- Installation
- Administration
- Skins
- Designing
- Modifying
- Upgrading from 2.0
- Upgrading from 1.1
- Credits
- Appendix
New Installation
- If you intend to write the story texts to the server or allow image uploads
CHMOD the folder you intend to store the stories in to 777. If this folder
is missing the script will attempt to create it for you during
the install.
- Move config.php from the docs folder to the main eFiction folder. If the
config.php is missing the install script will attempt to
create it, but it's best if you move it.
- CHMOD config.php to 666.
- Using your web browser, go to the URL for your website(i.e. http://www.yoursite.com)
to run the install and set up the admin login.
- Login with the admin login and password set in step #4, and complete the
configuration of your site through the Admin panel.
Upgrade from 2.0.X
BACK UP YOUR FILES AND YOUR DATABASE FIRST!! Upload the 3.0 files OVER your
2.0 files. DO NOT DELETE YOUR 2.0 FILES UNTIL THE UPGRADE IS COMPLETE! Go to
your site. The script will detect that the config.php file is for 2.0 and start
the upgrade.
Note: You're encouraged to choose one of the skins provided
with the 3.0 script until you can update your 2.0 skins.
Upgrade from 1.1
BACK UP YOUR FILES AND YOUR DATABASE FIRST!! Upload the 3.0 files OVER your
1.1 files. DO NOT DELETE YOUR 2.0 FILES UNTIL THE UPGRADE IS COMPLETE! Go to
your site. The script
will detect that the config.php file is for 1.1 and start the upgrade.
Note: You're encouraged to choose one of the skins provided
with the 3.0 script until you can update your 1.1 skins.
Note 2: Make sure your config.php file is CHMOD'd to 666.
Note 3: If you have installed blocks that did not come with
the 2.0 package, turn them off before starting the upgrade. They will most likely
be incompatible!
Initial Configuration
After the install script has finished there are still a number of elements
of the archive that you must configure before your archive will be operational.
- Ratings - Ratings are a required element for story
submission. Ratings are intended to show the intended audience for a story
much as the MPAA ratings work for movies. Note: You are strongly
advised not to use the MPAA ratings for your archive as they have threatened
archives with legal action for doing so.
- Categories (if you chose to have more than one)
- How you categorize your archive is at your discretion. Some archives use
categories for different fandoms. Others use categories for types of story
within a fandom.
- Characters - Characters is a list of characters
used in your stories. Characters can be defined as sitewide or assigned to
a specific category.
- Classifications - Classifications are other types
of "classifications" you want to sort your stories into. In 1.1
and 2.0, classifications were hard-coded as genres and warnings. To add new
classifications or modify existing classifications required editing a number
of core files. With 3.0, you can designate your own classifications. Other
classifications that could be used are: spoilers, pairings, story type, language.
- News - It's a good idea to write an initial news story.
- Message Settings - The install script will
load some default messages for your site. You will most likely wish to customize
these messages to fit your site.
- Custom Pages - Four custom pages are defined
in the installation. You will most likely wish to customize these pages to
fit your site.
- Additional User Profile Fields - A number of
optional user profile fields were installed though only a few were turned
on. You will want to go to Admin->Profile Information and configure the
user profile fields that you want on. If you want a custom profile field,
now's the time to add that too.
Note: If you intend to bridge your eFiction site with another
script. It's advisable to do it now before you open for business.
Translating eFiction
You can modify most of the text that is displayed in the script by changing
the language file in the languages/ folder for the language you selected. Copy
the en.php and en_admin.php files and rename them to your chosen language. For
instance, en.php would become es.php for Spanish or ru.php for Russian. Just
change the text within the quotes for each line to whatever you want it to say.
Some wording is included within the skin's files. If you have created a translation
for eFiction, we encourage you to share it!
Add New Series
Series are collections of related stories by the same or multiple authors.
A story and its sequels, for example, would be a series. Series might also be
used for a "shared universe" in which multiple authors write. The
person who creates the series is considered the series "owner" and
controls whether or not the series is "open" to contributions by other
authors or not. Even if the series is "closed", the series owner has
the option to include stories from other authors in the series. This form is
the same as members with an additional option to select the owner of the series.
Add New Story
This form is the same as members use in the "Account Info" area except
it has an additional option to select the author of the series. You will also
see options to validate and mark the story as featured.
Featured Stories
This page allows administrators to manage the featured stories of the site.
A story may initially be marked as featured:
- From the add/edit story form.
- By clicking on the "Featured" link in the "Admin Options"
list for the story.
Once a story has been marked it will appear in a table on this admin page.
From here, site administrators may choose to "retire" the story or
remove it's featured status entirely.
News
This page is used to add and administer the news stories for the site.
Submissions
This page allows site adminstrators to manage the stories in the submission
queue. This page is only used when automatic validation of stories is turned
off and admistrators are manually validating stories. This page will list the
stories waiting in the queue.
Skins
This page lets site administrators "hide" skins from members. Administrators
are advised to do this while they work on developing a new skin.
Categories
This page is used to manage the site categories. To view a category's sub-categories
in the list click on the "+" sign next to the name of the category.
To add categories:
- Goto Admin -> Categories.
- For a new top level category click "Add New Top Level Category"
or for a new sub-category click on the "Sub-Category" link in the
Options column for the parent category.
- Enter the category information and click "Submit". A locked category
is a category where new story submissions are not accepted. It is generally
used to "lock" top level categories and force submissions into sub-categories
beneath the locked category.
Characters
This page is used to manage the characters. Characters for a specific category
can be added from the categories page or directly from this page.
To add characters:
- Choose on the category in which to place the characters (or "Sitewide"
to make the characters accessible site wide).
- Choose on the number of characters to add.
- Click "Submit".
- You will now be presented with a form in which to enter the information
about each character. A bio for the character is optional. If entered, it
will appear at the top of the "Browse" page for that character.
Ratings
Ratings are a required element for story submission. Ratings
are intended to show the intended audience for a story much as the MPAA ratings
work for movies. Note: You are strongly advised not to use
the MPAA ratings for your archive as they have threatened archives with legal
action for doing so. The story's rating can also be used to limit access to
certain stories.
- Rating - The text of the rating. This is limited to 60 characters.
- Warning Pop-up - If this box is checked, a warning pop-up will be displayed
for stories with this rating. The text of this warning is defined in the "Warning
text" field. If warning pop-up's only once is selected in the settings,
the site will remember whether or not this rating warning has appeared and
will only display it once. If it is not selected, the warning pop-up will
display each time.
- Age Consent Required - If this box is checked, the visitor must have confirmed
they are an adult (either via their preferences if they're logged in or via
the warning pop-up) before they can view stories with this rating.
- Registered Users Only - If this box is checked, the visitor must be logged
in to view stories with this rating.
- Warning text- The warning text that will be displayed to the user in the
pop-up warning (if any).
Classifications
Classifications take the place of the genres and warnings from 1.1 and 2.0.
The change lets you define your own classifications without hacking into the
files.
To add a new classifcation type:
- Goto Admin -> Classifications.
- Click on "Add New Classification Type".
- Enter the name and title for the classification type such as "genres"
or "warnings". The title can be anything you like. The title will
be what is displayed on screen. The name will be used in your skin template
as a variable so it should be a unique one word description. As an example:
enter the name as "genre" and the title as "Genres".
- Click "Submit".
- After you click submit you'll be taken back to the table listing your classification
types.
- Click on the classification type ("Genres" to continue the example).
This will take you to the list of classifications within that type.
- Click "Add New Classifications" to go to the form to add your
classifications for that type. You'll have as many blanks on this form as
you've set items per page.
- Enter the classifications (to continue the example: romance, action/adventure,
mystery) one in each text box.
- Click submit.
To edit a classification or classification type click "Edit" in the
options in the table. To delete a classification click "delete" in
the options.
Members
This page gives site administrators a number of options for managing the members
of their site. Note: Some of these options may be unavailable
if you have bridged your eFiction site to another application.
At the top of the page are a number of options to sort members by:
- All Members - lists all members
- Admins - lists all administrators
- Authors - lists only members who have submitted stories to the archive
- Authors Input by Admins - lists authors who have been added by admins. Note:
Will not function for bridged sites.
- Non-validated Members - lists members who have not been validated.
- Validated Members - lists members who have been validated
- Locked Members - lists members whose accounts have been locked (banned)
- Unlocked Members - lists members whose accounts are active (non-banned)
Validated members are members whose stories by-pass the validation queue and
are accepted automatically in archives where administrators are validating stories
manually. By clicking on a members name in one of the last four lists, you are
choosing to take that action on that member. For instance, if you click on a
member's name in the Non-validated Members list, you will be taken to a page
that will let you validate that member. The reverse is also true, if you click
on a member's name in the Validated Members list, you will be taken to a page
that will let you revoke the validated status for that member.
An additional option, at the bottom of the page, for non-bridged sites is the
ability to add new members. These are the members that appear in the "Authors
Input by Admins" list. When clicking on a name in that list, administrators
are given the option to release the author's account to their control.
Mail Users
Site administrators can use this option to mail all members of the site. Administrators
may also limit the email to authors or admins in a certain category of the site.
Modules
This panel will let your control the modules installed on your site. The script
comes with one module, challenges. You can find other modules created by others
or create your own. Modules are add-on programs that add functionality to your
site without you needing to edit the files.
Panels
Panels are new in 3.0. The panels system has been implemented to make eFiction
more configurable and easier to customize. Panels are used in a number of places
throughout the site. Each panel is assigned a type. The following types are
defined as part of the basic eFiction site:
- A - Admin panels
- F - Favorites
- S - Submissions
- B - Browse
- P - Member Profile
- U - Member Account
- L - Top 10 Lists
Developers and site administrators also have the option of developing their
own types of panels. See the list of default panels.
To modify the panel order, select a panel type from the drop-down list at the
top of the page then use the arrows to move the panels up and down in the list.
To change panel from hidden to visible, click on the edit option to the right
of the panel name.
To add a new panel:
- Click "Add New Panel".
- Enter the name of the panel. This should be one word alpha-numeric name
used to identify the panel.
- Enter the title of the panel. This will be the text displayed on the site
for the panel.
- Enter a URL to the panel. If no URL is supplied the script will look for
a file with the name of the panel in the default location for that panel type.
For instance, for the browse panel named "recent", the script looks
in the browse folder for a file named recent.php. You will need to supply
a URL for panels located outside the default location or if you name the file
differently than the panel. An example of this would be the browse panel for
the challenges module, the URL is "modules/challenges/browse.php".
The file is both outside the default location (the browse/ folder) and also
named differently than the panel. The panel is named "challenges",
but the file is named "browse.php". Note: Panels
are not interchangable. You cannot use a browse panel for a top ten list panel.
- The panel level is used to determine who has access to that panel. This
is most applicable to the admin and member account panels. In the admin panels
the level is the admin level required to access the panel. In the member account
panels, it is used to determine whether or not the visitor must be logged
in to see the panel. 0 is for visitor access (registration, lost password,
login) and 1 is for member access (everything else).
- Check the hidden box of you want this panel to be hidden (not displayed
in the list of panels).
- Finally, enter the one letter code for the panel type. (See the above list)
- Click "Submit".
Settings
In eFiction 3.0 the site settings have been grouped into sections to make the
numerous options easier to manage.
Site Information
This section of the settings defines general information about your site.
- Site Key - You will have defined a site key during installation. DO
NOT EDIT IT! If you edit the site key, you will need to manually
update the site key information in your config.php file to match or your site
will stop functioning.
- Site Name - The name of your site. This will be displayed in the title of
your site's pages.
- Site Slogan - A slogan for your site. This will also be displayed in the
title of your site's pages.
- Site Url - The URL to your eFiction site. Note: This must
be the URL to your eFiction site as the script uses this url in
various places including emails sent to your members. It must not
be the URL to any parent site.
- Table Prefix - The prefix to your database tables. This was also set during
installation and should also NEVER be changed or your site
will cease to function.
- Admin E-mail - The e-mail address used to send and receive e-mails from
the site. This must be a valid email address!
- Default Skin - The default skin displayed on the site. Note: When
you change this as an administrator, your personal skin choice
will still appear to you. You will most likely need to log out to see the
site default you have chosen.
- Language - The langauge the site will display in. The eFiction download
comes with the English language files. See Translating
eFiction.
Submission Settings
This section of the settings defines various submission settings for the site.
- Turn off unsolicited submissions - If "yes" is selected, submissions
to the site can only be made by administrators through the "Admin"
area. If "no" is selected members will have the option of submitting
stories via the "Account Info" link.
- Automatically validate all stories - If "yes" is selected, stories
will automatically be displayed on the site. If "no" is selected,
stories will be placed into a validation queue for administrators approval
and stories will not appear on the site with this approval.
- Co-authors allowed - This is a new feature in 3.0. By choosing "yes",
authors will be allowed to mark other members as co-authors of their stories
in the submission process. Note that co-authors have the same rights to edit,
add to, and delete the story as the author.
- Allow round robins - Select "yes" if you wish to allow round robins
in your archive.
- Allow image uploads- Select "yes" if you wish to allow members
to upload images to their account area.
- Maximum image size
- Maximum image height - The maximum height for image uploads
- Maximum image width - The maximum width for image uploads
- Stories saved in - The default is "files" on the server. You may
also elect to save the text of the stories to the database. This is another
setting that should not be altered after the inital setup of the site. Click
on the checkbox next to the setting to activate it then use the drop down
box to change the setting. Note: If your web server has
safe_mode on, you should use the "mysql" option.
- Stories path - The path to the folder on the server where your story files
will be saved. This should be a relative path and should also not be changed
after the initial setup of the archive.
- Chapter word count limits - The maximum and minimum allowable word counts
for chapters on the site. If you are storing your story text in the database,
a maximum word count of 17000 is suggested.
Site Settings
This section of the settings defines various general settings used in multiple
areas of the site.
- Use tinyMCE WYSIWYG editor - The tinyMCE editor is a javascript text editor
that gives limited "word processor" functionality to the textareas
of forms. Members also have the option of turning this setting off (if the
site administrator has turned it on) in their preferences.
- Allowed Tags - The HTML tags that will be allowed in uploaded content (stories,
reviews, bios) throughout the site. Note: If you use the
tinyMCE editor, it will alter some tags. The <i> tag becomes <em>.
The <b> tag becomes <strong>. These tags need to be included in
the list for tinyMCE to work properly.
- Number of categories - Whether or not your site has multiple categories.
- Turn on News Comments - Whether comments are allowed on news stories.
- Turn on Action Log - This option allows administrators to keep log of a
variety of actions throughout the site.
- Maintenance - This setting puts the site into maintenance mode. This prevents
visitors from entering the site while the administrator works on it.
- Display Debug Information - Turn this setting on will place various pieces
of information in HTML comments that will help with fixing problems on the
site.
- Use captcha confirmation - Turn this setting on to require a security code
confirmation at registration and for anonymous input such as challenges and
reviews.
Display Settings
This section of the settings defines how various elements of the site are displayed.
- Date format - The format dates will be displayed in throughout the site.
There are a number of pre-made options or adminstrators may enter a custom
option. The date format uses the format of the php
date function. Note: the shoutbox date and time format
can be selected separately.
- Time format - The format time will be displayed in throughout the site.
The base eFiction script uses this only in the news items. The time format
uses the format of the php
date function. Note: the shoutbox date and time format
can be selected separately.
- Display category path in listings - This setting defines whether or not
the "breadcrumb" path to a category's parent category is displayed
in the story listings.
- Number of columns - The number of columns to display in information in.
This will be used for the display of members lists and when browsing classifications,
characters, categories, etc.
- Default items per page - The number of items to display per page. This will
also be the number of items to display per column in multi-column output.
- Number of days to limit Most Recent - The number of days to limit the Most
Recent list. Leave this empty to impose no limit. When a limit is imposed
that limit will also be used for the "New!" indicator on story listings.
- Default story sort - The default method of sorting stories.
- Use Story Index - This setting defines whether clicking on a story takes
the visitor to the story's index (table of contents) or the first chapter.
Note: Members may override this setting in their preferences.
- Display Profile - This setting defines whether or not the user's profile
information appears at the top of every page within the profile or only on
the "Profile" tab.
- Style of Page links - There are three possible styles of page links.
- Next and Previous - A range of pages plus "Next" and "Previous"
links. For Example: Previous 34567
Next
- First and Last Pages - A range of pages plus the first and last page.
For Example: 1...34567...10
- Both - A range of pages plus both first and last and next and previous
links. For Example: Previous 1...34567...10
Next
- Size of Range for Page Links - The number of pages in the range of page
links to display. In the examples above, the range was 5 pages (3-7).
Review Settings
This section of the settings defines how reviews are handled.
- Turn on reviews - This defines whether or not reviews are allowed at all.
- Allow anonymous reviews - This defines whether or not visitors must be logged
in to be able to review.
- Authors may delete reviews - This defines what reviews (if any) authors
may delete for their stories.
- Ratings system - This is different from the ratings you defined. This rating
system allows reviewers to "rate" how much they liked or disliked
a story. There are two systems of ratings built into eFiction.
- Stars - Five stars (and half stars) ratings
- Like/Dislike - Thumbs up/Thumbs down system.
- Allow Ratings Only - Defines whether or not reviewers may leave only a rating
for a story without a text review.
User Settings
This section of the settings defines how the site interacts with users for
certain things.
- Alerts on - Defines whether or not members can receive e-mailed alerts when
their favorite stories and authors are updated.
- Warning pop-ups only once - Defines whether or not warning pop-ups appear
only once for the session or each time the visitor clicks on a story for that
rating.
- Age statement in user profile - Defines whether or not an age-consent statement
appears in the user preferences form. When a user confirms their age via the
age-consent form, the warnings for age-restricted stories do not appear to
him/her.
- Password at Registration - Defines whether the password at registration
is user defined or random.
E-mail Settings
This section defines how e-mails are sent out. If this information is supplied,
the e-mail forms will use SMTP.
- SMTP Host - The host for the SMTP server.
- SMTP Username - The username for the SMTP server.
- SMTP Password - The password for the SMTP server.
Language Censor
This section is a list of words that will be forbidden in submissions to the
site. They will be disallowed entirely in names and titles. They will be replaced
with the first letter and trailing asterisks, a****, in summaries and the text
of reviews. Seperate each word with a comma. Placing an asterisk before and/or
after the word will act as a wildcard making the censor look for the entire
word plus the word used as a suffix and/or prefix. For example, 'frog' will
only find 'frog', '*frog' will find 'bullfrog' and 'frog' but not 'froglegs',
'frog*' will find both 'frog' and 'froglegs' but not 'bullfrog', '*frog*' will
find 'frog', 'bullfrog', and 'froglegs.' To disable the censor simply leave
the list of words empty.
Message Settings
The links that follow this header in the settings area are to the default messages
for the site. The installation script placed generic text for these messages
into the database for you, but you will most likely wish to edit these messages
to better reflect your site.
- Welcome Message - The welcome message for your site. It is included in your
skins using the {welcome} variable.
- Copyright Footer - The footer message for your site. It is included in your
skins using the {footer}variable.
- Print Copyright Notice - This notice will be appended to the story text
when the "Printer Version" is selected.
- TinyMCE Configuration - If you wish to customize the configuration of the
tinyMCE WYSIWYG editor you may enter your configuration information here.
- Rejection Letter (default) - The default rejection letter for your site.
You will have the option to customize this at the time each letter is sent.
- Acceptance Letter (default) - The default acceptance letter for your site.
You will have the option to customize this at the time each letter is sent.
Blocks
Blocks are another part of your eFiction site that let you configure the look
and feel of your site. A number of blocks are included with eFiction. You can
also create your own or add blocks others have created. The included blocks
are as follows:
- Categories - This block lists the top level categories on your site.
- Featured - This block lists one or more of the featured stories of your
site (depending on configuration).
- Info - This block lists a variety of information about your site including
the number of: members, authors, stories, words, reviews, and chapters.
- Login - This block displays a login form allowing you to include a login
form on the index page or every page should you choose.
- Menu - This block builds a menu from the page links in your site. Configurable.
- News- This block displays one or more of the news items on your site.
- Online - This block displays who is presently online on your site.
- Poll- This block lets you query your members using a multiple choice question.
Also includes an archive of poll questions and results.
- Random - This block displays a random story with each page load.
- Recent - This block lists the most recently added/updated stories for your
site.
- Search - A simple search box for inclusion in your skins.
- Shoutbox - A shoutbox for your site. Also includes an archive.
- Skinchange - This block displays a drop down that will let visitors who
aren't logged in select from the site's skins the one they wish to display.
The first page here lists the blocks available to you. Some will have been
pre-installed. The first column lists the name of the block and is not editable.
The second column, which you can edit, displays the title of the block as it
will be displayed on your site. The third column displays the block's status.
There are three possible status options.
- Inactive - The block is completely off.
- Active - The block will load on every page.
- Index Only - The block will load on the index (home) page only.
It is advisable that if the block does not display on every page, you set it
to "Index Only" or "Inactive" as this will save on your
site's resources. The one exception to this is the Online block. If you use
this block, you must set it to "Active" for the block
to work properly.
The fourth column, gives you the option to admin the block if there are options
to administer.
You may also see the name of a block and the words "Initialize Block"
instead of the last three columns. You will see this when a block is available
to be installed, but has not been installed yet. The Online, Poll, Search and Shoutbox
blocks are not installed by default. Click on "Initialize Block" then
change the status of the block to "Active" or "Index Only"
to activate it.
Custom Pages
This page allows you to add custom pages to your site. These pages may not
contain php code, only HTML and plain text. Four custom pages are defined for
you during the installation.
- help - A help page for visitors.
- tos - Terms of Service. This page is displayed on the registration page.
- rules - Submission Rules. This page is displayed at the top of the story
submission form and is also linked to the default help page.
- maintenance - Maintenance Message. This is the message that is displayed
to visitors when you place your site into maintenance mode.
To add a custom page:
- Goto Admin -> Custom Pages
- Click on "Add New Custom Page"
- Enter the name of the page in the form. Note: The name for your page should
contain letters, numbers, and the underscore character ONLY.
- Enter the title for the page. The page title will also be the text of the
link to the page in the page links.
- Enter the text of your page.
- Click the "Submit" button.
The name you assign to your custom page will be the {NAME_link} variable for
you to use in your skins. The script will append "_link" to the name
to help prevent naming conflicts with other variables. The title will be the
title of the page. For the URL of your custom page, you may use either viewpage.php?id=ID
or viewpage.php?page=NAME where ID is the ID number of the page or NAME is the
name of the page.
Note: The name for your page should contain letters, numbers,
and the underscore character ONLY.
Page Links
This page controls the page links used in the menu block and available for
use in the skin as individual links.
Admins
This page is used to give admin privileges to a member of your site. The initial
page lists all current admins and also gives you the option to add a new admin.
To give a member admin privileges:
- Click on "Add New Admin"
- Select the member's penname from the drop-down list.
- Select the level of admin privileges for this member.
- Select the categories that member will oversee or leave blank to have them
oversee all categories.
- Check the box if you want this admin to receive e-mail notices of new stories
to be validated.
- Click "Submit".
PHP Info
This page gives information about your server configuration. If you ever run
into problems with your eFiction site, you may need to check these settings.
This page is given as a courtesy. If you are upgrading from 1.1, delete
the phpinfo.php in the main folder. The phpinfo.php file included with
1.1 was not secured and will allow hackers access to the same information it
gives you. This admin page is only available to site administrators.
Action Log
If you have turned the action log on for your site, this page is where those
logs can be viewed. You can also purge the log here.
Profile Information
This admin panel lets you add/remove items from the member profile page. Right
now, there are twelve items pre-loaded.
- Live Journal
- Web site
- AOL
- ICQ
- MSN IM
- Yahoo IM
- Deviant Art
- Beta-Reader
- DeadJournal
- Xanga
- Gender
- MySpace
The majority of the pre-loaded items were in 2.0. To turn one of the pre-loaded
items on/off. Click edit. Check the box next to "Field enabled" to
turn the field on. On the same form you can change the name and title of the
field. Just like the page links and custom pages, the name will be the variable
for you to use in your .tpl files and the title will be what appears on screen
in the registration/edit bio form and the profile.
There are a number of types of fields defined.
- URL - This is a url. The script will automatically turn this into a link
when displaying it in the profile.
- Select Box - A drop down select box to choose from a selection. In the form
place each option in the box in a separate line.
- Yes/No - Answer to a yes/no question.
- ID with URL - These are like fanfiction or livejournal links where there
is a base url with the user's id. Enter the url with {info} where the person's
ID goes. For instance: http://{info}.livejournal.com. The registration/edit
bio form will present a text box for the member to enter their id.
- Custom code - This option lets you provide custom code to handle the entry
and display of the item. The aol, icq, msn, and yahoo fields use custom code.
- Text - This type gives the author a text box to enter information. The information
is presented back as text as well. The limit on user text is 255 characters!
Archive Maintenance
This admin panel provides a number of functions for maintaining your site.
- Recalculate Reviews - This function recalculates the number of reviews and
the rating for the stories, series, and chapters on the site.
- Fix Category Counts - This function has been moved from the Categories
admin. It will recalculate the number of stories per category.
- Optimize Database Tables - This function will optimize the tables in your
database. Doing this occasionally will improve site performance.
- Run Update - When you upload an update for the eFiction script, use this
function to run any changes needed to the database.
Default Panel List
Admin Panels:
The admin panels control the different admin options for the site. In 2.0 the
list was static. Putting the admin options into panels allows site owners the
option of changing the access level for the various features. It also allows
new options to be added without editing everything. The 0-4 levels in the panel
are most applicable here. The levels 1 to 4 indicate the admin level required
to access a certain feature.
- Message Settings (1)
- Rejection Letter (1)(2)
- Validation Letter (1)(2)
- Validate Submission (1)(2)
- Censor (1)
- Categories
- Panels
- Characters
- Settings
- Blocks
- Ratings
- Add New Story
- Add New Series
- Custom Pages
- Classifications
- News
- Members
- Featured Stories
- Submissions
- Page Links
- Admins
- Mail Users
- Skins
- PHP Info
- Action Log
- Profile Information
Browse Panels:
Browse panels control the "Browse By" area of the site.
- Most Recent (1)
- Featured Stories (1)
- Classes (1)(2)
- Categories
- Characters
- Ratings
- Series
- Titles
Favorite Panels:
The favorites panels are included both in the member "Account Info"
page and the list of panels in the profile. In the "Account Info"
area the panel must be set to level 1 to be visible in the list of options.
Otherwise, they're used as part of the "Manage Favorites" panel.
- Favorite Stories (1)
- Favorite Series (1)
- Favorite Authors (1)
- {author}'s Favorites
Top 10 List Panels:
The Top 10 panel. They're all turned on my default. If you turn favorites off,
it is suggested that you hide, not delete, the favorites panels. (You could
change your mind later.)
- 10 Largest Series
- 10 Smallest Series
- 10 Most Reviewed Series
- 10 Longest Stories
- 10 Shortest Stories
- 10 Most Reviewed Stories
- 10 Most Read Stories
- 10 Most Responded to Challenges
- 10 Most Favorite Stories
- 10 Most Prolific Reviewers
- 10 Most Prolific Authors
- 10 Most Reviewed Recommendations
Profile Panels:
These are the panels that will be displayed on the user's profile page along
with the non-hidden favorites panels.
- Contact (1)(2)
- Stories by {author}
- Series by {author}
- Reviews by {author}
Submissions Panels:
The submission panels will only be displayed in the user panel if submissions
are turned on. They were placed in a type seperate from the user panels so they
would be turned on and off together based on the submission site settings.
- Add New Story
- Manage Stories
- Add New Series
- Manage Series
- Manage Images
User Account Panels:
As an extra level of security here. The "level" of the panel should
be set to either 0 or 1. Panels with level 0 will be displayed to anyone. Panels
with level 1 will be displayed only to logged in members. The login, register,
and lost password panels are currently the only panels set to level 0 for the
user account area.
- Login (1)
- Your Reviews (1)
- Reviews Received (1)
- Review Response (1)(2)
- Lost Password
- Register
- Edit Bio
- Edit Preferences
- View Your Statistics
- Manage Favorites
- Logout
(1) Hidden by default.
(2) System panels. You should not need to alter these settings and may cause
errors if you do.