| Basic
Customization: Changing Folder and Discussion Appearance Globally
in the Sysop Control Panel
Folder
Heading Appearance
Folder Item Appearance
Discussion Heading Appearance
Discussion Item Appearance
Postbox Appearance and Surrounding Text
Troubleshooting
Folder
Heading Appearance
You
can customize a lot about the appearance of your folder by simply
changing the global settings in the Control
Panel > Customizing > Folders. In addition to using HTML,
you can also use Web Crossing server-side
scripting (WCTL or WCJS) to add dynamic features.
The
first set of form fields controls how the header of the
folder displays. The header, or description, is the text you type
into the larger of the two text fields when you create a folder.
- The
top box provides any HTML formatting you'd like to display
before all folder headings. For example, you might put
in an opening font color or size tag here.
- The
next box show formatting that you'd like to place after
all folder headings. To use our earlier example, your closing
font tag would go here, then.
- The
last field in that section allows you to specify some default
text to be displayed if the folder creator left the description
field empty. You may choose to use this to display something
like, "No information." Or you can leave it blank.
When
you're done, click Update Folder Appearance.
Here
is a view of the Sysop Control Panel some test text filled into
each of these three blanks.
Figure
1 - Sysop control panel with Folder Heading fields filled in with
text.
Figure 2 shows how the test discussion displays the text just
entered. Note that it's displaying our default "default for
blank folders" text since we didn't enter a description.
Figure
2 - Test folder showing test text.
Folder
Item Appearance
The
first item, at the top of this Control Panel page, is to choose
the order in which you'd like the items within all
folders displayed: by creation date, amount of activity, or alphabetically.
Immediately
below that, you can fill in the maximum number of items to show
within a folder.
Below
that, you have choices about always showing the sysop's name
and picture (if you're serving user pictures on your site),
and whether or not to always show author information (name,
time, and picture) on each post. Leaving the latter of these unchecked
allows the user a choice when the folder is created whether or
not to show his or her name.
Further
down the page, you can affect not only what is displayed before
and after each folder item, but how the items contained in the
folder are displayed at all and what is displayed when the folder
is empty.
- The
first field allows you to define something to go before
any non-empty folder list. As long as there's one item listed
in the folder, the commands in this field will be served.
- The
next field allows you to alter how the item itself is displayed.
You'll need to use Web Crossing server-side
scripting language to do this latter task, however. An example
of how to do this is in the sysop documentation at syshelp.htm#Folders.
- Below
that is a field which allows you to define commands to be
displayed after any non-empty folder list.
- At
the bottom is what will appear when the folder is empty.
When
you're done, click Update Folder Appearance.
Here
is another view of the Sysop Control Panel some test text we added
to two of those four blanks. The bottom field, for empty folders,
comes with this text in it by default.
Figure
3 - Sysop control panel with Folder Item Appearance fields filled
in with text.
Here's how the test discussion displays the text we just entered.
Figure
4 - Test folder showing text.
Discussion
Heading Appearance
Customizing
the appearance of the discussions is a lot like making global
changes to folders. Control Panel > Customizing
> Discussions.
See
Threading vs. Conversations
for more information about Threading, Threading Settings and the
advantages and disadvantages of threading and conversation mode.
The
first item below the Threading section is again a choice whether
to show author and sysop information automatically when the discussion
is created.
Next
is a choice about how many messages, maximum, to show per page.
The default is 20. Be aware, however, that the number of messages
displayed per page is also influenced by the number of maximum
characters you've chosen to allow per page. You can set that in
Control Panel > Customizing > General
Settings, and then scroll down to Presentation. There,
you can set maximum numbers for several different items, ranging
from titles to characters per page. See Miscellaneous
General Customization.
Then
you'll find three text fields for text before all discussion
headings, text after all discussion headings, and text
to display when the discussion description is blank.
These
work the same as they do for Folder Headings.
Discussion
Item Appearance
The
first thing you can customize for each discussion item (i.e. each
message) is the format in which the time and date is added. For
example, if you're in Europe and customarily put the number for
the month after the number for the date, you can make that change
here. See the sysop
documentation to find out how time and date variables are
used.
Postbox
Appearance and Surrounding Text
At the
very bottom of the page is a display of the text which appears
just above the post box.
However,
to customize the text explaining how the quick editor works,
which also appears above the post box, you'll need to go to another
page in the Control Panel > Customizing
> Title, Toolbar, Backpath, Edit Help. Down at the bottom
of that page you'll see Edit Help Text. If you're happy
with the default text, there's no need to enter anything into
the text field there. But if you'd rather write your own text,
this is where to add it.
Just
below that is the text that displays if an unknown user (i.e.
someone who isn't logged in yet, or a guest) tries to post.
Troubleshooting
I can't
get the folder to look like I want it to.
- Did
you enter the text into the proper place?
The time
and date aren't displaying right.
Resources
See Folder
Customization Chart.
Web Crossing
FAQ
Sysop
Control Panel
- Customizing
- Folders
- Discussions
- General
-> Presentation (number of characters)
- Title,
Toolbar, Backpath, Edit Help (pre-postbox text)
Sysop
Documentation
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