Sextant Templates FAQ

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			Back to Civilution Home Back to The Sextant Documentation Index Sextant Templates - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) So what do I buy/download to make Sextant work on my web server? Javascript? What?! What if a reader doesn't have javascript turned on? So how do I make a discussion page for mypage.html? Why so many tags? I only need a few. How do I turn function X or Y on or off? Where's the configuration page? Where do I log in to configure this stuff? What's my admin password? Etc. How do I upload my template file to Sextant? I don't care about this highlighting/squelching business. What's with the clickthrough statistics? Who cares? I don't want to include the clickthrough statistics. Clickthrough statistics are all I want. Keep your discussion forums. I don't want people to post anonymously. I don't want people to have to log in. As a matter of fact, I don't want them hit with the hassle of logging in ever. How do I ban morons from posting? (Conversely) How do I give favorite posters "extra powers" and/or display priority? Your Login / Account Creation page sucks. I want my own. Wait a minute. If you're logging clickthroughs on my links, what happens if your servers go down? Will my links break? Can my readers post comments formatted in HTML? What if I want my readers to preview their comments before posting? So what do I buy/download to make Sextant work on my web server? There's no need: That's Not How It Works. To use to the Sextant services, All You Do is include some special javascript in your HTML <head>...</head> and paste a <SCRIPT>sx_graphlink()</SCRIPT> call into your HTML after defining a link you want to register with Sextant. That call: Registers the link for clickthrough logging. Draws the clickthrough-counter bargraph (you get to configure its size and colors). Makes that bargraph a link to a new discussion forum, formatted according to the template file specified in your referring page. The javascript isn't released for real yet, but will be soon. Javascript? What?! What if a reader doesn't have javascript turned on? Then your page works just like normal, no kidding: Your links still work. Clickthroughs don't get logged. The clickthrough-counter bargraph never appears, thus taking it's linkage to the discussion forum / clickthrough statistics page with it. Your page looks and works just like it would have if Sextant had never existed. So how do I make a discussion page for "mypage.html?" Since Sextant has been designed mostly for weblogs, a discussion page is associated in our database not with a single page, but with a linkage between two pages, namely the "from" page (yours), and the "to" page (either yours or someone else's). See our own weblog (both the page and the source) at www.civilution.com/weblog.html to see all this stuff in action. Why so many tags? I only need a few. Use only the tags you need. They're all optional. As a matter of fact, there's nothing stopping you from leaving out the <CommentList> and/or <FromUrlStatisticsList> entirely. How do I turn function X or Y on or off? Where's the configuration page? Where do I log in to configure this stuff? What's my admin password? Etc. It Doesn't Work That Way. You don't "log in" to Sextant anywhere to "configure" your templates. Instead, your discussion/clickthru statistics page is configured entirely with the template file. You control which functions and services work by dictating which controls are available. For instance: if you don't want your readers to highlight or squelch comment authors, then don't give them the controls for it. If you don't want to include clickthrough statistics on your discussion pages, then don't put those tags into your template either, etc. Keep reading and you'll see the pattern. How do I upload my template file to Sextant? You don't exactly "upload" your template to Sextant as much as you "cause it to be uploaded." First, your template file ends in ".html" or ".htm" and is stored on a web server somewhere, accessible via HTTP. Whenever you put a new link onto your page that is registered to Sextant, the system will call up your referring page, find the template URL definition (ie. `<sextant_template_url = "http://www.abc.com/mytemplate.html">`), upload that file via HTTP automatically, and put it into our database. So you don't upload your file as much as you set off Sextant's built-in template-uploading mechanism. This is a good idea because it means that your template file is just as secure as your web server. No one can sneak in, masquerade as you, and cause a different template to be uploaded in the place of yours, because the URL of your template identifies your template completely. Now, if someone breaks into your web server and messes with your template there, then you're on your own. If you just want to "refresh" your template file into our database without creating a new Sextant link, we have a template-debugging page for that. Go to it, type the URL of your template file into the form, and hit the "Upload Template" button. This page is also handy in that it'll show you what the template looks like in a generic discussion forum. Use it to debug the look and feel of your forum before going live with it. I don't care about this highlighting/squelching business. Well fine then, don't use any tags that have to do with highlighting or squelching. What's with the clickthrough statistics? Who cares? The big idea here is that this information will let your readers more easily discover what other weblogs and pages link to pages they find interesting. Conversely, it will also let them find you. I don't want to include the clickthrough statistics. Then leave out the tags that have to do with clickthrus, like <ThisClickThrus> and <FromUrlStatisticsList> Clickthrough statistics are all I want. Keep your discussion forums. Then leave out <CommentList>, <PreviewBox>, and <CommentInputForm>. I don't want people to post anonymously. That's fine, too. Just don't give them the <AnonCheckBox>, and put all of the comment input and submit buttons in between the <LoggedIn> and </LoggedIn> tags. *I don't want people to have to log in. As a matter of fact, I don't want them hit with the hassle of logging in ever.* Just don't give them the <LogInOutLink> or <NewAccountLink>, and they won't even be able to log in. However, they may be carrying an identification cookie they got from someone else's discussion forum, in which case our system logs them in automatically. So while you can force someone to log in, you don't (yet) have a way to force anonymity. But as long as you do not wrap either <LoggedIn> nor <Anon> tags around your CommentInputForm, you'll be able to get comments from everybody. Your biggest problem with all this is that anonymous users can't highlight or sqeulch comment authors, which is the comment filtering mechanism that we use. If an anonymous reader clicks on a highlight or squelch control, he gets automatically bounced to the login / account creation page. *How do I ban* morons from posting?** Our filtering system doesn't work that way. We don't filter what goes into the database, but rather what comes out, on a user-by-user basis. When a logged-in reader encounters a post from a moron, he can "squelch" that author (if you include the <SquelchLink> in your template, that is), thus causing all posts from that author to be displayed to that reader in the <Squelched> context from then on. As for just what a squelched post looks like on screen, that's entirely up to you. You can put them in a smaller font, leave out the comment body, display a Mister Yuk graphic next to their username, you name it. And if you're really hard core, you have the <Squelched> context display absolutely nothing at all, thus making the squelched author completely invisible. Yikes. So while each reader chooses who to squelch for himself, you, as the owner of the template, get to decide just how/whether a squelched post is displayed. Follow any of the discussion forum links from our weblog to see an example of highlighting and squelching in action. (Conversely) How do I give favorite posters "extra powers" and/or display priority? Just as a reader can squelch an author with the <SquelchLink>, he can also "highlight" an author with the <HighlightLink>. Then, using the <Highlighted> context, you can display a highlighted author's comments in a bigger font, with a happy face next to the username, or whatever. It's up to you. Your Login / Account Creation page sucks. I want my own. While the discussion/clickthrough statistics page is templatable, the login and user info pages are not. The reason for this is that when a user logs into one Sextant discussion, he logs into all of them, so we wanted to make it clear that when one logs into Sextant, he logs into Sextant in its entirety. Thus the single, one-size-fits-none login and user info pages. This is nice, because it means that many of your readers won't be hassled with logging in at all, because they will have created their accounts and gotten their identification cookie somewhere else. Thus the barriers to entry of your forums are reduced considerably. Wait a minute. If you're logging clickthroughs on my links, what happens if your servers go down? Will my links break? No, your links will still work, no fooling. We specifically designed our system so that your pages will work, even if our system goes down for some reason. Can my readers post comments formatted in HTML? Yup. They can also do plain text. If you don't want them to post HTML, then don't give them the <HtmlRadio> control. What if I want my readers to preview their comments before posting? We've got you covered. You can make previewing optional or required, all depending on which submission controls you give them. All this documentation is from Craig Meyer at craig@civilution.com. If something's not clear then by all means let me know. webmaster@sextant.civilution.com

Sextant Templates - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)