Settings
When starting to use NPDS, this is the most important feature. You can edit major informations about your website and give it the look you want.
Below are the key features of NPDS
General site informations
- Parse algo : You can select one of those two Parse options.
  - FixQuotes is the 'factory setting' option which doubles the ['] (i.e. : l'art becomes l''art)
  - StripSlashes allows to avoid the above problem (i.e. : l'art remains l'art) but it may cause some malfunctions.
- OB_Gzhandler : Allows to use compressed data to 'compressed data' friendly browsers.
  Before sending the compressed data, ob_gzhandler() determines what kind of compressed data is supported by the browser ("gzip", "deflate" or none) then it sends back the buffers' content according to the header information. It works with all browsers as these browsers send the kind of compressed data is required.
  Only works with Php 4.05 (or >) + Active Zlib (perform a phpinfo();) and activate mod_gzip for Apache.
- FileManager : Allows or disallow the FileManager access. Warning! Use it only if you really need it
- Cookies TTL (Admin and User) : No comment (1 year = 8760 hours)
- Site Name : Your site has a name, this is where you enter it!
- Html Site Name: HTML pages title (useful for search engines)
- Site URL : http://www.xxx.com or http://www.xxx.com/homepage/...
- Site logo : .gif or .jpg file located in the images folder of your server (default) or in one of your themes (full path: themes/my_theme/..../logo.jpg for instance). This file is used when using NPDS Print features. We advise you to use a black and white image.
- Site Slogan : If your site has a slogan, this is where it goes!
- Site Start Date: a date (20/10/1429 or December 31st 2012) only shown in statistics.
- Number of items in TOP Page : Allows to configure the Top x (5, 10, 15, ...).
- Stories Number in the Home : How many articles shown on one page? 10 is a correct number but it depends on your website activity. This is only a default value as members can change that number in Change Home
- Stories in Old Articles Box : In the right boxes/blocks, you find the Old Articles. This option allows you to set up the number of Old Articles displayed in that box.
- Activate Export-News? : Export-News are two text files located in the cache folder of your site. Factory setting is = No.
  In these two files (ultramode.txt and net2zone.txt) are stored the 10 last news of your site.
  These fiels allow other sites to create informations channels using simple structure :
  -ultramode.txt is a text file in which News are separated by %%
  -net2zone.txt is an XML text file for net2zone.
  The "Online" feature that works in the same way is Backend which supports the RDF/XML file formats or better, the NPDS Push Infos System Module.
- Anonymous Default Name : Unregistered members are called Anonymous. Anonymous can be guest, visitor, ... Do not change this value if NPDS is running and already set up.
- Allow Anonymous to Post Comments : If you want Anonymous to post articles or not...
- Maximum number off Comments per user (24H) : Limitations for posting articles and comments (polls) for members. 6 is a default setting, 99999 is the maximum.
- Allow the post of News : Allows to restrict (or not) News submissions to Moderators / Administrators or Members.
  If your website is mainly about information, this is a great feature.
- Don't record the Admin's hits in stats : That's fairly explanatory.
- Default Theme for your Site : Select the default theme. Keep in mind that registered users can modify the theme from their User pannel (if you put more than one theme in the Themes directory...).
Main features to custom your theme (file : theme.php) :
- $thename
- $bgcolor1 => color of tables background (opentable, opentable2)
- $bgcolor2 => color of boxes titles / tables stroke (opentable, opentable2)
- $bgcolor3 => color of forums cells ...
- $bgcolor4 => color of some tables tiltes or menus (sdv, download ...)
- $bgcolor5 => color of the dhtml banner, link menu, stats, poll, chat Box
- $bgcolor6 => (for NPDS 4.8 P1 and >) colors of frames
- $bargif => gif that defines the stats/poll BarGraph (in images/stats)
- $textcolor1 => Font color 1
- $textcolor2 => Font color 2
- Start Page : This function allows to manage the start page (home). Factory setting is index.php but you can choose other pages like :
  - links.php
  - faqs.php
  - static.php?op=npds.txt&npds=1 ... (npds can be -1 : no boxes/blocks, 0 : left box/block, 1 : left and right boxes/blocks)
  - EDITO :
  => simply put index.php?op=edito : displays Edito AND the News
  => simply put index.php?op=edito-nonews : displays Edito WITHOUT the News
- Select the Language for your Site : No comment.
- Multi-language capability : Allow NPDS to use Multi-Language functions with tags [language]...[/language].
  Remember to set Local Time Format (like : [french]fr_FR[/french][english]en_EN[/english]).
- Local Time Format : It depends on your timezone and for Unix it depends on local functions installed in /usr/share/locale
- Day become at AND Night become at : Used by EDITO (or other functions) to change at a fixed hour
- GMT : Specify (+ or -) according to your hosting server.
Banners Options
- Activate Banners in your site : Do you want banners to appear? Yes or No. If you pick Yes you have to set up and manage an advertising campaign before...
- Your IP for not counting hits : Be a honest admin, your computer (and therefore its IP adress) must be set here in order to get real stats.
Footer Messages
- Footer Line 1,2,3,4 : Footer lines, They are HTML-firendly. If you only need 1 or 2 lines, leave some blank fields (starting from the end).
  This is where you enter informations about your site, the hosting partners, the copyrights, ...
Backend Configuration (RDF/XML News Channels)
- Backend Title : You can put your slogan right after the title
- Backend Language : See language for your site.
- Backend Image URL : Full path (http://...) leading to your site logo.
- Backend Image Width : No comment.
- Backend Image Height : No comment.
Web Links Default Config
- Links per Page : Maximum number of links per page (Weblinks option).
- Hits to be Popular : No comment. If selected, it displays a little star next to the New links.
- Number of Links as New : Maximun number of links in the "New" area.
- Number of Links as Best : Maximun number of links in the "Popular" area (Top ten visited links).
- Links in Search Results : No comment.
- Let Anonymous users post new links : Yes or No
- Activate Logo in Main Web Links : Yes or No. Logo requires a lot of space so... .
- Activate New Categories Icons : Displays a little symbol when a new category is created or when there are new links.
Mail System (Email)
- Administrator Email : It is used when NPDS sends emails and allows the person you sent the email to reply (Real or Fake Email / Filled with domain name => i.e. : developpeur@npds.org).
- What Mail function to be used ? function : mail =>Default setting for Linux servers / function : email => For others.
- Footer off Email : NPDS sends many Emails (password, ...) and this options allows you to configure the Footer (the ending, the signature) of these Emails. It is possible to use HTML code. We advise you to send your name, webadress...
  Mail New Stories to Admin. NPDS (like PHP-Nuke) allows to send an email to an admin everytime an article is submitted.
- Notify new submissions by email : Yes or No.
- Email to send the message : No comment.
- Email Subject : No comment.
- Email Message : No comment.
- Email Account (From) : No comment.
Comments Options
- Type of Moderation : This works but don't trust this option too much...
- Moderation by Admin
- Moderation by Users
- No moderation
- Comments Limit in Bytes : Maximum number of octets for a comment before the "read more..." is displayed. 4096 is a good value.
Voting Options
- Max Poll Options : No comment.
- Scale of Result Bar : Enter a number, multiple of 100. This number is used as a basis to calculate the display scale of the result graphics. If you enter 3, the scale will be 300%. 1 is the best value ever in most cases.
- Allow users to vote several time : Yes or No, it depends on you. If you select Yes, NPDS allows users to vote every 24 Hours and to add a comment. If No is selected, the vote is unique until the poll is over.
- Activate Comments in Polls : No comments lol.
Some Graphics Stuff
Do Not change these unless ... .
- Topics Images Path : Usually /images/topics.
- Another Images Path (Poll, ...) : Usually /images/menu/.
- Graphics in Administration Menu : Usually images/admin/.
- Graphics in Administration Menu : Yes or No. No saves some valuable time.
- Short Administration Menu : Yes or No. Yes saves you some time.
- Site Font : Usually Verdana,Arial,Helvetica. You can change these, but think about your users...
Miscellaneous
- Articles Number in Admin : No comment (this value is also used for sections, ...).
- Minimum users password length : 8 is a great value.
- Number of User Listed : In memberlist before going to the next page.
- Activate Smilies : NPDS allows to use or not to use avatars (little image) for members profiles, forums, ... .
- Maximum size in pixel for uploaded avatars (Width * Height / 60*80) : you can specify the maximum size of the avatars (when a user uploads it from his computer to his user private folder).
- Short User registration : NPDS allows the user not to enter his ICQ, MSN, AIM nicknames... .
- Allow automated new-users configuration : NPDS allows a new member to wait until an admin validates his profile (value : allow the connexion). Usefull for "closed" portals.
- Allow user to choose the member' PassWord : You can allow the user to pick his password. You can use this option (No) and the one beforehand to make a more restricted access portal.
- Allow Subscriptions : Allows members to subscribe to NPDS (Topics, Forums, Messages...) therefore receiving an email (Warning this may use most ressources of your server).
- Allow Invisible' Members : Allows members to become invisible to other users (still, admins can see them).
- Closed New Registration : NPDS allows to close new subscriptions for a certain amount of time (the static/closed.txt page is displayed). Usefull to close the portal.
- Activate HTTP Referers : No comment.
- How Many Referers you want as Maximum : Don't overload your database!
- Members List : Private : NPDS forbids anonymous visitors to see the memberlist.
- Download Section : Select the category in downloads that is first displayed.
- Reviews : shorts : Reviews become Guestbook.
Miscellaneous HTTP
- Headlines : Check the existance of Port 80 web : NPDS is allowed not to ask the presence of a web on port 80. Usefull for french ISP Multimania and other ISP.
- Cache Control : Activate the advanced cache tags (pragma ...) : NPDS is allowed to use advanced functions for cache management (HTML page). some ISP don't allow this function(like Multimania).
- DNS resolution; activate for Posts (forum, ...) : NPDS is allowed to grab in real time the IP adress, the DNS. Warning this may use most ressources on your server (and it also may be forbidden).
Miscellaneous SYSTEM
- Maximum files size for SaveMysql : Maximum size of the ASCII SaveMysql dump before compression.
- SaveMysql save type : Type of final result for SaveMysql dump.
- Activate Tiny-Mce editor : NPDS can use Tiny-Mce editor (IE and Firefox) in replacement of the standard editor (IE only).