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A better Board News block for Simple Portal

There a lot of users that are asking an integration with Worpress and in most of cases they ask it just because WP is more flexible in displaying the articles in home page and I'm pretty sure someone will ask here. On Sm.org the answer you'll get is "you cand do it with a portal and some work". Well that "some work" was never been published. Even on simpleportal.net there are different topics that are asking this and no solution has been posted.

I'm not a big fan of WP and will never use it, I still prefer the old and good Joomla but that's a matter of personal taste. So what do you think about giving some more options into the Board News block?

What should do this new Board News block?
  • getting the first image of a topic attachment or image inserted with img and display it floated to left o right
  • eventually a link from that image to the topic
  • a mutlicolumn display of articles will be great

I can say I found an alternative way of doing this using the ILA mod but it's not the same thing. I also have a few visitors that saw my sig on sm.org and asked me how I did this using my Contact form. You may also have a look at the old XenPorta that had a lot of success in the past even if it has less features than SP, but had a great block for displaying the last topics from a category with a "blog style look"
sorry for my bad english

Re: A better Board News block for Simple Portal

Reply #1 –

Ahhh... Spoiler (click to show/hide)

No, I don't want to start typing now otherwise I'm gonna stay awake for the next two hours. LOL
In short:
* use a forum for blogging is no different from using a blog for "foruming"[1],
yep, a bridge with WP would be nice to have.
 yep, a bridge with Joomla! is nice to have [2].
* yep, improve the "board index" would be very nice (there is a topic around, don't remember where... as usual! LOL), maybe even something where guests get something (like a description, or so), while members something else (for example recent activity).
1 Still, I want to write a simple blog completely integrated into the forum, but that is something for after I have finished my tags addon because blogs need tags.↵
2 Actually I have it already in the form of a jFusion plugin and partially of a stand-alone plugin for Joomla!, I just have to find a moment to pack them properly and publish the packages and the code.↵
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Re: A better Board News block for Simple Portal

Reply #2 –

I started with joomla back in 2007 and choosed smf because at that time it was the only forum which could be integrated into J!. I know Jfusion and I don't have any plans to use a CMS. Think how things changed now :D I want my forum simple, intuitive, fast and easy to manage, and for me smf / elkarte are doing this very well ;) IMHO using a CMS is a pita when it comes to upgrades

What I am asking is just a better block for SP or if there are any plans doing it. I can live without it, but it would be nice to have it ;)
sorry for my bad english

Re: A better Board News block for Simple Portal

Reply #3 –

heh...
I tend to start typing and not be able to stop any more daydreaming all the stuff I would like to do. LOL (At least in my dreams I don't have to hit the wall that is the lack of time. :P)

Point 1 and 2 should not be too difficult to do.
I'm not sure what you mean in point 3... oh, I got it while writing, yes!
 emanuele is still daydreaming (while thinking what's the next step in breaking apart Elk code to decouple the calendar entirely from the main code).
Bugs creator.
Features destroyer.
Template killer.

Re: A better Board News block for Simple Portal

Reply #4 –

Emanuele for me there is no hurry, as I said "it will be nice to have it" so take your time ;) Maybe this topic could help
simpleportal.net/index.php?topic=13658
simpleportal.net/index.php?topic=10766.20
destek.smfmod.com/haber-blogu-t18235.0.html

here a "blogish style" using smf and SP aplicacionesmart.com
sorry for my bad english

Re: A better Board News block for Simple Portal

Reply #5 –

I too like some article system in place.  :)

Re: A better Board News block for Simple Portal

Reply #6 –

I like. Article system is meantly something like WP, Jomla and portal addon. I also wish something similar that is an upgrade to profile page to cater something like that. Member can write his own post / article / status at his profile like having his own forum board where he is in control of it. This is what I think I was trying to ask here:

Quote from: ahrasis – Good morning,

I wish to request a permission based addon where a member can add a profile header picture. This picture is to be placed in the header part in his profile. The idea is to make a member feel like having his own personal page.

Also profile thoughts and comments where member can post his thoughts and others can comment with regards to that. He can limit that to his buddies or open for public (or nobody can comment). For this, if it is too much, there is another replacement idea.

Instead of doing the above mentioned addon, is it possible to create a permission based addon that allow a board in a category be used as a member board. Similarly, he can limit that to his buddies or open for public (or nobody can comment).

Permitted members will see a button / menu to create his own board, if that is not yet created. If it is already created, there will be a link to that board. Only board owner can create topic in it and 5-10 of his recent topic will be displayed in his profile page.

Huh... a long one for the second (thoughts and comments) part. Any taker(s)? ;)

ahrasis want to think that his request is relevant

Re: A better Board News block for Simple Portal

Reply #7 –

I tried this one.
Not tested very deeply, so... use at your own risk, if you have a test board better. ;)

There is a bit of css to add to portal.css:
Code: [Select]
.sp_article_content .sp_attachment_thumb {
	float: left;
	margin-right: 10px;
}
.sp_article_content .post:after {
	content: '';
	display: block;
	width: 100%;
	clear: both;
}

Ohhh... darn!
I just realized this works only for the development branch... darn!
Tomorrow I'll see to backport it to the current stable version.

Re: A better Board News block for Simple Portal

Reply #8 –

Sorry but how do I use this?   O:-)
sorry for my bad english

Re: A better Board News block for Simple Portal

Reply #9 –

The development version of SP completely overhauled the way "blocks" are added and in doing that added much coolness :D

The way it used to be (or is) was to adding a block required adding a new function inside of portalblocks and a db entry or perhaps a custom PHP page.  

The new way allows you to add a block by simply adding a file/program to the spblocks directory, where it is auto discovered and made available as a standard block.  So with the new branch you would just take the BoardNews.block.php above and drop it in your spblocks directory and then use it like any other block ... coolness!

Re: A better Board News block for Simple Portal

Reply #10 –

TL;DR: I have to "rewrite" it. I wanted to re-do it yesterday, but this year I'm not lucky at all, I got a cold (after the flu in February) and it's almost gone now. Today I may have some other things to do, so it may take until the week-end to be "converted"... :(
Bugs creator.
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Re: A better Board News block for Simple Portal

Reply #11 –

Quote from: Spuds – The new way allows you to add a block by simply adding a file/program to the spblocks directory, where it is auto discovered and made available as a standard block.  So with the new branch you would just take the BoardNews.block.php above and drop it in your spblocks directory and then use it like any other block ... coolness!
That is a great news, I'll wait for the new version ;)

Quote from: emanuele – Today I may have some other things to do, so it may take until the week-end to be "converted"... :(
Take your time, no hurry for me ;)
sorry for my bad english

Re: A better Board News block for Simple Portal

Reply #12 –

I'm sorry, I don't have a "normal" version handy and I need to reinstall everything to have one... would you mind give it a try?
Of course take a backup of the current file.
If you have any custom change to some of the blocks, let me know, maybe attach your version and I'll apply the changes. ;D

ETA: removed broken file.
Last Edit: May 24, 2015, 05:30:20 pm by emanuele
Bugs creator.
Features destroyer.
Template killer.

Re: A better Board News block for Simple Portal

Reply #13 –

I'll try it in localhost, thank you for looking into this.
sorry for my bad english

Re: A better Board News block for Simple Portal

Reply #14 –

sorry but I cannot understand what is changed in this version  :-[
All I did was to overwrite the Portalblocks.subs.php in sources/subs folder
sorry for my bad english