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Phorum 5 FAQ
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Table of contents:
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1. Why did you switch from number of replies to number of posts in the list?
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2. Does Phorum have avatars or user rankings like (insert UBB clone)?
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3. How do I install a module?
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4. Why don't non-registered users have new indicators or any options?
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5. Why doesn't the default template use {insert latest greatest W3C concept}?
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6. You should do (insert your idea here) in the default template.
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7. Can I install Phorum once and deploy it on multiple domains?
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8. I need to embed Phorum in my page/application.
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9. Why do you not use the 'global' keyword in your functions?
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10. What are Sticky and Announcement posts?
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1. Why did you switch from number of replies to number of posts in the list?
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	In short, the people writing the code liked it better.  You can modify
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	your template by putting this line inside your list.tpl file.
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		 <?php $PHORUM['TMP']['ROWS']['thread_count']--; ?>
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	Just put that right after the line that says:
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		{LOOP ROWS}
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2. Does Phorum have avatars or user rankings like (insert UBB clone)?
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    Not by default. There are modules available to add this functionality.
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3. How do I install a module?
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    That depends on your environment and how the module is packaged.
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    The basic requirement is that the module be inside a directory
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    which is inside /mods (in the phorum directory). So you could have
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    something like /phorum5/mods/mymod
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    Most mods come packaged in some form. For a .tar.gz file, in a Unix
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    (Linux, etc) environment, you can simply download the file into your
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    /phorum5/mods directory, and then use this command:
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    tar -zxf downloaded_module.tar.gz
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    In Windows, you can extract them using a program like Winzip. Make
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    sure that the folders are also extracted (this is an optional feature
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    in Winzip that should be on).
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    You can also extract the file on your home computer and upoad them to the
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    server using FTP. In that case you should just upload the entire module
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    directory into /phorum5/mods
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4. Why don't non-registered users have new indicators or any options?
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    Because of many cookie problems that plagued Phorum 3, we have decided
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    to store all user settings in the database for Phorum 5.  The down side
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    of this is that users must be registered to use these features.  The up
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    side is that the new indicator really works like it should in Phorum 5.
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5. Why doesn't the default template use {insert latest greatest W3C concept}?
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    While we do try and use standards, things like XHTML and CSS are not
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    always compatible with old browsers.  Phorum strives to work with
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    browsers that are commonly used.  We do not ignore new things. However,
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    we try and be aware of the affect of things we do on all user's machines.
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    Phorum will remain usable and decent on as many different platforms and
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    browsers as we can make it out of the box.
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    You might want to check the other templates available and see if there
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    is a more futurisitic one there.  If not, perhaps you would like to
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    contribute one for everyone.
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6. You should do (insert your idea here) in the default template.
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    The only answer we will give you on this is that you can make your own
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    template.  We have a reason for everything we do.  Does this mean we are
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    not open to suggestion?  No.  It means there is a chance your suggestion
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    has been made already and if we did not do it, there is a good reason.
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    Second, if your idea has anything to do with the size of the HTML or
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    bandwidth, don't even post unless you are using output compression.
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    Output compression will decrease your bandwidth by leaps and bounds.
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    Search the net for mod_gzip or look at the PHP manual for
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    zlib.output_compression.  If you don't have that level of access to your
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    server, you can use ob_start with obgzhandler to do the job.  Look in the
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    PHP manual for the ob_start docs.
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    Some suggestions we have turned down include:
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    Why don't you have the CSS external - browsers do a bad job of caching
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    CSS and compression utilities like zlib.output_compression can compress
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    the CSS if it is in the PHP output itself.
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    Your CSS names are way too long.  You could use short abreviations like
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    PLTR - What the crap does PLTR mean?  You will see it in the code and
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    have no idea what part of the output that is referencing.  Yes, we could
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    put comments in the CSS with a long name, but that would not make the
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    HTML clear.  Also, output compression will remove the multiple instances
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    of the class name.  Perhaps most importantly, by having 'Phorum' in all
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    our class names, we won't step on another applications classes.
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7. Can I install Phorum once and deploy it on multiple domains?
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    Yes!  Once you install the Phorum code somewhere, you can copy the
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    contents of the portable directory to another location.  Edit
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    phorum_settings.php in the new location and point your browser to that
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    copy of phorum_admin.php.  You will be taken through the install process.
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    Be sure to choose unique values for table_prefix or choose different
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    database names for each installation of the portable code.  A wrapped
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    forum is a little slower because of the function overhead.
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8. I need to embed Phorum in my page/application.
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    Well, using the portable code mentioned above, one can safely run Phorum
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    inside other applications.  This is because the portable code runs Phorum
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    inside a function, protecting the namespace of your variables and
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    Phorum's variables.  Depending on your particular application, you may
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    need to edit the function phorum_custom_get_url in include/wrapper.php to
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    have the urls of your site be created by Phorum correctly.  Also, you
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    will need to create a var called $PHORUM_CUSTOM_QUERY_STRING for Phorum
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    to parse instead of the server's query string.  It will need to be
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    formatted in the same way that the standard phorum_get_url would do it.
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9. Why do you not use the 'global' keyword in your functions?
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    Declaring something as global in PHP is the same as making a reference
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    to the $GLOBALS array.  References are not as fast as making a value copy
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    according to the PHP developers.  It is only used in common.php to create
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    the global existence of the $PHORUM variable.
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    See: <http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=php-dev&m=100955714924477&w=2>
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    This applys to PHP4 only.  We may reconsider once PHP5 is widespread.
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10. What are Sticky and Announcement posts?
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    Sticky posts stay at the top of the forum they are posted in and do not
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    get bumped down as new topics are posted.
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    Announcement posts appear at the top of all forums in the system.
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