
INTRODUCTION:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First off, thank you for taking the time read this manual and become more
familiar with Post-Nuke.

We suggest you take the time to install Post-Nuke before reading any further.

An install script has been provided with this release to ease the installation
of Post-Nuke for first time users.

After you finish the installation, refer back to this manual for more details on
what Post-Nuke offers you and how to fully take advantage of its features.

BTW, remember what your username and password are for the administration account,
we'll need those later.

Regards,

-Post-Nuke development team.


CHANGING YOUR SITE PREFERENCES:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOTE: 

It should be stated that the term stories and articles are interchangeable throughout
this manual.


Much of Post-Nuke's configuration can be done via your web browser which means
no messing about with configuration files.

To do this, you must login as the administrator.

And to do this, in the address bar of your browser type;

---( snip )---

http://www.yoursite.com/admin.php

---( snip )---

Now, if all goes well, you'll be presented with a screen prompting you for your
Admin ID and Password.  These two pieces of information should have been set when
you ran the install script.

After completing this step, you should now be presented with the administration interface
of Post-Nuke.  From here find "Preferences" and we'll proceed.

The first field you'll run into is "Site Name."  Very self-explanatory.

Next is "Site URL."  This is the web address of your site.  It must be in the format of

http://www.yoursite.com

No ending slash is required here.  Also, should you be running Post-Nuke in a 'folder'
of it's own, that should also be specified.  For example;

http://www.yoursite.com/postnuke

Again, no trailing slash required.  If this is set improperly, Post-Nuke won't be able
to find some required files for it's proper operation.

Next is "Site Logo."  This is the image that is shown on your homepage and in other various
places.  Any format is valid here, .jpg/.png, etc.  The image itself should be put in your 'images'
directory.

Now we come to "Site Start Date."  Preferably, this should be filled in with date that your site
'goes live.'  Using the month-year method is prefered here.

Next is "Site Slogan."  Again, anything will work here.  Or you can leave it blank, it's totally
up to you.

Continuing on you'll come to "Administrator email."  Fill this in with a valid email address of
your own.  Post-Nuke has certain options available that will mail you when triggered.

Next is "Number of items in Top page."  Post-Nuke keep tracks of users who submit stories/reviews, etc.
Setting the number here reflects how many 'top' users will be shown on the top statistics page.

"Stories Number in Home."  Setting this number reflects exactly how many stories are shown on your
homepage. Once the maximum number is reached, these stories become 'old stories'.

"Stories in old Articles Box."  Just because a story has become old doesn't mean your user's can't
access it.  If activated (which we'll talk about later), Post-Nuke will show a box on your homepage
allowing user's to read older stories.  This number reflects the amount of old stories to actually
display in that box.

"Activate Ultramode?"  With this feature turned on, it's off by default, webmasters from other sites
can 'syndicate' stories published on your site on theirs.

We're now up to "Allow Anonymous to Post?"  If you'd prefer unregistered user's not be able to post
replies to your stories, select no here.  Anonymous posting is allowed by default.

"Default Theme."  This area will be touched on later.  For now though, Post-Nuke has some default
themes included in the release.  This is where you can select a default theme for your site.

As a note.  User's have the ability to select a theme of their own and override your default theme.

This now brings you to "Select the Language for your Site."  Post-Nuke has numerous languages from
which to chose.  If your native language isn't 'supported' in this release, check the Post-Nuke downloads
section on the web.  If you still can't find it, perhaps you could write your own and make it available for
others.

To round out this section you'll see "Locale Time Format."  Different nationalities display the time
differently.  Changing this option allows you to set the correct time format for your nationality.

The above completes the site preferences you have available.  But we're not finished yet.

Let's move on to the next section, 'Banner's Options'.  If you don't plan on running banners on your
site, leave this as is.  However, if you'd like to run banners, select yes.

"Your IP to not count the hits?"  If you're on a dialup connection this setting is largely irrelevant.
However, should you have a 'static address' to the internet, it's only fair to your banner advertisers
that you not include hits from your address as you're likely to visit your site quite often ;^)

Moving on you'll come to "Footer Messages."  It should be noted that all text/html here is optional.

Anything goes here.  As stated above, html is fine.  These footer messages are shown on every page
of your site.

"Backend Configuration."

The first option here is "Backend Title."  Remember from above when you had the ability to activate
'Ultramode'?  If you selected yes, then here you would put your site name, or whatever you'd like displayed
on the other site(s) 'syndicating' your stories.

Next is "Backend Language."  It's possible to syndicate your stories in any language that is available
on your site.  For a listing of language files included with Post-Nuke, browse through the 'language'
directory.

The next section is "Web Links Default Config."

"Links per Page."  This is strictly limit the number of links to be listed per page on your site.

"Hits to be Popular."  When a certain number of user's click on a link, it will be denoted with a
'popular' icon.  You can change this number to whatever you like.

"Number of Links as New."  Blowin smoke here?

"Number of Links as Best."  Blowin smoke here?

"Links in Search Results." This allows you again to limit the number of links to be displayed per
page when a user does a search.

"Let Anonymous users post new Links?"  If you'd prefer unregistered user not be able to post new links,
select no.  Yes is selected by default.

"Mail New Stories to Admin"

This section really doesn't need much explanation.  If you'd like to receive notifications about new
story submission's from your users, select yes here and fill in the required fields as you see fit.
Post-Nuke has these pre-filled.

NOTE:  With no selected by default, the rest of the areas are irrelevant.

"Comments Moderation"

blowin smoke?  Not broke?

"Comment Option"

"Comments Limit in Bytes."  The default should suffice here for most people.  4096 bytes is roughly 4k
worth of text.  What happens here is when a story/comment gets posted that is larger then this value
a "read the rest of this comment" option is presented.

"Anonymous Default Name."  It is suggested you leave this as is.  However, should you wish to change it,
it's recommended you also create a user account with this name.

"Surveys/Polls Options"

Blowin smoke?  Scale bar?

"Graphics Options"

Should you wish to change the default location of where images are stored on your site this is where
you would do it.  There shouldn't be much call for changing these.

"Graphics in Administration Menu?"  If you'd prefer icons in your administration menu instead of basic
hyperlinks, select yes.  This feature is off by default.

One last area to cover.

"Miscellaneous Options"

"Articles Number in Admin."  If you noticed when you first logged in as the administrator, you would have seen
the default article that is setup with Post-Nuke listed.  You can change here how many articles are displayed
on the main administration panel.

"Minimum Users Password Length."  Self-explanatory.  Should a user try to register with a password less then
this minimum they will be told to re-enter a new password that is long enough.

"Activate HTTP Referers?"  Yes is selected default.  This keep's stastics in your database as to who has
been visiting your site.  It should be stated that this can take up a fair bit of room in your database, so
it is recommended you delete your HTTP Referers log now and again.  You'll see this option listed in the
administration menu under 'HTTP Referers'.

"Activate Comments in Polls?"  When you have polls/surveys on your site (which we'll discuss later), it is
possible for your user's to post comments to them.  If you'd prefer they didn't, just select no here.

That's it.  Any changes you've made can now be set by clicking 'Save Changes'.

This ends all the preference settings for your Post-Nuke powered website.

We'll now move on to administering your new site.


ADMINISTERING POST-NUKE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For this step you'll need to log in and identify yourself as the administrator
of your site if you haven't already.

To accomplish this, in the address bar of your browser, type in;

---( snip )---

http://www.yoursite.com/admin.php

---( snip )---

Or if you're already logged in, simply click on "Administration Menu" at the very top of your page.

After completing this step, you should now be presented with the administration interface
of Post-Nuke.


BASIC USAGE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following will be a step-by-step account of what each function does.


ADD STORY:
~~~~~~~~~~

This option allows you post new stories/articles on your site.

There are some options presented here that we'll come back to later and explain in more
detail.  For now though, let's publish our first story.

The first field you'll run across is "Title."  This is the topic, or byline of
the story you'd like to publish.

Fill this in with whatever you'd like.

Next, you'll see "Topic" which has a dropdown box listing all the default topics created
during Post-Nuke's installation.  Choose any topic you'd like from here.

We'll discuss adding/deleting topics a little later.

Moving on from there, we come to "Category."  The default install only has "Articles"
available.  We'll discuss this later also.

Now we're up to "Publish in Home?", by default, yes is selected.  Selecting no at this
point is not an option.  We'll get into explaining this part later as well.

This brings us to the "Story Text" text field.  This is where the actual story
you'd like post gets written.  Type whatever you'd like here.

The next field ties into the above, the "Extended Text."  When stories get posted to
the 'front page' of your site, it's possible to treat them much like a newspaper would.
Example, you have your byline, perhaps a paragraph or two describing said byline, and then
finally, you invite your readers to read more (the "Extended Text").

Don't worry if it doesn't make sense now, it will after you try it here.  Go ahead and
type anything you'd like.

A note should be made here that either of the text field's will accept basic HTML.

At this point it should be noted that you've completed enough to actually publish
a story on your site.  But let's walk through the remaining options you have available.

The next feature we run across is "Do you want to program this story?"  Yes, it does
exactly what it says.  If you were to take some holidays, or just want to build up a log
of stories, this function would be ideal.  Post-Nuke will post the stories you program
in your absense.  The current date is displayed, and from there, you use the dropdown
boxes provided to select the date you'd like your story to be published on.  It should
be noted that the time is based on the 24 hour time format.

Two last options are available.  You'll see a dropdown box that has "Preview Story" listed.
If you simply hit "OK" you'll get just that, a preview of what your story will look like.
Also, you could make changes to your story from here.  You can preview your story and edit
it as many times as you'd like.

Here we go, let's publish the story on your site.  Instead of hitting "OK" with "Preview Story"
selected, select "Post Story" from the dropdown box and hit "OK."

That's it!  You've just published a story on your website.  You'll now be back to the main
administration screen.

Don't worry, we haven't forgot about adding/deleting topics.  Let's tackle that right now.

TOPICS MANAGER:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you hunt around on the administration panel you'll see "Topics Manager", that's what you're
after.

When this is selected you'll be presented with a listing of all the topics of the default
Post-Nuke install.

Let's dive right in and edit one of these topics so you'll see how it works before we
actually add one of our own.

Pick any topic you'd like and we'll continue.

Ok, the first item we see is "Topic Name."  This denotes what your topic is called in the
Post-Nuke database.  Obviously, unique name's for each topic will be required when you actually
add your own.

Next is the "Topic Text."  This is the text that is used to describe your topic.  Again, anything
will work here.

Moving on you'll see "Topic Image."  All images for the topics are stored in one central directory called
'images'.  There is no need to type in the location of your image, Post-Nuke knows where to find them.

Any image format will work here, .jpg/.png, etc.

The next part is strictly optional and is not required for the above to function properly.

"Add Related Links."  When you publish stories under a topic and your users click the "Read more.."
or "comments?" link, there is a 'box' that will show up on the right hand side of your screen called 
"Related Links."  This is where this feature can be implemented.  Say you have a topic called "Computer Science",
if you wanted, you could fill the related link in as such;

Site Name: Computer Science Collective
Site URL : http://www.csc.com

Now any time a story gets published in the "Computer Science" topic, the above related link would be shown
as a link of interest to your readers.  As many related links as you like can be added for individual topics.

You can also "Edit/Delete" related links as you see fit from your topic.

And to round out this section, your last two choices are to either "Save Changes" you've made, or outright
delete this topic from the database.

WARNING: Deleting a topic will also delete *all* comments/posts associated with it.

NOTE: The image file for the topic is not automatically deleted.

So with this knowledge you should be able, after you click on "Topics Manager" again and scroll past the default
topics, be able to add your very own topic specific to the type of site you're running.


USER ADMINISTRATION:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let's focus on the other major component of any website, the users.  Considering Post-Nuke allows user's to
register on your site, it only makes sense you can edit their information if need be.

From the administration menu look for "Edit Users."  After clicking this the first thing you'll see is
"Edit User."  Considering at this point the only 'real user' your Post-Nuke installation has is the default
'Anonymous' user, let's start by editing this profile.

In the text area type '1' (without qoutes).  You'll notice beside this area there is a dropdown box.  The two
options you have available here are 'Modify/Delete'.  Modify is selected by default, so just hit "OK."

After doing that you'll now be presented with a screen covering the areas you may edit for any given user.

We won't detail all the area's here as they are fairly self-explanatory.

Let's go back and now add a user to your site.  We'll treat this as just a regular account that you can use.

So find "Edit Users" again at the top of the administration menu and click it.  Now move past the "Edit User"
portion and down to the "Add a New User" part.  Fill in the required fields as you see fit and save your
changes.  That's it, you've now created your first account.

You've now seen how to modify a user and add a user, all that is left to do is delete one.  Let's delete the
account you just made.  Again, click on "Edit Users", and instead of typing '1' and hitting "OK", type '2'
into this field and from the dropdown box select "Delete."  Now hit "OK."  You'll now be prompted and asked
if you're sure you want to delete this user.

We'll leave this decision up to you.

This ends the administration aspect for users.


BLOCKS OVERVIEW:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next area to cover is the "Blocks."  This is a major feature of Post-Nuke and can totally change the
look and feel of your site quickly.

From the administration menu find the "Blocks" option and click on it.

At this point it's necessary to perhaps approach the block system from a conceptual point of view
to help you understand what they do.

Blocks all have the following things in common;

Title    : This is the title that is displayed above any functions in said box.

Position : Blocks can be positioned in two spots on your site, the left or right hand side.

Weight   : The weight option allows you to set in what order blocks appear.  The lower the number the higher
	   the priority your block has.  Having blocks with the same weight number is not a problem.  As a note,
	   'Fixed System Blocks' have priority over 'User Defined Blocks'.

Status   : This displays whether any given block is actually activated and viewable to your users.

Functions: You have two options here for 'Fixed System Blocks, 'Edit/De-activate'.  There are three options
	   for 'User Defined blocks, 'Edit/De-activate/Delete'.

With this in mind, lets first manipulate some blocks and then create one of your own.


EDITING/CREATING BLOCKS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click on the "Blocks" option in the administration menu.

Lets start by editing the "Main Menu" which is the first item to appear.  Read across this line until
you see the option to 'edit', choose that and we'll proceed.

You'll now see the heading "Edit Fixed Block."  As discussed above you see the "Title" first, in this case,
"Main Menu."  Change that to something different so you get a feel for it.

The next area, "Content", is where all the good stuff happens.  As you can see, this is where you actually
put links, or other HTML, etc.  It should be noted that PHP code cannot reside in these blocks.

If you're making links in these blocks please use the following format for HTML compliance;

<strong><big>&middot;</big></strong><a href="yourlink.php">Link text</a><br>

Of course, you can link .html, etc files, not just .php files ;^)  If you happen to have a file on your server
you'd like to try here, go ahead and enter it.

After you were done filling in your content, you'd move further down and now pick the position you'd like
this block to have.  Your options here are, as stated above, left or right.  For fun, change the default
from left to right.  You can always change it back later.

The next option you have available is "Activate?" For the sake of this tutorial we'll leave it active.  However,
should you wish to de-activate it just for trial and error, go ahead.

And lastly, you'd now proceed to "Save Block" and commit your changes.


ADDING BLOCKS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adding blocks doesn't differ much from what we did above.  The only big difference is that you have a couple
of more options you have to deal with before committing your changes.  We'll discuss those now.

Passing over the basics we covered above the first different thing you'll notice is "RSS/RDF File URL."

Remember earlier we talked about 'syndicating' news to other sites?  This is where you have the option to
do the same in a new block of your own.

Post-Nuke comes with many ready made sites you can use to 'syndicate' news from.  Clicking on "Custom" will
show you a complete listing of these sites.

If you'd like to 'syndicate' news from sites not present on this list you'll have to visit said site and
confirm the file name they use for this.

Once that is done, you'd type in the address of the file in this format;

http://www.example.com/newsfeed.rss (or whatever format they use .xml/.rdf, etc.)

After that the last remaining difference is "Refresh Time."  Select the amount of time you'd like your site
to wait before connecting to the site you're 'syndicating' news from to gather any new information it may have
posted.  It's a good idea to check for any information a site may have about syndicating its news as some sites
don't like other sites hitting theirs constantly.  The 1 hour option is usually okay however.

Bear in mind, "RSS/RDF" is totally optional.  You could have proceeded to enter links, etc into your "Content"
box and passed by the "RSS/RDF" configuration options.

After clicking on "Create Block", you've succeeded in adding your very own block to your site.

This covers the Blocks system on your Post-Nuke powered site.  Lets spend some time now with a neat
feature you can use for a myriad of things on your site.

MESSAGES:
~~~~~~~~~

On your administration menu look for the "Messages" link.  After clicking on this you'll be presented
with "Title."  As it says, this will be the title for the message you create.

Next is the "Content" area, like above, this is where your text/html is entered for the actual message
you'd like displayed.  After you enter your content you can enter the "Expiration" for your message.
There is a dropdown list provided for you to select how long you'd like your message to be shown.
Next, much like the blocks you can also select whether this message is activated or not.

After the above you come to "Change start date to today."  This is as simple as it sounds, selecting
yes will start your message immediately and run as long as you specified.

Lastly, you have a few more options as to who can actually view this message.  The option's are as
follows and are fairly self-explanatory;

All visitors
Anonymous users only
Registered users only
Administrators only

With all that said and done you can now "Save changes."

That wrap's up the messaging function of Post-Nuke.

Now that you've had a bit of a break, let's dive back in again.

Let's now look at "Edit Admins" and the options available to you.

EDITING ADMINS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To start with, Post-Nuke only has one admininstrator account.  Let's take a look at editing this account.

On the administration menu find "Edit Admins" and we'll proceed.

"Username" is the first field you'll encounter here, and this is name you used to log into the administration
panel in the first place.  This can be changed to whatever you like down the road.

"E-Mail" is self-explanatory.

"URL" is likely where you'll want to type in the address of your website.

"Permissions."  I'll explain this part in more detail when we actually add a new admin to your site.
Your initial 'admin' should always have 'Superuser' status.  This means you'll have access to all the features
on your site.

And lastly, you can enter a new password for this account by typing a new password into the supplied fields twice,
and then proceeding to "Save."

Now, let's add another administrator to your site.

ADDING ADMINS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click on "Edit Admins" again on the administration menu and scroll past your main account to where you
see "Add a new administrator."

The fields here are identical to the ones from above so we'll skip onto explaining the permission settings.


ADMIN PERMISSIONS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even though you can let other people help with the administration of your site, that doesn't mean they
are allowed to do everything you are.  But, you could make it so they could if you were so inclined.

Let's walk through and explain all your options here.

"Articles."  If checked, this allows someone to 'Add a story' exactly like you can.  There is a difference
however between your 'Superuser' account and another admin with the "Articles" option selected.  They cannot
edit/delete stories they themselves have not published on the homepage.

So, moving further across the top row you'll see "Topics."  If this option is selected the new admin
can add/edit topics on the site just like you can.

"Users."  If selected, the new admin has the ability to add/edit users on your site as well.

Next you have the "Survey" option.  Enabling this allows your new admin to add/delete surveys/polls
on your site.

"Sections."  This allows another admin to add/delete different categories on your site.  Categories will
explained in more detail a bit later.

"Web links."  From here an admin can reset votes, approve new links, delete links, etc etc.  Everything you
can do, the new admin can also do.

"Empheremids."  This option being checked allows another admin to add new "Empheremids" to your site.  This
function will be described later as well.

"File manager."  It should be stated here that you should make sure you trust the person you give access to
this option as they can delete/rename,etc files on your system.  This can be a dangerous option to allow for
just anyone.  Proceed with caution.

"FAQ."  Frequently Asked Questions, with this enabled a new admin can add categories and questions/answers
on your site.  The FAQ option will be explained in more detail later on.

"Download."  This option allows the admin the same powers your 'Superuser' account would, such as adding/deleting
downloads, etc.  The "Download" feature will be talked about later on as well.

"Reviews."  From here a new admin could add/delete, etc reviews on your site.  We'll touch on the "Reviews"
function later too.

And lastly, you have the "Super user" option.  With this checked, the admin automatically has access to *all*
the above.  So as stated with the "File manager", proceed with caution here and be sure you trust the person.

Now, for your new admin to be able to login you must set a password.  Do that in the last field you see.

After you've set the permissions and password you'd like your new admin to have, proceed to "Add author" 
to make the changes final.

This rounds out "Editing/Adding Admins."

Next we'll shift our focus to adding a "FAQ" (Frequently Asked Questions) section to your site.

FAQ:
~~~~


