Configuration a Nightmare

Wednesday 30 April 2003 1:30:51 am

Site Access configuration is far too confusing for an application that bills itself as easy. I've viewed this section in the manual and it simply isn't explained in a manner that steps me through the process. The writing is convoluted, sentences run on with no commas; it's hard to tell whether you're being told to do one thing or three.

Moreover, directing a new user to a config file is not something new users want. I simply don't follow the instructions about DNS, web servers, pointing, etc -- and I
really don't want to know about all that stuff. I just want to start using the content management module.

Break things down step by step and maybe I'll understand. But when you combine five steps in one sentence, I get confused.

Right now, I can't do a thing with this application. It installed beautifully, but I don't know how to configure it and the manual doesn't help at all.

Ric

Wednesday 30 April 2003 6:09:36 am

Hhahaha... I'm at one of the help pages right now. Mind you all I want to do is use the article manager, see how it works. Well, in order to do that, the first two paragraphs introduce me to these concepts I must learn first:

Site Access Settings
Port Access Settings
Static Match
Match Order Variable
Matching with Element
Match Order host Index

Insane! Who other than a geek would want to learn this stuff. I could care less about 'Match Order Variabe' I just want to post an article.

This is not what I call user friendly. User friendly is 'do this and do that -- presto! You're up and running.

Ric

Wednesday 30 April 2003 7:20:36 am

Hi Rick,

I agree that the siteaccess and other configuration issues are confusing at first. That's what why your feedback is important. But keep in mind that this is the first release of a free product. Don't expect perfect information, documentation and complete ease of use. Saying that the provided docs are all bullsh.... doesn't help either.

We (the users) are helping in creating documentation, but that takes time. The quickest and easiest way to set up site access is via the "map" method. There you specify the server name and the corresponding site.

Example:
[SiteAccessSettings]
MatchOrder=host
HostMatchType=map
HostMatchMapItems[]=domain1.net;www
HostMatchMapItems[]=www.domain1.net;www
HostMatchMapItems[]=admin.domain1.net;admin
HostMatchMapItems[]=www.domain2.com;domain2

This means that http://domain1.net and http://www.domain1.net go to site www, the settings for which can be found in /settings/siteaccess/www/...

The same goes for the other specs.

Other than that, take a look at the how-tos in the community contributed docs. If you learn to do it, writing your own how-to would be really appreciated.

Regards,
Karsten
P.S.: to learn how to post an article, you do not need to learn setting up siteaccess. Just install the demo data and start from there.

Wednesday 30 April 2003 8:19:33 am

Hi Ric,

my response, as you said, first things first. :-) I didn't know that your installation wasn't running in the first place.

"I'm still looking at screen that says "object not available' whenever I try to do anything"

Now what did you do to install. Could you please list the exact steps? Did it work right after installation?

"In short, your product seems to be a great product for developers, anybody else should have lots and lots of time on his hand if he wants to learn how to use it."

That is somewhat true. Ez publish was never a product for someone without any PHP or CMS knowledge. Is this the first CMS you try?

The problem with the current version of this product is that it it still has some bugs and consumes a lot of memory on your server. You might not get it to work at all, if you are on a shared hosting plan. The inital few times you call up pages, ez publish uses a peak amount of memory to create some files and this can cause weird error messages (like page not found).

The object not found really sounds like a siteaccess misonfiguration, however in the standard install, this shouldn't happen (unless you changed settings).

After we have cleared this, we can go to the other questions. :-) Btw. I am not affiliated with ez systems, so it ain't my product (am just a user).

Karsten

Wednesday 30 April 2003 9:51:03 am

Thanks guys for your suggestions, but let's do it this way and if we write an effective tutorial in the process that'll be great.

Okay, I've installed EZ 3 and am now looking at the demo. Everything seems to be fine. Each module appears to be working. I'm impressed.

Now, at this point all I want to do is play with these modules without apprending files. I'd like to write an article, post it in the news module and see it. I'd like to then edit that article. Then I'd like to play with the fomatting of the news page.

When I finish with this, I'd like to call an friend and have her visit the page. Here too, it would be nice if I didn't have to apprend any of the files first to do this. Remember, I'm just testing the product, I'm not committed to it yet.

After my friend visits it, I'd like to tell her to submit an article.

Now, this is all I want to do the first day I install this app. The magic number is "3" here. Whatever I have to do to get this done, keep it to 3 steps, if it's more than that I'm working and I don't want to work this soon.

So, if I complete these tasks successfully I'm impressed and encouraged to try other things, perhaps things that take a higher learning curve.

For example: I've yet figured out how to test php scripts with this product. What interface do I use? How do I access it? There's entirely nothing anywhere I've yet seen that discusses this.

The bottom line is, I feel I've been handed the keys to a wonderful automobile, but not told how to drive it. Explaining internal combustion to me doesn't help. I want a step by step tutorial that tells me where to put the key -- and why ; what the steering wheel is for, etc.

Ric

PS: The install went error free. I got the demo screen, played with some of the modules than closed the app. When I started it again the demo was gone. Also, when I went to the Admin program and tried to access the default articles I got the "Object unavailable" message.

In fact, I'm a little confused about what interface I should be getting when I select an article in Admin anyway. I understand there's an editor for sale, but I'm certainly not ready for that yet. So what's the default editor and why aren't I getting it when I select an article to edit or view?

Saturday 07 June 2003 11:44:10 pm

Pretty Simply I think.... If you want help.... BUY the program... in the meantime we are all getting to use the BEST Open source Solution out there.

I was a total idiot when I started with servers, forum software etc etc.... a year later I'm a half-wit and very happy to finally BE one.

ALSO, there are LOTs of BLOG type article progs out there that Hold your hand.... EZ Publish is a rocket ship framework.... You can do TONS with it beyond what it APPEARS to be... Conversely there are TONS of PostNuke type things out there with MASSIVE forums that give the impression that you could get up and running Smmoothllly..... um.....

there's always 3D programs for when we'd like to remind ourselves, for example, that we get back what we put IN.

Best wishes to ALL, truly.

Lam