Pligg CMS Blog

We have been working for a while now on the 1.0.2 release, and after 2 and a half months of work we are just about ready to release an update for one of the most promising CMS’s. I have been holding off on this release because I wanted to provide a rock solid release to go with the new Status Update module which we will be releasing at the same time as 1.0.2. We have also written a new “Auto Update” module which should make it easy for you to upgrade from 1.0.2 and beyond without having to deal with using FTP to transfer files to your server. The top priority for our developers now is to fight spam and we plan on creating a series of FREE modules to combat the 2 major types of Pligg spam. The first type is the most common and it’s the generic spam that every blog and forum on the internet see. It is a type of spam that is usually filled with keywords that could easily be detected and flagged as spam. We are in the beginning stages of developing a free word filter module for Pligg that will use a dictionary of words to deal with this type of spam. It could also be useful for blocking profanity on your site. The second form of spam is far more difficult because it is much better at disguising itself as a legitimate story. It comes from either software or services that allow people to submit to many Pligg (and other CMS) sites all at once. Unfortunately we are taking a while to perfect our battle strategy on how to stop this type of spam over the long haul. As we hammer out the details we will spend time developing a couple free modules to protect Pligg users from this type of spam, or at the very least slow it down. There are some already great solutions out there for battling spam, including the Submit Antispam Addon and Story Admin Email Moderation modules. If you can’t wait for the 1.0.2 release, or if would like to test our latest SVN version you can grab SVN release 1743 here. We could use your help testing this version for bugs since we have made quite a few changes to the core and it’s always best to get a variety of users opinion on our builds before an official release. Test it out and let us know if you have any problems by visiting our IRC chat room. One last reminder is that everyone needs to vote for Pligg as this year’s Most Promising CMS’s. There’s only 1 day left and this will be the last reminder.

Our contest for best free Pligg template has been closed to new entrants and now we need some user input on what you think is the best free template for Pligg CMS. We’ve compiled a list of 16 of the most popular templates that are compatible with Pligg 1.0.0 or above and we would appreciate it if you took a moment to vote for your favorite. If you are unfamiliar with all of the great templates, click on a link for each of the poll options to visit each template’s download page. The download thread on the Pligg Forums will usually contain a screenshot or link to a demo. We will be using the poll results as part of the criteria in selecting the winners of the template design contest. Seven of the sixteen templates are not eligible for winning this contest because the authors are Pligg developers who will be judging the entries. Voting will remain open until Sunday, November 1. Make sure that you cast your vote before Halloween is over. If you are an author of one of these templates you will receive an email shortly with a $20 Pligg Pro gift certificate as an entry prize.

The original deadline for the template design contest was this evening, but I’ve decided to extend the contest to October 19. This gives users 8 additional days to either begin their template or bug test and improve existing submissions. If you haven’t yet voted for Pligg, please vote for us as the Most Promising CMS in the CMS Awards competition. It only takes a few seconds to cast a vote and we really appreciate your support.

In today’s post I will be teaching you the basics for designing a Pligg template. I’ve designed about a dozen Pligg templates so far, and through those experiences I have compiled some quick tips for beginners wanting to create their first Pligg template. Before I dive into the details let me first mention that there is some existing documentation about Template Structure and Template files, which can be read on the Pligg Wiki. This article is a primer for Pligg template designers, and is by no means a good reference for advanced template techniques.

Javascript, CSS and PHP in .tpl Files

Pligg uses a variation of the Smarty template engine, called Template Lite. Smarty code requires special markup when you want to use Javascript, CSS or PHP code in your .tpl files. For Javascript and CSS you will need to begin the code with a {literal} tag and end it with {/literal} tags. For PHP code, you will need to replace the < ?php opening tags with {php} and the ?> closing tag with {/php}. Examples are provided below to demonstrate each of these languages being used in a Pligg .tpl file.

Javascript Example

{literal}
<script type="text/javascript">
document.write("Hello World!");
</script>
{/literal}

A large number of new threads being created on the forums are by users who attempt to add javascript to their templates without knowing that they should use {literal} tags. If you have added javascript to a .tpl file and you see an error beginning with “Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘{‘ ” you more than likely forgot to wrap the javascript with {literal} tags.

CSS Example

{literal}
<style type="text/css">
.example {font-weight:bold;}
</style>
{/literal}

Beginners often overlook CSS files as a good first step for changing the style of your site. Many design projects could probably be completed by only editing the stylesheet file(s). I highly suggest that users start out modifying a Pligg template by tweaking the stylesheet file.

PHP Example

{php}
echo 'Hello World!";
{/php}

You can see more examples of using PHP in .tpl files in the Wiki article “PHP in Template Files“. I will occasionally write entire features into Pligg template files by using {php} tags, which should only be done for very simple {php} code, or when you don’t have time to create a module.

The Top 5 Template Files

Most people who begin a Pligg template without any previous experience will probably feel a little intimidated by the number of .tpl files that Pligg uses. There are roughly 40 files to work with in the stock Pligg template(s). These files control every small detail that a designer might want to take advantage of, but don’t feel like you need to edit all of the files to achieve a unique looking template. You could probably customize just 5 template files and in no time at all your site will look radically different.

1. Pligg.tpl

This template is the main “wrapper” for all other templates. It controls the main layout for the site and includes most of the data located in the of the document. After you’ve finished changing your CSS the pligg.tpl file is the first template file that you should open up and explore.

2. Header.tpl

This template is usually used for navigation for the upcoming, published and submit pages. It is also used commonly to wrap the category, breadcrumb and search box.

3. Sidebar.tpl (and sidebar2.tpl)

As you can guess by the name, these two files are typically used for the sidebar content. It is divided up into two files should you want to have 2 sidebars or use the second sidebar in a more creative position like just before your footer. The sidebar will contain “sidebar widgets” which is what we call things like the “Top Today” or “Latest Comments” modules.

4. Footer.tpl

As you may have guessed by the name, footer.tpl controls the footer content on your website. This is normally used for credits, contact information and site links.

5. Link_summary.tpl

Last, but certainly not least is probably the most misunderstood template file for Pligg. Link_summary.tpl is responsible for styling the story data used by Pligg wherever the story appears. This includes the story data used on the story page, profile page, group page, upcoming page, or third submission step page. It holds the vote number and links, admin tools, story title, story description and a lot of other items. This is probably the most complicated template file to understand because there are so many features in it, but if you take ten minutes to carefully read the code you probably won’t struggle to pick up on how the template is laid out. Because this file deserves it’s own article I will not dive into every detail for this file, but I will emphasize the important features.

Read the rest of this entry »

I wanted to demonstrate how quickly templates/themes from other CMSs could be converted to Pligg, so Friday afternoon I began work converting the WordPress theme Arthemia into Pligg. Since WordPress is probably the most widely used CMS it seemed like a perfect candidate to show off how easy making templates for Pligg can be. After about 24 hours I ended up with not only a new template for Pligg, but also a module to go with it.

The Featured module was based on CMStheme’s “Featurify” module. The original module was designed to have admins upload images to rotate through as a slideshow on a Pligg site. The images were linked to related stories and would display the story title and description as stored in the database. The module had a lot of features that were close to what I was looking for, so after a lot of hacking I got it to work as more of a featured story management tool than slideshow tool. View the embedded video above for a quick demonstration of both the module and template. Read the rest of this entry »

Pligg has made it to the final stages of voting for this year’s “Most Promising Open Source CMS” award. We are asking users to vote one last time for Pligg so that we can win both a cash and bragging rights from this year’s CMS Awards competition. There are a total of 5 candidates in the Most Promising category list including:

• ImpressCMS
• Manhali
• Pixie
• Pligg
• Redaxscript

Today we’ve added the new Status Update module to the Pligg Design Gallery to give users a chance to try it out. You can check it out by viewing your own profile page or by checking out my profile. Even better you can add me as your friend to see all of my updates. If you would like to learn about all of the features that the module has to offer and see what the admin panel settings page is like check out the Preview video on our previous blog post. While you’re testing out the new feature we would appreciate it if you reported any bugs that you might come across to the Pligg Forum. We’ve temporarily disabled the email feature that will send you an email when a friend mentions your username, but that’s a feature that you can expect in the final version.

Today we are publicly announcing a Pligg Module called “Status Update”. This module is currently still in the development and testing stage, but isn’t far off from completion and I think that this is a great time to share with everyone what this new tool will add to your Pligg website. The new module is designed to add “micro-blogging” to your Pligg powered website, similar to how Twitter and Facebook allow you to submit brief messages that display on friend’s profiles. I prepared a video to demonstrate some of the capabilities of the module, which you can view below. The video was produced a couple weeks ago, so it does not present the full capabilities and features that will be present in the final version. This module is already the most advanced Pligg module to date and will add a new level of user interaction to your Pligg site.The Status Update module is still being tested and will not be available for public release until early October 2009. It will be a premium module sold through the Pligg Pro shop, and will retail at a small price to allow us to recuperate some development costs associated with creating the module. Read the rest of this entry »