eFiction 3.0 Preview

Wow, I really like this new version. I see the Co-Author thing, and the Beginning and End Chapter Notes. I like how everything is seperated. The new spoliers section is nice too. I have that in my warnings section at the moment. It will be nice to have it seperated. I can't wait for this version to be completed!

I do have question or two, right how you have it hooked up to PHP Fusion, is that the only version you can set it up with? I have phpBB myself, the last time I tried to migrate my forum to PHP Fusion it didn't quite go well. What about existing archives that already have over 1000 members *gasp I was shocked myself* that aren't apart of the forum?

Looks great so far! Good work!

Dreamy

Tammy,
This looks pretty cool. I like that anonymous reviewers can choose between using tinyMCE or not. The co-author thing looked cool. Yep there are some bugs still, clicking edit bio took you to the main home page, but it's nice to see where it's heading.

The new spoliers section is nice too. I have that in my warnings section at the moment. It will be nice to have it seperated. I can't wait for this version to be completed!

I do have question or two, right how you have it hooked up to PHP Fusion, is that the only version you can set it up with? I have phpBB myself, the last time I tried to migrate my forum to PHP Fusion it didn't quite go well. What about existing archives that already have over 1000 members *gasp I was shocked myself* that aren't apart of the forum?

Actually Spoilers is just an example. I've made it so you can set up your own classifications through an admin panel. So you can add whatever type of sorting you want genres and warnings. Or if you don't want genres and warnings, you don't have to have them. It's totally up to the site admins now what they want those to be and how many to have.

As for bridging to other programs, what I did was let you define what table to look for the author/member login information in. So you can use the default fanfiction_authors table or use a table from another application. It'll need to be in the same database though. I did the PHP-Fusion bridge as an example. There's a new table called author_prefs that holds the preference information for eFiction like skins, whether or not to use tinyMCE, etc. and that info will tie into the authors table you set. So it will be easy to bridge a new archive. Existing archives will have to figure out how to synch the data before they implement a bridge.

I like that anonymous reviewers can choose between using tinyMCE or not.

It'll be like that throughout the script and for members as well. Members will also be able to turn tinyMCE off in their preferences if the admin has turned it on. I'm still hunting down textareas in forms. There are a lot of them.

Actually Spoilers is just an example. I've made it so you can set up your own classifications through an admin panel. So you can add whatever type of sorting you want genres and warnings. Or if you don't want genres and warnings, you don't have to have them. It's totally up to the site admins now what they want those to be and how many to have.

Ahhh, I remember you talking about that now! That was one of the features I liked that I thought was going to be in 2.0 eventually. I am glad it is still being worked on.

As for bridging to other programs, what I did was let you define what table to look for the author/member login information in. So you can use the default fanfiction_authors table or use a table from another application. It'll need to be in the same database though. I did the PHP-Fusion bridge as an example. There's a new table called author_prefs that holds the preference information for eFiction like skins, whether or not to use tinyMCE, etc. and that info will tie into the authors table you set. So it will be easy to bridge a new archive. Existing archives will have to figure out how to synch the data before they implement a bridge.

Ahhh, all my databases are seperate, so that wouldn't help me. I was actually thinking of closing my forum because no one uses it anymore, so that won't bother me too much I suppose.

It'll be like that throughout the script and for members as well. Members will also be able to turn tinyMCE off in their preferences if the admin has turned it on. I'm still hunting down textareas in forms. There are a lot of them.

Yes, that is a nice feature. I have been having quite a few problems with tinyMCE myself with validation of stories, so I was seriously considering turning it off.

Question though, if the admin has it turned off and someone wants it on, is it possible for the script to grab it if they set their profile to use it? Or could there possibly be an additional feature that it could be turned on per user not system wide? I am just throwing out ideas here. I sometimes like Tinymice for easy formatting, but sometimes it really annoys me. LOL

Dreamy

Well done. I like it so far, and the tie in with another CMS is great.

A Few questions when you have time.
How will the upgrade from 2.0 with mods to 3.0 be. Will it be easy, to where we can change and add code, or will it be like 1.1d to 2.0 where the mods are re-added?
Will the skin conversion be about the same?

I'm diggin the spoilers I like that.

Steve

Question though, if the admin has it turned off and someone wants it on, is it possible for the script to grab it if they set their profile to use it?

No, if the admin has it off it's going to be off mostly because otherwise we'd need to do some checking to make sure tinyMCE is actually installed.

How will the upgrade from 2.0 with mods to 3.0 be. Will it be easy, to where we can change and add code, or will it be like 1.1d to 2.0 where the mods are re-added?
Will the skin conversion be about the same?

The upgrade will be about the same. There's just no way around it. Everybody has their own mods so there's no way for me to write them in. One feature I'm looking to add before the release of 3.0 is an admin panel to let admins add fields to the bio from there without editing the script as that seems like one that is most often done and most often people have problems with. For that one if it happens, I'll probably be able to create a script to convert without losing data.

The skin conversion will probably be about the same or a little easier. Mostly, you'll just be adding a few things to accommodate new features.

I like the ability to toggle the tinyMCE editor:

Does it remember this preference for members later on another page?

eyedam

Nope, but members can set it to off by default in their profile. Although it could by adding a session variable for it.

If we find an error or something undefined, do you want us to let you know? I've seem a few missing definitions and wanted to know if you wanted me to send you a list of them.

Dreamy

yay! breadcrumb navigation for the categories on the story listing box! *loves*

I love the spoiler line too.. and the option for making other similar things.

looks great so far! 😀

Yeah go ahead and send me the list of missing definitions. I wanted to make sure I got rid of all the ones that are no longer needed so I started a new file. 🙂

The breadcrumbs, BTW, can be turned on/off in the settings.

Tammy I love it! I can't wait until it's released.

It looks really, really good. I love the ability to sort by title or date, as that's a complaint I get a lot for 1.1 - the way that categories display stories (stories posted on 31 of any month, then the 30th of any month etc). It seems very easy to navigate, and the co-authored stories and spoiler features are godsends.

Just one question - will it be possible to upgrade from 1.1 directly, or will you need to go via 2.0x? I've held off upgrading because of the loss of pageview information (although I have patched my version).

We'll probably do a poll to see how many need a 1.1 to 3.0 because it'll double the work of creating an upgrade script, but I'm such a soft touch I'll probably build both. 🙂