Errors.... February 20, 2016, 08:40:27 am I think it would be nice, on errors, like connection to databases, if they were a bit more styled, and maybe include a better message to the users, like the maintenance mode does.Now, since it would not be able to get the message from database, would have to have it in a language file.Besides the error, maybe a message to the users, that tells them the site will be back as soon as maintenance is done, but be more than the standard message, which IMHO, is a bit bland.QuoteSorry, ElkArte was unable to connect to the database. This may be caused by the server being busy. Please try again later.Attention members, we are attempting to restore the site to normal operations...news will be posted once we are back!Sure would look better than just:QuoteSorry, ElkArte was unable to connect to the database. This may be caused by the server being busy. Please try again later.
Re: Errors.... Reply #1 – February 20, 2016, 08:47:45 am And this, thanks to a problem on my site <_< Lol
Re: Errors.... Reply #2 – February 20, 2016, 08:58:35 am If we want to nitpick, a "Attention members, we are attempting" has the meaning "we (site OP) are doing something", but in fact it may just be nobody is doing anything because they do not know (been there done that).So I'd better prefer a less professional "please inform the administrator at {email-address-or-something}" rather than a encouraging, but potentially false message.Also, about the styling, the tricky part is that the "current" theme is defined in the database, so in order to style the page Elk needs a database connection[1], but not having it the only possible thing, is a) use the default theme, and 2) hope the themes are in the same directory as index.php[2], that is true in likely 99.9% of the cases, maybe more, but nonetheless something to take in consideration.1 technically it would be the same for the language, even though I guess we do our good share of guessing where the language actually is, so it should be less of a problem, but I'm not entirely sure.↵2 Just for the record, this may or may not be true depending on the setup.↵
Re: Errors.... Reply #3 – February 20, 2016, 12:14:06 pm Hmmm... Good idea on the contact. Would there be a way, to set that as a field, in the General Settings?Where the Admin can put an email address or a URL to some other form of contact?
Re: Errors.... Reply #4 – February 20, 2016, 04:07:37 pm What would be the point of yet-another-setting when Elk cannot read the database?Yet another email address in Settings.php then?I would just go with the one notified, at best, let the admin specify more than one, that could be potentially useful.
Re: Errors.... Reply #5 – February 21, 2016, 04:29:48 am Do you mean you want to be notified if your forum database is inaccessible? Or simply beautify its language on that error? Of course language can be changed to suit your needs, if that is necessary to you.
Re: Errors.... Reply #6 – February 21, 2016, 11:58:28 am I am not sure it has anything to deal with that, at all... We are talking about the error page being ugly, it's up to individual admins to set up a contact page or not, not everyone wants it.
Re: Errors.... Reply #7 – February 21, 2016, 12:08:51 pm Not only that, but would have to have a link on the error page, for an alternative contact way, if the forum is not available.Contact form on forum, would not work, but link to a contact form on another site, would.For example, on my forum's error page, I could link to my support system, or regular site's contact form. Or both...LOL
Re: Errors.... Reply #8 – February 21, 2016, 01:58:23 pm You can just throw an <a href> into the error string, works, I am unsure what to suggest here in general.
Re: Errors.... Reply #9 – February 22, 2016, 02:50:58 am Thing is, as mentioned before, it would need to be coded manually, and since you can't call anything from db, you will have just a default theme.
Re: Errors.... Reply #10 – February 22, 2016, 03:40:51 am Well you can always customise it so it suits your site even when the db is down. Done that before. Obviously it's site-specific though, so not a one size fits all solution.(Basically, use static HTML page that calls your site theme's CSS files, and has whatever message you like hard-coded into the HTML)
Re: Errors.... Reply #11 – February 22, 2016, 11:40:08 am Yeah, but for you, me and pretty much the ""elite"" users, it can be fine, but it will create some kind of "wut" effect otherwise
Re: Errors.... Reply #12 – February 22, 2016, 12:58:09 pm Yeah but it's really cool, because you can have it with bouncing parrots. Ok, seriously, just thinking aloud here: you could set it up so that you have a base template (static HTML) that was written to from an admin interface. So all you would have to do is set a path to the CSS files and add your custom message.IOW, similar to the way hosting panels can usually set up custom 404 pages, etc.
Re: Errors.... Reply #13 – February 22, 2016, 05:03:47 pm And then I wonder... Does it really worth it to go through so much of an hassle just for an error page that will hopefully be displayed the fewer the better?
Re: Errors.... Reply #14 – February 22, 2016, 07:10:36 pm I'll just stick to default as that is not really a necessary enhancement.
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