2004-12-28, 08:16 PM
I've looked through the threads detailing some of the new features that will be available in Gold. Absoultely great stuff. The save as draft and lo-fi are useful features.
I know a lot of people are looking for a portal or desire a portal. Personally I'm not a fan of portals. They're very static in their design element with the two or three column view and the "blocks". What would be cool is an actual system for creating regular HTML pages you can edit from within the AdminCP.
Vbulletin has a hack (more like an addition) called webtemplates that allows you to do just that. But it does more then just allow you to create an edit HTML pages for your site from within the AdminCP. It also allow you to add variables which call up data from the database. For instance putting $username in the page will show the members username when they view that page. Putting $website would show the URl to their website. So you could write up a page that says:
"Hey $username thanks for visiting our banners page. We'd love it if you'd use one of our banners on your site $website."
If the user is not logged in or is not a member it would show "unregistered" where $username is and http:// where $website is.
There is a whole variety of variables it can call from the database. Including the last ten posts of a particular forum (great for news). My website is running that system and you can see a short list of those variables here:
http://www.scapefilms.com/board/view.php..._variables
Best of all it also keeps a hit count for each page, lets you select what theme, header and footer you want to use for each page (great for making each page look different). It also allows you set whether a page is draft or public. Draft being only viewable by admins. Plus it lets you select which usergroups or particular users can edit that page by entering their userid numbers. All you have to do is remember to put an $editpage variable on that page so [Edit page] shows up on the page for people who have the permisions to do it. Then they click on it and edit the page in a form that appears. It even keeps track of who was last to edit the page.
Overall it's a great way of tying a messageboard in with a website. That way you can design the website however you want, putting variables in the design where you want them without being forced to use a portal-like look and structure.
Anyway it's just and idea. I've found it very useful especailly since I'm a bit of a webdesign geek and don't like the ridged structure of portals. Pretty much all of my site ScapeFilms.com is built off this system. Though currently I'm not using it to the best of it's ability.
I know a lot of people are looking for a portal or desire a portal. Personally I'm not a fan of portals. They're very static in their design element with the two or three column view and the "blocks". What would be cool is an actual system for creating regular HTML pages you can edit from within the AdminCP.
Vbulletin has a hack (more like an addition) called webtemplates that allows you to do just that. But it does more then just allow you to create an edit HTML pages for your site from within the AdminCP. It also allow you to add variables which call up data from the database. For instance putting $username in the page will show the members username when they view that page. Putting $website would show the URl to their website. So you could write up a page that says:
"Hey $username thanks for visiting our banners page. We'd love it if you'd use one of our banners on your site $website."
If the user is not logged in or is not a member it would show "unregistered" where $username is and http:// where $website is.
There is a whole variety of variables it can call from the database. Including the last ten posts of a particular forum (great for news). My website is running that system and you can see a short list of those variables here:
http://www.scapefilms.com/board/view.php..._variables
Best of all it also keeps a hit count for each page, lets you select what theme, header and footer you want to use for each page (great for making each page look different). It also allows you set whether a page is draft or public. Draft being only viewable by admins. Plus it lets you select which usergroups or particular users can edit that page by entering their userid numbers. All you have to do is remember to put an $editpage variable on that page so [Edit page] shows up on the page for people who have the permisions to do it. Then they click on it and edit the page in a form that appears. It even keeps track of who was last to edit the page.
Overall it's a great way of tying a messageboard in with a website. That way you can design the website however you want, putting variables in the design where you want them without being forced to use a portal-like look and structure.
Anyway it's just and idea. I've found it very useful especailly since I'm a bit of a webdesign geek and don't like the ridged structure of portals. Pretty much all of my site ScapeFilms.com is built off this system. Though currently I'm not using it to the best of it's ability.