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EZ Operators Manual

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Dawn LeForce	Saturday 20 December 2008 1:25:10 am You have a really beautiful software here...you really do. I could even see you charging for it. But I think you should make it MUCH more obvious that one has to pay for classes or online consulting or something to be able to use it. But the name itself...it's a throw off. eZ Publish. I've been working with online software programs a while now & this one is more difficult then Drupal & vBulletin combined. These softwares are supposedly created for we with no developing/programming/coding experience yet I'm finding more & more require such experience to use them. If I could do those things I wouldn't need an online software program. I'm lucky I even got this thing installed. You have instructions written out for people with access to shell. I'm "renting" my hosting from MyHosting & I'm on a shared server where I have no access to jack. If you'd said "chmod this directory to 777" - that I could've understood. Instead it took me too long to figure out via trial & error what it was for 3 folders. Then I had 3 problems right off the bat. 1. open_basedir is in use. Turn off if experience problems. 2. date.time zone setting in php,ini or config.php - I can't find either one. 3. virtual host mode or .htaccess file. I can never make these .htaccess files work...that's why I can't use Drupal or Joomla or things that require said file for "pretty URL's". Then I've just spent the last couple of nights trying to figure out how to either delete or at least change the name of & move the very first folder under content structure which was eZ Publish. Since you have no real instructions or manuals...at least not one I can understand...I've been using your demo to follow as an example. I want a home page just like your demo. I want it to be the top thing in the tree & everything else to be it's sub items. I created a temp home page cuz I'm just testing this. But I can't figure out how to make it the leader. I also manage to change the name from eZ Publish to "company" but but I can't figure out how to make it a sub item. And I'm sorry but this is the 3rd/4th software I've tested out in about a week that claims it's easy & made for people with no developing/programming/coding experience but for the life of me I can't figure out a couple of things. And I go to look for help at their sites & there's not much to speak of...not unless I want to pay for it...which I can't afford to do. So I'd appreciate an eZ Operators Manual to go along with your software or a better disclaimer that this isn't for non-programmers so don't waste your time installing it.
Gaetano Giunta	Saturday 20 December 2008 1:54:00 am Sorry for your bad experience. It is quite hard to strike a balance between features, flexibility and simplicity of use, in any software product. The self-evident procedure for one user is the incomprehensible-brittle-procedure-from-hell for another one. And the button that one user does not need might be the do-it-or-else of another one. A "cms" software is something that needs to be quite complex and flexible because the feature set is incredibly vague and vast - that's why sites like cmsmatrix are needed. Just figuring out of the features of a particular cms match the needs of a given project is a subproject on its own. eZ Publish is clearly labeled as an "enterprise" cms. That means it favors flexibility and features over simplicity (securoty, stability and speed are goals for everybody). It is not in the same league as most of the other open source php cms out there, really. I have had personally a good experience installing and managing Drupal, but I would not describe it as a direct competitor to eZ Publish. Wordpress is even simpler to install and manage, but of course it is not a cms anymore, just a blog engine. Now, about your problems: - the name of a node in the content tree is set by editing the object encapsulated in the node. Every object belongs to a class (as in ooo programming), and in the class definition you can decide which attribute of the object will be used to build its name. Of this sounds a bit complex, you can either go read the online docs, which are fairly complete, or just rely on the fact that most standard classes have an attribute aptly called 'title' that is used to derive the object name - to change the existing root node with a different one a 'trick' is needed: click on the icon of the root node in the node tree menu on the left, and in the context-menu that pops up, go to 'advanced'->'swap node with another one'. For all other nodes it is easier, but since the root node cannot be missing ever for internal coherency, deleting/changing it is a bit more complex Principal Consultant International Business Member of the Community Project Board
Dawn LeForce	Saturday 20 December 2008 6:30:31 am Actually I somehow figured out how to switch nodes. But this still doesn't answer these other problems. the open_basedir & date.time zone & virtual host. I also can't seem to use my contact form or even register. I tried to send myself a test email & never got it. And I tried to register as a test person & it says an email was sent & to follow the instructions but I never got that one either. Thanks for trying to help on the switch nodes thing though. :) At least there's a quick response.
Piotrek Karaś	Saturday 20 December 2008 10:57:29 am I have to back up eZ here. When we took our first steps with the system, the first thing we seeked and easily found was the learning curve info, and the feedback turned out to be very consistent: it's very steep, it takes effort to master eZ Publish! So I really hope your only source of "easy" info did not come from the product's name. But the name isn't totally false, either. From user's point of view, once you've mastered the basic concepts and content model, management becomes very simple and efficient. From developer's point of view, owing to the framework-like concept and consistency, it's also very friendly once you've covered enough material. If you're unable to cope with environment-related problems, then you may find it difficult to locate any piece of software that will seem easy to install and run. I suggest another approach - tackle those problems, because you will have to deal with them more and more often. And those aren't eZ Publish related - learn more about PHP and Apache configuration, there are plenty of online tutorials and documentations, there are virtual machines, where you can test anything. And search the forum, I'm more than certain than issues things have already been covered. Good luck, Piotrek -- Company: mediaSELF Sp. z o.o., http://www.mediaself.pl eZ references: http://ez.no/partners/worldwide_partners/mediaself eZ certified developer: http://ez.no/certification/verify/272585 eZ blog: http://ez.ryba.eu
Gaetano Giunta	Sunday 21 December 2008 2:31:25 am About sending email: ask to your hosting provider about the proper config: do they have an smpt server available for you to use? Or maybe they allow sendmail on the webserver itself? Then go and change the relevant setting in site.ini About datetime settings in php.ini and vhosts/apache config, unfortunately those things cannot be fixed by eZ Publish. If your provider allows you to set up an .htaccess file for your eZ install, you can put the php ini values in there. If your provider does not allow you to set up an .htaccess file, either switch to a different provider or to a more costly plan. Principal Consultant International Business Member of the Community Project Board
Dawn LeForce	Sunday 21 December 2008 2:01:18 pm Thank you for trying to help me. I really do appreciate it. I'm speaking to my host about these other 2/3 problems. But my host isn't to blame for the email problem. I've installed this twice now...trying sendmail once & smtp the second time. I've added a contact form & tried to register twice now. I don't get the form emails or the verification emails. Were we supposed to do something special somewhere? According to what I'm reading I shouldn't touch the site.ini I should touch the site.ini append. Is this correct? Because I've edited it trying webmaster at dawnswebdesigns dot com & just plain webmaster (for account name). Neither one will work. I also added the from address of DawnsWebDesigns...it didn't help either. I did notice in site.ini there's a place to add my site's email address as sending from but I was afraid to edit it cuz like I said...I've seen in 2/3 places not to touch it. And the thing is I'm using website baker & vbulletin too...the contact forms work on both. And they're both using sendmail. So this has got to be some kind of lil edit somewhere & I'm not sure where. If I could have access to your install instructions I'd fix them. It's as easy to say chmod these directories to 770 or 777 as it is all that unix stuff. It took me a few trial & errors to figure it out. Even so...I still had problems with autoload, settings, & settings/admin. I had to login to my host's control panel & use their file manager to re-save those. I had already chmod them with directFTP but the installer wouldn't recognize it 'til I re-saved them with the file manager??? Then after we're done installing shouldn't we chmod some directories &/or settings or config files back? Or delete some? Some of these softwares ask us to delete the entire install directory for security purposes. What do we do here? Otherwise I have read & read & I can't figure out how to fix my email or where I'd install themes & be able to switch between them. I haven't even gotten around to plug-ins yet. Course I'm not sure your software's gonna need any...which is one reason I think it's very very cool. I even told my host how cool it was while I was seeing about fixing these problems. I told them they might think about using it on their site. They have a site-builder plus an automatic installer that installs several programs like WordPress & such. Maybe they could add yours to it. It is actually one of the cooler software I've seen. I'm a designer & would like to use this software to do it. I'm also my host's affiliate so I'm trying to bring people to them & build them a site with your software. So I gotta get your software to work on their servers to do it. Thanks for any help, Dawn
Gaetano Giunta	Monday 22 December 2008 1:56:54 am <i>... According to what I'm reading I shouldn't touch the site.ini I should touch the site.ini append. Is this correct? ... </i> Correct. You should always edit settings in what is called "configuration override" files, which are located in settings/override or settings/siteaccess/your_siteaccess dirs, and have a .ini.append.php extension. Never edit the files in the settings/ dir. More info at http://ez.no/doc/ez_publish/technical_manual/4_0/concepts_and_basics/configuration You really have to understand that part a little bit, as in eZPublish the same setting can be repeated in many config files, and there is a priority order deciding which value will be used when. When you are not sure about which value is in use 'live' for a given setting, you can go the "setup" tab in the admin interface, and click on the relevant link in the left-hand menu. <i>... If I could have access to your install instructions I'd fix them. It's as easy to say chmod these directories to 770 or 777 as it is all that unix stuff. It took me a few trial & errors to figure it out.</i> All install instructions are on the ez.no site, and you can leave comments on them. You can also try out installing eZ Publish on windows if you are more comfortable with it, even on your own workstation/laptop. Then you can compare the things you do with the actions you need to take on unix. If you do not have a php stack installed, go to apachefriends and grab xampp. <i>Even so...I still had problems with autoload, settings, & settings/admin. I had to login to my host's control panel & use their file manager to re-save those. I had already chmod them with directFTP but the installer wouldn't recognize it 'til I re-saved them with the file manager???</i> Please consider that there are 2 cases: - editing/creating ini files via ssh or sftp - editing/creating ini files via ezpublish interface itself the permissions on ini files and directories containing them should be slightly different depending on the method you choose, as in unix-land the webserver process will be running with different credentials than your ssh/sftp connection. <i>Then after we're done installing shouldn't we chmod some directories &/or settings or config files back? Or delete some? Some of these softwares ask us to delete the entire install directory for security purposes. What do we do here?</i> The basic principles are: - the ini files that come by default contain no security-sensitive information, no need to delete them - the ini files that you set up MUST not be named .ini or .ini.append, but always .ini.append.php. And start with a php opening tag + php comment tag. This because otherwise their content would be visible via the web - you SHOULD really either setup a vhost config or aconfig where .htaccess files are in use. Because this limits access from the web to only those files (index.php, images, css, js, etc...) that are designed for it - if you are security paranoid, you can change file permissions so that the webserver process can not alter the settings files ever, but that is most likely gonna cause you more troubles that it is worth, at least without a good syasadmin/ezP background <i>Otherwise I have read & read & I can't figure out how to fix my email or where I'd install themes & be able to switch between them.</i> Themes are a little bit different in eZ Publish than in most 'simpler' cms. I am afraid you will not find many of them in the plugins sections of ez.no or projects.ez.no Principal Consultant International Business Member of the Community Project Board
Dawn LeForce	Monday 22 December 2008 11:19:18 am I think somebody asked where I got the impression software programs were supposed to be easy. From many of the software's themselves not to mention hosts. I've tried a few hosts & most if not all have not only had a sitebuilder they've had things like Fantastico or application managers that automatically install these "easy to use" software programs for you. So yeah...the implication is <b>everywhere</b>. Please check this out: http://dawnswebdesigns.com/ezpublish/index.php/eng After I switch out some images & add a lil content...it's done. All I have to do is fix these 3 lil things that I posted about when I first came in here & the email thing & it's done. Some people can read techie manuals & with photographic memories & such they somehow get it. They're genius'. I'm not one of those people. I learn by pushing buttons & if I crash something then I know better then to push that button again. I've crashed a few sites in 5 years. Hosts & also the other people on a shared server don't want people like me having access to much of nothing...which is why there is none. Which is why I handed those other 3 problems over to my hosts & asked them to fix them. OK...I've left the site.ini file alone. I've checked out everything under settings/override & added my email wherever I saw blanks. I've tried both sendmail & smtp & neither one work. I've also (from the admin panel under set-up & ini settings) tried to add things wherever I saw blanks...nothing. Anymore ideas?
Dawn LeForce	Monday 22 December 2008 11:40:02 am I noticed my email port is different then the one your software added as default (25 I think). If I changed it maybe? I've also noticed something else. If I'm in the admin section looking at something under content structure & I add an image as a subitem it works but if I'm within the item & try to upload the image into it (so that it's stored in the media library) & embed it suddenly the images don't show up. It says "you don't have sufficient permissions to view this image". I suppose this is a directory permission but which one?
Dawn LeForce	Monday 22 December 2008 12:03:54 pm no switching ports didn't work either.
Gaetano Giunta	Tuesday 23 December 2008 1:20:36 am <i>All I have to do is fix these 3 lil things that I posted about when I first came in here & the email thing & it's done</i> Reminds me of an old sci-fi movie where an humanoid alien crashes on earth. He gets interviewed by nasa, and when they ask him how his spaceship did work, he says "easy: with 3 pedals, one for accelerating, one for braking, one for shifting gears"! If you are the kind of person who does not care to read manuals or learn how things work before using them, please try at least to be respectful of people that - give you their work for free - spend time trying to solve your problems for you answering forum posts When adding images/media files using the online editor, you can usually have them positioned inside the object itself (as children objects) or in the media gallery. The media gallery has a different 'section' than standard content (please go read about the concept of section in the manual if you want to understand better). By default access to it is more limited. To change this, go to the roles&policies page in the admin interface. About smtp port: sure if it is not standard you should put it in the config file. But previously you said you were using sendmail, which is an api for communicating to the mail server (sendmail) within the webserver itself. So there is no port to set up in that case... Principal Consultant International Business Member of the Community Project Board
Dawn LeForce	Tuesday 23 December 2008 7:27:01 am "If you are the kind of person who does not care to read manuals or learn how things work before using them" Don't care to read manuals? I guess I mis-worded myself because I'm here to tell you I have no problem reading help files, tutorials, manuals or books. I've been into reading & teaching myself things all my life. I didn't know jack about computers 'til I got a job & had to teach myself how to use one to keep it. I taught myself Word, the net, email; <b>all of it</b>. I also taught myself how to fix computers & office equipment cuz I couldn't afford to pay anybody else to do it for me. I taught myself DTP, photo restoring, image editing, digital photography, website design, web graphic design, & installing online software programs...<b>all with help files, tutorials, manuals & books</b>. I know how to read AND comprehend. I'm someone who actually likes the library. There are manuals that are well written & understandable & actually instruct &/or direct then there are manuals simply written that have words & possibly even explain a bit but they don't really instruct &/or direct. Which would explain all these postings around here about email & images not working. Even in this very thread: "settings/override & some various other files". There could be some under var somewhere. There's ini files various places & also for 3 areas of the same site...admin, users & eng. I can read your manuals all the live long day & they're still not going to tell me exactly where to go/what to do. Instead I'm supposed to go fishing & basically check every ini file there is just in case it has something about email in it? Or what? Pay for $60/mo or so hosting, pay somebody to install it for me, or pay for classes/training? For almost 5 years now I've concentrated on installing softwares, mods & themes. 5 years. Don't that make me like a pro beta tester by now? I've got a working version of Drupal @ http://dawnswebdesigns.com/drupal & a working version of vBulletin @ http://dawnswebdesigns.com/forum & a working version of Website Baker @ http://dawnswebdesigns.com. I've also got a working version of WordPress somewhere. Wherever there's contact forms they work. It's mostly sendmail too & I believe one is in SMTP. I've even gotten Drupal's pretty URL's to work this time. I'm also an expert with SMF & have had experience with genealogy softwares. I'm self taught but <b>I'm no newbie</b>. I got a new customer so I wanted a new software & I went here: http://www.opensourcecms.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=401&Itemid=160 & checked out that list. There's a few on it with problems. And the first thing they want to do is blame me &/or my host. Then of course it's "you can switch to our hosting where we know it'll work". If it's not their hosting it's some host they know of & I'm sure they're affiliated with & see some cash from. If you have to switch to an expensive host, pay a pro to install it, or pay for classes/training to use it then it's no longer "free software". Then it don't belong on that list along with the truly free softwares that will work on <b>any server</b> except maybe a free one. And when/if that's the case the free hosts need to tell people free software won't work. How much of my life did I waste there? I've never said you all shouldn't make your money some way. I'm just saying <b>you should tell people</b>. Instead you sit here & tell me to learn programming/coding & download this & that & learn it too. To build a website for a customer here in the next couple of days? Could you read a book & build yourself a house from the ground up? Or go mechanic your own car? Or go perform open-heart surgery? Are you stupid or retarded because maybe you can't? Of course not. We were all made for a reason & given gifts. Some people can sit down & read a book & memorize it & learn a whole new language...which is what programming/coding is. Some people have to see things first hand. The alphabet in sign language is the only one I ever taught myself & that's cuz the book had pics. ;-) I can't really "get" the programming/coding so I rely on the software programs to bring me the dynamic pages with the bells & whistles that I want. If I could've figured out the programming/coding I would've cuz then I wouldn't have "powered by" at the bottom of all the pages. But like I said...I can't. Between the health problems & the ADD & PTSD & such I think I'm doing good to know what I know. 2 weeks of trying softwares & people telling me it's my fault or y host's fault & to switch to their stuff. I'm just tired of people blaming me for not having more gifts then the Great Spirit already gave me &/or my host like it's at all our fault when the fact is your manual won't tell me what I need to know & neither will anybody here unless I cough up some dough. I wish I could but I live on next to nothing. This is an "at home" biz. I just got the first customer I've seen in a while & have yet to actually put anything on his server & see if he'll be a "paying" one. I have neither the health, patience nor the time for fishing. With a cool software maybe he'll pay plus I'll drag in some more <b>paying</b> customers? And at least myself if not my future customers will hopefully be "tipping" somebody for it. If you care to connect via PM or something & I let you into my site to fix whatever this email problem is I would certainly keep your software. I will be your crazy old beta testing hag. I have no problem reading/comprehending & I also have no problem writing & telling you exactly what's wrong. Ain't that what you want beta testers for? What if I fished & found all the right files but this is actually a bug or something? Stranger things have happened ya know? Otherwise I'm going to have to stick with the tried/tested/known to be truly free & work on even the cheap-ass probably shared several times over servers.