Subversion Repositories Sites.tela-botanica.org

<erreur_MySQL>

{{{A template problem}}}

When SPIP faces an error in its communication with MySQL database, it displays on the screen the failed query as well as the error message returned by the database (in red).

The problem could result:

- either from an error in the definition of your template, if you are in the process of modifying your site;

- or from a failure in the database.

For instance, a message of the sort <font color='red'><b>

_ <code>> Unknown column 'articles.chapi' in 'where clause'</code></b></font> indicates that the loop calls a selection criteria (<code>chapi</code>) which is not accounted for.

On the other hand, a message of the sort <font color='red'><b>

_ <code>> Can't open file: 'spip_articles.MYD'</code></b></font> indicates a serious problem in the MySQL database itself : you should then, ask your host to verify his installation and/or repair your database. If you have a recent version of MySQL (3.23.14 at least), you can also try <a href="admin_repair.php3" target="_blank">an automatic repair of the database</a>.

</erreur_mysql>

<ftp_auth>

{{{Authentication by FTP}}}

Some of SPIP's functionalities have a direct influence on the structure and the content itself of the database (particularly: updates, backup and restoration of the database...). For these very sensitive features, an FTP authentication procedure has been put in place, in order to restrict their use to the few users who have access to the site server by FTP (more generally, if a site admits several SPIP administrators, FTP access is restricted to the main webmaster).

To be able to use these features, you have to simultaneously:

<UL><LI>connect to the web with your usual browser; when you launch the action, SPIP specifies a name of the format &laquo;admin_{xxxxx}&raquo;, that you must write down;</LI>

<LI>connect to your site's server by FTP; in the folder <TT>/ecrire/data</TT>, create a file (or an empty directory) and name it &laquo;admin_{xxxxx}&raquo;;</LI>

<LI>Once you have created this file or directory, go back to your web browser and reload the page, which concludes the FTP authentication and triggers the action. </LI>

</UL>

</ftp_auth>

<artauteurs>

{{{Authors}}}

When an administrator or an editor creates an article, he is considered automatically the author of the article. In several cases the authors should be changed (i.e. when a third party story is added to the site, when a story shouldn't be signed, or when it is edited by several users...)

- {{Adding an author}}

A drop-down menu showing the list of all the site editors allows selecting and adding a new author.

{If more than 50 editors contribute to the site, it becomes awkward to display them in a drop-down menu (it slows the loading dramatically); in this case, the drop-down menu is replaced by a search box: you enter the name of the author you wish to add and click on «search». If the search returns more than one author, the system will let you select the one you want.}

- {{Removing an author}}

Next to each author of the article, the link «Remove the author» allows you to simply remove this author.

{It is only as the author of this particular article that the editor is removed; he obviously remains present in the list of the site editors.}

- {{Replacing an author by another}}

This can be achieved in two steps: simply add the new author and remove the first one (see above).

- It must be stressed finally that the administrators have more power over this authors list than the editors. Particularly, the editors cannot remove themselves from an article. If an editor wishes to publish an anonymous article (without author), he must ask an administrator to perform the operation.

</artauteurs>

<artchap>

{{{The deck}}}

In the publishing jargon, the {deck} is the short text (cap) that «covers» the article. It is optional.

Administrators can, via the page &laquo;<A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=confart" TARGET="_top">Precise configuration </A>&raquo;, disable completely the use of the deck.

</artchap>

<artvirt>

{{{Article redirection}}}

This option allows you to create a «Virtual Article»: it is an article which has its title, date and authors recorded in your site under SPIP, but which points to another URL.

This feature enables you to reference in your SPIP system articles that were not created by SPIP (for instance, if you need to integrate to the navigation of your site under SPIP, pages created prior to the installation of SPIP).

To signal that your article is a «Virtual Article», you just have to enter the URL of the target article in the corresponding box.

To remove the redirection, you simply «empty» the redirection box (delete the URL of the target article).

</artvirt>

<artdate>

{{{Date of online publishing}}}

Generally, the article's {date} corresponds to the date of its {online appearance} (or publication on the web site).

- This date is automatically set to the time of the article's {validation} by an administrator (therefore, to the time of its appearance on the public site).

- However, after validating the article, the administrator can still modify this date.

</artdate>

<artdate_redac>

{{{Date of earlier publication}}}

This feature was added for very specific cases, where SPIP is used to install archives {and} where these archives must have a publication date different from the online date.

It is a case of being able to indicate that a document has already been the subject of an earlier publication: newspaper article, book...

- by default , this date is not displayed: the option «Hide date of earlier publication» is selected at the time of the creation of the article.

- If you want to specify such a date, you must select the option «Show date of earlier publication» as well as use the drop-down menus to set it up.

Unlike the «publication date» of the article, this date is not automatically determined at the time of the validation of the article. That is why it can be modified at any time.

{The site administrators can disable the use of the earlier publication date in the &laquo;<A

HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=confart" TARGET="_top">precise Configuration</A>&raquo; section.}

</artdate_redac>

<artdesc>

{{{Brief description}}}

The {brief description} is used for the purpose of navigating in the site: it shows briefly the topic of the article, in the contents page for instance.

This description is optional; furthermore it can be of any length. However, it was originally meant for short texts (one or two sentences), which will show in the lists of articles (contents, list of a particular author's articles, sorting of articles by keywords, search engine results, etc.)

{The site administrators can completely disable the display of the description in the &laquo;<A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=confart" TARGET="_top">precise Configuration</A>&raquo; section.}

</artdesc>

<ins_img>

{{{Inserting images in the text}}}

SPIP offers the possibility to illustrate your articles and news with images. This will be achieved in a number of steps: you must send the image file to the site, then insert the image inside the text.

------

Preparing: {{Images formats}}

When you create your images (with your usual application), you must save them in one of the following formats:

- GIF; (extension {{.gif}})

- JPEG; (extension {{.jpg}})

- PNG (extension {{.png}}).

You should particularly make sure that your files names end up with an extension indicating their format: {{.gif}}, {{.jpg}} or {{.png}}. If you install a file with a missing extension in its name, the system will be unable to use the image.

------

Step 1: {{Installing the images on the server}}

<img src="AIDE/ins_img1.gif" alt=" "  border="0" align="right">Before you can insert your images in the text, you obviously have to install them on the server. This is achieved, in SPIP, through the graphical interface.

When you «modify» an article or a news item, the left column displays a form called:

«Add an image». It takes the form of a {text field} followed by a button labelled (depending on the version of your browser) «Browse», «Select», «File» ...

When you click on this button, a dialogue box opens to allow you to browse your hard disk and select the graphic file you want.

Having done this, click on the button called: «Upload».

If the operation succeeds, your image will appear in the left column, accompanied by several settings...

-------

Step 2: {{information concerning your image}}

<img src="AIDE/ins_img2.gif" alt=" "  border="0" align="right">Once your image sent to the server, a box appears on the left of the screen. It contains all the information concerning this image. (part of this information will be masked, click on the small triangle to &laquo;unfold&raquo; the information box).

{image size.} Just above the image, the width and height of your image (in pixels) are displayed.

- {display as thumbnail}. A preview of your image appears. If the image is too large (more than 200 pixels wide), a thumbnail of the image is displayed instead.

- {SPIP shortcuts}. see below: SPIP will remind you of the 3 «shortcuts», which enable you to insert this image within your text. It is worth noting that every image is «numbered» thus: «IMG1», «IMG2»... These «shortcuts» are used in the third step.

- {Image size}. Just above the image, its width and height (in pixels) are displayed.

- { Image title and description}. If you wish, you can enter a title and a description for each image, such as an explanation, the photographer copyright notice...

- {Delete this image}. As you can guess, «Delete this image» button allows you to delete this file, if you made a mistake or if you decide you do not want to use the image in the text. It is advisable to delete unused images to prevent clogging the server with unwanted files.

You can repeat this operation with as many images as you wish (an article or a news item can contain as many images as needed).

-------

Step 3: {{Inserting an image inside the text}}

At this stage, the graphic files are actually stored on the server, yet you need to indicate where they should be inserted in your text. There is no need to write HTML for that, SPIP offers you a «shortcut» enabling the insertion of your image easily.

- {Images without caption}

For each image, look at the 3 shortcuts:

- <IMG1|left>

- <img1|center>

- <IMG1|right>

Copy one of these shortcuts (the figure corresponds to the number of the image, it then changes for each file), and paste it inside the box called «Text», at the location you want the image to appear. «left»  aligns the image to the left, «right»  to the right and «center»  centres your image in the text.

When the page is displayed, SPIP will replace these shortcuts by the corresponding HTML tags by automatically calculating the dimensions of the images.

- {Images with title and description}

If you entered a title and/or a description, the code <img...> is replaced with:

- <doc1|left>

- <doc1|center>

- <doc1|right>

These shortcuts are used in the same way as above; however, when you insert such a «shortcut», SPIP inserts not only the image but the title and the description that you previously entered. Thus, your image appears with the eventual explanation, copyright notice, the name of the artist etc.

</ins_img>

<ins_doc>

{{{Attaching multimedia documents}}}

The SPIP interface allows you to integrate multimedia files to your site (sound, video, text,...).

Editors can attach documents to articles. These documents can be located either at the end of the text (a bit like «attachements»), or inside the text as a preview vignette (or thumbnail).

Site administrators can also install documents directly in the sections.

You should note the important difference between those two ways: in articles, documents are «attachements» which are useless without the article to which they are associated (in the site navigation, you can view these files from the articles); when they are installed directly in the sections, these documents become elements of the site like the articles and news, and not an information supplement anymore.

--------

Step 1: {{Installing the documents on the server}}

<img src="AIDE/ins_doc1.gif" alt=" "  border="0" align="right">The files installation on the server is performed through the interface &laquo;Attach document&raquo; for the articles and &laquo;Publish a document in this section&raquo; for the sections.

Notice that, for the articles, this interface appears in two different locations: at the bottom of each article's page and on the left (under the images) when you modify an article. Those two interfaces have exactly the same functions, and you can use either of them according to your needs. As for the sections, the documents installation is performed on the page required section itself.

Before you install your files, you have to create them on your computer. The document upload interface reminds you of the list of formats supported by the system. {You should make sure that you name your files with the correct extension (for instance, }«xxxxxx.mp3»{ for an MP3 file.})

The interface is the same as the one for the images: the button &laquo;File&raquo; or &laquo;Browse&raquo; (depending on the browser) opens a window allowing you to select the file on your hard drive. Once you select the file, click on &laquo;Upload&raquo; to send it to the server. {Warning: this operation can take a lot of time, depending on the size of the file. You should also note that depending on the settings of your host, big files could be rejected; in this case you can bypass this limitation by <A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=ins_upload"

TARGET="_top">installing your files via FTP</A>.}

---------

Step  2: {{Information and vignette}}

<img src="AIDE/ins_doc2.gif" alt=" "  border="0" align="right">Once the file has been transferred to the server, an information box appears. Several operations can be performed therein.

- {Preview vignette}

This idea is very important: unlike images which can be inserted in the text, documents do not appear straight away. A preview vignette is displayed to the visitor who clicks on it, should he need the corresponding document.

The top part of the information box allows you to choose the preview vignette. You can accept the {default vignette} or install a {customised logo}.

The default vignette is installed automatically by the system, depending on the document format. The advantage of accepting this vignette is that the symbols of the documents of the same type for the whole site will be consistent.

If you prefer, you can install a logo (preferably small and of the format GIF, JPG or PNG), which will appear instead of the default vignette. Once this logo installed, a «Delete the customised vignette» link allows you to go back to the default vignette if necessary.

- In the article modification page, the «shortcuts» allowing you to insert a document in the text are identical to the images ones.

- The bottom part enables you to enter a title and a description for your document. There is no need to enter here the format or the size of the multimedia file, this information will be automatically provided by the publishing system.

- Finally, the button «Delete this document» deletes the unnecessary files. {You should note that it is imperative to delete unwanted documents, otherwise they would appear on the public site.}

- {{Concerning the documents installed in the sections,}} you can also modify the publication date of the document (according to the same principle of the modification of articles and news). Once these settings submitted, the sections documents are immediately available on the public site (there is no need to validate them like the articles and news).

 ---------

Step 3: {{Insert documents in articles text}}

Concerning the documents associated with articles, you can simply install them and enter the information (steps 1 and 2 above). When you publish the article, these documents will appear at the end of the text in as a list of {attached documents}.

However, you can also decide to insert the preview vignettes inside the text. You will have then, images that you can click inside the article.

The procedure here is exactly the same as the one for the images, the only difference is that the vignettes will be elements that you can click. Insert a shortcut like <imgxx|yy> or <docxx|yy> whether you want to display the vignette alone or with its title and description.

{You should note that} the documents that you install inside the text will not appear {under the article} anymore. For articles, there two locations where the documents appear: inside the text (vignette that you can click), or at the end of the article under the expression «Attached documents».

----------

Special case: {{Video and sound documents}}

Some multimedia files are meant to be displayed directly on a web page (for instance, a video clip inserted directly in the article).

To be able to insert such documents inside the text as a multimedia animation and not as a vignette, you must enter its dimensions: width and height strictly greater than zero (for sound files you choose the width you wish to attribute to the play cursor and a low height such as 25~pixels).

{You should note that} the boxes allowing you to enter the dimensions will only appear for the documents of certain formats supported by SPIP for their integration in the articles (namely: avi, quicktime, real, flash).

Once you have entered these dimensions, an additional SPIP shortcut will be provided, in the shape of <embxx|yy> (as a reminder «{{emb}}ed»).

If you are very familiar with this sort of integration, you will be happy to know that you can add additional parameters such as:

<cadre>

<emb54|center|autostart=true|quality=hight>

</cadre>

</ins_doc>

<ins_upload>

{{{Install files via ftp}}}

Some servers do not allow file uploading through a web interface. furthermore, it could be very awkward to send large files that way. SPIP allows you to bypass these limitations by installing files used for images and documents by FTP.

Of course, this operation is restricted to users who have the connection code to the FTP server.

- {{The folder /ecrire/upload}}

With your FTP client, you just have to install your files (images, multimedia documents) in the folder /ecrire/upload of your SPIP site.

- {{The files drop-down menu}}

Having done that, a drop-down menu appears automatically after the interface of web files uploading and displays the files contained in this folder. You just have to select the file that you need and validate your choice.

If the operation succeeds, remember to delete the file from the folder /ecrire/upload (the system has created a copy of this file in another location on the server, your original file is therefore not needed anymore), to avoid jamming the drop-down menu.

- {{All the files at once}}

If you install several files at once in the folder /ecrire/upload, an additional feature will be available to you on the site interface: you can install all these files in one batch. This could prove to be very practical while creating fast portfolios.

</ins_upload>

<artmodif>

{{{Article in current editing}}}

When an editor opens an article to edit it, other participants visiting the page are notified and advised not to edit the article themselves.

As a matter of fact, if two editors intervene at the same time on the same article, the modifications entered by one of them could overwrite the modifications of the other.

If you see the notice «Warning, an editor intervened on this article», it is strongly advised not to modify for the time being. Come back later to this article, to edit it when the other editor finishes his modifications and saves them.

On the other hand, when you yourself intervene on the article, the other participants who visit this page will be notified of your intervention. As long as you are in the modification process, and for {{an hour}}, the other editors are requested not to intervene on the text. When you think you have finished working on the article, then others can start intervening, you can «release» this article. The warning shown to the others will disappear which enables them to enter their modifications if necessary.

</artmodif>

<artmots>

{{{Keywords}}}

In order to diversify the navigation in the site, it is possible to attribute <A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=mots" TARGET="_top">Keywords</A> to articles, news, and referenced sites. This way, not only the site visitor browses from section to section, but from an article dealing with a topic (indicated by a keyword) to another article associated with the same keyword as well.

It is possible to specify, for each article, news item or site, as many keywords as needed.

A drop-down menu lists all the keywords of the site. It is very easy to use. {Note: if the number of keywords exceeds 50, this drop-down menu is replaced by a search engine: just enter the desired keyword and click on «Search».}

{{P.S.}} Only the administrators can create keywords from within the page dedicated to their management (the «Keywords» button in the top navigation bar).

{Administrators can disable the use of keywords for the whole site in the &laquo;<A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=confart" TARGET="_top">precise Configuration</A>&raquo; section.}

</artmots>

<artprop>

{{{Submitting an article}}}

While an article is in progress (see the section &laquo;<A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=artstatut" target="_top">Article status</A>&raquo;), it displays a button &laquo;asking for the publication of this article&raquo;.

{Only the article's author is allowed to perform this operation.}

This means that the article is «submitted for evaluation», that is, submitted to all the other editors who are requested to comment on it while awaiting to be validated (published) or rejected by the administrators.

Warning: once the article is submitted for evaluation, it is not possible anymore for the author to reconsider his decision and to re-place his text in the «editing in progress» mode.

Consequently, the operation «Ask for the publication of this article» must only be performed after the author makes sure that his text is complete and final. Only an administrator can place the text again in the «editing in progress» mode.

</artprop>

<artrub>

{{{Selecting the section}}}

The menu shows the complete <A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=rubhier" target="_top">sections hierarchy</A> (in the order in which they where created by the site administrators): select the section in which you want to place your article.

A lot of novice users seem to be oblivious to this feature though very simple, and drop their article «anywhere» in the site structure. Consequently, the administrators are advised to always check if an article is in the right section before validating it.

</artrub>

<artstatut>

{{{Article status}}}

The article {status} concerns its editorial situation in the site. the article can take the following states:

- editing in progress;

- submitted for evaluation;

- published online;

- to the dustbin;

- rejected.

These states, that only the administrators can modify, enable the site management.

{{P.S.}} the articles status is symbolised by coloured bullets.

<IMG SRC="img_pack/puce-blanche.gif"> {{editing in progress}}

When it is created, an article is of course considered as being in progress: its authors are in the process of writing it or modifying it ...

{When editing is in progress, the article appears only to its authors and to the administrators. the other site editors do not have access to it.}

<IMG SRC="img_pack/puce-orange.gif"> {{Submitted for evaluation}}

When the author considers that his article is ready, he «suggests» it to the other participants, so that it could possibly be discussed collectively, before being validated (published online) or rejected.

{When the  article is «submitted for evaluation», it appears in the «Launch pad» page of all the users of the private area, who are requested to join in its discussion through the internal discussion forum located below the article.

Such an article is then visible to all editors. On the other hand, it can only be modified by its author or an administrator.}

<IMG SRC="img_pack/puce-verte.gif"> {{Published online}}

After being possibly discussed by the editors (during the submission stage), an article could be «validated», that is, published online by an administrator. By then, it is available to all the visitors of the public site.

{When an article is published online, only the administrators can modify it. Its author cannot modify it anymore if he does not have the administrator status, and therefore have to ask an administrator to insert corrections.}

<IMG SRC="img_pack/puce-rouge.gif"> {{Rejected}}

A «submitted» article, which does not conform to the editorial line of the site, can be «rejected» if the administrators refuse to publish it online.

{A «rejected» article becomes visible only to its author and to the administrators.}

{However, a «rejected» article cannot be modified by its author anymore, hence stopping him from re-submitting it for publication. In the case of an article requiring modification, it is then advised to re-place the article in the «editing in progress» status instead of just «reject» it, in order for its author to be able to modify it and re-submit it later.}

<IMG SRC="img_pack/puce-poubelle.gif"> {{To the dustbin}}

An article can be sent «to the dustbin» only by an administrator.

{An article sent «to the dustbin» is not visible anymore in the private area, even for the administrators. Be careful then, this option is «radical»: the article disappears completely.

In fact, the article is still saved in the database, but becomes extremely difficult to reach with the tools provided by SPIP.}

Therefore, this option is reserved to articles created by mistake, and destined to be totally removed. Often then, it is advised to choose the «rejected» option instead because it is less dramatic.

- Finally, it is worth noting that the administrators can, at any time, modify the {status} of an article. Hence a published article could well be placed again in «editing» mode. However, once an article is published online, do not overdo these changes of status: you will end up with a site «full of holes», with appearing and disappearing pages, which is very penalising for the visitor.

</artstatut>

<arttexte>

{{{The article's text}}}

Pretty straightforward: this is the {text} of your article as its name suggests.

- However, there is one point which could create a problem: the length of the text. It happens sometime that if the text is too long (according to our own experience, bigger than 32 Kb), it is truncated or indeed rejected during its transfer to SPIP. This problem is not caused by SPIP, but by the web browser that you are using. If you find yourself with a very long text for one browser, try to use another one.

- The article text is very well suited to the use of  SPIP's <A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=raccourcis" TARGET='_top'>typographical shortcuts</A>

</arttexte>

<arttitre>

{{{Title, top title, subtitle}}}

- The {title} is compulsory.

- The {top title} and the {subtitle} are completely optional. If you do not need them, leave them blank, the site layout will adapt automatically to their presence or absence.

{Should they wish so, the administrators can disable the use of the top title and/or the subtitle in the &laquo;<A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=confart" TARGET="_top">precise Configuration</A>&raquo; section.}

</arttitre>

<confart>

{{{Articles content}}}

The articles are made of a number of elements: the title, the top title, the subtitle, the description, the deck, the postscript... However, some sites do not need all these elements: either the editors do not use them or the graphical interface of the public site does not include them.

In order to lighten the site's management interface and/or simply to stop the editors from using certain elements that the webmaster does not wish to include, the «precise configuration» page allows to disable completely the use of these elements.

{{P.S.}} It is important to understand that, with regard to the choice of  <A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=intersimple" target="_top">{simplified interface / complete interface}</A>, which only influences the interface of each user, the choice of the options of the &laquo;Precise configuration&raquo; influences all the users. So if you disable the use of the top title, no editor and no administrator could use top titles in his articles.

The interface will adapt to the presence or the absence of these elements. If you disable the use of keywords the corresponding button in the top navigation bar will simply disappear.

</confart>

<confbreves>

{{{Enabling/disabling the news system}}}

Some sites do not use {news}, i.e. short articles without author. Perhaps, the webmaster did not include them in the layout of the public site.

In this case, you can simply decide to disable them. So the editors cannot create them. The interface will be all the less burdened.

</confbreves>

<confmails>

{{{Automated e-mailing}}}

Editors and administrators do not necessarily spend their lives in the site management area. To facilitate collective work and follow-up of the site's life, the system can warn by e-mail of some events happening to it...

<FONT COLOR="red">Warning: some hosts disable the automated e-mailing feature. If you face this situation, the following options could not be enabled.</FONT>

- {{Follow-up of public forum messages}}

In order to enable the authors to follow the discussions triggered by their articles, this option offers to automatically forward to the author each message posted for his article.

If this option is enabled, the author(s) of the article will receive by mail the text of any message posted for their article as well as a reminder of this article's URL; with one click, he (they) can then go to the page of the article and should he (they) wish to, post an answer to the message.

- {{ Follow-up of editorial activity}}

When an article is submitted for validation or published, you can ask SPIP to notify about it by mail. This way, participants to the site are informed in real time of the important developments of the site.

For a collective site (several editors), we advise you to create a mailing list of editors (SPIP does not provide the mailing list feature), to which you can post messages.

- {{News announcements}}

This feature provided by SPIP offers to create e-mails of the kind «Latest news»: if you enable it and set up the delay between announcements, an e-mail is sent regularly to the specified address, summarising the latest published articles and news.

This feature is very simple to implement: if you enable this option by fixing the delay to 7 days, once every 7 days, SPIP will send the list of articles and news published during these 7 days to the specified address.

A «Send now» button triggers the immediate sending of this summary e-mail (and starts a new time interval of 7 days before releasing the next e-mail).

You can send this latest news announcement mail to the main webmaster's address (who will forward it), or, if you like the complete self-managed sites, you can send the mail to the list of your subscribers (SPIP does not provide the mailing list feature).

</confmails>

<confdates>

{{{Publication of post-dated articles}}}

It is possible for administrators to modify an article's <A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=artdate" TARGET="_top">date of online publication</A> (when this article is declared as &laquo;published online&raquo;).

How should SPIP behave when we set this date of online publication to a value in the future? Should SPIP publish all the articles, whatever their publication date (risking an odd display with an article showing «31st of May 2002» while we are only on the 21st of May), or should it wait for the due date (here on the 31st of May) before displaying this article on the public site?

- The main advantage of this operation is to be able to schedule the publication of a series of articles in advance. Practically: the webmaster goes on holiday for a month; if he already wrote some articles, he can place them in the private area as «published online», but set for them publication dates spread over the month while he is absent. That way, rather than publishing online a {bundle} of articles in one go, then nothing for a month, the site will regularly publish «new» articles despite the absence of their author.

- As for a science fiction site publishing a {Martian chronicle}, it should find it desirable to disable this feature, unless it wants to wait for the year 2030 to publish its stories. The same thing applies to a monthly online publication when it publishes its April issue on the 20th of March.

</confdates>

<confmessagerie>

{{{Internal messaging}}}

SPIP offers an internal messaging system (a section of the present documentation is dedicated to the <a href="aide_index.php3?aide=messut" target="_top">messages between users</a>, to the <a href="aide_index.php3?aide=messpense" target="_top">memos</a> and to the <a href="aide_index.php3?aide=messcalen" target="_top">calendar</a>).

You can decide to use all or parts of this system.

- {{ Enabling/disabling internal messaging}}

A reason for not using internal messaging could be the space that these messages take up in the database: these messages (such as the messages of the forums linked to your articles, for instance) are stored in the database and therefore take up disk space at your host's. Moreover, the internal messaging features add an additional burden on the machine which is hosting your site (database queries): in case of a low specification (and/or very slow) machine, you would rather lighten the task and disable messaging.

- {{Enabling/disabling the list of connected editors}}

If you enable this feature, the list of users connected to your site's  private area will show permanently. Notably, this will ease the exchange of instant messages between users.

This feature causes additional queries to the database; you would rather disable this features on a slow machine. It is worth noting that some users find this feature intrusive.

{You should note that:} When you enable the above features for the whole site, it is still possible, for every user, to <a href="aide_index.php3?aide=messconf" target="_top"> disable these features for his own use</a>. This way, if a user finds the internal messaging functions unnecessary or intrusive, he can simply disable this feature for his own use.

</confmessagerie>

<confforums>

{{{Operation of public forums}}}

The way to manage public forums varies from one webmaster to another, namely according to the actual needs of the site. Some webmasters do not want forums, some want free access forums, others still prefer to moderate the forums {beforhand}, by publishing the messages only after they were validated by an administrator.

SPIP allows you to determine the operation of your public forums (the forums which are internal to the site management are always managed as open forums for all the editors, and moderated {afterwards}).

- {{Disabling public forums}}

When the forums are disabled, the sending contributions interface disappears and the old contributions are no longer displayed (they are not deleted from the database, but their display is interrupted). This option stops the operation of the forums, even if the forums display is coded in the site layout (templates).

You can use it permanently (the site never provides discussion forums) or temporarily (suspend forums activity to calm a crazy spammer  or to go on a plane spotting holiday ...or even to transfer your site to another server).

- {{Afterwards moderated forums}}

When forums are moderated {afterwards}, contributions are displayed  as soon as the users post them. You are then free to use the forums follow-up page provided by SPIP to moderate these messages with various degrees of severity. {a posteriori moderation is the default mode for SPIP.}

- {{Beforhand moderated forums}}

In {beforhand} moderated  forums, users contributions are stored but not displayed. Administrators must use the forums follow-up page provided by SPIP to validate (or reject) each message.

- {{Forums accessed by subscription}}

If the forums are {accessible by subscription}, users wishing to contribute must register by providing their e-mail address. Then they receive their identification by e-mail. For editors who already have access to the private site, this identification corresponds to their usual login.

This mode is a compromise between the need for responsibility (the participants must provide a valid e-mail address) and the absence of beforhand moderation (once they are registered, these users can post their contributions directly).

Furthermore, this mode allows to exclude users who misuse forums ({black-list}). As a matter of fact, when you delete (via the forums follow-up page) a contribution posted in the «by subscription» mode, you can have access to the «file» (extremely small) of the author of this contribution. You can simply send this author «to the dustbin»: his identification will not work anymore and he will not be able to obtain a new one with the same e-mail address.

<FONT COLOR='red'>Warning: the mode &laquo;forum by subscription&raquo; requires that your host supports automated e-mailing. If this is not the case, change your host ;)</FONT>

</confforums>

<confmoteur>

{{{Enabling/disabling the search engine}}}

SPIP contains a search engine. When it is enabled, an articles indexing system analyses the content of all articles. This operation, even though offering subsequent extremely fast searches, requires a lot of work from the server hosting the site. In the case of a slow host, this will cause a few problems.

For this reason, you can enable or disable the system indexing.

Data managed by the search engine integrated to SPIP nearly {{treble}} the disk space used by the database. On the other hand, on slow or heavily loaded systems, indexing could cause a slight degradation of performance, or even execution errors (extreme case).

Generally, if your site is very large, we advise not to use the search engine integrated to SPIP, and to choose other specialised products such as <HTML><A HREF='http://www.htdig.org/' target="_blank">ht://Dig</A></HTML>.

You should also note that the search engine does not index all the pages in one go. If you enable it while your site contains already a big number of articles, you have to wait until your site records a number of hits (approximately) equal to the number of texts to index in order for the engine to be updated.

</confmoteur>

<confnom>

{{{Name and URL of your site}}}

The name and URL of your site are, in particular, used to generate the file «backend.php3» which allows the syndication of your site (i.e. display the last 10 articles published by your site in another site).

Your site's URL must be the address of the homepage {folder} not that of  the corresponding HTML file; therefore it must be ended with the character «/». If your homepage address is:

<HTML><TT>http://www.mysite.net/index.html</TT></HTML>,

Your site's URL should be written thus:

<HTML><TT>http://www.mysite.net/</TT></HTML>

</confnom>

<confstat>

{{{Visits statistics}}}

SPIP contains a very simple system allowing you to count and track the number of visits to the site and to each article. It also allows you to know which other sites directed visitors to your site and to each article.

- {{Number of visits}}

Every day, SPIP identifies «unique visitors» to your site according to their IP address. The system is fast and {relatively} reliable (it is a {relatively} accurate estimate of the number of visitors to the site, and not just «hits» or «watched pages»; a visitor coming back several times to the same page is counted as a unique «unique visitor»).

- {{Direct visits or referrers}}

A «direct visit» is an arrival to the site or to an article's page from another web site which contains a hypertext link to your own site (the former is itself considered as a «referrer»).

For the entire site and for each article, SPIP displays the list of the main «referrers» (the pages displaying a hypertext link to your site), accompanied by the number of «direct visits» (the number of visitors who followed this link).

-----

- {{A «relatively» reliable system}}

A complete system for traffic analysis is a very demanding application in terms of power and memory; therefore, the SPIP system is very simplified in order to be as fast as possible and as small as possible on the server's hard drive. Furthermore, the counting of «unique visitors» is based on the visitors IP address every day, which is not the most precise method, we think, however, that it provides a  «relatively» reliable information.

If you want a thorough information of your site's traffic, you could use another system more specialised in statistical analysis.

- {{A daily calculation}}

The traffic follow-up system integrated to SPIP performs calculation of the number of visitors and referrers daily (not in real time). Consequently, some information could sometime look incoherent because it does not integrate the visits of the actual day, if in doubt, the specific page displaying the statistics is the one most reliable and detailed. Therefore, the statistics page of an article is only available after the first day of publication of that article (figures are unknown before that because SPIP has not analysed them yet).

- {{Enabling/disabling statistics and referrers}}

The counting of the number of unique visitors should not occupy a lot of space neither use a lot of computing power. There is no point, then, to disable it unless the server is very slow.

On the other hand, the system of counting referrers and direct visits is more demanding. it is, therefore, disabled by default. It is advised to enable it only on servers with no problems in computing power (servers which already struggle to calculate lengthy articles cannot surely cope with the burden of referrers calculation).

- {{PS:}} Disk space and computing time necessary for the follow-up of visits and referrers increase with your site's traffic. The more a site is visited, the more the technical needs to perform these tasks increases.

</confstat>

<install0>

{{{Preliminary: Setting up permissions}}}

When you install SPIP files by FTP on your own server, some {{directories}} will not be configured correctly: therefore, you must modify their configuration through your usual FTP client.

You have to modify the  «permissions» of the following directories:

- {{/CACHE}}

- {{/IMG}}

- {{/ecrire}}

- {{/ecrire/data}}

FTP «clients» differ in their functions but the procedure is generally thus:

- select the folder of which you want to modify the «permissions»;

- find in your FTP client a feature called «change (or {modify} or {set} permissions»;

- If this feature appears as a graphical interface, check the box corresponding to «Write» for the «Others» (or «World» or «All users»):

<CENTER><img src="AIDE/install0.gif" alt=" "  border="0"></CENTER>

- If this feature appears in «text» mode, the numeric configuration is «777».

When you make this modification for every directory indicated by the installation system, you must reload the page and the procedure resumes automatically.

</install0>

<install1>

{{{Your MySQL connection}}}

This step consists of entering the necessary information for the connection of SPIP to MySQL  server.

- {Database address:} depending on your host's choice, this information will simply be «localhost», or your site's address («www.mysite.org»).

- {Connection login:} it is often the same login you use to upload your files by FTP.

- {Connection password:} it is often the same password as the one you use  to access your site by FTP.

- These settings cannot be invented: not knowing them means that your host has not given them to you. Therefore: if you do not have this information at hand you cannot continue.

- These settings are provided to you {{ by the host of your site}}: to obtain them, you must contact him directly (do not ask the SPIP development team to give them to you, we do not know them!). Some hosts provide such information in an online guide.

- You should note that very often, you have to {{ask}} your host to activate your MySQL access, or complete yourself a specific procedure for that. Several hosts claiming to provide support for MySQL databases do not activate this connection automatically at the time of the setting up of a site; an additional request from your part (after opening your account with this host) is often necessary. In this case, refer to the documentation provided by your host to know how to {activate} your MySQL connection. (Again, the SPIP team cannot help you here.)

</install1>

<install2>

{{{Choosing your database}}}

- You must select the {name} of the database that was attributed to you by your host. This information is provided to you by your host: if you do not have it, ask him or refer to the online documentation provided by this host (it is no use requesting it from the SPIP development team, we do not have this information).

- Very often, this information correspond to the {login} of your hosting account (the one you use to connect to your site by FTP).

- First option (more often than not): an accounts list is displayed (sometimes a bit longish, depending on the configuration set by the host). Amongst the shown accounts, only one corresponds to yours, you simply select it then and validate it to go through to the next step.

- Second option: only one name, corresponding to your account, is displayed (your host has automatically configured his system to only display your account). Easy: select this account and validate.

- Third option (generally, for a professional account or on a server over which you have extended rights): you must {create} your own database. In this case (after verifying that such an account does not exist in the above list), you can enter the name of your choice next to the instruction «create a new database».

- Last option (failure): your account does not appear in the displayed list, and you cannot create one yourself. It is a rare occurrence: this means that your host created an access for you to the database server, but forgot to create your account. In this case, you should contact your host directly.

</install2>

<install5>

{{{Personal information}}}

This step is very simple, but it should be completed carefully. Indeed, it is this step that determines your site connection identification! if you proceed hastily, you might not be able to connect...

Note that once your site is installed, you will have the possibility to change this information.

- {Your public identity:} that is what will appear as a signature of your articles.

- {Your connection identification:} this the identification that {{you yourself choose}} to connect to your own SPIP system. This information does not need to be identical to the one your host gave you to connect to your account by FTP. On the contrary, {we urge you not to use the same identification} for your access to SPIP (which you choose freely) and for your FTP connection (imposed to you by your host).

</install5>

<intersimple>

{{{Simplified interface / complete interface}}}

Each SPIP user can modify his own display (without affecting the display for the other users, contrary to the &laquo;<A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=confart" TARGET="_top">Precise configuration</A>&raquo; page).

Several SPIP features are very rarely used (or not at all) by some editors. Therefore, choosing the &laquo;simplified interface&raquo; allows to lighten this interface and to simplify its comprehension. In this mode, only the elements really necessary to the management of the site are displayed. For example, very few users need the &laquo;<A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=artdate_redac" TARGET="_top">date of earlier publication</A>&raquo; which does not appear in the &laquo;simplified interface&raquo; mode.

{{P.S.}} the differences between the two mode of display are more obvious to the administrators who have at their disposal more features than the editors of the site.

{For these modifications to take effect, you must accept the use of cookies.}

</intersimple>

<logoart>

{{{Article's logo}}}

With SPIP you can install a logo corresponding to the article. This way, it will be possible, in the public site, to display a graphic button linking to the article.

For an article, it is possible:

- not to use any logo;

- to install a simple graphical logo;

- to use an animated logo that supports «hovering» (a logo with «2 positions»: the logo changes when the mouse hovers over it).

- {{Images formats}}

When you create your images (with your usual application), you must save them in one of the following formats:

- GIF (the GIF file could be an «animated GIF»);

- JPEG;

- PNG (we advise against it because several browsers do not support it correctly).

{In order to avoid serious operating errors, SPIP rejects image files bigger than 256 KB.} Advice: because these «buttons» are elements of the graphical interface, make sure that their {file size} (in kilobytes) is not too big (generally, less than 10 KB) if you want your site navigation to remain fluid.

In particular, make sure that the names of your files have an {extension} indicating their formats: {{.gif}}, {{.jpg}} or {{.png}}. the file name itself is of no importance whatsoever provided that {you do not forget the extension}.

{If you create a button which supports «hovering», create two different graphic files (one for the «normal» state of the button and another one that appears when the mouse hovers over the button): it is imperative, then, that the two files have the same size (in pixels).}

- {{Simple logo}} (no hovering)

<img src="AIDE/logoart-1.gif" alt=" "  border="0" align="right">To add a button, a box is provided in the left column of the article, under the title &laquo;ARTICLE'S LOGO&raquo;.

Depending on your browser version, click on the button «Browse», «Select», «File»...which opens a dialogue box allowing to select the graphic file corresponding to your button from your hard drive.

Once the file is selected, click on the button «Upload». Et voilà...! your button appears. It is followed by a button «Delete logo» that simply offers you to delete this logo.

If you do not plan to use a hovering logo, no more steps are needed.

- {{Replacing the logo}}

<img src="AIDE/logoart-2.gif" alt=" "  border="0" align="left">You could wish to replace the logo with another file. This is achieved in two steps:

- start by «Deleting the logo»: the previous box, containing the «Upload» button reappears;

- upload the new file, according to the procedure already described.

Due to the browsers way of work, the image which is displayed then, is wrong, since it is in fact the previous version (the image is in the browser's «cache»). Click on this image (with the right button of your mouse, or while pressing the «ctrl» key on the Macintosh) to show a contextual drop-down menu: select the option «Reload image». The new version of your logo will then appear.

- {{Logo for hovering}}

<img src="AIDE/logoart-3.gif" alt=" "  border="0" align="right">After installing the first file, the box displays not only the logo you have just installed on the server, but adds to it a second box, entitled &laquo;HOVERING LOGO&raquo;. It is in this box that you can select the second file aimed at the management of hovering.

{If, after installing both files, you delete the first one (the «simple» button), the box of the second logo disappears. Indeed, in the absence of the first logo, there is no point in managing any hovering!}

No intervention in the «text» of your article is necessary. At the time of the display on the public site, the management of the sections logos is entirely automated. The HTML code will be generated according to the size of the logo, and the hovering instructions in JavaScript will be created automatically as well.

</logoart>

<raccourcis>

{{To make the layout of the documents published by SPIP easier, the system offers a number of «SPIP shortcuts» aiming at:

- simplifying its use for users who do not know HTML;

- simplifying the automated processing of page layout.

So naturally you can still use HTML code in your SPIP documents, but we advise you to use preferably these few SPIP shortcuts, which are much easier to remember and especially, provide the system with some automated operations.}}

~

{{{SPIP typographical shortcuts}}}

- {{Creating paragraphs}}

To create paragraphs, you simply leave a blank line, a bit like separating paragraphs in a e-mail (by «skipping» a line).

The simple «line feed» (enter or return) without separating the two paragraphs is insufficient to create a new paragraph (as a matter of fact, it does not even create a line feed).

You can leave several consecutive blank lines without altering the layout. As far as SPIP is concerned, a single blank line or several ones mean the same thing: a new paragraph, without any effect on the space between paragraphs.

- {{Creating bulleted or numbered lists}}

You can create lists in SPIP in the same way as in an e-mail: you only enter a line feed and start the new line with a dash («-»).

Notice that, here, a simple line feed is enough (you can create lists in the same paragraph); but if you leave a blank line before the one starting with a dash, a blank line will appear before the list[[

{{Alternative:}}

- A simple line skip without a bullet can be obtained by entering <tt>_</tt> (underscore) at the beginning of the line, followed by a space.

- You can create nested lists by adding stars after the list dash.

_{Try this, for insatance}:

_ <html><tt>-* Your horse is<br>

-** chestnut;<br>

-** bay;<br>

-** black;<br>

-* but my rabbit is<br>

-** white:<br>

-*** angora or<br>

-*** short-haired.</tt></html>

- Finally, you can create numbered lists by using the <code>#</code> instead of the star:

<code>-# first

-# second

-# third</code>

gives:

-# first

-# second

-# third

]].

For instance, <HTML><TT><BR>

- I like work;<BR>

- it fascinates me.<BR>

- I can sit and look at it for hours.</TT></HTML> (Jerome K. Jerome) <BR> will be displayed thus:

- I like work;

- it fascinates me.

- I can sit and look at it for hours.

{{Bold and italic}}

You specify a text in {italic} by placing it between simple braces: &laquo;<HTML><TT>...some text {in italic} in...</TT></HTML>&raquo;.

You specify a text in {{bold}} by placing it between double braces: &laquo;<HTML><TT>...some text {{in bold}} in...</TT></HTML>&raquo;.

- {{Paragraph headings}}

Paragraph headings are titles inside a text that show its structure. In SPIP, they are very simply defined by placing them between treble braces: &laquo;<HTML><TT>{{{Section heading}}}</TT></HTML>&raquo; gives: {{{Section heading}}}

- {{Horizontal rule}}

It is very simple to insert a horizontal rule (or a separation line) across the width of the text: you just insert a line containing only a series of at least four dashes, thus:

<HTML>---- </HTML>

----

- {{Hypertext links}}

You can easily create a hypertext link with the following code:

&laquo;<HTML><TT>SPIP is an initiative of  [minirezo->http://www.minirezo.net/].</TT></HTML>&raquo; which becomes &laquo;SPIP is an initiative of [minirezo->http://www.minirezo.net/].&raquo;

The link's URL can be absolute (starting, as in this example, with <code>http://</code>), relative (to another page of the same site), a link to a document using an internet protocol (<code>ftp://</code>...) an e-mail address (&laquo;<code>[->mailto:minirezo@rezo.net]</code>&raquo;)...

- {{Hypertext links inside the site}}

Furthermore, this same hypertext links system makes it easy to create links inside your site with SPIP. the only trick consists of finding the {number} of the article or the section or the news item to which you want to link:

<img src="AIDE/articlenumero.gif" alt="NUMERO"  border="0" align="right">

when you «visit» an article, a news item or a section in the private area, the left column contains a box indicating this number in large digits.

This is the number that you should insert in the hypertext link:

{link to article 342 (4 possibilities):}

<HTML><TT>

<BR>link to [article->342]

<BR>link to [article->art342]

<BR>link to [article->article 342]

<BR></TT></HTML>{as for }<HTML><TT>[->art342]</TT></HTML>, {it will display the title of article 342 with a link to that article.}

{link to section 12:}

<HTML><TT>

<BR>link to [section->rub12]

<BR>link to [section->rubrique 12]

</TT></HTML>

{link to news item 65:}

<HTML><TT>

<BR>link to [news item->br65]

<BR>link to [news item->breve 65]

<BR>link to [news item->br&egrave;ve 65]

<BR></TT></HTML>

{Authors, keywords, sites:}

<HTML><TT>

<BR>[->aut13] ou [->auteur13]

<BR>[->mot32]

<BR>[->site1]

<BR>

</TT></HTML>

{Note that for a site the shortcut points to the URL of the referenced site. For a document ar an image, the title will be displayed if it exists, otherwise it is the file name that is displayed.}

- {{Hypertext links to an external glossary}}

You can also very quickly, create a hypertext link to the definition of an expression in an external glossary. For a given expression, you just have to insert the shortcut <code>[?expression]</code> in your text. That way, you can enrich your text with references without having to enter a web address!

So the following code:

"<code>{Mansfield Park} is a major work by [?Jane Austen]</code>".

displays thus:

"{Mansfield Park} is a major work by [?Jane Austen]".

By clicking on the link, you can verify that the expression you entered (a name or a noun) is correctly spelled and that it directs you to a valid destination.

The default glossary is [Wikipedia->http://www.wikipedia.org]. It is a multilingual encyclopaedia created co-operatively and opened to all contributors over the internet.

Please take the time to acquaint yourself with it, to respect it and to contribute to it in order to enrich this shared fund of knowledge.

- {{Footnotes}}

A footnote is usually indicated by a number inserted in the text then repeated at the bottom of the page and offering additional information.

In SPIP, this feature (pretty awkward to manage manually in HTML) is automated: the footnotes are numbered by SPIP which also manages the hypertext links inside the document to jump directly from the number to the corresponding footnote and vice versa.

In SPIP, a footnote is placed between double brackets: &laquo;<HTML><TT> A[[Here is additional information.]] footnote.</TT></HTML>&raquo; will be displayed as: &laquo;A[[Here is additional information.]] footnote.&raquo;

{Non-automated footnotes}

In most cases, the system of automated footnotes described above is more than sufficient. However, you can manage footnotes in a non-automated way.

For example:

&laquo;<HTML><TT>You can use automated numbered footnotes [[by placing the footnote text between brackets.]],<BR>

- but you can also force the footnote numbering [[&lt;23&gt; by indicating the number of the footnote between the symbols &laquo;&lt;&raquo; and &laquo;&gt;&raquo;.]],<BR>

- use footnotes in the shape of asterisks [[&lt;*&gt; simply by placing an asterisk between the symbols &laquo;&lt;&raquo; and &laquo;&gt;&raquo;.]],<BR>

- create footnotes without reference (not numbered) [[&lt;&gt; by inserting nothing between the symbols &laquo;&lt;&raquo; and &laquo;&gt;&raquo;.]],<BR>

- give a name (in full) to a footnote [[&lt;Sha&gt; William Shakespeare.]];<BR>

- refer to an already existing footnote [[&lt;23&gt;]] by indicating this footnote's number between the symbols &laquo;&lt;&raquo; and &laquo;&gt;&raquo; and leaving the rest of the footnote blank. </TT></HTML>&raquo;

All this gives:

«You can use automated numbered footnotes [[by placing the footnote text between brackets.]],

- but you can also force the footnote numbering [[<23> by indicating the number of the footnote between the symbols &laquo;<&raquo; and &laquo;>&raquo;.]],

- use footnotes in the shape of asterisks [[<*> simply by placing an asterisk between the symbols &laquo;<&raquo; and &laquo;>&raquo;.]],

- create footnotes without reference (not numbered) [[<> by inserting nothing between the symbols &laquo;<&raquo; and &laquo;>&raquo;.]],

- give a name (in full) to a footnote [[<Sha> William Shakespeare.]];

- refer to an already existing footnote [[<23>]] by indicating this footnote's number between the symbols &laquo;<&raquo; and &laquo;>&raquo; and leaving the rest of the footnote blank.&raquo;

- {{Tables}}

To create simple tables in SPIP, you just have to create lines with «cells» separated by the symbol «|» ({vertical line}), making sure that the lines start and end with vertical lines. It is imperative to leave blank lines before and after this table.

For example, the table:

| {{Surname}} | {{Forename}} | {{Age}} |

| Smith | John | 23 years |

| Captain | | not known |

| Bloggs | Philip | 46 years |

| Cadoc | Baby | 4 months |

is coded thus:

<HTML><TT>

| {{Surname}} | {{Forename}} | {{Age}} |<BR>

| Smith | John | 23 years |<BR>

| Captain | | not known |<BR>

| Bloggs | Philip | 46 years |<BR>

| Cadoc | Baby | 4 months |<BR>

</TT></HTML>

- {{Bypassing SPIP shortcuts}}

In some cases, it could be useful to tell SPIP that some parts of a document should not be «processed» by the typographical shortcuts filter: you do not want to correct the typography or you want to display source code (i.e. in PHP, JavaScript...)...

The code of this shortcut is: &laquo;<HTML><TT>&lt;HTML&gt;Warning; text to leave as is&lt;/HTML&gt;</TT></HTML>&raquo;, which gives: &laquo;<HTML>Warning; text to leave as is</HTML>&raquo;.

For example, the present article is typed under SPIP and it displays the source code of SPIP's shortcuts; if we had not used this code, the shortcuts would have been interpreted and you would not be able to read there source code here!

- {{Displaying programming code}}

Some users could wish at one point to display programming code in their pages. The shortcut <HTML><TT><code>...</code></TT></HTML> is available for this purpose.

Example: <HTML><TT><code><?php &nbsp; &nbsp; //this is some php code<br>

echo "hello";<br>

?></code></TT></HTML> gives <code><?php  //this is some php code

echo "hello";

?></code>

----

</raccourcis>

<rubhier>

{{{Hierarchical structure of the sections}}}

The sections structure constitutes the framework of your site; it is this structure which will determine its interface, its way of navigation, the relationship between articles and news...

In SPIP, this structure is of the {hierarchical} type: a section can contain sub-sections which can contain other sub-sections themselves, and so on.

<CENTER><IMG SRC="AIDE/rubhier-1.gif" BORDER=0 ></CENTER>

In the above example, we clearly see that section~222 relates to section~22, which itself relates to section~2 which does not relate to any other section (in this case, we say that section~2 is {in the site root}.

{By hierarchical structure we mean that a section is a child of only one other section (and not of several) and that a section cannot be the child of one of its own sub-sections (which means that SPIP does not allow circular structures). This very classical structure was adopted because of its ease of use.}

{{Only administrators can create, modify or delete sections.}}

</rubhier>

<rubsyn>

{{{Syndicated sites}}}

Sites developed by an automated publishing system (like SPIP or phpNuke) can easily create a file indicating always the list of their latest publications. In particular, there is standard format for this sort of file called «backend file».

This file can be easily and automatically analysed in order to fetch constantly the list of latest news of such sites. That way, SPIP allows you to display, on your own site, the list of the latest articles published by other sites.

For each <a href="aide_index.php3?aide=reference" target="_top">referenced site</a> in your own sections, you have the possibility to fetch the list of the latest articles published on that site. That is, of course, if the referenced site offers a {backend} file.

- {{How to find the files «backend.php3»?}}

For sites managed under SPIP or phpNuke, those {backend} files are easy to locate: that is simply the file located in the site root and called &laquo;bakend.php3&raquo; (or &laquo;backend.php&raquo;). For example, concerning uZine (<TT>http://www.minirezo.net/</TT>), the backend file address is:

<LI><TT>http://www.minirezo.net/backend.php</TT>

Other examples of backend files include:

<LI></HTML><TT>http://www.davduf.net/backend.php</TT></HTML></LI>

<LI></HTML><TT>http://www.vacarme.eu.org/backend.php</TT></HTML></LI>

<LI></HTML><TT>http://www.vakooler.com/backend.php</TT></HTML></LI>

You should note that {<A HREF="http://rezo.net/backend" TARGET="autre">L'autre portail</A>} provides such files for the sites which it references, even if those sites do not have their own backend system. You will find on that page about thirty backend files for the sites referenced by {L'autre portail}, as well as a handful of theme files.

- {{Adding a syndicated site to your own site}}

When you reference a site in one of your sections, in addition to indicating the name of the site, its homepage URL and a description, you can choose to syndicate it (therefore, a syndicated site is primarily a referenced site from which we ask SPIP to fetch the list of the latest publications).

To achieve this, select the option «syndication» and enter the URL of the {backend} file of the desired site. Immediately after submitting, a message appears to tell whether the syndication has succeeded.

If the syndication fails:

- make sure you entered the correct URL for that site;