Settings
In eFiction 3.0 the site settings have been grouped into sections to make the numerous options easier to manage.
Site Information
This section of the settings defines general information about your site.
Site Key - You will have defined a site key during installation. DO NOT EDIT IT! If you edit the site key, you will need to manually update the site key information in your config.php file to match or your site will stop functioning.
Site Name - The name of your site. This will be displayed in the title of your site's pages.
Site Slogan - A slogan for your site. This will also be displayed in the title of your site's pages.
Site Url - The URL to your eFiction site. Note: This must be the URL to your eFiction site as the script uses this url in various places including emails sent to your members. It must not be the URL to any parent site.
Table Prefix - The prefix to your database tables. This was also set during installation and should also NEVER be changed or your site will cease to function.
Admin E-mail - The e-mail address used to send and receive e-mails from the site. This must be a valid email address!
Default Skin - The default skin displayed on the site. Note: When you change this as an administrator, your personal skin choice will still appear to you. You will most likely need to log out to see the site default you have chosen.
Language - The langauge the site will display in. The eFiction download comes with the English language files. See Translating eFiction.
Submission Settings
This section of the settings defines various submission settings for the site.
Turn off unsolicited submissions - If "yes" is selected, submissions to the site can only be made by administrators through the "Admin" area. If "no" is selected members will have the option of submitting stories via the "Account Info" link.
Automatically validate all stories - If "yes" is selected, stories will automatically be displayed on the site. If "no" is selected, stories will be placed into a validation queue for administrators approval and stories will not appear on the site with this approval.
Co-authors allowed - This is a new feature in 3.0. By choosing "yes", authors will be allowed to mark other members as co-authors of their stories in the submission process. Note that co-authors have the same rights to edit, add to, and delete the story as the author.
Allow round robins - Select "yes" if you wish to allow round robins in your archive.
Allow image uploads- Select "yes" if you wish to allow members to upload images to their account area.
Maximum image size
Maximum image height - The maximum height for image uploads
Maximum image width - The maximum width for image uploads
Stories saved in - The default is "files" on the server. You may also elect to save the text of the stories to the database. This is another setting that should not be altered after the inital setup of the site. Click on the checkbox next to the setting to activate it then use the drop down box to change the setting. Note: If your web server has safe_mode on, you should use the "mysql" option.
Stories path - The path to the folder on the server where your story files will be saved. This should be a relative path and should also not be changed after the initial setup of the archive.
Chapter word count limits - The maximum and minimum allowable word counts for chapters on the site. If you are storing your story text in the database, a maximum word count of 17000 is suggested.
Site Settings
This section of the settings defines various general settings used in multiple areas of the site.
Use tinyMCE WYSIWYG editor - The tinyMCE editor is a javascript text editor that gives limited "word processor" functionality to the textareas of forms. Members also have the option of turning this setting off (if the site administrator has turned it on) in their preferences.
Allowed Tags - The HTML tags that will be allowed in uploaded content (stories, reviews, bios) throughout the site. Note: If you use the tinyMCE editor, it will alter some tags. The <i> tag becomes <em>. The <b> tag becomes <strong>. These tags need to be included in the list for tinyMCE to work properly.
Number of categories - Whether or not your site has multiple categories.
Turn on News Comments - Whether comments are allowed on news stories.
Turn on Action Log - This option allows administrators to keep log of a variety of actions throughout the site.
Maintenance - This setting puts the site into maintenance mode. This prevents visitors from entering the site while the administrator works on it.
Display Debug Information - Turn this setting on will place various pieces of information in HTML comments that will help with fixing problems on the site.
Use captcha confirmation - Turn this setting on to require a security code confirmation at registration and for anonymous input such as challenges and reviews.
Display Settings
This section of the settings defines how various elements of the site are displayed.
Date format - The format dates will be displayed in throughout the site. There are a number of pre-made options or adminstrators may enter a custom option. The date format uses the format of the php date function. Note: the shoutbox date and time format can be selected separately.
Time format - The format time will be displayed in throughout the site. The base eFiction script uses this only in the news items. The time format uses the format of the php date function. Note: the shoutbox date and time format can be selected separately.
Display category path in listings - This setting defines whether or not the "breadcrumb" path to a category's parent category is displayed in the story listings.
Number of columns - The number of columns to display in information in. This will be used for the display of members lists and when browsing classifications, characters, categories, etc.
Default items per page - The number of items to display per page. This will also be the number of items to display per column in multi-column output.
Number of days to limit Most Recent - The number of days to limit the Most Recent list. Leave this empty to impose no limit. When a limit is imposed that limit will also be used for the "New!" indicator on story listings.
Default story sort - The default method of sorting stories.
Use Story Index - This setting defines whether clicking on a story takes the visitor to the story's index (table of contents) or the first chapter. Note: Members may override this setting in their preferences.
Display Profile - This setting defines whether or not the user's profile information appears at the top of every page within the profile or only on the "Profile" tab.
Style of Page links - There are three possible styles of page links.
Next and Previous - A range of pages plus "Next" and "Previous" links.
For Example: Previous 34567 Next
First and Last Pages - A range of pages plus the first and last page.
For Example: 1...34567...10
Both - A range of pages plus both first and last and next and previous links.
For Example: Previous 1...34567...10 Next
Size of Range for Page Links - The number of pages in the range of page links to display. In the examples above, the range was 5 pages (3-7).
Review Settings
This section of the settings defines how reviews are handled.
Turn on reviews - This defines whether or not reviews are allowed at all.
Allow anonymous reviews - This defines whether or not visitors must be logged in to be able to review.
Authors may delete reviews - This defines what reviews (if any) authors may delete for their stories.
Rating system - This is different from the ratings you defined. This rating system allows reviewers to "rate" how much they liked or disliked a story. There are two systems of ratings built into eFiction.
Stars - Five stars (and half stars) ratings
Like/Dislike - Thumbs up/Thumbs down system.
Allow Ratings Only - Defines whether or not reviewers may leave only a rating for a story without a text review.
User Settings
This section of the settings defines how the site interacts with users for certain things.
Alerts on - Defines whether or not members can receive e-mailed alerts when their favorite stories and authors are updated.
Warning pop-ups only once - Defines whether or not warning pop-ups appear only once for the session or each time the visitor clicks on a story for that rating.
Age statement in user profile - Defines whether or not an age-consent statement appears in the user preferences form. When a user confirms their age via the age-consent form, the warnings for age-restricted stories do not appear to him/her.
Password at Registration - Defines whether the password at registration is user defined or random.
E-mail Settings
This section defines how e-mails are sent out. If this information is supplied, the e-mail forms will use SMTP.
SMTP Host - The host for the SMTP server.
SMTP Username - The username for the SMTP server.
SMTP Password - The password for the SMTP server.
Language Censor
This section is a list of words that will be forbidden in submissions to the site. They will be disallowed entirely in names and titles. They will be replaced with the first letter and trailing asterisks, a****, in summaries and the text of reviews. Separate each word with a comma. Placing an asterisk before and/or after the word will act as a wildcard making the censor look for the entire word plus the word used as a suffix and/or prefix. For example, 'frog' will only find 'frog', '*frog' will find 'bullfrog' and 'frog' but not 'froglegs', 'frog*' will find both 'frog' and 'froglegs' but not 'bullfrog', '*frog*' will find 'frog', 'bullfrog', and 'froglegs.' To disable the censor simply leave the list of words empty.
Message Settings
The links that follow this header in the settings area are to the default messages for the site. The installation script placed generic text for these messages into the database for you, but you will most likely wish to edit these messages to better reflect your site.
Welcome Message - The welcome message for your site. It is included in your skins using the {welcome} variable.
Copyright Footer - The footer message for your site. It is included in your skins using the {footer}variable.
Print Copyright Notice - This notice will be appended to the story text when the "Printer Version" is selected.
TinyMCE Configuration - If you wish to customize the configuration of the tinyMCE WYSIWYG editor you may enter your configuration information here.
Rejection Letter (default) - The default rejection letter for your site. You will have the option to customize this at the time each letter is sent.
Acceptance Letter (default) - The default acceptance letter for your site. You will have the option to customize this at the time each letter is sent.
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