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Are these features used?

There are a couple of areas that don't get much oversite and I'm curious as to how much they are used, so just looking for some feedback.

1) FTP control.  Its plugged in to a few areas, like packages and smileys and probably a some other spots.  The idea is that it allows one to sign in with your ftp credentials to CHMOD files/dirs when the user that the webserver is running under is not elevated to be able to do that.  Now I do use FTP but never the built in control.  I think its a goodie to have, but is it worth it vs simply saying use your web control panel to bla

2) The theme editor.  The ACP allows one to change the theme CSS and theme templates and somewhat see the live change.  This is not how I tend to operate so just curious if folks use this capability?  Its again a goodie to have, but when I'm making edits I (generally) do them in a full editor.

That code has not been looked at since 1.0 and likely mostly legacy as well. 

Re: Are these features used?

Reply #1

Perhaps someone else has a different perspective, but mine is similar to yours. I haven't used either feature in years. 

FWIW a typo in the css editor can truly bork a site. Such a mistake can be unrecoverable through the site itself should it occur in a critical location. It's better done through an external editor with undo functionality. Don't ask how I know..... :-X ;D

Re: Are these features used?

Reply #2

Haven't used either of those personally.

Re: Are these features used?

Reply #3

I'm old school - I've been known to manually shift automatic transmissions..  so, no..

// Deep inside every dilemma lies a solution that involves explosives //

Re: Are these features used?

Reply #4

1) I've heard horror stories of the chmod process ending up making files unavailable to the webserver, and I've heard of cases where it simply fails to chmod anything because the FTP service simply ignores the request. Would suggest removing.

2) Editing the templates in the ACP is a security risk, plain and simple. (And it has been abused in the wild.) Editing the CSS should only be viable in the ACP if you don't let the ACP share any styles with the main theme, meaning that if they break the CSS of the theme, they don't also break the ACP.

Re: Are these features used?

Reply #5

1) I don't have an opinion on this. Not my forte. :)

2) Kill the bloody thing, before it causes more trouble.

It's a horrendous format to work with in practice anyway. Much better to use a code editor (+ FTP, if not working on local). Also, these days we all have the browser's document inspector available, which allows live testing CSS edits immediately without running the risk of borking anything.

Template edits should never be done live in admin if you value your sanity. :P
Last Edit: February 16, 2022, 06:01:50 pm by Antechinus
Master of Expletives: Now with improved family f@&king friendliness! :D

Sources code: making easy front end changes difficult since 1873. :P

Re: Are these features used?

Reply #6

Now that is what I was:pray:to hear! .... Now I get to do one of my favorite things, remove crusty old code :smiley:




Re: Are these features used?

Reply #7

Yay! Bring on the chainsaw!

Also, just noticed (what I think is) a minor CSS bug. It's breaking fairly short words with a hyphen, instead of just bumping them to a new line. Not really optimal for legibility, IMO. Is the word break really needed for anything?

Code: [Select]
.messageContent {
  grid-row: messageContent;
  min-height: 70px;
  padding: 1em 1em .25em .5em;
  -webkit-hyphens: auto;
  hyphens: auto;
  border-top: 1px solid;
    border-top-color: currentcolor;
  overflow-wrap: break-word;
}
Master of Expletives: Now with improved family f@&king friendliness! :D

Sources code: making easy front end changes difficult since 1873. :P

Re: Are these features used?

Reply #8

I see that now that you have pointed that out ... That might be the "hyphens" acting up?  The break word thing is for those that like to enter one long line of unbroken gibberish

Re: Are these features used?

Reply #9

Seems to be the hyphens. Not sure those are needed. Never had them before, IIRC, and things seemed to be fine. If I knock them out in the dev tools the post renders "normally".
Master of Expletives: Now with improved family f@&king friendliness! :D

Sources code: making easy front end changes difficult since 1873. :P

Re: Are these features used?

Reply #10

I'll remove those and see how things roll.  Reading about the hyphens tag its browser and language specific with just equals who the heck knows what it will really do.

Re: Are these features used?

Reply #11

  • never used
  • probably used a couple of times in 15 years, but I can live without that
sorry for my bad english

Re: Are these features used?

Reply #12

I think point 2 is not quite so clear cut though. I may have spoken from a specific angle and eco outraged a view that isn’t quite the full story.

The current setup is a huuuuuge security risk. Yet other platforms do offer template editing - especially those that are cloud only offerings. But they do so by abstracting away the templates so bare PHP is not a consideration, and admin templates are usually firewalled off from the rest for the obvious reason. They also provide edit history.

I should note my own journey has been to remove the editing functionality, convert to a template language and consider how to reintroduce editing for this reason, since there are people who genuinely would be baffled by having to use FTP, and yet can make the most… incredible… of forum themes. (I would not venture to suggest they were all beautiful but the boundaries of the world I play in forum-wise are so vastly out there compared to SMF and I see very different skill sets. These people only exist on a forum-as-a-service environment and they’re using a modified IPB 1.3 to do it.)

Re: Are these features used?

Reply #13

Ok, but I think we are still at the stage of "Kill all the crud that was inherited from SMF 2.0.x admin, which in turn was inherited from SMF 1.1.x admin, and God knows where THAT came from".

It's a pretty horrible thing to use, even without taking into account the security issues.
Master of Expletives: Now with improved family f@&king friendliness! :D

Sources code: making easy front end changes difficult since 1873. :P

Re: Are these features used?

Reply #14

QuoteIt's a pretty horrible thing to use, even without taking into account the security issues.

I think that really sums it up, it was a :poop: to try and use.  I think I have it all gone now, cut down managethemes by 50%