------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zomplog 2.2b2 release readme.txt - January 30, 2004 created by Gerben Schmidt updates: http://scripts.zomp.nl ------------------------------------------------------------------------ READ ME This is just a little readme to get you going. INTRO There are many great weblog-systems around, so why should I bother creating yet another one? I've worked with many systems, and they all had one big flaw: they had too many bells & whistles. I wanted a small & easy weblog-system, meant for someone who needs to do regular news-updates to their site. Or someone who just wants to blog, without having to dive into all the technical details. A drop and go-script. When I found out that many people around me were also looking for an easy way to start blogging, I decided to create this piece of software. It is meant to be as easy implementable as I could possibly make it. You are my test-users, so if you find any bugs, or have any problems installing or using it, visit the Zomplog Forum: http://www.zomp.nl/forums or mail me. If you have implemented Zomplog into your site, please post it on the forum, I'll put your link on my website under "people who use Zomplog". And, oh yeah, If you think of a feature you would like to see in a future version, post it too! You can also mail me: for anti-spam reasons I've put my email-adress on http://zomplog.zomp.nl NEW FEATURES Version 2.3 has many new functions, while staying plain and simple. Features added include: - added skinning + a created new zomplog skin - added language files (English and Dutch) - admin can create and delete users & admins - admin can delete comments - admin can edit/delete posts by ALL USERS (not just his or her own) - added print formatting - added XML formatting - added the ability to change category in "edit this post"-window - added userlist on mainpage - got rid of the drop-down menu for viewing categories - improved upload - created overall style for members area - several code improvements GNU This program is open-source software and appears under the GNU license. You can do anything you want with it: modify it, change it around, make it more beautiful, make it better! Please let me know if you made any good improvements: that way I can incorporate them in future versions. If you use it, and like it, it would be kind of you to make a link back to http://zomplog.zomp.nl. Enjoy! LOOK AND FEEL Version 2.3 adds support for skinning! How does it work? Just edit the default skin which can be found in the skins folder, or create a new folder within the skins-folder, give it an appropriate name, and create your own skin! To activate your skin, open config.php, sroll down to $skin and replace the name of the default skin folder to the name of your skin folder. A standard skin consists of the following: header.php, footer.php and style.css. If you use images in your skin, be sure to use the following path: skins/name_of_your_skin_directory/images/imagename.jpg LANGUAGE Another new feature in version 2.3 is language customisation. You can choose your language in config.php. Currently there's only two language files: English and Dutch, but feel free to translate! If you want to create a new language, just copy an existing language file, and translate it to your preferred language! To activate the language, open config.php, scroll down to $language, and change the value english.php to the value of the name of the language file you've just created. Once you've translated Zomplog, don't hesitate to upload your language file to the forum: http://www.zomp.nl/forums SUPPORT FORUM There's a support forum for Zomplog at http://www.zomp.nl/forums. Post your bug reports, questions, feature requests there. This is the central place for all discussion about zomplog. And if you've installed the script, go ahead and post a link to your site, so others can see what you've done with the script! You don't have to register, so go ahead and have a look! REQUIREMENTS php4 (3 might work as well, haven't tested) MySQL GD2 (optional, only for image manipulation, more info: http://www.boutell.com/gd/) EASY INSTALL I've tried to make the installation-process as simple as possible. Make sure the database exists before running the install script. -unzip all files into one directory (you can rename it to whatever you like) -change CONFIG.PHP (which is in the "admin"-folder) to fit your MySQL database (MySQL username, Db-name, password, etc.) and change the other variables in CONFIG.PHP to your liking (or leave them as they are) -upload the whole thing -run INSTALL.PHP (by pointing to it with your browser), if everything went fine you'll see a link to step two: create an administrator. After you've created an admin username/password you can log in to the system. -delete INSTALL.PHP and INSTALL2.PHP (important for security reasons). If you don't want users to be able to register from outside the system, you might also wanna delete JOIN.PHP which is in the "admin"-directory. -you're done! Note: take a good look at CONFIG.PHP, there's a lot you can customize by just changing variables! Everything is heavily commented, but here's an example: if you want to be able to change the date of each post manually, set $use_manualdate to 1 (it is set to 0 by default). This way you can also "switch on" or "switch off" comments and image upload. You can also change the skin and the language of your weblog in CONFIG.PHP IMAGE UPLOAD (optional) To use the image-upload function, just CHMOD the folder "upload" to 777 and you're ready to roll! If you don't want to use image-upload just change the variable $use_upload in CONFIG.PHP to 0. Note: the thumbnail-script (which creates thumbnails on-the-fly) only works with the GD graphics module version 2. More info about that module on: http://www.boutell.com/gd/ CREDITS All code by Gerben Schmidt. Special thanks to Jez Hancock for creating the wonderful script SimpleAuth, which saved me hours of work in not having to start from scratch. Thanks to Kristine of Movable Type, for all her coding suggestions when I made my first scripts in php, and thanks to Gramcracker, for his life-saving remark "Do you have any data in the table?". If it wasn't for him, Zomplog would probably never have existed. CONTACT INFORMATION Gerben Schmidt - http://zomplog.zomp.nl Zomplog Forum: http://www.zomp.nl/forums