Added an option to send a copy to self to the "Mail Story to a Friend" dialog and made the look of this and the "Send mail to user" dialogs more consistent
1 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
4 <title>Geeklog Documentation - Theme How-To</title>
5 <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../docstyle.css" title="Dev Stylesheet">
9 <p><a href="http://www.geeklog.net/" style="background:transparent"><img src="../images/newlogo.gif" alt="Geeklog" width="243" height="90"></a></p>
10 <div class="menu"><a href="index.html">Geeklog Documentation</a> - Theme How-To</div>
12 <p><small>(see below for a list of <a href="#changes">theme changes</a> in
13 recent Geeklog versions)</small></p>
16 <h1>Creating a Theme for Geeklog</h1>
18 <p>Creating a theme for Geeklog is easy and quite fast. If you can
19 manipulate HTML files then you can create a theme! There's no need to learn
22 <h2>Creating a theme</h2>
24 <p>First, copy an existing theme that is most similar to what you want to
25 implement (if one exists). If what you will do is radically different (and we
26 hope so!) then copying any one will do. Copy the existing theme to the name you
27 want your theme to have (please, <em>no</em> spaces in the theme name):</p>
29 <p><kbd>cp -R /path/to/geeklog/public_html/layout/professional /path/to/geeklog/public_html/layout/My_Theme_Name_No_Spaces</kbd></p>
31 <p>Change into your new theme directory:</p>
33 <p><kbd>cd /path/to/geeklog/public_html/layout/My_Theme_Name_No_Spaces</kbd></p>
35 <p>Now edit the templates to suit your needs. Keep in mind that templates,
36 generally are partial HTML files. The directory you just created holds ALL
37 templates Geeklog needs but you will only need to modify a small few to
38 make a huge impact on the look.</p>
40 <p>In particular these are the templates you will undoubtedly want to
46 <li>blockheader.thtml</li>
47 <li>blockfooter.thtml</li>
48 <li>storytext.thtml</li>
49 <li>storybodytext.thtml</li>
50 <li>featuredstorytext.thtml</li>
51 <li>featuredstorybodytext.thtml</li>
52 <li>archivestorytext.thtml</li>
53 <li>archivestorybodytext.thtml</li>
58 <h3><a name="how-themes-work">How themes work</a></h3>
60 <p>When rendering a theme, Geeklog starts with <tt>header.thtml</tt> which
61 builds the site's header and then goes on to include the left column of blocks
62 (look for the variable {left_blocks} and the <tt>leftblocks.thtml</tt> file).
63 The middle part of a site consists of the stories which are built using the
64 <tt>storytext.thtml</tt> and <tt>storybodytext.thtml</tt> (for normal stories)
65 and <tt>featuredstorytext.thtml</tt> and <tt>featuredstorybodytext.thtml</tt>
66 (for featured stories) template files. The <tt>footer.thtml</tt> file then
67 builds the right column of blocks (variable {right_blocks}, file
68 <tt>right_blocks.thtml</tt>) and the site's footer. Blocks themselves consist
69 of the <tt>blockheader.thtml</tt> and <tt>blockfooter.thtml</tt> files.
71 <p>The above only describes how Geeklog's main page and stories are rendered.
72 More templates exist for the various editors and lists you will see in Geeklog,
73 as well as for the calendar and almost every other part of Geeklog.</p>
75 <p>There is currently no complete list available that explains which template
76 file is used for which part of Geeklog. However, in most cases the use should
77 be obvious when you have a look at the file and directory names in your theme's
78 layout directory. If you're unsure which template file is used to render a
79 certain part of Geeklog, have a look at the URL. You will notice the name of
80 a PHP file there, e.g. the <tt>users.php</tt> file when you view a user's
81 profile. Open that file and search for '<kbd>.thtml</kbd>'. For the profile
82 you will find these lines (in <code>function userprofile()</code>):</p>
83 <pre style="margin-left:4em;"><code>$user_templates = new Template ($_CONF['path_layout'] . 'users');
84 $user_templates->set_file (array ('profile'=>'profile.thtml', 'row'=>'commentrow.thtml', 'strow'=>'storyrow.thtml'));</code></pre>
85 <p>You don't need to understand PHP code to see that this uses the template
86 files <tt>profile.thtml</tt>, <tt>commentrow.thtml</tt>, and
87 <tt>storyrow.thtml</tt>. The first line also indicates that these are taken
88 from the <tt>users</tt> directory within the theme's layout directory.</p>
90 <p>An <a href="themevars.html">incomplete list of variables</a> that can be
91 used in templates files is also included.</p>
93 <h3><a name="testing">Testing a theme and further information</a></h3>
95 <p>After you have edited your themes, you are now ready to test it out.
96 Simply go to http://mygeeklogsite/usersettings.php?mode=preferences - in the
97 theme drop-down select your newly created theme (note the name of your theme is
98 the <em>same</em> name as the directory for your theme).
100 <p>Finally, you may want to update the logo and other images in your
101 theme's images directory.
103 <p>For the template system we are using PHPLib's template class (<a
104 href="http://phplib.sourceforge.net/">http://phplib.sourceforge.net/</a>).
105 Read their documentation and, optionally, look at
106 /path/to/geeklog/system/classes/template.class.php to see how it is
107 implemented. Even with this knowledge it may not be clear which templates
108 are used in conjunction with one another (i.e. <tt>storytext.thtml</tt> and
109 <tt>storybodytext.thtml</tt> together make up the complete format of a
111 story). If you have questions join our mailing list at <a
112 href="http://lists.geeklog.net/listinfo/geeklog-users">http://lists.geeklog.net/listinfo/geeklog-users</a>
113 or check us out in IRC at irc.freenode.net in #geeklog.</p>
115 <h3><a name="tips">Tips and tricks</a></h3>
117 <p><strong><a name="wysiwyg">Themes and WYSIWYG editors:</a></strong>
118 The template files used by Geeklog are not complete HTML files - they contain
119 only parts of the HTML that Geeklog puts together to build a proper HTML
120 document. This, however, seems to confuse some WYSIWYG HTML editors and some of
121 them tend to add the HTML which they think is missing from the file, thus
122 making it unusable for Geeklog.<br>
123 We suggest you use a simple text editor to edit your themes.</p>
125 <p><strong><a name="php">PHP in themes:</a></strong>
126 You can use PHP in the <em>header</em> of a theme, i.e. in the
127 <tt>header.thtml</tt> file. If you want to use custom PHP functions, you can
128 put them in the file <tt>functions.php</tt> within your themes directory.</p>
130 <p><strong><a name="different-look">Different look for left and right blocks:</a></strong>
131 You can give the blocks on the left and right a different look. See
132 <a href="http://www.geeklog.net/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=21070">this story on the Geeklog homepage</a> for details.</p>
134 <p><strong><a name="polls">Polls:</a></strong>
135 To use multi-colored bars in the graphical display of poll results, you can use
136 the <code>{answer_counter}</code> and <code>{answer_odd}</code> variables in
137 the <tt>pollbooth/pollvotes_bar.thtml</tt> template file.
138 <code>{answer_counter}</code> will be replaced with a running number for each
139 answer, hence <code>bar{answer_counter}.gif</code> would result in
140 <tt>bar1.gif</tt>, <tt>bar2.gif</tt>, etc. Giving each of those GIFs a different
141 color would give you a different color for each answer.<br>
142 <code>{answer_odd}</code> will alternate between 0 and 1 for every answer, hence
143 <code>bar{answer_odd}.gif</code> will result in <tt>bar0.gif</tt> for the first,
144 third, fifth, etc. answer and <tt>bar1.gif</tt> for the second, fourth, etc.
147 <p><strong><a name="left-blocks">Left blocks in the right column:</a></strong>
148 <code>$_CONF['left_blocks_in_footer']</code> is a
149 rather curious option. It makes the <code>{left_blocks}</code> variable
150 available in the site's footer (i.e. <tt>footer.thtml</tt>) while at the same
151 time disabling it in the header (<tt>header.thtml</tt>).<br>
152 The idea is that this can be used for two-column layouts (one column for the
153 blocks and one column for the content) but when you want to have the blocks
154 on the right side. Simply moving all blocks to the right will not work as
155 expected, as you'd end up with <em>no blocks</em> at all on those pages that
156 normally only display the left blocks (e.g. <tt>article.php</tt> or the
157 admin pages). Setting <code>$_CONF['left_blocks_in_footer'] = 1</code> will
158 fix this, so that the blocks, while internally still treated as <em>left</em>
159 blocks, will actually be displayed on the <em>right</em>.<br>
160 The theme's <tt>header.thtml</tt>, <tt>footer.thtml</tt>, and
161 <tt>leftblocks.thtml</tt> will probably need some adjustments. The
162 'left_blocks_in_footer' option is therefore not available in the main
163 configuration but should instead be set in the theme's <tt>functions.php</tt>
164 file. That way, you can even leave your users a choice between, for example,
165 a "normal" theme and one with the blocks on the right.</p>
167 <p><strong><a name="error-message">Error Message:</a></strong>
168 Since Geeklog 1.4.1 it is possible to control what HTML is displayed to
169 non-root users in the event of an error occurring (a crash bug). To do
170 so, you need to change the function <code>CUSTOM_handleError</code> in
171 lib-custom.php to output any HTML you like.</p>
173 <p><strong><a name="permalink">Adding a "permalink" to stories:</a></strong>
174 Many websites offer a so-called permalink, i.e. a link to a permanent URL for
175 the story. In Geeklog's default Professional theme, the article's headline
176 already provides the same functionality - it links to a permanent URL for the
177 story (pointing to article.php). However, since this is not very obvious and
178 since visitors often expect to find a "permalink" somewhere on the page, here's
179 how to add one yourself:</p>
181 <li>Find a place in the story template files. The "story-footer" section in
182 <tt>storytext.thtml</tt> may be a good place since it already contains quite a
183 few story-related links.</li>
184 <li>Once you've found a place to put the permalink entry, enter this piece of
186 <code style="margin-left:2em"><a href="{article_url}">{lang_permalink}<a></code><br>
187 This will add a link to the article (<code>article_url</code>) using the word
188 "Permalink" from the current language file (<code>lang_permalink</code>).</li>
189 <li>Try it out. Be aware that at this point, your permalink entry only shows up
190 for non-featured articles. You may want to tweak the appearance a bit (using
191 CSS) or move the link around.</li>
192 <li>Add the same piece of code to the <tt>featuredstorytext.thtml</tt> and
193 <tt>archivestorytext.thtml</tt> templates so that the link also appears for
194 featured and archived stories.</li>
198 <h2><a name="changes">Theme changes in Geeklog 1.6.1</a></h2>
201 <li>Added a "send copy to myself" option to
202 <tt>profiles/contactauthorform.thtml</tt></li>
203 <li>Cosmetics: Made the look and layout of the "Send mail to user"
204 (<tt>contactuserform.thtml</tt>) and "Mail Story to a Friend"
205 (<tt>contactauthorform.thtml</tt>) dialogs more consistent (alignment, size
206 of input fields).</li>
207 <li>The Topic Editor now contains a line displaying the number of stories in
208 the current topic. New variables in <tt>admin/topic/topiceditor.thtml</tt>:
209 <code>{lang_num_stories}</code>, <code>{num_stories}</tt></li>
210 <li>Cosmetics: Fixed the position of the story preview when using the
211 advanced editor (was slightly shifted to the right, <a
212 href="http://project.geeklog.net/tracking/view.php?id=963">bug #0000963</a>). Changes to the <code><div id="preview"></code> in
213 <tt>admin/story/storyeditor_advanced.thtml</tt>.</li>
214 <li>Cosmetics: Removed <code>font-size:larger;</code> for the header fields of
215 the admin lists from the stylesheet, but added some top/bottom padding
216 (<a href="http://project.geeklog.net/tracking/view.php?id=956">bug #0000956</a>).</li>
217 <li>Cosmetics: Removed a <code>width="180"</code> from the Block editor template
218 (<tt>admin/block/blockeditor.thtml</tt>) that pushed the first column too
219 far to the right.</li>
220 <li>Cosmetics: Made the permission checkboxes look more like an Admin list,
221 <tt>admin/common/edit_permissions.thtml</tt>. Introduced new CSS class
222 <tt>admin-list-smalltable</tt>, which is almost identical to
223 <tt>admin-list-table</tt> but without the <code>width:100%;</code></li>
224 <li>Added a link back to the story to the "Mail Story to a Friend" form,
225 <tt>profiles/contactauthorform.thtml</tt>. Available variables:
226 <tt>{lang_title}</tt>, <tt>{story_title}</tt>, <tt>{story_url}</tt>,
227 <tt>{story_link}</tt>.</tt>
228 <li>Added textarea fields for meta description and meta keywords to the Story
229 Editor (<tt>admin/story/storyeditor.thtml</tt>,
230 <tt>admin/story/storyeditor_advanced.thtml</tt>).</li>
231 <li>Added textarea fields for meta description and meta keywords to the Topic
232 Editor (<tt>admin/topic/topiceditor.thtml</tt>).</li>
233 <li>Added a <code>{remoteservice}</code> variable in
234 <tt>admin/user/edituser.thtml</tt> to optionally display the name of the
235 service a Remote User was using to log in.</li>
238 <h3>Changes to plugin templates</h3>
239 <p>Note that plugin template files are kept in a directory
240 <tt>plugins/<i>pluginnname</i>/templates</tt> and not in the <tt>layout</tt>
244 <li>Links: Removed a <code>width="150"</code> from the Category editor template
245 (<tt>admin/categoryeditor.thtml</tt>) that pushed the first column too far
247 <li>Static Pages: Added new input fields for a meta description and meta
248 keywords to the Static Pages editor.</li>
249 <li>Static Pages: In the Static Pages editor, moved the Hits display below
250 the Last Updated entry (<tt>admin/editor.thtml</tt>,
251 <tt>admin/editor_advanced.thtml</tt>).</li>
252 <li>Static Pages: Added textarea fileds for meta description and meta keywords
253 in the Static Pages editor (<tt>admin/editor.thtml</tt>,
254 <tt>admin/editor_advanced.thtml</tt>).</li>
255 <li>Polls: Added new input fields for a meta description and meta keywords to
256 the Polls editor.</li>
257 <li>Polls: Added new CSS classes <tt>poll-autotag-message</tt>,
258 <tt>poll-autotag</tt>, <tt>poll-autotag-left</tt>, used when embedding polls
259 via the new autotags.</li>
263 <h2><a name="changes160">Theme changes in Geeklog 1.6.0</a></h2>
266 <li>Themes can now opt to use a <tt>{doctype}</tt> variable in their
267 <tt>header.thtml</tt> instead of using a hard-coded DOCTYPE declaration.
268 The DOCTYPE will then be set from the configuration (currently available:
269 HTML 4.01 Strict and Transitional, XHTML 1.0 Strict and Transitional). Such
270 a theme should <em>not</em> set the <code>XHTML</code> constant in its
271 <tt>functions.php</tt> file!</li>
272 <li>When using <a href="#xhtml">XHTML</a>, the variable <tt>{xmlns}</tt> now
273 contains <tt>xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"</tt> for XHTML compliance
274 (to be used in the <tt><html></tt> element).</li>
275 <li>Added a space between a story's intro text and body text when using the
276 <tt>{story_text_no_br}</tt> variable.</li>
277 <li>The story templates in the Professional theme now use
278 <tt>{story_text_no_br}</tt> instead of <tt>{story_introtext}</tt>, i.e.
279 there are no <tt><br></tt> tags between a story's intro text and
280 body text any more. This allows for greater flexibility in formatting a
281 story (e.g. when using the intro text for teasers) but may result in older
282 stories being displayed differently now (no visible separation between intro
283 text and body text).</li>
284 <li>Bugfix: The variables <tt>{contributedby_user}</tt> and
285 <tt>{contributedby_fullname}</tt> were always empty.</li>
286 <li>The two variables <tt>{start_contributedby_anchortag}</tt> and
287 <tt>{end_contributedby_anchortag}</tt> were not set any more (since Geeklog
288 1.5.0). Instead, the link to the author's profile was added to
289 <tt>{contributedby_author}</tt>, so that the combination of these three
290 variables (as used in the story templates) still seemed to work. Geeklog
291 1.6.0 reinstates the old definitions, i.e. the anchortag variables contain
292 the opening and closing tag to link to the author's profile and
293 <tt>{contributedby_author}</tt> contains only the author's name.</li>
294 <li>New variable <tt>{photo_max_dimensions}</tt> to inform users about the
295 max. dimensions of a userphoto: <tt>preferences/userphoto.thtml</tt></li>
296 <li>Added a <tt>print.css</tt> stylesheet to be used by the
297 <tt>printable.thtml</tt> template files for articles and the static pages
299 <li>The plugin editor can now show a plugin's "display name" (or a beautified
300 version of the directory name) when using the new variable
301 <code>{pi_display_name}</code> in <tt>admin/plugins/editor.thtml</tt>.
302 This is a purely cosmetic change.</li>
303 <li>New template file <tt>admin/lists/inline.thtml</tt>, used when embedding
304 lists into an existing HTML <code><form></code> (e.g. the new Groups
306 <li>Added a "send copy to myself" option to
307 <tt>profiles/contactuserform.thtml</tt></li>
308 <li>Cosmetic changes to the <tt>admin/mail/mailform.thtml</tt> template file:
309 Removed <code>{startblock_email}</code> and <code>{endblock_email}</code>
310 and the top table. These elements are now added automatically to make the
311 the mail form look more consistent with the other admin panels.</li>
312 <li>A new checkbox has been added to <tt>search/searchform.thtml</tt> to allow
313 for a search in the title only.</li>
314 <li>Cosmetic changes to the <tt>admin/group/groupmembers.thtml</tt> template
315 file: The header (including the icon, links, and the instructions) is now
316 generated by Geeklog. The <tt><table></tt> that contained these
317 elements has been removed from the template file.</li>
318 <li>Configuration: <tt>config_element.thtml</tt> was missing a closing
319 <code></option></code> tag; the <code><col></code> tags in
320 <tt>configuration.thtml</tt> were not XHTML compliant.</li>
325 <p>The templates for the search form and search results have been changed and
326 new template files have been added for the new display modes of the search
327 results. We suggest to replace the entire <tt>search</tt> subdirectory in your
328 theme with a copy of the directory from the Professional theme as it ships
333 <p>The <tt>commentform.thtml</tt> and <tt>commentform_advanced.thtml</tt>
334 template files were changed to include a security token and a
335 <code>{notification}</code> variable (for the new option to be notified of
336 followup comments).</p>
341 <li>The template file for the Polls editor has been changed to allow up to 40
342 characters for the poll id (pid):
343 <tt>plugins/polls/templates/admin/polleditor.thtml</tt></li>
344 <li>The <tt>printable.thtml</tt> template file for the static pages plugin now
345 uses <tt>print.css</tt> (see above). It also uses the HTML Strict doctype
349 <h3>Permissions Editor</h3>
351 <p>The various instances of the Permissions Editor (where you can set the Read
352 / Edit permissions for Owner, Group, Members, Anonymous) were using slightly
353 different template variable names. From now on, the following names are defined
356 <li><tt>{lang_permissions}</tt> (headline)</li>
357 <li><tt>{lang_perm_key}</tt> (legend: R = read, ...)</li>
358 <li><tt>{permissions_editor}</tt> (the actual checkboxes)</li>
359 <li><tt>{lang_permissions_msg}</tt> (Note: members is all logged in member ...)</li>
361 <p>Template files using the alternative names will continue to work, but new
362 files should use the above names from now on.</p>
365 <h2><a name="changes152">Theme changes in Geeklog 1.5.2</a></h2>
367 <p>Note: Themes made for Geeklog 1.5.0 or 1.5.1 should work just fine with
368 Geeklog 1.5.2. In this release, we only fixed a few problems in the themes
369 (detailed below) that also affected 1.5.0 and 1.5.1. The other changes listed
370 here are optional.</p>
374 <p>These changes are actual bugs in the template files that also exist in
375 Geeklog 1.5.0 and 1.5.1. We recommend making these changes to all custom
379 <li>The security token was missing from the trackback editor template file,
380 <tt>admin/trackback/trackbackeditor.thtml</tt></li>
381 <li>The <code>{start_storylink_anchortag}</code> variable in the story templates
382 was missing the closing '>'. This caused the story title to disappear
383 on some themes. (This was a bug in Geeklog's code, so no theme changes
385 <li>The <code>{site_admin_url}</code> was missing from the Configuration form
386 action in <tt>admin/config/configuration.thtml</tt>. This may have caused
387 problems making configuration changes on some setups.</li>
388 <li>Added a hidden <code>old_pid</code> input field to the polls editor template
389 file, <tt>plugins/polls/templates/admin/polleditor.thtml</tt>, to fix
390 problems when changing a poll's ID.</li>
393 <h3>Other changes</h3>
395 <p>These changes are optional. They fix cosmetic issues or issues that only
396 affect some setups.</p>
399 <li>Cosmetics: In the Professional theme, the last menu entry isn't different
400 from the other entries, so the
401 <code>.header-navigation-container li.last</code> rule in <tt>style.css</tt>
402 is not needed for this theme.</li>
403 <li>Internationalisation: The language direction variable,
404 <code>{direction}</code>, was not available in the printer-friendly
405 templates for articles and static pages.</li>
409 <h2><a name="changes151">Theme changes in Geeklog 1.5.1</a></h2>
411 <p>Note: Themes made for Geeklog 1.5.0 are mostly compatible with Geeklog 1.5.1. We only made one mandatory change (for the Configuration admin panel) - all the other changes listed below are optional or adjustments for special setups (e.g. multi-language sites, right-to-left languages). See details below.</p>
413 <h3>Important change: Configuration</h3>
415 <p>The JavaScript code used for the Configuration admin panel used a generic name which caused conflicts with other JavaScript code. You should update the file <tt>admin/config/config_element.thtml</tt> to make sure your theme works with Geeklog 1.5.1.</p>
417 <h3>Multilingual blocks</h3>
419 <p>The multi-language support for blocks introduced in Geeklog 1.5.1 relies on
420 <em>disabled</em> blocks being swapped in dynamically. If you are using
421 Geeklog's multi-language support, you may need to modify the piece of PHP code
422 in your theme's <tt>functions.php</tt> so that it picks the correct templates
423 for these multilingual blocks:</p>
425 <pre style="margin-left:4em;"><code>$lang = COM_getLanguageId();
427 $result = DB_query("SELECT onleft,name FROM {$_TABLES['blocks']} WHERE is_enabled = 1");
429 $result = DB_query("SELECT onleft,name FROM {$_TABLES['blocks']}");
432 <p>Prior to Geeklog 1.5.1, you will probably only find the first SQL request
433 in your <tt>functions.php</tt> file.</p>
435 <h3>Other changes</h3>
438 <li>In Geeklog 1.5.0, the behaviour of the variable <code>{page_title}</code>
439 (in <tt>header.thtml</tt>) changed so that it now only contains the actual
440 page title or the site's slogan (in earlier versions, it contained both the
441 site's name and either the page title or the site's slogan). This was done
442 so that the combination <code>{page_title}{page_site_splitter}{site_name}</code>
443 could be used to place the page title before the site's name for better <a
444 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization"
445 class="wikipedia" title="Search Engine Optimization">SEO</a>. If you prefer
446 to have the site's name first on the index page and the page title first on
447 all other pages, you can now use the new variable
448 <code>{page_title_and_site_name}</code></li>
449 <li>In the Links plugin, links have an icon indicating that it's an external
450 link (taking the user away from the current site). This icon did not show
451 up properly for RTL languages (e.g Hebrew), making the link text unreadable.
452 Since we could not find a way to make it show up properly in this case, the
453 icon is not displayed when the text direction is switched to 'rtl'
455 <li>Added an optional <code>feed-link</code> class to be used for links to
456 feeds (e.g. the new Story Option entry for topic feeds). In the Professional
457 theme, a small feed icon (<tt>images/feed.png</tt>) is used as a background
458 image for these links.</li>
459 <li>An optional change to the <tt>comment/commentbar.thtml</tt> template file
460 and the <code>commentbar-line2</code> class in <tt>style.css</tt> to make
461 the "Post a comment" button float to the left and easier to see. There were
462 no changes in functionality and other commentbar layouts will continue to
464 <li>The story template files <tt>archivestorytext.thtml</tt>,
465 <tt>featuredstorytext.thtml</tt>, and <tt>storytext.thtml</tt> are now
466 using the <code>{story_text_no_br}</code> variable to refer to the story
467 text. Template files that use <code>{story_introtext}</code> here will
468 continue to work as before.</li>
472 <h2><a name="changes150">Theme changes in Geeklog 1.5.0</a></h2>
474 <h3><a name="xhtml">XHTML support</a></h3>
476 <p>Geeklog now supports XHTML compliant themes. These themes should define the
477 following constant in their <tt>functions.php</tt> file:</p>
478 <pre style="margin-left:4em;"><code>define('XHTML', ' /');</code></pre>
479 <p>This will ensure that Geeklog switches to XHTML internally. If you want your
480 theme be working both as an HTML and an XHTML theme, you should use the
481 <code>{xhtml}</code> variable wherever XHTML requires a self-closing tag,
482 e.g. <code><br /></code> would be written as <code><br{xhtml}></code>. If you don't plan to use the theme for HTML, feel free to hard-code your
483 theme for XHTML only.</p>
484 <p><strong>Note:</strong> If you're using XHTML, it is your responsibility to
485 ensure that your site's content (stories, comments, etc.) is XHTML compliant.
486 Geeklog does <em>not</em> convert your content to XHTML.</p>
488 <h3><a name="story-submission">"Contribute" - User submitted stories</a></h3>
490 <p>Geeklog 1.5.0 supports the ability for users to specify story intro text
491 and body text seperately rather than just the intro text. This can be
492 turned on and off by changing the templates. The files:</p>
494 <li>submit/submitstory.thtml</li>
495 <li>submit/submitstory_advanced.thtml</li>
497 <p>Contain table rows containing the bodytext inputs. Simply removing these
498 inputs returns behaviour to the original.</p>
500 <h3><a name="admin-menu">Admin Menu, User Menu & Topic List</a></h3>
502 <p>All the above mentioned items are now lists, using <code>ul</code> and
503 <code>li</code> tags (and a new CSS class, <tt>blocklist</tt>, to hide the list
504 bullets). Two new template files have been added to create these blocks:</p>
506 <li>blockheader-list.thtml</li>
507 <li>blockfooter-list.thtml</li>
509 <p>Please note that the <code>{blockid}</code> variable that was present in
510 pre-release versions of Geeklog 1.5.0 has since been removed.</p>
512 <h3><a name="gltoken">Security Changes</a></h3>
514 <p>Many forms, particularly in the admin section of the site need a new hidden
515 form field in order for saving the form/processing the action to work. Add:</p>
517 <pre style="margin-left:4em;"><code><input type="hidden" name="{gltoken_name}" value="{gltoken}"{xhtml}></code></pre>
518 <p>To the following templates:</p>
520 <li>admin/block/blockeditor.thtml</li>
521 <li>admin/block/defaultblockeditor.thtml</li>
522 <li>admin/config/configuration.thtml (new theme file for 1.5)</li>
523 <li>admin/group/groupeditor.thtml</li>
524 <li>admin/group/groupmembers.thtml</li>
525 <li>admin/mail/mailform.thtml</li>
526 <li>admin/plugins/editor.thtml</li>
527 <li>admin/story/storyeditor.thtml</li>
528 <li>admin/story/storyeditor_advanced.thtml</li>
529 <li>admin/syndication/feededitor.thtml</li>
530 <li>admin/topic/topiceditor.thtml</li>
531 <li>admin/trackback/pingbackform.thtml</li>
532 <li>admin/trackback/pingform.thtml</li>
533 <li>admin/trackback/serviceeditor.thtml</li>
534 <li>admin/user/edituser.thtml</li>
535 <li>comment/reportcomment.thtml</li>
537 <p>Some plugin specific templates have also been changed, you may also need to
540 <li>plugins/calendar/templates/addevent.thtml</li>
541 <li>plugins/calendar/templates/editpersonalevent.thtml</li>
542 <li>plugins/calendar/templates/dayview/quickaddform.thtml</li>
543 <li>plugins/calendar/templates/submitevent.thtml (<code>{hidden_fields}</code> variable)</li>
544 <li>plugins/links/templates/admin/categoryeditor.thtml (new theme file for 1.5)</li>
545 <li>plugins/links/templates/admin/linkeditor.thtml</li>
546 <li>plugins/polls/templates/admin/polleditor.thtml</li>
547 <li>plugins/staticpages/templates/admin/editor.thtml</li>
548 <li>plugins/staticpages/templates/admin/editor_advanced.thtml</li>
551 <h3><a name="removed">Removed Files</a></h3>
553 <p>The following template files have been removed and are no longer needed:</p>
556 <li>admin/lists/menufields.thtml</li>
557 <li>admin/lists/topmenu_nosearch.thtml</li>
558 <li>admin/plugins/newlistitem.thtml</li>
559 <li>admin/plugins/newpluginlist.thtml</li>
562 <h3><a name="sysmessage">System Message</a></h3>
564 <p>The previously hard-coded CSS for the System Messages has been moved to the
565 stylesheet (new CSS class <tt>sysmessage</tt>).</p>
568 <h2><a name="changes141">Theme changes in Geeklog 1.4.1</a></h2>
570 <p>The css in 1.4.1 has been changed to a wider extent. More and more layout
571 components are beeing moved to the stylesheet so more change in looks can be
572 achieved with less change in the files. There is a reduction of tables and DIV,
573 and a stronger focus on semantics and consistency. Please also notice that the
574 styles.css includes additional documentation on the use of classes now.</p>
576 <p>As usual, any missing new theme files can simply be copied over from the
577 default theme (Professional) that ships with Geeklog.</p>
581 <p>From now on, all headlines in blocks & stories are made with header-tags. The
582 biggest title in a story is always h1, in a block always h2.</p>
584 <h3>Story layout</h3>
585 <p>The blocks for stories have no more tables, and the classes have been renamed
586 for consistency. There is a box now around the story called class "story" or
587 "story-featured". The components inside that box are story-icons,
588 story-information, story-body and story-footer. The title is a h1-tag. For
589 featured stories, only the outer box has a different class, the rest has to be
590 cascaded for changes.</p>
593 <p>The blocks changed in the same way as the stories. There are no more tables,
594 only one div-tag as a frame around called block-box, block-box-left or
595 block-box-right. The title is a h2-tag and the help icon for the block is a span
596 with a class called block-helpicon. Sub-titles in blocks have the h3-tag (such
597 such as in the What's new or Older Stories block). The changes affect (next to
598 styles.css) the follwing files:</p>
600 <li>blockfooter-left.thtml</li>
601 <li>blockfooter-related.thtml</li>
602 <li>blockfooter-right.thtml</li>
603 <li>blockfooter.thtml</li>
604 <li>blockheader-left.thtml</li>
605 <li>blockheader-message.thtml</li>
606 <li>blockheader-related.thtml</li>
607 <li>blockheader-right.thtml</li>
608 <li>blockheader.thtml</li>
611 <h3>Admin templates</h3>
613 <p>Many of the admin template files have had minor changes to tweak appearance
614 or functionality. If you didn't modify the admin templates in your theme, the
615 easiest way to upgrade your theme's admin templates is to simply replace the
616 entire 'admin' directory with the one from Geeklog's Professional theme.</p>
619 <li>All the "delete" buttons in the admin's editors (story editor, etc.) now
620 pop up a JavaScript confirmation box as a simple measure against
621 accidental deletion. If you'd rather not have that confirmation box,
622 replace the <code>{delete_option}</code> variable with
623 <code>{delete_option_no_confirmation}</code> in the admin templates.</li>
624 <li>The order of the save / cancel / delete buttons is now consistent across
625 all admin template files (changed <tt>group/groupeditor.thtml</tt> and
626 <tt>user/edituser.thtml</tt>).</li>
627 <li>Changed the top links in <tt>lists/topmenu_nosearch.thtml</tt> and
628 <tt>topic/topiclist.thtml</tt> to be consistent with the other admin areas
629 (i.e. the links are no longer enclosed in square brackets).</li>
630 <li>To enable changing the group ownership of "gldefault" blocks, the
631 <tt>defaultblockeditor.thtml</tt> has to be changed to include a
632 <code>{group_dropdown}</code> variable.
635 <h3>Other theme changes</h3>
638 <li>There was a div for spreading the with of the blocks to a minimum in the
639 files leftblocks.thtml and rightblocks.thtml. The format of those has been
640 transferred to the stylesheet with the class name block-bg-spreader</li>
641 <li>The template for the Polls-plugin has renamed classes block-vote-results to
642 poll-vote-results and block-vote to poll-vote to avoid confustion with
643 block-related classes.</li>
644 <li>The template files used by the Calendar plugin are now located in the
645 plugin's directory, (<tt>/path/to/geeklog/plugins/calendar/templates</tt>),
646 so the entire 'calendar' directory can be removed from the theme
648 The <tt>submitevent.thtml</tt>, <tt>editpersonalevent.thtml</tt>,
649 <tt>admin/eventeditor.thtml</tt>, and <tt>dayview/quickaddform.thtml</tt>
650 have also been changed to (optionally) support entering the time in <a
651 href="calendar.html#desc_hour_mode">24 hour mode</a>: A hidden input field
652 "hour_mode" is now required, the am/pm dropdowns are available as variables
653 <code>{startampm_selection}</code>, <code>{endampm_selection}</code>,
654 <code>{ampm_selection}</code>, depending on the template file), and the
655 dropdowns for the minutes are available as variables
656 (<code>{startminute_options}</code>, <code>{endminute_options}</code>,
657 <code>{minute_options}</code>, depending on the template file).</li>
658 <li>The variables <code>{author}</code> and <code>{owner}</code> are now
659 available in every template where an object's author (e.g. story or
660 comment author) or owner (e.g. owner of a block) name can be displayed.
661 They will also respect the <a
662 href="config.html#desc_show_fullname">$_CONF['show_fullname']</a> setting,
663 i.e. display either the user's full name or username.</li>
664 <li>The Article Author's tag in <tt>storytext.thtml</tt> and
665 <tt>featuredstorytext.thtml</tt> is now called
666 <code>{contributedby_author}.</code></li>
667 <li>To enable a remarks field in the answer to polls, the
668 <tt>pollvotes_bar.thtml</tt>, <tt>pollansweroption.thtml</tt> and
669 <tt>polleditor.thtml</tt> were changed. The
670 <tt>pollvotes_bar.thtml</tt> is now colored and has two lines, a class
671 for color coding each line and the <code>{answer_text}</code>. The
672 <tt>polleditor.thtml</tt> has an aditional field to enter the remarks,
673 same as the <tt>pollansweroption.thtml</tt>.
674 <li>A user's Account Information page has been redesigned. While there were no
675 technical changes (i.e. template files from earlier versions will still
676 work), some options have been rearranged and a note has been added to tell
677 the user that the current password is required to change those. Affected
678 files in the <tt>preferences</tt> directory: <tt>profile.thtml</tt>,
679 <tt>username.thtml</tt>, and <tt>userphoto.thtml</tt>.</li>
680 <li>The <tt>navbar</tt> directory now contains four files,
681 <tt>menuitem.thtml</tt>,<tt>navbar.thtml</tt>,<tt>breadcrumbs.thtml</tt>,<tt>breadcrumb_link</tt> as well as two images,
682 <tt>button.gif</tt> and <tt>button_over.gif</tt>.</li>
683 <li>A <a name="captcha"><code>{captcha}</code></a> variable has been added to
686 <li><tt>comment/commentform.thtml</tt></li>
687 <li><tt>comment/commentform_advanced.thtml</tt></li>
688 <li><tt>profiles/contactauthorform.thtml</tt></li>
689 <li><tt>profiles/contactuserform.thtml</tt></li>
690 <li><tt>submit/submitstory.thtml</tt></li>
691 <li><tt>submit/submitstory_advanced.thtml</tt></li>
692 <li><tt>users/registrationform.thtml</tt></li>
694 This variable is supposed to be used by a plugin that implements <a
695 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA" class="wikipedia">CAPTCHA</a>s
696 and will simply be empty when no such plugin is installed.</li>
699 <h3>Professional theme</h3>
701 <p>The following changes are specific to the Professional theme. There is
702 probably no need to port them over to other themes.</p>
705 <li>The theme now uses CSS everywhere for spacing and dividers instead of
706 relying on a 1x1 pixel transparent GIF image (<tt>speck.gif</tt>).</li>
707 <li>The amount of nested tables has been reduced, e.g. in the block
709 <li>Two unused template files, <tt>customlogin-header.thtml</tt> and
710 <tt>customlogin-footer.thtml</tt>, have been removed.</li>
714 <h2><a name="changes140">Theme changes in Geeklog 1.4.0</a></h2>
716 <p>As usual, any missing new theme files can simply be copied over from the
717 default theme (Professional) that ships with Geeklog.</p>
719 <h3>Admin templates</h3>
721 <p>Geeklog 1.4.0 comes with revamped Admin sections which required a lot of
722 theme changes. We therefore suggest that you simply replace the entire
723 <tt>admin</tt> directory of your theme with the <tt>admin</tt> directory
724 from Geeklog's default theme (Professional) as it ships with Geeklog 1.4.0
725 and apply any modfications you may have made to your Admin templates again
728 <p><strong>Note:</strong> The new icons for "Command and Control"
729 (<tt>moderation.php</tt>) in the Professional theme use a white background.
730 For themes with a dark (or other non-white) background, you can <a
731 href="http://www.geeklog.net/filemgmt/singlefile.php?lid=623">download</a> these
732 icons as PNGs with alpha transparency (note that Internet Explorer can not
733 display images with alpha transparency unless you include a JavaScript "<a
734 href="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bobosola/">hack</a>" into your theme, so you
735 may want to convert those icons to normal transparency or simply set the
736 background to that of your theme).</p>
739 <h3>Advanced editor</h3>
741 <p>To use the included advanced editor (FCKeditor) you will need the following
742 new template files:</p>
744 <li><tt>comment/commentform_advanced.thtml</tt> (for comments)</li>
745 <li><tt>submit/submitstory_advanced.thtml</tt> (for story submissions)</li>
746 <li><tt>admin/story/storyeditor_advanced.thtml</tt> (Admin's story editor)</li>
747 <li><tt>staticpages/templates/admin/editor_advanced.thtml</tt> (for the Static
748 Pages editor, located in <tt>/path/to/geeklog/plugins</tt>)</li>
749 <li><tt>advanced_editor_header.thtml</tt> (included by all of the above)</li>
751 <p>You also have to add <code>{advanced_editor}</code> to the <code><head></code> section of your theme's <tt>header.thtml</tt> file.</p>
753 <h3>Other changes</h3>
756 <li>The comment templates <tt>commentbar.thtml</tt> and <tt>thread.thtml</tt>
757 have changed due to changes in the comment handling.</li>
758 <li>New directories <tt>trackback</tt> and <tt>admin/trackback</tt> containing
759 several new template files have been added for the trackback support.</li>
760 <li>New variables <code>{send_trackback_link}</code>,
761 <code>{send_trackback_url}</code>, and
762 <code>{lang_send_trackback_text}</code> are available in the story and
763 article template files. They provide a complete link as well as the URL and
764 link text allowing you to send a trackback comment for the current
766 <li>The <tt>links</tt> and <tt>admin/link</tt> directories have been
767 removed. Links are now a plugin and the plugin's templates can be found in
768 <tt>/path/to/geeklog/plugins/links/templates</tt>.</li>
769 <li>The <tt>pollbooth</tt> and <tt>admin/poll</tt> directories have been
770 removed. Polls are now a plugin and the plugin's templates can be found in
771 <tt>/path/to/geeklog/plugins/polls/templates</tt>.</li>
772 <li>The <tt>preferences/profile.thtml</tt> template now has additional fields
773 for the password change (old password, confirmation field for the new
775 <li>The search form, <tt>search/searchform.thtml</tt> has a new option for the
776 number of search results per page, while the hard-coded option to search
777 for links has been removed (since Links are in plugin now, it will show up
778 as part of the <code>{plugin_types}</code> option).</li>
779 <li>An additional variable, <code>{services}</code>, has to be added to the
780 <tt>loginform.thtml</tt> template file if you plan to allow users to log in
781 to your site using remote authentication.</li>
782 <li>If you plan to enable Trackbacks on your site, you may want to add links to
783 a story's trackbacks section to your story template files, e.g.
784 <code>{start_trackbacks_anchortag}{trackbacks_with_count}{end_trackbacks_anchortag}</code>. See the Professional theme's story template files for
786 <li>For the site statistics, the file <tt>stats/sitestatistics.thtml</tt> has
787 changed (entries for the links and poll have been removed and a new entry
788 for the number of active users has been added). There is also a new file,
789 <tt>stats/singlesummary.thtml</tt>, that is used for plugin entries.</li>
790 <li>The <tt>navbar</tt> directory is now part of a Geeklog theme (previously
791 used by some plugins, e.g. the Forum plugin). It contains two files,
792 <tt>menuitem.thtml</tt> and <tt>navbar.thtml</tt>, as well as two images,
793 <tt>button.gif</tt> and <tt>button_over.gif</tt>.</li>
797 <h2><a name="changes1311">Theme changes in Geeklog 1.3.11</a></h2>
799 <p>There are no mandatory theme changes in Geeklog 1.3.11, so themes made for Geeklog 1.3.10 will work just fine without any modifications.</p>
801 <p>A few minor additions / new options have been introduced:</p>
803 <li>A new variable, <code>{camera_icon}</code>, can now be used in the story
804 and comment template files to display the small camera icon (the same as in
805 the Who's Online block) to link to the author's user profile (only if they
806 uploaded a userphoto).</li>
807 <li>The <code>{layout_url}</code> variable is now available in the templates
808 for the story, link, and event submission forms.</li>
809 <li>Also in the submission forms, a variable <code>{separator}</code> is now
810 available in addition to the misspelled <code>{seperator}</code>
812 <li>A new variable, <code>{calendar_mode}</code>, can be used in the
813 <tt>calendar/events.thtml</tt> template file to ensure that the "add event"
814 link will take the user to the proper event submission form for either the
815 site calendar or the personal calendar.</li>
818 <h2><a name="changes1310">Theme changes in Geeklog 1.3.10</a></h2>
820 <p>General note: To upgrade your custom theme for use with Geeklog 1.3.10, you can simply copy over any new template files from the Geeklog default theme.</p>
822 <p>The biggest change in Geeklog 1.3.10 is that we now ship it with only one
823 default theme (the Professional theme, kindly provided by Victor B. Gonzalez)
824 and that the previously included themes are now available as a separate
827 <h3>Admin templates</h3>
829 <p>Most themes don't change the template files in the theme's <tt>admin</tt>
830 directory, so you can often save yourself a bit of work by simply replacing
831 the entire <tt>admin</tt> directory with the one from the Geeklog 1.3.10
835 <li>The story editor, <tt>admin/story/storyeditor.thtml</tt> includes new
836 options for the story archiving and for editable story IDs. <em>It is
837 recommended to make a copy of this file and re-apply any changes you may
838 have made to your copy again afterwards!</em></li>
839 <li>The list of polls, <tt>admin/poll/polllist.thtml</tt> now supports
840 paging, i.e. uses the {google_paging} variable.</li>
841 <li>The list of events uses paging and a row number now (files affected:
842 <tt>admin/event/eventlist.thtml</tt> and
843 <tt>admin/event/listitem.thtml</tt>).</li>
844 <li>The plugin editor, <tt>admin/plugins/editor.thml</tt>, now displays 2
845 version numbers for the plugin: The installed version and the (possibly
846 differing) version of the actual code. In the latter case, it will also
847 display an update button.<br>
848 The list of plugins, <tt>admin/plugins/pluginlist.thtml</tt> and
849 <tt>admin/plugins/listitem.thtml</tt>, also displays the 2 version numbers
850 and now supports paging when more than 25 plugins are installed.</li>
851 <li>The topic editor, <tt>admin/topic/topiceditor.thtml</tt>, contained a
852 hard-coded "10" for the default number of stories per pages. The new
853 variable {default_limit} provides the actual default value now.</li>
854 <li><tt>admin/mail/mailform.thtml</tt> has been changed to look slightly less
858 <h3>Other templates</h3>
861 <li>Added two new templates for the new story archive feature. This allows you
862 to theme olderstories differently. By default Geeklog 1.3.10 ships with
863 these template files not themed and the same as a standard story. The new
864 template files are <ul><li>archivestorytext.thtml</li>
865 <li>archivestorybodytext.thtml</li></ul></li>
866 <li>Due to various changes in the comment engine, it is recommended that you
867 copy over all the comment template files from the <tt>comment</tt> directory
868 (<tt>comment/reportcomment.thtml</tt> is actually a new file).</li>
869 <li>In <tt>calendar/dayview/dayview.thtml</tt>, i.e. in the calendar's day
870 view, the hard-coded am/pm times have been replaced by variables of the
871 form {xx_hour} (where 'xx' is 0-23).</li>
872 <li>In the event details template, i.e. in <tt>calendar/eventdetails.thtml</tt>,
873 the event type and an edit icon were added (this change was only made in
874 Geeklog 1.3.10rc3).</li>
875 <li>A "location" field was added in the user's profile: Added {lang_location}
876 and {user_location} in <tt>users/profile.thtml</tt> and {lang_location},
877 {lang_location_text}, and {location_value} in
878 <tt>preferences/profile.thtml</tt>.</li>
881 <h3>Optional changes</h3>
883 <p>The following is a list of optional changes (mostly new variables that are
884 now available). This information is mostly of interest for those who want to
885 develop their own themes.</p>
888 <li>{article_url}, i.e. the full URL to an article, is now also available in
889 <tt>article/printable.thtml</tt>.</li>
890 <li>In <tt>links/linkdetails.thtml</tt> the new variable {link_actual_url} now
891 contains the actual link URL (instead of a link to Geeklog's
892 <tt>portal.php</tt>).</li>
893 <li>The following variables are now available in <tt>calendar/eventdetails.thtml</tt>:
894 {event_state_name} (full name of the state), {event_state_only} and
895 {event_state_name_only} (abbreviated and full state name without the comma),
896 {event_edit} (link to edit the event, if allowed for the current user),
897 {edit_icon} (same, but with the edit icon instead of a text link),
898 {lang_event_type} and {event_type} for the event type
899 <li>The topic image is now available through the {topic_image} variable in
900 <tt>topicoption.thtml</tt> and <tt>topicoption_off.thtml</tt></li>
901 <li>Several class names have been introduced so that the various lists that
902 Geeklog uses can now be styled individually: list-feed, list-new-comments,
903 list-new-links, list-new-plugins, list-older-stories, list-personal-events,
904 list-site-events, list-story-options, list-whats-related (the names should
905 be self-explanatory).<br>
906 Use {list_class_name} to get the actual class name, and {list_class} to get
907 class="classname".</li>
908 <li>Several class names have been introduced so that the 2 small calendars
909 in the calendar's month view can be styled: .smallcal, .smallcal-headline,
910 .smallcal-week-even, .smallcal-week-odd, .smallcal-week-empty,
911 .smallcal-day-even, .smallcal-day-odd, and .smallcal-day-empty</li>
915 <h2><a name="changes139">Theme changes in Geeklog 1.3.9</a></h2>
918 <li>In <tt>header.thtml</tt>, you can now use the new variable
919 <code>{allowed_menu_elements}</code> as an alternative to using
920 <code>{menu_elements}</code>. The new variable takes the
921 <code>$_CONF['<i>XXX</i>loginrequired']</code> settings into account, i.e.
922 it will only list those entries that the current user has access to.</li>
923 <li>The <tt>admin/syndication</tt> directory, containing
924 <tt>feededitor.thtml</tt>, <tt>listfeeds.thtml</tt>,
925 <tt>listitem.thtml</tt>, and <tt>selecttype.thtml</tt> has been added.</li>
926 <li>Template files <tt>comment/comment.thtml</tt> and
927 <tt>comment/thread.thtml</tt> have been added and
928 <tt>comment/startcomment.thtml</tt> has been changed to implement
929 template-driven comments.<br>
930 Please note that <tt>comment/comment.thtml</tt> was changed <em>again</em>
931 in Geeklog 1.3.9rc2.</li>
932 <li>A <code>{link_edit}</code> variable has been added to
933 <tt>links/linkdetails.thtml</tt> so that admins can edit links directly
934 from the links section.</li>
935 <li>An "edit" icon has been added: <tt>images/edit.gif</tt>. The new variable
936 <code>{edit_icon}</code> can be used as an alternative to
937 <code>{edit_link}</code> in the story template files and in
938 <tt>links/linkdetails.thtml</tt>.</li>
939 <li>In the <tt>calendar/calendar.thtml</tt> file, the "mode" parameter has been
940 added to the << and >> buttons, so that users stay in their
941 personal calendar when browsing through months.</li>
942 <li>A new file, <tt>admin/group/groupmembers.thtml</tt>, has been added and
943 <tt>admin/group/listitem.thtml</tt> has been changed for the new
944 alternative option to add users to groups.</li>
945 <li>A new file, <tt>admin/block/listside.thtml</tt>, has been added and
946 <tt>admin/block/listitem.thtml</tt> and <tt>admin/block/listblocks.thtml</tt>
947 have been changed for the enhanced block list.</li>
948 <li>A <code>{google_paging}</code> variable has been added to
949 <tt>admin/link/linklist.thtml</tt>. Also added a column number to
950 <tt>linklist.thtml</tt> and <tt>admin/link/listitem.thtml</tt>.</li>
951 <li>All template files where the user can enter a URL are now using a new
952 variable, <code>{max_url_length}</code>, instead of a hard-coded number of
953 characters for the max. length of the URL. Files affected:
954 <tt>admin/block/blockeditor.thtml</tt>,
955 <tt>admin/event/eventeditor.thtml</tt>,
956 <tt>admin/link/linkeditor.thtml</tt>,
957 <tt>admin/topic/topiceditor.thtml</tt>,
958 <tt>submit/submitevent.thtml</tt>, <tt>submit/submitlink.thtml</tt>.</li>
959 <li>The hard-coded <code>&nbsp;</code> has been removed from the
960 <code>{welcome_msg}</code> variable. The blank was then added to the
961 <tt>header.thtml</tt> of the Classic, XSilver, and Yahoo themes (the other
962 themes either look fine without it or didn't use <code>{welcome_msg}</code>
963 in the first place).</li>
964 <li>An extra <code>table</code> has been removed from the
965 <tt>users/profile.thtml</tt> file of the XSilver theme so that the
966 username now lines up properly with the other entries.</li>
969 <h2><a name="changes138">Theme changes in Geeklog 1.3.8</a></h2>
971 <p>Theme changes in Geeklog 1.3.8 were mostly aimed at moving as much of the
972 hard-coded HTML into template files as possible. Other changes were made to
973 give theme authors better control over the layout and a small portion of changes
974 were done to incorporate new Geeklog features.</p>
976 <h3>New template files</h3>
978 <p>This is a list of the new files. You can safely copy these over from one of
979 the standard themes that ship with Geeklog (most of these files contain HTML
980 that was previously hard-coded into Geeklog).</p>
982 <pre>adminoption_off.thtml
985 topicoption_off.thtml
987 admin/database/listbackups.thtml
988 admin/database/listitem.thtml
989 admin/user/edituser.thtml
990 admin/user/plainlist.thtml
991 comment/commentbar.thtml
992 comment/startcomment.thtml
993 pollbooth/pollanswer.thtml
994 pollbooth/pollblock.thtml
995 pollbooth/pollcomments.thtml
996 pollbooth/pollresult.thtml
997 pollbooth/pollvotes_bar.thtml
998 pollbooth/pollvotes_num.thtml
999 preferences/boxesblock.thtml
1000 preferences/commentblock.thtml
1001 preferences/deleteaccount.thtml
1002 preferences/digestblock.thtml
1003 preferences/displayblock.thtml
1004 preferences/displayprefs.thtml
1005 preferences/excludeblock.thtml
1006 preferences/language.thtml
1007 preferences/privacyblock.thtml
1008 preferences/profile.thtml
1009 preferences/theme.thtml
1010 preferences/username.thtml
1011 preferences/userphoto.thtml
1012 search/resultauthdatehits.thtml
1013 search/resultrowenhanced.thtml
1014 search/resultsummary.thtml
1015 search/resulttitle.thtml
1016 users/newpassword.thtml</pre>
1018 <p>Note: <tt>preferences</tt> and <tt>admin/database</tt> are new directores.</p>
1021 <h3>Changed / updated template files</h3>
1023 <p>These files have changed since Geeklog 1.3.7, i.e. they may contain new
1024 variables, table columns, etc. If you haven't changed these files in your
1025 existing theme, it is probably best to simply copy them over from one of the
1026 themes that ship with Geeklog (with the exception of <tt>style.css</tt> and
1027 <tt>header.thtml</tt>, see below).</p>
1029 <pre>style.css <em>(see below)</em>
1030 header.thtml <em>(see below)</em>
1031 admin/block/blockeditor.thtml
1032 admin/block/listblocks.thtml
1033 admin/block/listitem.thtml
1034 admin/event/eventeditor.thtml
1035 admin/event/eventlist.thtml
1036 admin/event/listitem.thtml
1037 admin/group/grouplist.thtml
1038 admin/group/listitem.thtml
1039 admin/story/liststories.thtml
1040 admin/topic/listitem.thtml
1041 admin/topic/topiceditor.thtml
1042 admin/topic/topiclist.thtml
1043 calendar/editpersonalevent.thtml
1044 calendar/eventdetails.thtml
1045 search/searchform.thtml
1046 search/searchresults.thtml
1047 submit/submitevent.thtml
1048 users/getpasswordform.thtml</pre>
1050 <p>In <tt>style.css</tt>, four classes have been added that are used in the
1051 new search code of Geeklog 1.3.8. Instead of copying over the entire file, you
1052 will probably only want to copy over the code for those four classes:
1053 <tt>searchAuth</tt>, <tt>searchDate</tt>, <tt>searchHits</tt>,
1054 <tt>highlight</tt>.</p>
1056 <p>If the <tt>header.thtml</tt> of your theme is using the
1057 <tt>{menu_elements}</tt> variable, then you do <em>not</em> need to make any
1058 changes to it. If it is not using that variable, then you will need to make one
1059 change to it. In that case, search your <tt>header.thtml</tt> for the link
1060 to the story submission form, i.e. something like</p>
1061 <pre style="margin-left:4em;"><code><a href="{site_url}/submit.php?type=story"></code></pre>
1062 <p>and change it to read</p>
1063 <pre style="margin-left:4em;"><code><a href="{site_url}/submit.php?type=story{current_topic}"></code></pre>
1066 <h3>Removed template files</h3>
1068 <p>If you have a file named <tt>commentheader.thtml</tt> in your theme
1069 directory, you can safely remove it. It isn't used at all.</p>
1072 <h2><a name="changes137">Theme changes in Geeklog 1.3.7</a></h2>
1074 <p>Please note that all the following changes are <em>optional</em>. Themes
1075 made for Geeklog 1.3.6 will work just fine with Geeklog 1.3.7 - no changes
1078 <h3>New features and improvements</h3>
1081 <li>Theme-based topic icons are now supported by setting <tt>$_THEME_URL</tt>
1082 in the theme's <tt>functions.php</tt> file. The variable should point to
1083 a directory that has the same hierarchy as Geeklog's images directory
1084 (note that the path to topic images is stored relative to Geeklog's
1085 public_html directory).<br>
1086 <strong>Example:</strong>
1087 <code>$_THEME_URL = $_CONF['layout_url'];</code></li>
1088 <li>The <code>$_BLOCK_TEMPLATE</code> "hack" can now be applied to the
1089 What's Related and Story Options blocks, as well. Use
1090 <tt>whats_related_block</tt> and <tt>story_options_block</tt> as the block
1092 <li>The What's Related and Story Options blocks are now available as
1093 separate variables using <tt>{whats_related}</tt> and
1094 <tt>{story_options}</tt>, respectively
1095 (the <tt>{whats_related_story_options}</tt> variable for both blocks is
1096 still available).</li>
1097 <li>Several new variables can now be used in the story templates, e.g.
1098 <tt>{contributedby_fullname}</tt> for the full name of a story author and
1099 <tt>{contributedby_photo}</tt> for his/her user photo.</li>
1100 <li>When the new config variable <tt>$_CONF['showfirstasfeatured']</tt> is set
1101 to 1, then the first story on <em>every</em> page is rendered using the
1102 template files for featured stories, even when the story is not marked as
1106 <h3>Other changes</h3>
1109 <li>The template file <tt>admin/plugins/installform.thtml</tt> has been
1110 removed since it isn't used any more.</li>
1111 <li>Two new <em>optional</em> template files,
1112 <tt>admin/plugins/newpluginlist.thtml</tt> and
1113 <tt>admin/plugins/newlistitem.thml</tt>, have been added to support
1114 formatting of the list of plugins which haven't been installed yet. If
1115 these files do not exist, hard-coded HTML is used to present the list.</li>
1116 <li>The template file <tt>admin/link/listitem.thtml</tt> has been changed
1117 so that all the links are clickable.</li>
1118 <li><code>COM_pollResults()</code> doesn't use the side block templates any
1119 more when called from <tt>pollbooth.php</tt>. Therefore, you can now use
1120 different layouts whether the poll results are displayed in a side block
1121 or on the separate poll results and comments page.</li>
1122 <li>Removed the Normal / Archive / Refreshing drop down menus from the admin
1123 story and poll editors of the themes that ship with Geeklog. The setting
1124 of this dropdown isn't used in Geeklog anyway and has just confused users
1125 in the past ... (files <tt>admin/story/storyeditor.thtml</tt> and
1126 <tt>admin/poll/polleditor.thtml</tt>)</li>
1130 <h2><a name="changes136">Theme changes in Geeklog 1.3.6</a></h2>
1132 <p>There have been a lot of changes in the themes for 1.3.6 to get rid of the
1133 last pieces of hard-coded english texts so as to make localisation easier.
1134 Most of these changes have been made in the Admin editors (<tt>admin</tt>
1135 directory) and the calendar (<tt>calendar</tt> directory). If you created
1136 your own theme for an earlier version of Geeklog, we recommend that you copy
1137 over these two directories from one of the themes that come with Geeklog
1138 (choose one that is similar to your own theme or which it was originally based
1139 on). It seems like most Geeklog themes didn't change these files anyway, so
1140 this shouldn't be too much of a hassle ...</p>
1142 <h3>Other changes</h3>
1144 <li>The template file <tt>admin/mail/mailform.thtml</tt> has been added.
1145 This form for sending emails to other users of the site was previously
1146 hard-coded into Geeklog.<br>
1147 If you followed the above advice and copied over the <tt>admin</tt>
1148 directory to your theme, you got this file already.</li>
1149 <li>Two new files <tt>menuitem_last.thtml</tt> and
1150 <tt>menuitem_none.thtml</tt> have been added to give theme authors better
1151 control over the items in menu bars ({menu_elements} and {plg_menu_elements}
1152 variables in <tt>header.thtml</tt>). The template file
1153 <tt>menuitem.thtml</tt> is now used to render the first and any following
1154 menu items - with the exception of the last menu item, which is rendered
1155 using <tt>menuitem_last.thtml</tt>. If there are no menu elements for a
1156 menu bar, <tt>menuitem_none.thtml</tt> is used.</li>
1157 <li>New files have been added and the existing files have been changed for
1158 the links section (<tt>links</tt> directory). Again, we recommend to just
1159 copy over those files from one of the themes that ship with Geeklog.<br>
1160 The new files are: <tt>categoryactivecol.thtml</tt>,
1161 <tt>categorycol.thtml</tt>, <tt>categorynavigation.thtml</tt>,
1162 <tt>categoryrow.thtml</tt>, <tt>pagenavigation.thtml</tt></li>
1163 <li>The user profile has been extended to include a list of the last 10
1164 stories as well as the total numbers of stories and comments posted by that
1165 user. Have a look at the file <tt>users/profile.thtml</tt> to see the
1166 changes or just copy that file over from one of the themes that ship with
1167 Geeklog. You should also copy over the file <tt>users/storyrow.thtml</tt>
1168 which describes the block for the last 1o stories.</li>
1169 <li>The Classic theme has been updated to have an "Edit" link (for
1170 StoryAdmins) in every story now.<br>
1171 Files changed: <tt>storybodytext.thtml</tt>,
1172 <tt>featuredstorybodytext.thtml</tt></li>
1173 <li>In the Classic and Digital Monochrome themes the "contact" link now
1174 points to the form to send an email to the admin user instead of using a
1175 <code>mailto:</code> link with the site's email address from the
1179 <h3>CSS changes</h3>
1181 <li>The underscore '_' is not a valid character in CSS. Therefore, some class names used by the Geeklog calendar have been changed to use the dash '-' instead. You may need to change your stylesheet accordingly.<br>
1182 Names that changed: <b>cal-oldday</b>, <b>cal-today</b>,
1183 <b>cal-futureday</b>, <b>cal-nullday</b>, <b>weekview-curday</b>,
1184 <b>weekview-offday</b></li>
1185 <li>A new class named <b>pagenav</b> can be used to format the paged
1187 Please note that this change was made <em>after</em> the release of Geeklog
1188 1.3.6rc1 and affects the use of the paged navigation in
1189 <tt>admin/user/userslist.thtml</tt> and <tt>links/links.thtml</tt>: In
1190 1.3.6rc1, the navigation was wrapped in <p> tags in those files. As
1191 of Geeklog 1.3.6 however, the function producing the navigation will wrap
1192 it in a <div> automatically.</li>
1195 <p><strong>Note:</strong> Theme authors are encouraged to specify a character
1196 set in the <tt>header.thtml</tt> of their themes like this:</p>
1197 <pre style="margin-left:4em;"><code><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset={charset}"></code></pre>
1198 <p>Geeklog will replace the <code>{charset}</code> variable with the proper
1199 character set based on the currently used language file. Also make sure that
1200 you put the above line <em>before</em> the <code><title></code> tag in
1201 the <code><head></code> section of your <tt>header.thtml</tt> file.</p>
1203 <div class="footer">
1204 <a href="http://wiki.geeklog.net/">The Geeklog Documentation Project</a><br>
1205 All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Geeklog is copyleft.