Question for the heavy customizers.... *reprint*

[Rousehouse]

This thread was initially started by Ash. This is a reprint resurrected from the dead... I wasn't able to get the whole thing, but I got most of it.


From Ash:

For all of you who have made many customizations to your site, what can we do to make upgrades easier for you?

Beta 4 has a upgrade script to update your database.

Beta 3 started the "options.php" file.

Anything else we can do for ya?

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From Rousehouse:

Once again, thanks for asking. My ideal would be a "drag and drop" upgrade as much as possible. Working back from that goal, here's a couple of ideas:

• The FAQ page - If the file that the site used was a customizable parameter, that would be great.
• I'm not sure if I'm keeping the Google ad yet. So, I keep commenting it out. If that was customizable parameter, that would be great.
• The site favicon prevents a "drag and drop upgrade". Not a big deal, but since you asked... I can't really think of a workaround.
• The database upgrade page was excellent. One suggested enhancement would be that it prompts when it has completed successfully.
• I don't upload the CSS file during my upgrade. It would be nice to see explicitly if there was a reason to be concerned by that (like new values, etc).
• (One really spaced out idea would be to make the CSS values read from a database or the equivalent of an options.php).

That's all I've got for now... Thanks Ash

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From Kingpin:

I think what you are doing is good, just remmeber to make all the changes listed in the changelog folder. drag and drop doesnt work for me since quiet a few files are changed or will be changed in a few days so the patch system where i look at the lines changed and change in my files is perfect.

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From Ash:

Quote:
Originally Posted by KingPin

I think what you are doing is good, just remmeber to make all the changes listed in the changelog folder.

We do try to keep a good changelog. Is the current format easy to read or would you like us to make some changes?


Quote:
Originally Posted by KingPin

drag and drop doesnt work for me since quiet a few files are changed or will be changed in a few days so the patch system where i look at the lines changed and change in my files is perfect.

The changes that you make, is there any way we can put those into the "options" file, to make it so you can just drag+drop?
__________________

- Ash

[KingPin]

mm thanx for the reprint I never saw ash's reply

and to answer I think that would be awesome if things were in options file but I must ask how long before the options file starts becoming huge? also again this is just me thinking out loud but why not call it for what it is, a language file? that way an independant dir/subdir with the lang files (lang.en.php lang.es.php lang.de.php etc) in it can be established and maybe down the road some language switching on the fly by the users can occur?

[AshDigg]

Originally Posted by KingPin

why not call it for what it is, a language file? that way an independant dir/subdir with the lang files (lang.en.php lang.es.php lang.de.php etc) in it can be established and maybe down the road some language switching on the fly by the users can occur?

Good idea.

I'm working to convert the project over to using the Smarty Template engine. As I do, I'll move all the "text" over into a "lang.en.conf" file, as now seems to be the perfect time to do it.

[KingPin]

thanx, and smarty is a "smart" idea since quiet a lot of webmasters who use premade cms type scripts should be used to it(I know I am) so this will be perfect.