Difference between revisions of "Blocks"

Revision as of 11:07, 9 May 2009

Blocks

Blocks are the "sections" showing on the left and right side of your website. They typically contain links to sections of the website, but can also contain other information. Examples of blocks are the Topics Block and Admins Only block.

Moving A Block From Left To Right

By default, Geeklog will only show right-side blocks on certain pages. Specifically, on the index page (front page) and all the topics pages. If you want to see right-side blocks on all of your site's pages, please follow these steps first:

1. Open config.php in a text editor
2. Search for $_CONF['show_right_blocks'] and change "false" to "true".
3. Upload the file to your server, allowing it to overwrite the existing file.

After you have changed the setting in config.php, you can move and activate or deactivate blocks on the left:

1. Log into your site.
2. In the Admins Only block on the left, click the "Blocks" link.
3. To move a block from the left to right, click the "R" image for that block. To move a block from right to left, click the "L" image for that block.

Changing The Order Of A Block

1. Log into your site.
2. In the Admins Only block on the left, click the "Blocks" link.
3. You can move the block in one of two ways:
   1. Click the up and down arrows for that block (the page will refresh with the new position of the block).
   2. Click the pencil icon under "Edit" for the block, and manually change the Order number. Changing the number to an existing number will place the block above the block with the existing number. The numbers will automatically re-calibrate to increments of 10. When you are done, click the "Save" button at the bottom.

Changing The Topic In Which The Block Shows

1. Log into your site.
2. In the Admins Only block on the left, click the "Blocks" link.
3. Click the pencil icon under "Edit" for the block.
4. In the "Topic" drop-down, select the topic in which you want the block to show. You can also reset this to "All" so the block will show on every page.
5. Click the "Save" button at the bottom.

Enabling And Disabling A Block

1. Log into your site.
2. In the Admins Only block on the left, click the "Blocks" link.
3. Click the checkbox in the "Enabled" column (when the checkbox is selected, the block is enabled; when the checkbox is not selected, the block is disabled).

Creating A New Block

A new block can be created to do things such as add navation options to your site (e.g. a list of links to other artists' websites). To add a block:

1. Log into your site.
2. In the Admins Only block on the left, click the "Blocks" link.
3. Click the "Create New" link at the top.
4. Complete the fields.
   • The title shows at the top of the block (spaces are allowed)
   • You will probably want to leave the "Enabled" checkbox selected (see Enabling And Disabling A Block)
   • Complete the "Help File URL" if there is a help file; otherwise, leave it blank.
   • The block name is the internal Geeklog ID and can not contain spaces.
   • Change the value for the "Topic" dropdown if you want the block to only show for a specific topic.
   • For some reason, the "Side" dropdown defaults to "Right". You will probably want to change this to "Left".
   • You can either leave the "Order" set to "0" and change it later or set the block order now if you know where you want the block to show.
   • If you are referencing a php block added into your custom-lib.php file, the reference will go into the "Block Function" field. Otherwise, leave the field blank.
   • [Portal Block Option information needs to be added to this wiki]
   • In the "Normal Block Options" section, input your desired content in the "Block Content" field. This field requires HTML tags to achive things such as line-breaks. To add a "hard return", you must enter the code <br>
   • You will probably want to leave the "Group" set to "Block Admin".
   • The possible permission options for the block are as follows:
     • Anonymous visitors (not logged-in) - read-access on or off
     • Members (logged-in) - read-access on or off
     • Group members (must be logged-in) - read-access on or off; edit-access on or off
     • Owner (must be logged-in) - read-access on or off; edit-access on or off
5. Click the "Save" button at the bottom when you are finished.

Deleting A Block

1. Log into your site.
2. In the Admins Only block on the left, click the "Blocks" link.
3. Click the pencil icon under "Edit" for the block.
4. Click the "Delete" button at the bottom. There is no confirmation notice, so make sure you're deleting the correct block.

Note that default Geeklog blocks can not be deleted. To prevent these from showing, see Enabling And Disabling A Block instead.