enclosed in the appropriate open/close tag pair. As this
inserts both tags simultaneously, the label will not change colour and
there is no need for you to take any additional action |
[ Help index ] [ News toolbar ]
[ Close window ]
| Italic |
Inserts italic tags. This button operates in 2 different
modes, insert and enclose. To operate the button in insert mode, simply
click it once. The opening tag will be inserted and the button's label
will change colour to indicate that there is an open tag that requires
closing. To close the tag, simply click it again. The appropriate closing
tag will be appended to the entered text and the button label will revert
back to it's normal colour.
To operate the button in enclose mode, first highlight the section of text
in the news entry box you wish to enclose, then click the button. The highlighted
text will then be enclosed in the appropriate open/close tag pair. As this
inserts both tags simultaneously, the label will not change colour and
there is no need for you to take any additional action |
[ Help index ] [ News toolbar ]
[ Close window ]
| Underline |
Inserts underline tags. This button operates in 2 different
modes, insert and enclose. To operate the button in insert mode, simply
click it once. The opening tag will be inserted and the button's label
will change colour to indicate that there is an open tag that requires
closing. To close the tag, simply click it again. The appropriate closing
tag will be appended to the entered text and the button label will revert
back to it's normal colour.
To operate the button in enclose mode, first highlight the section of text
in the news entry box you wish to enclose, then click the button. The highlighted
text will then be enclosed in the appropriate open/close tag pair. As this
inserts both tags simultaneously, the label will not change colour and
there is no need for you to take any additional action |
[ Help index ] [ News toolbar ]
[ Close window ]
| Quote |
Inserts blockquote tags. This button operates in 2 different
modes, insert and enclose. To operate the button in insert mode, simply
click it once. The opening tag will be inserted and the button's label
will change colour to indicate that there is an open tag that requires
closing. To close the tag, simply click it again. The appropriate closing
tag will be appended to the entered text and the button label will revert
back to it's normal colour.
To operate the button in enclose mode, first highlight the section of text
in the news entry box you wish to enclose, then click the button. The highlighted
text will then be enclosed in the appropriate open/close tag pair. As this
inserts both tags simultaneously, the label will not change colour and
there is no need for you to take any additional action |
[ Help index ] [ News toolbar ]
[ Close window ]
| Centre |
Inserts centring tags. This button operates in 2 different
modes, insert and enclose. To operate the button in insert mode, simply
click it once. The opening tag will be inserted and the button's label
will change colour to indicate that there is an open tag that requires
closing. To close the tag, simply click it again. The appropriate closing
tag will be appended to the entered text and the button label will revert
back to it's normal colour.
To operate the button in enclose mode, first highlight the section of text
in the news entry box you wish to enclose, then click the button. The highlighted
text will then be enclosed in the appropriate open/close tag pair. As this
inserts both tags simultaneously, the label will not change colour and
there is no need for you to take any additional action |
[ Help index ] [ News toolbar ]
[ Close window ]
| Right |
Inserts right-justify tags. This button operates in 2
different modes, insert and enclose. To operate the button in insert mode,
simply click it once. The opening tag will be inserted and the button's
label will change colour to indicate that there is an open tag that requires
closing. To close the tag, simply click it again. The appropriate closing
tag will be appended to the entered text and the button label will revert
back to it's normal colour.
To operate the button in enclose mode, first highlight the section of text
in the news entry box you wish to enclose, then click the button. The highlighted
text will then be enclosed in the appropriate open/close tag pair. As this
inserts both tags simultaneously, the label will not change colour and
there is no need for you to take any additional action |
[ Help index ] [ News toolbar ]
[ Close window ]
| Hyperlink |
Inserts a hyperlink to a specified URL. This button operates
in 2 different modes, insert and enclose. To operate the button in insert
mode, click it once. A requester will appear asking for you to specify
the URL of the site you wish to link to. Once you have entered the site
URL, you will be presented with a second dialog box asking for you to specify
the textual description that will be displayed for the link. By default,
the text description will be the same as the site URL. Once you have entered
the relevant information, a hyperlink will be inserted at the end of any
text you have entered into the news entry box.
To operate the button in enclose mode, highlight some text in the news
entry box and then click the button. As with insert mode, you will then
be asked for the URL of a site you wish to link to. However, the second
dialog box will not be presented, and the software will use the text you
highlighted as the textual description instead. Once the relevant information
has been entered the highlighted text will be enclosed in the appropriate
tags to turn it into a hyperlink. |
[ Help index ] [ News toolbar ]
[ Close window ]
| Image |
Inserts an image tag. This button operates in 2 different
modes, insert and enclose. To operate the button in insert mode, click
it once. A requester will appear asking for you to specify the URL of the
image you wish to insert into the news item. Once you have entered the
URL, you will be presented with a second dialog box asking for you to specify
the textual description for the image. By default, the text description
will be the same as the image URL. Once you have entered the relevant information,
an image tag will be inserted at the end of any text you have entered into
the news entry box.
To operate the button in enclose mode, highlight some text in the news
entry box and then click the button. As with insert mode, you will then
be asked for the URL of an image you wish to insert into your news item.
However, the second dialog box will not be presented, and the software
will use the text you highlighted as the textual description instead. Once
the relevant information has been entered the highlighted text will be
enclosed in the appropriate tags to turn it into an image tag. |
[ Help index ] [ News toolbar ]
[ Close window ]
| Horizontal Rule |
| Inserts a horizontal rule tag. As the hr tag is a one-shot
tag, with no need for a closing tag, this button functions only in insert
mode. To insert a hr tag, simply click the button and the appropriate tag
will be inserted at the end of any text you have entered into the news
entry box. |
[ Help index ] [ News toolbar ]
[ Close window ]
| Strip deletion panel |
This panel provides the controls that will enable
the deletion of a strip from the iStrip strip index. All files related
to the strip are deleted and it's entry in the index file is removed.
WARNING: This action will make irreversible changes
to the iStrip strip index and will delete files from the server. YOU
CANNOT UNDO THIS ACTION! Do not perform this operation unless you are
sure you really wish to delete the strip from the index!
|
[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
| Delete strip |
Deleting a strip is a 2 step operation. The first
step in the operation is to enable this checkbox. Enabling this checkbox
will then enable the controls that allow you to confirm weather or not
you really want to delete this strip.
WARNING: Deleting a strip is a non-reversible operation. YOU
CANNOT UNDO THIS ACTION! Do not perform this operation unless you are
sure you really wish to delete the strip from the index! |
[ Help index ] [ Strip deletion ]
[ Close window ]
| Confirm |
Deleting a strip is a 2 step operation. In addition
to enabling the delete strip checkbox you must also set this option to
yes in order to actually delete a strip record from the archive. This is
to protect against accidentally deleting a strip from the archive. If you
set the checkbox but leave the radio buttons set to no, you will just be
issued with an error message and nothing else will happen.
WARNING: Deleting a strip is a non-reversible operation. YOU
CANNOT UNDO THIS ACTION! Do not perform this operation unless you are
sure you really wish to delete the strip from the index! |
[ Help index ] [ Strip deletion ]
[ Close window ]
| File and directory configuration
panel |
| This panel allows you to set the parameters that control
iStrip files and directories. This is where you specify the paths iStrip
will use for accessing various files and the settings that control how
iStrip handles uploaded files.
|
[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
| Banner directory |
| This field specifies where iStrip will look for banner
images for use with the random banner image displayer, relative to the
iStrip root directory. This field is optional. |
[ Help index ] [ Files and dirs ]
[ Close window ]
| File round |
| This field specifies how many decimal places iStrip will
round file sizes to for display. This field is optional but will default
to 0 if no valid value is specified. This setting only applies to file
sizes measured in kilobytes and megabytes. File sizes measured in bytes
are always integer and do not require rounding. |
[ Help index ] [ Files and dirs ]
[ Close window ]
| Date format configuration panel |
| This panel allows you to configure the way iStrip presents
dates to the user.
|
[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
| Long date format |
| This field specifies the format that iStrip will use
for verbose dates. To select the date format you want to use, select it
from the list of options that are available in the drop down menu box. |
[ Help index ] [ Date format ] [ Close
window ]
| Short date format |
| This field specifies the format that iStrip will use
for compact dates. To select the date format you want to use, select it
from the list of options that are available in the drop down menu box. |
[ Help index ] [ Date format ] [ Close
window ]
| Theme configuration panel |
| This panel allows you to configure the way iStrip appears
to your visitors via the Theme system. It also allows you to configure
how templates are processed and perform some template-related housekeeping
procedures.
|
[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
| Theme |
This field presents you with a drop down menu from which
you can select the theme iStrip will use when generating pages that your
visitors can view. A theme consists of a set of template files and other
files such as images and style sheets collected together in a single directory.
Two themes are provided with iStrip for demonstration purposes but you
are strongly encouraged to also create your own theme. See the iStrip documentation
on themes and templates for more details. This setting only affects user
pages and doesn't affect how admin pages are presented. When you change
theme the user compile directory will be automatically flushed, you will
not be required to perform a manual flush
of the user compile directory.
Note: If iStrip couldn't find any installed themes then
a warning message will be displayed in this field instead. If this happens
then you have probably not properly installed iStrip. If there are no themes
installed then iStrip cannot display any pages to visitors. |
[ Help index ] [ Theme config ] [ Close
window ]
| Disable subdirs |
| The template engine that iStrip uses "compiles" the
provided templates into PHP code the first time a page is viewed in order
to reduce execution time the next time the page is visited. These compiled
PHP files are then stored on the server in a directory for later use. .
By default, iStrip will create subdirectories in the compile directories
for template compilation. However, on some server environments, this can
cause problems with template compilation. If you experience such difficulties
then you may need to disable compile subdirectories. Checking the checkbox
will force iStrip to use a "flat" file system for compiling templates
instead. As using subdirectories has better performance than using the
flat file structure, it is recommended that you leave this setting disabled. |
[ Help index ] [ Theme config ] [ Close
window ]
| User flush |
The template engine that iStrip uses "compiles" the
provided templates into PHP code the first time a page is viewed in order
to reduce execution time the next time the page is visited. These compiled
PHP files are then stored on the server in a directory for later use. This
allows templates to be applied more quickly than with more conventional
techniques, but it does mean that it is possible for the compiled templates
to become out of synch with the uncompiled HTML templates.
Should the template files for the iStrip user pages become out of synch
with the compiled files that iStrip has generated, checking this checkbox
will force iStrip to flush all the compiled versions of the template files
from the server. This will mean that the next time someone visits any of
the user pages, iStrip will have to recompile them from scratch. The user
pages consist of all the pages that the general public has access to, such
as the strip index.
Note: The status of this checkbox is not saved in the
iStrip configuration file. It is only applied when you submit your configuration
settings. |
[ Help index ] [ Theme config ] [ Close
window ]
| Admin
flush |
The template engine that iStrip uses "compiles" the
provided templates into PHP code the first time a page is viewed in order
to reduce execution time the next time the page is visited. These compiled
PHP files are then stored on the server in a directory for later use. This
allows templates to be applied more quickly than with more conventional
techniques, but it does mean that it is possible for the compiled templates
to become out of synch with the uncompiled HTML templates.
Should the template files for the iStrip admin pages become out of synch
with the compiled template files that iStrip has generated, checking this
checkbox will force iStrip to flush all the compiled versions of the template
files from the server. This will mean that the next time you visit any
of the admin pages iStrip will have to recompile them from scratch. The
admin pages are the ones that only iStrip administrators should have access
to, such as the Add Strip page.
Note: The status of this checkbox is not saved in the
iStrip configuration file. It is only applied when you submit your configuration
settings. |
[ Help index ] [ Theme config ] [ Close
window ]
| News editing configuration
panel |
| This panel allows you to configure parameters that are
used in editing news items.
|
[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
| Allowed HTML |
This text box allows you to specify a list of tags that
will be allowed within news entries. To alter these settings, enter any
new tags you wish to use and remove any that you no longer wish to use
in news items. You don't need to enter closing tags for tags that come
in pairs such as <a> or <blockquote>.
Note: These settings are not applied retroactively to
existing news items. However, if you change these settings then edit a
news item you previously created under old settings, the new settings will
be applied to the news item you edited. |
[ Help index ] [ News edit config ]
[ Close window ]
| Debugging configuration panel |
| This panel allows you to configure settings that are
used for iStrip debugging. These settings are useful for debugging themes
and templates and for assessing the performance of the iStrip software.
|
[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
| Debug console |
Enabling this checkbox will enable Smarty's debugging
mode. Every time a page is displayed, a Javascript popup window is also
generated that lists the template variables available for that page, along
with their current values. This information may prove useful for testing
out your own iStrip themes.
Note: Enabling this feature will significantly slow down
iStrip's template generation, so it is only recommended that you enable
this feature when debugging a new template.
Note: The debugging console functions via a Javascript
popup. If you are using a popup blocker such as Free Surfer or Mozilla's
internal popup blocker then the debugging console will be suppressed as
if it were a popup. Either disable your popup blockers, or configure them
to allow popups from your site to be displayed. |
[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
| Page timer |
When enabled, a timer will be displayed at the bottom
of pages generated by iStrip showing how long it took the server to generate
them. Enabling this feature will probably cause a slight hit in performance,
but the performance hit shouldn't be significant so the generation times
displayed should be a fair indication of how well iStrip is performing
on your server. You can also specify the number of decimal places the timer
will be rounded to. If you leave this field blank a default value of 0
is used. As iStrip will almost always generate a page in less than a second
it is recommended that you set a rounding factor of at least 2 places.
Note: The timer value is appended at the end of the page,
after the closing </html> tag. As a result, enabling the timer will
break some HTML compliance rules. In practice, this shouldn't break how
the page is rendered in browsers, but HTML validators may warn you that
iStrip-generated pages are invalid if the timer is enabled. |
[ Help index ] [ Close
window ]
Copyright © 2002, 2003 Gordon McVey