Where's the backend?

[tittiger]

I have spent hours looking everywhere in your docs and elsewhere trying to figure out where the h*ll you configure the darn product!   Where is the back end? Is there a back end?

Why is this such a mystery?

Is everything else  this obtuse?

TIA
Joe

[Nathaniel]

What do you mean by 'backend'?
The SMF template files are contained in the 'themes' folder, the main source files in the 'sources' folder...

If you can describe what you are trying to achieve than I may be able to point you in the right direction.

[tittiger]

Thanks I figured it out.  But let me explain: Most apps that I have used are administered by going to a different place with a different account to do the administration. Joomla is a good example. Users go to http://joomlaroot.com and to admin you must go to http://joomlaroot.com/admin with a separate login.

While SMF may seem very intuitive to you I assure you that to a new user, especially one that has not administered  a lot of forum software it is not. The single biggest mistake IMHO that  code geeks make is that they are too busy to write decent documentation for their product.

Thanks for your response,
Joe

[H]

Welcome to SMF. Our admin and user interface are combined rather than being in a distinct folder.

For more info: Administration Center

[tittiger]

Thank you I responded to this in a separate post.

With all due respect SMF forum documentation is horrific.  All the effort spent on creating good software and then hardly any effort spent on documentation.

Excuse my rant,  it's a pet peeve of mine  because it is so avoidable.

Thanks for the help,
Joe

[Jade Elizabeth]

hardly any effort spent on documentation.

I spend a lot of time trying to update and write docs, at least 80% of my free time goes to the Online Manual. People seem to look in the terminology section as opposed to the section they should. Also they don't read the comments.

There are SO many docs... and there are two doc writers. The fact is no one seems to like working on the docs. I personally love it, and therefore spend as much time as I can working on them.

Right now, as I type this, I'm also working on the terminology section. As people tend to end up there first I'm going to revamp the whole thing in 2 days and add several docs to it. That's 54 docs to be re-written from scratch. To get it done in 2 days, which is my goal, I have to do 7 docs 4 times a day. It might sound easy to you, because the docs are small, but I'm redoing them from scratch. Then I have to link them up to other docs and make sure that somehow they include links to the section which the user was probably looking for in the first place.

I have already gone over most of the FAQ section (up to credits) and fixed links and typos, and other mistakes. I re-wrote a few and updated many as well.

Later, I have to finish what I started doing with the install section, that is half the docs by re-writing and merging them.

Doc writing is time consuming and this is the thanks we get. People cannot see us working so they assume we musnt be working. We always are. Every day I reply to things on the OM from users, and log changes, and make changes.

Doc Writing isnt just something you can do once and leave.... you have to come back and redo it months later because it becomes old and out of date.



Just because you cannot see any "effort" going into something does not mean there is none. You cannot see what the Devs do every day, you don't know that they're working. But they are. Same with us Doc Writers, we just don't have a "new release" way of showing it.

If you find an issue with a doc please post a comment to the doc and I will update it ASAP. I have an entire week off school and have dedicated it entirely to the Online Manual, by choice, not force. Don't expect me to just jump and update it however, as I already have a very tight schedule of docs to work on.



EDIT:
http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?topic=102.msg3770#msg3770
http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?topic=942.msg3769#msg3769

Above are two places where this user has asked for help, both times I answered.

[tittiger]

I apologize I am just frustrated with the learning curve.
I do know how difficult it is to write docs. 


May I suggest  2 things however:
A quick start guide for people that are not complete newbies.
A way to convert the HTML docs into a DL'able PDF file that one can
print and read at ones leisure.

Sorry about my rant.  On second look the docs are quite a
bit better than those for most software.

Joe

[Jade Elizabeth]

I apologize I am just frustrated with the learning curve.
I do know how difficult it is to write docs. 

Have a go one day .
I have to learn and double check information for them all the time. You cant just wack anything into the OM, you have to triple + check it.

May I suggest  2 things however:
A quick start guide for people that are not complete newbies.
A way to convert the HTML docs into a DL'able PDF file that one can
print and read at ones leisure.

We do not have a .pdf version. This has been discussed before. I don't know of other places with them. If you want to read up later, I recomend printing out the docs you need (I mean...do you really need half of those docs?).
There is a quick start guide: http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?topic=10.0

I have my own version (never used, but I did it):

This quick guide is intended for users with basic knowledge and understanding of uploading files (using FTP), setting file permissions, and creating databases, who want a quick and simple guide to installing SMF without detailed explanations. If you are unable to understand this document please refer to the more detailed Installing SMF documentation, beginning with Obtaining SMF.

This doc begins by assuming you have read, understand, and meet the server requirements for running a Simple Machines Forum.

Obtaining SMF
Download the SMF version of your choice from the official Simple Machines website using the extension you have the tools to extract files from (for example if you have WinZip select .zip, if you have WinRar, select any).

Extract all of the files from the folder, keeping the directory structure intact.

Trouble with this step? Please see Obtaining SMF.


Uploading SMF
Upload all of the files, keeping their directory structure, to the desired directory on your site, for example: www.yoursite.com/forum.
The following files and directories should be CHMOD'ed to 777*:

• attachments
• avatars
• Packages
• Packages/installed.list
• Smileys
• Themes
• Themes/default/languages/Install.english.php
• agreement.txt
• Settings.php
• Settings_bak.php
• install.php

* If your host does not allow 777 permissions please try 755.

If you need a new database for SMF, navigate to your hosting control panel or phpMyAdmin and create one.

Trouble with this step? Please see Uploading SMF.


Installing SMF
Run the install.php by navigating to the directory you uploaded the files and directories to, for example: www.yoursite.com/forum/install.php.

Input the correct information and select the proceed/next button. The installation should run smoothly and without errors.

Trouble with this step? Please see Installing SMF.

If you encountered an error you can check our FAQ on Installation Questions or you can ask for support at our community.

The install section is still being worked on, you should expect to see some extensive changes to it in the near future.

[Rumbaar]

I don't understand how the big button located in the main menu called Admin is so hard to find?  Maybe being used to 'inferior' forum software that takes an administrator from the main forum is the problem here.  But that being said the fact the button is clearly there either way it astounds me that it's that hard to find.

Also the links and details covered in the Online Manual is far better than I've seen in most forum packages, but that being said due to the way it's structured most don't need to read it as it's pretty straight forward.