Newbie Impression of phpWCMS

[giovince]

I have found that phpwcms is disgustingly easy to use ) I used to admin about 8000 sites on a local ISP until they went crap. Most of this stuff was static pages, many ASP and WINDOZE, a good bit PERL, PHP, Etc over in-house Linux. Now I'm trying to grab up the clients (with lotza success). Primarily a network guy, I do have some q's:

All of the sites I've seen developed on phpWCMS have horrible flash....(Including this one). This is most assuredly due to the fact that phpWCMS redraws [i]everything[/i] whenever a page is loaded from link etc. This sucks, and is unprofessional looking. So:

>>Has anyone come up with a mod to cache shit on the client side?

I found the security BB to be empty. Hmmmmm. I note several hundred security issues with my install.

>>Are you all designers and just don't care about security?

Here's my crap site to look (please don't hack it.... of course you couldn't hack it if there were no security issues.....) Content is just bull....... So don't tell me I spelled something wrong ) But I would appreciate general comments on how to use the product better as far as layout etc.
http://www.lanwrx.com/phpwcms/index.php

I have been reading through most everything on the phpWCMS BBs. I found a request that makes perfect sense to me- a request for a 'minimal install' So:

<<What are the bare minimum folders I can have and
<<What are the folders that have to be READ/WRITE?

giovince

[rushclub]

you should change the default login (webmaster/admin) to something different.

rush

[giovince]

Yep, did that.
Do you think posters here are offended by my use of 'crap' and 'shit?' Thought someone would have addressed my q's by now:

>>Has anyone come up with a mod to cache **** on the client side?
>>Are you all designers and just don't care about security?
<<What are the bare minimum folders I can have and
<<What are the folders that have to be READ/WRITE?

giovince

[rushclub]

<<What are the folders that have to be READ/WRITE?

read the forum

[spirelli]

Do you think posters here are offended by my use of 'crap' and 'shit?'

Well, I don't especiallyt appreciate it. Makes all sound very negative and does not give me a very good impression of you as a person.

<<What are the folders that have to be READ/WRITE?

Look at the section "Files and Folder settings" here: http://www.phpwcms-docu.de/index.php?dev_1_x_en

<<What are the bare minimum folders I can have

You are at least the second person asking this in the forums, but I have never come across an answer to that. Maybe someone else can be more specific.

I found the security BB to be empty. Hmmmmm. I note several hundred security issues with my install.
>>Are you all designers and just don't care about security?

I think security is definately an issue! I'm sure that Oliver who develops phpwcms would want to know the issues you see. Please post them in the forum and/or contact him directly.

[argos]

Yep, did that.
Do you think posters here are offended by my use of 'crap' and 'shit?'

I'm not offended by it, but by your entire way of expressing yourself you just sound like a 'dude'. If you stop using words like shit, crap, windoze, lotza,q's, sucks, you might be taken more seriously and increase the chances of being answered. Also the tone of voice is kind of negative, and you say things that makes me frown (8000 sites???, flash? what flash?). Especially being a newbie here, it's not the best way to start I think.

[giovince]

Well......(As Ronald Reagan used to say with a grand pause)......

I am sorry if I offended anyone. The sad part was I was just trying to <<sound like a 'dude'>>. As I thought everyone here was.

8000 sites is correct.

And Flash is the issue.

phpWCMS redraws entire pages and causes a "flash" as it does. Hmmmm. Maybe you would like the word "blink?" Absolutely the most important Q of my list (without curses) is:

Has anybody developed a mod to cache things on the client side? Object being that phpWCMS does not redraw the whole page every time a user clicks something.

[pico]

Hi

think that there is no need for it - thats why Browsers has a Cache

the only posiliby is to use Frames but nobody realy want's to go steps back in Development

[brans]

@giovince could you give us an example of such a "caching" mod used by any site on the web ? I have never seen such a thing before!

I have heard of page compression and server side caching, which both are supported by phpwcms, but honestly: I can't imagine how such a "client side cache" was supposed to work.

my last project: http://www.brenner.lu I can't complain about long flashes, I think it is just a matter of how you design your pages. I could even reduce the flash of the navigation etc. by putting it more to the top in the source code but as I want the search engine and the visitor to see the content before the navigation, I leave it as is.
( I neither use caching nor page compression, which would speed up the hole thing about 50 times )

I was seriously interested in your security issues? Couldn't you share your thoughts with us so that we could all try to eliminate those issues?

[giovince]

<<the only posiliby is to use Frames but nobody realy want's to go steps back in Development>>

Yes I guess that is the effect.

This is a 'retro' site that I'm working on.- http://www.boomaaarts.com

And I do just that, a couple IFRAMES.

As for client side caching- click one of the images and it preloads all for smooth rollovers on the new page. If you use a modem this will take time!

As for the flash on my test site, I can see from brans' post that I am using the product badly.

I dont need such complex navigation. The menu redraw/resize for different levels is a big flash.
My HTML Pages should be carefully sized to the article size.
Make better choices for borders and backgrounds.
If white flashes on white you don't see it. Etc.

[giovince]

Brans....

<<my last project: http://www.brenner.lu I can't complain about long flashes, I think it is just a matter of how you design your pages. I could even reduce the flash of the navigation etc. by putting it more to the top in the source code>>

I see a really odd flash in you last project. As you click down the menu...

Das Unternehmen has sub catagories and as you click them there is absolutely no flash to me.
Handel no flash
Logistik Has a flash of the menu
Produkte Has a flash of the menu
Under Anfahrt
Each sub catagory flashes

At the points without flash are you using articles?
At the points of flash are you using HTML pages or something other than articles?

<<I was seriously interested in your security issues? Couldn't you share your thoughts with us so that we could all try to eliminate those issues?>>

I am organizing my thoughts on this. I have begun by starting with a minimal install list. I installed it without imagemagik etc.

My primary concern is the mapping of DB calls what where and when and why so many (it seems) directories need to be read write execute. I have started experimenting with downgrading permissions and have had some success.

As I come up with something of value I will post it on the Security BB

John

[giovince]

brans.....

I'll quit posting to myself in a bit but....

http://www.boomaaarts.com does a 'client side' cache of future use images with a javascript function I shoved into a php page

long list looks like this

var locationAfterPreload = "<?php echo $Path ?>"
var lengthOfPreloadBar = 300 // Length of preload bar (in pixels)
var heightOfPreloadBar = 10 // Height of preload bar (in pixels)

// Put the URLs of images in, or write a script that creates the list.

var yourImages = new Array(
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/thumbs/cov.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/thumbs/jan.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/thumbs/feb.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/thumbs/mar.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/thumbs/apr.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/thumbs/may.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/thumbs/jun.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/thumbs/jul.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/thumbs/aug.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/thumbs/sep.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/thumbs/oct.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/thumbs/nov.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/thumbs/dec.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/thumbs/bac.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/large/cov.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/large/jan.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/large/feb.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/large/mar.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/large/apr.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/large/may.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/large/jun.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/large/jul.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/large/aug.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/large/sep.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/large/oct.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/large/nov.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/large/dec.jpg",
"<?php echo $IPath ?>/large/bac.jpg")

As my test site (http://www.lanwrx.com/phpwcms/index.php) is fairly small, this concept would be adaptable to phpWCMS in context of articles. I could make a single call to the DB for a master article.... That is one that contains all the text for all of the pages on the site. Give an array (or do you say make 'Navigation Tags"?).

Am I just a crazy network guy? Or does this make any sense?

John

[Pauli]

ah I see, you mean 'client side' cache = preloading?

[giovince]

Yep, but that wont fix the flash.....

I bet we could correct all the flash points in a few nights. Starting with the easiest would be clicking the same link in the nav area.

Well (As Ronald Reagan used to say with a grand pause), Lets say I've loaded index.php.... I have the

OK Template.
OK JavascriptMenu(Left in my case)
OK Header
OK Main (Text area)
OK Footer

I add here (logic only)
<?PHP Echo
FUNCTION redraw (do whatever phpWCMS normally does)
FUNCTION noredraw (do nothing at all)
?>

All cached on the client side.

I don't want to redraw anything I don't have to, so..............

//Menu Selection has not changed
IF $Menu=index.php?.$Path
THEN
FUNCTION noredraw (do nothing at all)
//Menu Selection has changed
ELSE
redraw (do whatever phpWCMS normally does)
END IF

This logic would eliminate the flash on clicking the same menu link. Though clicking the same link over and over again is not my idea of fun, it does produce the flash I'm talking about note my flashed eyeballs!

John

[brans]

I think that you must be a crazy network guy. Try to break into one of the phpwcms systems on the net because of generous permissions given to folders, how would you like to reach that aim? And even if you could, this shouldn`t be posted to the phpwcms security bb but to the server`s developer`s security bb.

I use phpwcms everywhere on my site. The only difference is that there sometimes are images inside the content and sometimes not.

You can`t actually reach this no flashing by just not redrawing the navigation everytime. Just to give you an example:

go to the internet and save any page that you like under:
page1.html now copy ONLY the html file, no images or smth. and save this file unter page2.html . Now you place a link from page1.html to page2.html anywhere inside the source. After having finished this transfer these files to your server. Load page1.html and click the link referring to page2.html, there always will be a flash because of a latency issue caused by the browser (rendering the html code) and maybe your bandwidth (on longer flashes), even if the source code is the same and all the images used are exactly the same.

By preloading images, you don`t cache them into the browser even if you use this script, when loading another "sub category" of your website, there will be that flash. And by the way: As a network guy you should know that there are so many browsers out there, which haven`t got the permissions to execute javascript and so for most of business visitors, your pages will have that "unprofessional flash" that you are willing to undo with your useless javascript.

Really I think that you should look deeper into the facts before criticising such good scripts as phpwcms. In my opinion you are just one of those "goopy security guys" who have no idea of what means webdesign.

Nobody, except you, will care about this 1 millisecond flash of content. I think that if you wanted too, then we could approve this by a survey