Translation and Theme

22 Aug 10

Hi,

Just installed Ninjaboard, works fine.
Just a few questions though:

-How do I apply another theme like the ones on the demosite (i.e. Rockettheme)?

-How does the auto-translate work or can I translate Ninjaboard by myself (i.e. to Dutch)?

Please some advise would be great. Thanks.

Kind regards,
John

22 Aug 10

Hi John,

@Themes there's only one theme atm, Chameleon, which posses a capability we like to call auto-skinning.
Here's an example on how to configure it for Zephyr, with key fields highlighted:

In general, the two options you want to experiment with the most, are "Module Chrome" and "Moduleclass sfx".
Sfx work the same way regular Joomla modules does.

@Auto translate

Prepare the language files that you want to be auto filled in with language strings like usual. E.g. the english one goes here:
/languages/en-GB/en-GB.com_ninjaboard.ini

Go to Global Configuration in your Joomla! admin.
And click "System". You should now see a "Debug Settings" section, under there set "Debug Language" to "Yes".

Ninjaboard will now fill your language file in with any untranslated strings.
Please remember it's still beta, so if you find a case where it adds incorrectly formated strings, please let us know so we can update it.

Cheers,
Stian

22 Aug 10

Hi Stian

Thanks a lot for your responce.
I've tried the things you wrote.
But...

Sorry, I can't get the clue.

The auto translation is not working with the language debugging enabled.
I'm getting symbols (little squares and questionmarks)on site.
I can't edit the nl-NL.com_ninjaboard.ini, permission denied.
Can't set chmod to 777 neither, permission denied.

I don't understand how I can get a theme applied.
Do I have to download it?
And if yes, how do I install a theme?

Please can you be more specific.
I don't mind if I have to do advanced settings or editing,
but it is not clear for me were to look right now.

Thanks, it would be great. Because I like the Ninjaboard it's a great feature for my site.

Kind Regards,
John

23 Aug 10

Hi Stian

I've tried to do an uninstall of Ninjaboard to see if things will look different on a re-install.
But all I get is errors and most of the files won't uninstall, including the Wooka files. Get the message: unable to delete..
When I look in my hosts cpanel in the filemanager the folder-owner is set to Apache and I can't delete the folders manually at that time.
But after a time I was able to delete them, icluding the assiosiated plugin files and folders (Wooka, Ninja and Ninja Mootools, uninstall via backend admin)

So with all the apps assiosiated with Ninjaboard uninstalled I tried a fresh re-install but everytime a get a installation error.
However the installation puts partionally folders and files for Ninjaboard, and again I can't uninstall or delete them at this time.
Also the owner is set to Apache. Can't change this.
When looking in my database there's no Ninjaboard related table in jos_components or any other table.
Why is Ninjaboard set to owner Apache, using mSQLite/SQLite?
Why can't I do an re-install?

I really don't know how to manage this.
Please can you give me some backup on these issues.
Thanks!

Kind regads,
John

24 Aug 10

Hi John,

I'm sorry that you're having trouble with Ninjaboard.

The biggest problem you have is that your server is not Joomla friendly. You will have issues with many extensions because your server does not set proper permissions and ownership for files.

*** This is not a Ninjaboard issue, it's a server issue.***

You will need to find a new host, one that uses suphp or one of it's alternatives to run php scripts under the user of your account, instead of under apache. Please discuss this with your host, as they will be able to help you with it.

Once that is done, most of your Joomla problems will be gone. Then we can help your through setting up your Ninjaboard to look the way you want it.

Kind regards,
Mark

24 Aug 10

Hi Mark,Stian,

Thanks for your response.
First, I don't want to blame or point a finger to Ninjaboard, neither to you guys.
I respect the applications of NinjaForge and it's developers in the most way.
In my opinion the NinjaForge apps are really great features for Joomla users.

It's too bad that my host is not fully supporting Joomla.
It was just frustrating that Ninjaboard wouldn't run after the uninstall and reinstall.
The funniest (in a way) thing was that Ninjaboard was running well at first install.
The one and only thing was that I couldn't apply a theme.
I guess I had to leave it be at that time because without a theme it looked good enough by applying art styles in the module class sfx as defined in my main template css.

I will contact my host to help me out on this. I believe they will. It's a good and reliable host, their support is also great.
I don't like the issue that owner rights are shifting on the server side.
It's a lot more comfortable to have nearly full control on a domain where you pay for, i.m.o.
I hope it solve things out in the future.

All right guys, it's just a temporary setback.
Still going to use Ninjaforge applications nevertheless.;)
Keep up the good work!
I'll keep in touch.

Many thanks again.

Kind regards,
John

25 Aug 10

cquencer wrote:

The auto translation is not working with the language debugging enabled.
I'm getting symbols (little squares and questionmarks)on site.

The dots and question marks is not a bug, that's how Joomla language debugging works.
Dots means it's translated, question mark means it's translatable but there's no translation in the INI for it yet.
If you see text without question marks and dots, that means that string is untranslatable.

cquencer wrote:

I don't understand how I can get a theme applied.
Do I have to download it?
And if yes, how do I install a theme?

Every individual demo of Ninjaboard on our demo site, are the same core template that ships with Ninjaboard.
You can't change it atm, we havent activated the functionality that allows you to change the template used, and install new ones at this moment.

The only difference between the Ninjaboard demos are the Module Chrome, Moduleclass sfx under Settings, and the Pageclass suffix in the menu manager.

They're Chameleon variations, not separate themes.

cquencer wrote:

Why is Ninjaboard set to owner Apache, using mSQLite/SQLite?

We are not using mSQLite or SQLite. We're using MySQL, and the PHP database driver called MySQLi instead of the ancient MySQL driver.
MySQLi means "MySQL improved".
We're requiring you to use MySQL 5.0 or later, and in order to use the new MySQL features introduced after version 3.0 we have to use MySQLi, as the MySQL adapter does not support any MySQL feature introduced after 3.0.

Joomla supports both the MySQL and MySQLi php drivers natively. Both MySQL and MySQLi drivers connects to MySQL. There does not exist a MySQLi database type.

cquencer wrote:

It was just frustrating that Ninjaboard wouldn't run after the uninstall and reinstall.
The funniest (in a way) thing was that Ninjaboard was running well at first install.

That's because the filesystem permissions for creating files, and overwriting/deleting existing ones are two very different things.
Your server may allow creating new files, but not editing existing ones.

In any case this is not something we can fix from PHP code, and something you'll experience with any other joomla extension.

Only way to fix it, are to make your server Joomla! compatible :)

Cheers,
Stian

25 Aug 10

Hi Stian

Thanks for your response.

It's all clear to me now:)
Thanks for shining a light;)

Bottoms up:lol:

John

27 Aug 10

Hi Stian, Mark

I've finally managed to get Ninjaboard running again.
After a fresh look into the settings of my host-account I'd discovered that the configuration of the current database was not right.
The option 'Grant' under modify was set to 'no'.
This was causing all the trouble with Ninjaboard and other apps due to ownership settings.
When setting the option 'Grant' to 'yes' I could easily set the ownership of folders and files to myself.
Further installations of plug-ins and so where no longer set to owner 'Apache'.

With that aspect cleared out of my way I did a fresh (re)install of Ninjaboard and it is running smooth again. I did clear the tmp folder first though, because of earlier unfinished installations of Ninjaboard. All went well.
I was even able to auto-translate after editing the language ini file.
Even without language debugging enabled, Ninjaboard is running in Dutch.
All I had to do was editing/translating the en-GB.com_ninjaboard.ini and save it as nl-NL.com_ninjaboard.ini in the correct folder.

I still don't get the clue how to set up a style/template as described.
I'm only able to apply styles of my own Joomla template.css.
Though it is good enough I still wonder how it exactly works.
I can't find or apply 'chrome' to an sfx class whatsoever.
I'm thinking about creating an independent style (defined in current template) for Ninjaboard, if that is possible.
I will look in to it, but some more tips would be great.

However some minor 'bugs', I don't believe they are real bugs, still occur.

1-when uploading an avatar, it doesn't save the choosen avatar and keeps showing the default picture (the mask-like pic).

2-The 'delete'-button for post and topic deletion, does not display correct.
I've attached a screenshot with the issue highlighted.
Can you explain this and how I can change/edit this?

3-when I delete a post then all current posts are deleted.

I hope you will help me out further on this.
I'm so glad I was able to discover the issue on my hosts side.
I really want to use Ninjaboard for my site because it it's very usefull.
Bigger advanced Forumboards, like SMF and phpBB, are too colossal for my site, it doesn't make any sense.

Kind regards,
John

28 Aug 10

Hi John,

I'm so happy you managed to figure out the cause! :)

Let me explain a little more on how templating in Ninjaboard currently works, and how it'll work in the future.

In Ninjaboard 1.0 we did two dramatic changes on the template engine that we have in Ninjaboard 0.5.

First of all we started using Nooku Framework. And that allows us to have lots of shortcuts in our template layouts.

For instance, our date shortcut, that transforms dates like this "2010-09-28 14:59" into "31 minutes ago" looks like this:
<?= @ninja('date.beautiful', array('date' => $post->created_on)) ?>

Short and simple.

The next big change, by far the most dramatic, are the auto-skinning engine, codename "Chameleon".
What this does, is enabling you to use any and all of the styling that the site template does for modules, on Ninjaboard itself.

This is Chameleons biggest strength, but also its greatest weakness.
If the module styling in your template doesn't look too great on the forum, then Chameleon wont help you much.

90% of the time, the Joomla! template have module styles that looks fantastic on your forum.
Our Ninjaboard demo site (http://ninjaforge.com/ninjaboard-demo) does a great job showcasing that.

So how does Chameleon work? Since it uses module styling, it lets you configure it the same way you configure modules.
There's a small catch to that though. When you configure a module in Joomla!, you just assign it to a module position, and optionally give it a Moduleclass suffix for style variations that many templates offer.

Ninjaboard is capable of rendering in module positions, but due to unpredictable behavior we have disabled that for now.
Instead of a module position, you have to pick the module chrome that Ninjaboard needs to use.

What's Module Chrome? On each module position, your Joomla! template defines what chrome should be used for how the module renders.
The Joomla! wiki have a great article explaining this:
http://docs.joomla.org/What_is_module_chrome%3F

The easiest way to find out what chrome your template are using for your module positions, are to append &tp=1 to your url.
Each module will then have an outline, and have a small box bottom right saying something like "user1[rounded outline]".
"user1" means the module position, and "rounded" are the chrome.

The way moduleclass suffixes are used in Joomla! templates varies a lot. So I'm gonna give you a few links that shows how they're often used:
http://demo.rockettheme.com/aug10/features/template-features/module-variations
http://www.yootheme.com/demo/jul10/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=58
http://www.joomlajunkie.com/demo/themelets/creativa/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92&Itemid=114

So in short, Chameleon needs you to pick a chrome, and optionally a class suffix to configure the style of your forum.

In the future we'll adress the shortcomings of Chameleon by giving Ninjaboard a small set of basic (dark, light, etc) non-Chameleon templates that works better in those situations.

I'm thinking about creating an independent style (defined in current template) for Ninjaboard, if that is possible.

Currently we've not enabled the ability that lets you change what template Ninjaboard is using. We're planning on doing that in the RC release.

But before that, it's possible to override Ninjaboards template layouts, js, css and images by using template overrides.
I don't recommend doing that yet, as Ninjaboards template layouts will change a lot before the stable release, so it'll be a lot of work to keep your overrides up to date.

You could override the css files in Ninjaboard however, and I'll write you a quick tutorial if you want to.

The two bugs you are reporting are indeed real.
The button bug are fixed in the current Beta6, soon to be released.

The avatar bug is still work in progress, but will be fixed soon.

Would you be interested in contributing your dutch translation?
If so, you'll be invited to the beta tester group, and added to the "Credits" section in the "About" popup in Ninjaboard. ;)
In there you'll be able to get the latest nightly builds of Ninjaboard for testing and more.

Cheers,
Stian

28 Aug 10

Hi Stian,

Thanks for your very clear explanation.
It made things understand a lot easier.
The links to the templates were very interesting, thanks for that.
The use of Joomla and extensions is slightly new for me and in time I'm discovering more and more how it works.
Many years ago I started to build websites in plain html code, the old-fashioned way styling with frames and table's.
I was stuck on that method untill Joomla came in my way, fortunately.
Things were changed and in no matter of time I was into Joomla.
Which is a great experience. That also counts for the amazing Ninja extensions.

I did a little experiment with the override, not exactly over-ride but add definitions from Ninjaboards site.css to my template.css and made custom graphics for backgrounds and made changes to colors and fonts.
1 bug I did fix, uhm, not really fix but created a temporary workarround by disabling the div (I think it has something to do with the <span></span> formulation, I couldn't find it).

I've edited the following file and code:

../components/com_ninjaboard/views/topic/tmpl/default.php

.button .symbol
{
display: none;/*original=inline-block*/
width: 16px;
height: 16px;
text-align: center;
background: transparent center no-repeat;
}

Dreamweaver gives in the same document a syntax error on this line of code:

<? $img = isset(@$topic->params['customization']['icon']) ? @$topic->params['customization']['icon'] : '32__default.png' ?>

One other thing occurs when deleting a post as an admin or moderator. When clicking on the -delete- button, all posts in all forums are deleted.
Don't know if this is something you are aware of or maybe it has to do with the editing, just worth to mention in either case.

So I just want to learn more about this all because it's far more flexible and interesting. There's a new world opening up for me.
Okay, back to reality before I'm going to sing Tantras...haha:)

It would be a great honor to contribute my Dutch translation.
But about being a beta tester, well I don't know.
I'm not that experienced in coding, more the basic kind of coder.
However, testing and reporting is what I can do off course.
If I can make myself useful for NinjaForge either way it would be a honor too.

Stian, thanks a lot for shining an even bigger light on this all.
It really helped me out.

Considering the quick tutorial that you want to write,
Please, it would be great..only if it's not too much for you to do.
Let me know how I can contribute my translation and I'll gladly do.
I mean the proper way, do I have to mail it or put it right here on the forum?

Kind regards,
&
Bottoms up;)

John

28 Aug 10

Hi John,

One other thing occurs when deleting a post as an admin or moderator. When clicking on the -delete- button, all posts in all forums are deleted.

Wow, now that's a terrible bug I hope no one else have experienced!
I've made it a highest priority ticket, and will work on a way to make sure doing something like that is impossible!

The syntax error Dreamweaver are reporting is likely just Dreamweaver.
If it were a syntax error, you would've seen an white screen of death on the forums page.

I have a similar background to you actually. I too started with Dreamweaver, tables then divs, and then Joomla :)

I started working for NinjaForge around 2 and a half years ago, and started using Joomla just over 3 years ago ;)

Our Beta requirements aren't that demanding.
Knowing code is a huge bonus, but not at all an requirement.

What we need the most from beta testers, are help testing in order to discover and resolve as many bugs as possible before releases.
And feedback that are usability related in particular.
If you find anything difficult to use in Ninjaboard, then telling us about that helps us improving it and making it more intuitive.

So I just want to learn more about this all because it's far more flexible and interesting. There's a new world opening up for me.

It is isn't it :D I've invited you as beta tester so you can see what amazing things we have in store ;)

As for the translation, I've given you some instructions in the beta tester invite.

I'll write you that tutorial first thing tomorrow, explaining how it works and the steps needed to make use of it.

Btw, glad you enjoy our extensions! We really enjoy making them too :)

Cheers,
Stian

29 Aug 10

Hi Stian

OK, I hope Ninjaboard will be fine in a matter of time.
I'm sure it will because I believe in you guys.
Like I once said: keep the blades razorsharp!

Thanks for inviting me, awsome!
I've received the emails you've send.
I will take care of the translation.
And I'll do my best to be a serious beta tester. Promise.

Nice to hear we are both addicted :lol:

Thanks a lot for writing the tutorial, I can't wait :)(take it easy, though)

Ad Fundum ;) (means bottoms up...just in case)

John

29 Aug 10

Hi John,

I'm almost done with that tutorial, but since I got so caught up in fixing NB bugs today, I only got to it late night I'm afraid.
Going to hit the bed now, but I'll finish it first thing in the morning :)

Thanks for your support!

We're now giving translators Gold memberships btw.

Cheers,
Stian

29 Aug 10

Hi Stian,

Take it easy with the tutorial, it has no priority.
It's fantastic !!! that you gave me the Goldmember status.
Unbelievable, this means a lot to me! Great full Thanks.
I've sent an email to you about my actions at Unfuddled.

Have a good rest and sweet dreams.

Talk to you later.;)

Ad Fundum

John

30 Aug 10

Hi John,

Glad you like it! :)

Saw your Unfuddle messages, I'll be sure to get to them tomorrow.
Here's the tutorial you requested:
http://nekkidninjas.com/index.php/2010/08/30/how-to-override-ninjaboard-css-js-images

Hope this helps,
Stian

31 Aug 10

Hi Stian,

Great work! I really appreciate it.
I'm sure it will help.
Interesting site you have over there.;)

I hope I didn't screw things up @ Unfuddled.
It was a little bit Hocus Pocus for me, but...I'm a quick learner.

Talk to you later.

Bottoms up:)

John

01 Sep 10

Hi Stian,

I have one question about your tutorial:

Regarding the Stylesheet override,
the stylesheet that I've to override could it be the site.css sheet instead of the site.form.css sheet?

Or is it particular to what I want to override and use both sheets?

Thanks.

Greetings;) ,
John

01 Sep 10

It's very particular.
if you want to override site.css, you'll need a site.css file.

If you later want to say, compress and minify all of the Ninjaboard css into a single css file.
To greatly improve performance as a result of lesser HTTP requests.
Then you just create empty files.

In the future we'll make it so that empty files, will make Ninjaboard not load that asset at all.

We're looking into other ways of giving the end user more control over what asset is loaded.

Hope this helps,
Stian

01 Sep 10

Ok, thanks, I understand.

It's good to know that it's possible to customize style-sheets either way.
Also a great idea to let the user have more control in the future but isn't that breaking up Ninjaboard for what it stands for?
I mean, you can give users more control but not to much, I guess.
Ninjaboard is Ninjaboard, that's so special about it.
Just a thought:)

By the way,
I've written a review about Ninjaboard at JED.;)

http://extensions.joomla.org/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=viewlink&link_id=11513

Bottoms up!

John

03 Sep 10

@Review Awesome! Thanks :)

Sorry I had a typo, when I said end-user, I meant template.

So if template engines like Morph or Gantry compress, or even have optimized stylesheets (were every piece of css not used are removed) or have Ninjaboards javascript optimized, they can do that without touching any PHP files.

You're right that what Ninjaboard stands fore, is not to have long settings lists, and tons of configurations, but to work as much out of the box as possible ;)

Cheers,
Stian

04 Sep 10

Hi Stian,

My pleasure.;)

Incredible how things can fit to one and other.
Now, that's what I call 'out of the box thinking'.
Sounds like Magic to me.:woohoo:

Bottoms Up;)

John

04 Sep 10

Indeed, it's much more work than usual to accomplish that goal, but IMHO, and I'm sure the other Ninjas agree, it's worth the effort! :)

15 Sep 10

I was just wondering if you could give a screenshot of the exact settings and forum settings for zephyr that would be great. I am trying to get it to look like the demo that you have up?

Thanks

16 Sep 10

Sure.

On the menu item linking to Ninjaboard, give it the following Page Class Suffix:
separator-currentcolor dark

Here are the other chameleon settings:

Hope this helps,
Stian

16 Sep 10

Thats exactly what I was looking for.... Thank you sir your the best

16 Sep 10

You're welcome :)

15 Oct 10

I'm dealing with the same style issue. I've installed fireboard into RT Zephyr, and I matched the info in that screen shot...but without a doubt, it doesn't look like the demo...and I LOVE the demo.

Here's mine:
http://174.121.133.158/~fighters/beta/index.php?option=com_ninjaboard&view=forum&id=1&Itemid=429

and here's the demo:
http://ninjaforge.com/ninjaboard-demo/index.php?option=com_ninjaboard&view=forums&Itemid=172

How the heck do I get mine to look like that demo?

15 Oct 10

Hi Brianpeat,

Let me try to help you :)

I guess you mean Ninjaboard instead of Fireboard :P

Here's a magic trick from Stian (Lead Developer Ninjaboard):

-try to add 'separator-currentcolor dark' to the 'Page Class Suffix' for the menu-item that links to Ninjaboard (under Parameters (system)).

That should do it ;)

Greets,
John

15 Oct 10

Hi brianpeat,

John is correct; the "separator-currentcolor" and "dark" CSS classes were used in the page class suffix in the menu item pointing to the forum.

I've attached an image that should illustrate how it is done.

Kind regards,
Mark

15 Oct 10

Yeah, that did it. It was late, so yeah, I meant Ninjaboard :)

Thanks!

Edit: Now that I'm more awake I see that mentioned earlier. I have never used the page suffix thing so I just didn't notice it. I'm also linking to a specific forum, so that side bar of nifty suggestions doesn't show up.

thanks again, it doesn't have the red vertical bars (they're white) but otherwise it looks fine.

15 Oct 10

Hi brianpeat,

Nifty sidebar should show, we'll fix that.
Also, separator-currentcolor gives the vertical bars the same color as the active link color.
If you don't have that suffix, they'll be gray most likely.

15 Oct 10

separator was spelled wrong. They're orange now :)

15 Oct 10

:) I'm glad it's sorted Brian. Do let us know if you have any further issues or questions (maybe in a new thread).

Have a good weekend!

Cheers
Mark

15 Oct 10

Actually, I do, but I'll post that in another thread. Thanks!

18 Apr 12

Cheers, was useful to read!!!