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PhpNuke My first phpnuke clan website! (1623 Reads) |
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I have been messing with phpnuke for a couple of years now. I got my start because my clan T3 Gaming Community needed a fresh look. Their old site just wasn't cutting it. It was written in JavaScript and the author just could not dedicate any more time to it.
The first couple of months were the worst. I made every mistake in the book. The first thing I did was grab the latest version of PhpNuke. Which at the time was 7.8 I believe. It wasn't even patched. After fixing a few of the bugs through the help of popular community forums like codezwiz.com. I decided to give up on 7.8. As time went on and after I destroyed a few more installs of nuke. I learned a few things and I would like to share them with you.
Picking the right host!
Cheap is not always the best thing! You get what you pay for! This rule is generally applied to web hosting. Its a rare occasion to find a moderately priced web host that is worth a damn. I think in my internet career, I have been through at least 25 of them. For clan hosting my #1 pick is TOTALWEBHQ HOSTING. This host has done me right in the past and I don't have the first complaint about them. You can find a lot of good hosting reviews for shared hosting at http://www.webhostingtalk.com/
Pick the right package for you!
There are many popular nuke distributions out there today. Do your homework on which is right for you. I will list my two top picks and tell you a little about them. In the end it comes down to you though. Do your homework!
Try to find something with a 7.6 base. This will save you a lot of time fixing bugs in the future.
RavenPhpScrits RavenNuke
RavenNuke is my #1 Pick. The latest version of RaveNuke 2.10.01 offers top notch security and support that is just unmatched for any problems you might stumble into.
Finally! A bundled RavenNuke(tm) distribution (based from nuke v7.6) with all of the latest patches installed as well as the latest NukeSentinel(tm) release (2.5.08 as of this writing) and more. This FULL release is basically a fix pack release only - with all fixes to any known issues since v2.10.00 was released - No new features. Simply ftp the files, make a few changes in configuration files, run the installer, and you have a site with all the protection that this one does!
Nuke Evolution
I personally am not a big evolution fan for the one simple reason that it comes with so much. I know what your thinking? Why would that be bad? I like to do my own work. This helps me to easily fix problems and also create them. If this is your first install of PhpNuke. Nuke Evolution is not a bad choice. I hold nothing personally against it. Its just not my style. I seriously can't knock this distribution though. Some of their custom coding is unmatched in any other PhpNuke Package.
- Base/Core
- PHP Nuke 7.6 patched 3.1
- PHPBB v2.0.22
- Nuke Sentinel 2.5.06
- Modules
- Forum mods
- Attachment mod
- Global Announcements
- Quick replies
- Smiles in forum topics
- Topic cement
- Recent Topics
- AUC
- View/Disable Avatars/Signatures
- Quick Search
- Spambot Killer
- Antispam
- Signature Editor/Preview Deluxe
- IE PNG Fix
- Custom mass PM
- Admin Voting View
- Advanced Time Management
- User Administration Link on Profile
- Online/Offline/Hidden
- Simply Merge Threads
- Report Posts
- Search Title Only
- Advance Signature Divider Control
- Count PM
- Separate Announcements & Sticky
- FAQ Manager
- Board Rules
- Default avatar management
- Print topic
- PM threshold
- Limit smilies per post
- Forum Statistics
- Advance admin Index Stats
- Hidden Status Viewing
Things that cannot be found in other Nuke packages:
- Base/Core
- Improved security with improved patching and SQL protections
- Improved speed and memory improvements on all main files
- SQL caching
- Drag and drop block admin
- Drag and drop customizable navigation block
- Drag and drop customizable user block
- HTML 4.01 Transitional compliance on many pages
- The ability to use WYSIYG (FCK or tiny_mce) or bbcode on many text areas
- AUC available everywhere
- Vastly improved CAPTCHA system
- HTML Input filter
- Improved theme management system
- Error tracking and logging
- Security tracking and logging
- Lazy Google tap
- Image resize everywhere
- Evolution version checker
- Password Strength Meter
- Lock your site to unregistered users
- Collapsing Blocks
- Advanced Installer
- Automatic SQL optimization
- Improved dynamic titles
- IE PNG fix everywhere
- Improved session handling
- BBCode can be used in many areas
- User Administration links on profile
- phpBB User Groups Integration
- Modules
- XML sitemap creator for Google
- XData merged with CNBYA
- One profile area
- Ability to control the view of right and left blocks per module easily
- Newsletter Optout
- Forum mods
- Auto grouping with ranks and AUC
- Better forum quick reply
- Advanced BBCode Box v5 with YouTube and GoogleVideo bbcode
- At a glance cement
- Ability to lock forum polls from being seen before a person votes
- Welcome PM
- AUC Groups
- Hide Images and Links to guests
- DHTML Forum Config Admin
- Email notification shows attachments
- Post finished redirection
- Advanced Log Actions
- View Sig in profile
- Edit User Post Count
2 things any nuke distribution should have
An installed copy of Nuke Sentinel and Chatserv Patches. Without these two things your just counting down the timer till a hacker finds 5 minutes out of his busy schedule to rip you a new one. Its just that simple. Keep in mind you can install both of these things yourself, but your better off finding them installed in a popular distribution
Once you got everything setup
Get logged into your administrative panel and start poking around. Do your best to try to learn something new about PhpNuke and your chosen distribution at least once a day. Set up your forums and also get to know the forum admin control panel.
I would like to take this minute to clear up something about the forums. PhpNuke uses a port of the popular forums PhpBB. It is known as BBtoNuke. In simple terms its PhpBB configured to work with PhpNuke.
Find out what your members need
One of the biggest mistakes newcomers make is installing every mod they can find and think sounds cool. I made this mistake many times myself as you will too. Becareful what you install as you will be the one who has to uninstall it. Its a good idea to post some of the things available and find out what your members have to say. My personal belief is if your members don't need it and you don't need it. Then its really not needed.
Don't put everything on the homepage
Another mistake I see all the time is people putting a block for everything on the homepage of their site. Nuke provides a nice menu system so you don't have to do that. Plus it adds to load time and clutters up your site.
Installing Modules, Blocks, and Forum Hacks
I can not stress this enough to people. Anytime you make a change to your site. Make sure you make a backup. Odds are your first 6 months everything you change is gonna break something else. A backup will save you from hours at your computer crying because you just broke your site. ITS THAT SIMPLE! BACKUP YOUR BACKUPS!.
Most downloads come with a readme.txt or an install.txt. Read them! Everytime! READ THE FREAKING MANUAL! RTFM! Most downloads may require custom edits or special instructions for them to work properly.Usually they provide the website address of the author in case you have questions.
These two things will save you tons of time.
Using the News Module to your clans benefit
Most clans never utilize this tool at all. The news module gives you and your members the chance to keep the outside world up to date on whats going with your community. I still can't convince my clan its a good thing. Its extremely useful for news about the clan, league scores, and just plain ole bragging. Your opponents hate nothing more than to see you bragging about your victory against them to the world. Yeah its great isn't it!
Thats all for now! I hope this was helpful to some.
Floppy,
Clan Themes
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Posted on Monday, May 28, 2007 @ 22:25 by floppy |
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The comments below belong to their respectful owners, Clan Themes can not be held responsible for any of the below comments. You also read the below comments at your own choice.
| Ped writes
Excellent article Floppy
My personal preferences for Nuke versions would be
1) Ravens Distro http://ravenphpscrits.net
2) Nuke Platinum http://www.futurenuke.com
Im not to keen on Evo but as floppy said it depends what you want out of a site.
The only other thing i would mention (I know you covered it in new installs) Would be to make sure you make backups of both your MYSQL database (All your sites text) and a backup of your entire site (all your files) on a regular basis...
I have it setup so the MYSQL is emailed everyday and floppy does the backups !
Once again lovely article, well done |
Tuesday, May 29, 2007 @ 11:37 |
| MuadDib writes
I use platinum too,and I like it...it is the best.
Link for Ravens Distro http://ravenphpscrits.net is not working anymore |
Wednesday, June 06, 2007 @ 05:58 |
| floppy writes
Haha! I just noticed that url. The actual address is http://ravenphpscripts.com [ravenphpscripts.com]. Nice one Ped! |
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 @ 22:18 |
| Keslertje2005 writes
I use platinum too, like it alot, the problem is I cant add any admins. So if someone has a solution for that? |
Sunday, October 07, 2007 @ 03:02 |
Comments are always closed 1 month after the article has been published. | |
Article Rating |
Average Score: 4.66
Votes: 6
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