The Revival Website. Part 3

Salaam

we have had alot of changes on the website. I am planning another one. Instead of having to concurrent systems, (aswell as an ftp'ing some static files), combine both systems into one.

Now wordpress and phpbb do not play well together.

I am planning on leaving both for either Joomla or Drupal or Typo3.

I currently favour typo3, but from others' comments it is a pain to get started as it is very very very very very powerful.

But it has all the features in one place, and loads loads more. It can even allow static pages, which I am a big fan of.

There is a script out there to import the phpbb files, so that is easy. There is probably one there to import data from wordpress aswell, or I will need to work on that.

Now some problems:

When I moved forums, I did not expect the popularity we actually got. (apart from now... when we have slowed down again...). We have had more posts in the last 10 months than in the 3 years before. The database will be almost full. SO i soon need to make a decision:

1. Delete old posts. this can be an ongoing thing, where topics older than say 9 months are removed. Here we may lost some very valuable topics.
2. Delete the search index. This is probably taking more than half of the space. But we may bve losing some functionality that others use. I myself find the search useless. This will massively delay the
3. Pay more for a larger database. But here again, it will fill up within about 6-8 more months, so the problem is just delayed instead of solved.

I prefer option 2.

Also I have no real experience with these CMS... so does anyone else have any advice?

You cant delete old topics :evil: like u said some have valuable info.

Get rid of the stupid search engine, i honestly dont knw what person uses it and is satisfied with the search it brings up, its a waste of space!

Instead of having a testpage, and using you lot as guinea pigs, I have decide to host this separately on my home PC.

Once ready, I will only then (hopefully) ask for guinea pigs.

One other thing - I have reorganised the old site. The static pages are not all in a folder called oldsite. So files that were in /articles/ are not in /articles/oldsite/.

There should be automatic redirection, with minimal errors. However if you see an error/problem, let me know.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

"Admin" wrote:
Salaam

we have had alot of changes on the website. I am planning another one. Instead of having to concurrent systems, (aswell as an ftp'ing some static files), combine both systems into one.

Now wordpress and phpbb do not play well together.

I am planning on leaving both for either Joomla or Drupal or Typo3.

I currently favour typo3, but from others' comments it is a pain to get started as it is very very very very very powerful.

But it has all the features in one place, and loads loads more. It can even allow static pages, which I am a big fan of.

There is a script out there to import the phpbb files, so that is easy. There is probably one there to import data from wordpress aswell, or I will need to work on that.

Also I have no real experience with these CMS... so does anyone else have any advice?

how about translating the above in english first

and get rid of the stupid search engine

it dont work

but DONT delete old threads-i sumtimes go thru them

and make my friends do the same

its useful info

In english that was a cry for help.

Those that did not understand the jargon are probably not familir with the software I am talking about, so probably not able to help.

I gotta say I tried to setup typo3 today on my PC, and failed miserably. However the issue was with the temporary wamp setup. I could not detect the database... and I could not be bothered to reade the docs to correct the issue...

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

The website looks good, the colors are growing on me. Though as a warning you might want to watch out about the Ali G thing - I'm sure he would have copyrighted the name.

Can you copyright a name?

The whole thinking about the name was that it could be justified if it hit the roof... Both as a 'muslim' name, and as a non-muslim name.

Ali could be Ali, or it could be Alistair.

If anything can land in hot water, it is the 'interview' itself. It has in the past.

Quote:
So what is Islam? Cos me uncle Jamaal says that you has to be from Bradford and run a kebab shop or be a taxi driver to be part of it, is this true?

Guess who rang 'Ed u after this? You guessed it. A taxi driver from Bradford (Not sure if he had a takeaway aswell to fit the full description...).

We had a massive response to this article, and mostly to bits that we thought would be inconsequential.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

"Admin" wrote:

Quote:
So what is Islam? Cos me uncle Jamaal says that you has to be from Bradford and run a kebab shop or be a taxi driver to be part of it, is this true?

Guess who rang 'Ed u after this? You guessed it. A taxi driver from Bradford (Not sure if he had a takeaway aswell to fit the full description...).

We had a massive response to this article, and mostly to bits that we thought would be inconsequential.

I supose he wasn't congratulating on what a great article you wrote hehe

BTW how come the host for this forum gives such little space or is it little :?

Its not little.

Tyhe darabase has a size limit for performance purposes, with the understanding that if more data is needed, use multiple databases. Only prolem is no forum software uses more than one.

We currently have 64,000+ posts on here. The database could probably take upto 15-20,000 more yet. But it is inevitable that at some point I will need top make a decision.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

Ok.. Typo3 is just mindboggling complicated. I think Drupal is a better option now.

Just I do not like the name of the software... part of some case studies I did whan at uni... Drupal? is that name not linked to some major toaxic gas leak killing thousand in india in the 80's? I think it was the name of the place or the company owning the site...

But it seems to be good software, and easier to understand than typo3. (basically Its hard to find docs for typo3, while drupal has a nice video tutorial going through the basics!)

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

Ok, I downloaded the database for the forums at about 9ish... and considering how much effort that took (it kept on bailing out at 18 megs for a bit, followed at 58, followed by 69, then 75... and finally the full file (I hope) was downloaded), and if I manage to do a wuick migration, posts after that time may be lost.

But that is unlikely... I am still messing around to see what I can do. Drupal is pretty cool. Not sure if the forum has all the same features though... I guess I'll find out soon.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

Eventually we will move to drupal. I have played around with it today, and I like what I see.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

"Admin" wrote:
Eventually we will move to drupal. I have played around with it today, and I like what I see.

Move? As in literally move AGAIN? noooooooooooooo

"Angel" wrote:
noooooooooooooo

Thing is we are heommeraging visitors.

A couple of months ago we were ranked a modest 125,000th site in the world. Then we dropped to 287,000th, and now around 360,000th.

Something needs to stem the flow.

The updates since the heommerage started were mostly to have a workable backend. We have that now, but we are losing visitors because of some needed changes to the site, followed up by some extra changes made by me.

In the end Everything should inshallah be integrated, and we'll have a decent template.

I am planning to modify [url= theme.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

But i dont want to leave this forum :shock: :x Sad Cray 2 :evil: :?

"Admin" wrote:
The updates since the heommerage started were mostly to have a workable backend. We have that now, but we are losing visitors because of some needed changes to the site, followed up by some extra changes made by me.
what are those changes which u assume we need to get more visitors?

[size=9]I NEVER WORE IT BECAUSE OF THE TALIBAN, MOTHER. I LIKE THE [b]MODESTY[/b] AND [b]PROTECTION[/b] IT AFFORDS ME FROM THE EYES OF MEN.[/size] [url=, X-Men[/url]

From when we had a static site which was a pain to update to now having a (just about working) dynamic site, where content can be added by members, it should all be going forward.

Not exactly sure why we are losing visitors. Maybe people like unassuming sites. I do...

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

"Admin" wrote:
2. Delete the search index. This is probably taking more than half of the space. But we may bve losing some functionality that others use. I myself find the search useless.

i have found stuff through it before. if we dont have it at all then we'll be repeating old topics coz we cant find the old thread, doesnt that just add to the problem of too many threads...?

[size=9]I NEVER WORE IT BECAUSE OF THE TALIBAN, MOTHER. I LIKE THE [b]MODESTY[/b] AND [b]PROTECTION[/b] IT AFFORDS ME FROM THE EYES OF MEN.[/size] [url=, X-Men[/url]

I am gonna leave this forum intact, and as the forum until this database is full. I will then move it. I think that is best.

Searchwise, I'd say google does a better job than the onsite search... which also takes up half the database space.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

"Admin" wrote:
I am gonna leave this forum intact, and as the forum until this database is full. I will then move it. I think that is best.
so approx. how long will it be till this db is full?

"Admin" wrote:
Searchwise, I'd say google does a better job than the onsite search... which also takes up half the database space.
fair enuf.

[size=9]I NEVER WORE IT BECAUSE OF THE TALIBAN, MOTHER. I LIKE THE [b]MODESTY[/b] AND [b]PROTECTION[/b] IT AFFORDS ME FROM THE EYES OF MEN.[/size] [url=, X-Men[/url]

"*DUST*" wrote:
"Admin" wrote:
I am gonna leave this forum intact, and as the forum until this database is full. I will then move it. I think that is best.
so approx. how long will it be till this db is full?

We are at qround 80% Lets say I need to take action around 95%

So that says 2-3 months. Be we have been quieter than average lately... so probably a max of 2 months.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

Ok... decision time is getting closer.

I will go to Drupal once I have the motivation, and have made a general plan for everything.

Themewise, I will modify the [url= theme, which is available for download from the drupal website [url=.

Other themes that can be used are:

1. [url=
2. [url= Button[/url]
3. [url=

On the bottom three I have linked to, there are buttons in the layout to have a look at more themes. If anyone sees a better one, let me know.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

I may move forums over in the next few days first... and keep these as back ups.

All data will be transfered over, so no loss of posts, but possible loss of searchability.

How does that sound?

I could do it tonight, but I think it's best to take it nce and slowly...

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

What exactly will we be loosing? e.g. posts, threads, post counts?

And how much bigger will the new database be compared to the existing one?

Ive not personally ever used Drupal but im not that impressed with the look and themes of it.

I understand this change is necessary its the transition that worries me.

Back in BLACK

What we will be losing is the indexed search. This will free up about 30-50% of the database. After transition, the future posts will re indexed again, but this will be controllable.

What we will be gaining is a combined solution to the three systems that are current operating: phpbb, wordpress, and manually updated files.

The themes can be modified, improved. I will use a slightly modified spreadfirefox theme til I make one I like.

The database will not change in size. But Drupal allows old posts to be 'archived' in flat files ,so they can be removed from the database, but still be available.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

If you lot want to, you can mess around with the proposed new site [url=.

Just register and create havoc.

Just remembre when everything else is done, I will delete everything from the database, and import the current phpbb database we are using here.

So this is just to get a feel of things. The forums there have not been set up properly yet, so you may not like the feel yet.

But I thought may aswell let you lot look, and spot problems before I do.

Currently larger monitors will probably see the site better.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

"Admin" wrote:
If you lot want to, you can mess around with the proposed new site [url=.

its rather... bland. and is that^ going to be our new url? Fool

[size=9]I NEVER WORE IT BECAUSE OF THE TALIBAN, MOTHER. I LIKE THE [b]MODESTY[/b] AND [b]PROTECTION[/b] IT AFFORDS ME FROM THE EYES OF MEN.[/size] [url=, X-Men[/url]

no. That is just to test ideas.

It is bland becasue I have not modified anything yet. Especially the forum bit, which is currently an ugly duckling.

Otherwise, I like the colourscheme. The orange, green and blue go together well. (what orange? well go to spreadfirefox website, and have a look at the logo...) The colours are nice and bright, so noone can call them dull. Well I can't.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.