New to SMF a few questions

[joe90]

Thinking of switching from phpbb, set a forum up, got the basics and well impressed.

Just a few questions

How do I restrict new members to Admin approval prior to joining, or can that not be done.

Can I add my google advert to the header and footer ?

Can I close the forum whilst I am setting it up?

Is there an index of smf forums so we can look at others?

Thanks for a great forum

Regards JOE

[vbgamer45]

Well there is a converter for phpBB to SMF.

"How do I restrict new members to Admin approval prior to joining, or can that not be done."
This is done via Admin -> Registration -> Settings

"Can I add my google advert to the header and footer ?"
You can either edit the index.template.php file of your theme or check out the ad manage ment mod at http://www.smfads.com

"Can I close the forum whilst I am setting it up?"
Yes, Admin -> Server Settings -> Check Maintenance Mode

"Is there an index of smf forums so we can look at others?"
Check out the showcase forum on this siet

[joe90]

It just gets better, thanks for your reply, well impressed, just a few more questions if I may

"Well there is a converter for phpBB to SMF"

Where is that and will it work on a heaverly modded forum? If I run it will it leave the phpbb in tact or remove it?

""Can I add my google advert to the header and footer ?"
You can either edit the index.template.php file of your theme or check out the ad manage ment mod at http://www.smfads.com"

On phpbb I can have a full width google banner and remove the phpbb logo and replace it with my logo can I do that on SMF by editing the index template.php.

Updates on phpbb are not easy when you had mods on the forum. My Host provides auto updates for SMF and phpbb but on php it will not let you use them if you have any mods on, is that the same for SMF?

I have just one concern my forum is very active and gets regular visits from Google bots, I have heard Google does not register SMF post due to some issue is that the case?.

wow, just noticed you have a spell check where did that come from?

Regards joe

[青山 素子]

It just gets better, thanks for your reply, well impressed, just a few more questions if I may

"Well there is a converter for phpBB to SMF"

Where is that and will it work on a heaverly modded forum? If I run it will it leave the phpbb in tact or remove it?

The converters are designed to be non-destructive to existing data, athough you are encouraged to make a backup to be safe. The more modded a forum is from the base the more difficult it might be to convert, especially for those mods that make signficant changes (the sub-category mod for phpBB for instance).

""Can I add my google advert to the header and footer ?"
You can either edit the index.template.php file of your theme or check out the ad manage ment mod at http://www.smfads.com"

On phpbb I can have a full width google banner and remove the phpbb logo and replace it with my logo can I do that on SMF by editing the index template.php.

SMF's templates are very flexable, and this can certainly be done. It might be more difficult if you are unfamiliar with HTML or PHP, but we can help with that.

Updates on phpbb are not easy when you had mods on the forum. My Host provides auto updates for SMF and phpbb but on php it will not let you use them if you have any mods on, is that the same for SMF?

Updates are also somewhat tricky when you have mods on SMF, but the usual problem is that the mod gets uninstalled and you have to re-install it again. Data stored by those mods are almost never lost. Of course, backups before doing an upgrade are highly encouraged, and doing a test upgrade on a copy of the running forum is a good idea (if just to work out any minor issues).

I have just one concern my forum is very active and gets regular visits from Google bots, I have heard Google does not register SMF post due to some issue is that the case?.

Well, results are mixed. People are going to complain no matter what and blame you even if it is Google's fault. Some people have reported quick indexing (I have seen this firsthand with one of the SMF boards I run), others say it takes months before things even start to be indexed. There are a lot of factors involved.

wow, just noticed you have a spell check where did that come from?

If you have the pspell extension installed on PHP, the SMF 1.1 series supports using it for spell checking.

[joe90]

OK forum is all set up and ready to go just need to add a logo and advert banner to the Header, is there a guide on which files I need to amend.

Also need to amend the footer again to add a banner in.

Noticed there are some links at the bottom of the forum, the two link on the right link to checking services what are these links checking

Thanks again for your support, can't wait to open the forum up

[Peter Duggan]

OK forum is all set up and ready to go just need to add a logo and advert banner to the Header, is there a guide on which files I need to amend.

Also need to amend the footer again to add a banner in.

index.template.php, which you can either edit remotely through your Admin Center or download and edit locally (sometimes easier when you want to see more of it at once) in an appropriate text editor.

Noticed there are some links at the bottom of the forum, the two link on the right link to checking services what are these links checking

Compliance with web standards (valid XHTML and CSS), to prove what a nice forum you've got!

[joe90]

First major problem, everthing seems so easy to use with SMF well until I tried to mod the header and footer or is it me. Had a look around the showcase and unlike phpbb I can't find an example of a forum with a full banner google advert inserted top and bottom. Is there an easy way to do this? Tried modding the index.template.php but no matter what I do I end up
distorting the forum  . Would it be easier to insert a table above the forum rather than trying to insert a ad banner, that way I could also get a few buttons in and my main website logo, much as you have done on the support forum. Are there any code strings available to help do this?

The compliance with web standards (valid XHTML and CSS) at the botton of the forum, can these be removed or made visable only to admin? 

[青山 素子]

joe90, do you still need help?

[joe90]

Yes, but not with the above, thanks.

Set the forum up, could not insert the header with ads and buttons I wanted so added a table at the top and bottom of the forum and put them all in there. Looks great. Even got zero errors on the checkers 


Latest issues.

1. At the bottom of the users on line click, I clicked it to check things out, just got a handfull of members in testing at the moment, got them against there IP'S but also got this against an unknown IP. I have the IP in full but not sure if I should post it.

82.69.x.xxx   Nothing, or nothing you can see...

What does that mean?

2. Is there any way of limiting access to the forum to UK only or at least restricting access from some countries? Can this be done by a ban on IP ranges or somthing like that?

3. Forum limitations, are there any other than thoes imposted by the host in the area of number of post and database size? 

Thanks again for your help.

[青山 素子]

1. At the bottom of the users on line click, I clicked it to check things out, just got a handfull of members in testing at the moment, got them against there IP'S but also got this against an unknown IP. I have the IP in full but not sure if I should post it.

82.69.x.xxx   Nothing, or nothing you can see...

What does that mean?

Best not to put full IP addresses in, and if it was needed, it would be requested.

That message usually shows up when the system can't determine what a viewer is doing. For example, if you have a mod that adds extra areas, but doesn't add the description to the SMF source. It will also show if that IP is trying to view something it doesn't have access to (in which case, it is viewing nothing).

2. Is there any way of limiting access to the forum to UK only or at least restricting access from some countries? Can this be done by a ban on IP ranges or somthing like that?

You can do IP-based bans, or work at the Apache level. The only problem is IPs change somewhat often as ranges are re-allocated or added. You'll probably want to find a source that keeps an updated list of ranges, or you'll be stuck poking through the RIPE database on a weekly basis.

3. Forum limitations, are there any other than thoes imposted by the host in the area of number of post and database size? 

Not really. If you can set it up, SMF can probably use it. For example, if you have people posting messages longer than 65,000 characters you'll need to make a change on the database so SMF can allow longer posts.  Keep in mind that limitations on your server are what you'll really be running into.

[joe90]

Thanks again top support from SMF

Set up all the boards, removes guest acces and it looks great as a members only forum, now I want to open one board as a view only to guests. Tried selecting guests on the Admin Modify boards but you still cant see the board as a guest or as a member when logged out, just see

Warning!
Only registered members are allowed to access this section.
Please login below or ......

Do I need to restet somthing else?

[青山 素子]

Do you have browsing open to guests? That is in a different area.

Do you have any mods installed?

[joe90]

"Do you have browsing open to guests? That is in a different area."

Now that may be what I am looking for, where is that set?



No mods well just my mod to the header and footer to put ads and button on top and bottom of the forum.

[Peter Duggan]

"Do you have browsing open to guests? That is in a different area."

Now that may be what I am looking for, where is that set?

Features and Options > Basic Features > Allow guests to browse the forum

Unchecking this box will stop guests from doing anything but very basic actions - login, register, password reminder, etc. - on your forum. This is not the same as disallowing guest access to boards.