<ftp_auth>

{{{Authentication by FTP}}}
Some of SPIP's functionalities have a direct influence on the structure and the content itself of the database (particularly: updates, backup and restoration of the database...). For these very sensitive features, an FTP authentication procedure has been put in place, in order to restrict their use to the few users who have access to the site server by FTP (more generally, if a site admits several SPIP administrators, FTP access is restricted to the main webmaster).
To be able to use these features, you have to simultaneously:
<UL><LI>connect to the web with your usual browser; when you launch the action, SPIP specifies a name of the format "admin_{xxxxx}", that you write down;</LI>

<LI>connect to your site's server by FTP; in the folder <TT>/ecrire/data</TT>, create a file (or an empty directory) and name it "admin_{xxxxx}";</LI>

<LI>Once you have created this file or directory, go back to your web browser and reload the page, which concludes the FTP authentication and triggers the action. </LI>

</UL>

</ftp_auth>

<artauteurs>

{{{Authors}}}

When an administrator or an editor creates an article, he is considered automatically the author of the article. In several cases the authors should be changed (i.e. when a third party story is added to the site, when a story shouldn't be signed, or when it is edited by several users...)

- {{Adding an author}}

A drop-down menu showing the list of all the site editors allows selecting and adding a new author.
{If more than 50 editors contribute to the site, it becomes awkward to display them in a drop-down menu (it slows the loading dramatically); in this case, the drop-down menu is replaced by a search box: you enter the name of the author you wish to add and click on "search". If the search returns more than one author, the system will let you select the one you want.}

- {{Removing an author}}

Next to each author of the article, the link "Remove the author" allows you to simply remove this author.

{It is only as the author of this particular article that the editor is removed; he obviously remains present in the list of the site editors.}
- {{Replacing an author by another}}
This can be achieved in two steps: simply add the new author and remove the first one (see above).

- It must be stressed finally that the administrators have more power over this authors list than the editors. Particularly, the editors cannot remove themselves from an article. If an editor wishes to publish an anonymous article (without author), he must request from an administrator to perform the operation.

</artauteurs>

<artchap>

{{{The deck}}}

In the publishing jargon, the {deck} is the short text (cap) that "covers" the article. It is optional.

- {{Virtual Article.}} For the more experienced users, this is a diverted way of using the {deck}, allowing the referencing of articles in SPIP's structure, without the need to copy them.

It is a simple principle: if you start the deck with an equal sign (=), whatever follows it is considered a URL (internet address), and the article is simply a redirection to the corresponding page. This method allows you to include an article already installed in HTML in the navigation structure of SPIP (This is a very convenient way of applying SPIP to an existing site).

For example, if an article's deck contains only <HTML><B><TT>=http://www.minirezo.net</TT></B></HTML>, this article will  automatically redirect the system to this address. (This method works also on relative URLs and other protocols - such as <HTML><B><TT>=ftp://ftp.machine.org/</TT></B></HTML>.)
In this case, and even if the article itself is not displayed by SPIP, you must give it a headline, a date and possibly add its authors in order to appear correctly in the site navigation.

{The site administrators can disable completely the use of the deck in the "<A 
HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=confart" TARGET="_top">precise Configuration</A>" section.}

</artchap>

<artdate>

{{{Date of online publishing}}}

Generally, the article's {date} corresponds to the date of its (on line appearance} (or publication on the web site).

- This date is automatically set to the time of the article {validation} by an administrator (therefore, to the time of its appearance on the public site).

- However, after validating the article, the administrator can still modify this date.

</artdate>

<artdate_redac>

{{{Date of earlier publication}}}

This feature was added for very specific cases, where SPIP is used to install archives {and} where these archives must have a publication date different from the on line date.

It is a case of being able to indicate that a document has already been the subject of an earlier publication: newspaper article, book...
- by default , this date is not displayed: the option "Hide earlier publication date" is selected at the time of the creation of the article.

- If you want to specify such a date, you must select the option "Show earlier publication date" as well as use the drop-down menus to set it up.

Unlike the "publication date" of the article, this date is not automatically determined at the time of the validation of the article. That is why it can be modified at any time.
(The site administrators can disable the use of the earlier publication date in the "<A 
HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=confart" TARGET="_top">precise Configuration</A>" section.)
</artdate_redac>

<artdesc>

{{{Brief description}}}

The brief description is used for the purpose of navigating in the site: it shows briefly the topic of the article, in the contents page for instance.

This description is optional; furthermore it can be of any length. However, it was originally meant for short texts (one or two sentences), which will show in the lists of articles (contents, list of a particular author's articles, sorting of articles by keywords, search engine results, etc.)

{The site administrators can completely disable the display of the description in the "<A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=confart" TARGET="_top">precise Configuration</A>" section.}

</artdesc>

<artimg>

{{{Inserting images in the copy}}}

SPIP offers the possibility to illustrate your articles with images.

- {{Images format}}

When you create your images (with your usual application), you must save them in one of the following formats:

- GIF; (extension {{.gif}})
- JPEG; (extension {{.jpg}})
- PNG (extension {{.png}}).

{To avoid serious operating errors, SPIP rejects image files bigger than 256 KB.} Therefore, when saving your files in on of the above formats, make sure you don't go beyond 256 Kb (Anyway, if your images are bigger, "navigating" your site becomes very awkward!).

You should particularly make sure that your files names end up with an extension indicating their format: {{.gif}}, {{.jpg}} or {{.png}}. The file name is not important as long as {you don't forget this extension}.

- {{Installing the images on the server}}

<img src="AIDE/artimg.gif" alt=" " width="150" height="364" border="0" align="right">Before you can insert your images in the text, you obviously have to install them on the server. This is achieved, in SPIP, through the graphical interface.

When you "modify" an article, the left column displays a form called:
"Upload a new image" (1). It takes the form of a {text field} followed by a button labelled (depending on the version of your browser) "Browse", "Select", "File" (2)...

When you click on this button, a dialogue box opens to allow you to browse your hard disk and select the graphic file you want.

Having done this, click on the button called: "Upload". If the operation succeeds, your image will appear in the left column (3), accompanied by several settings:

{image size.} Just above the image, the width and height of your image (in pixels) are displayed.

{display as thumbnail.} (4). In order to preserve the integrity of the SPIP interface, images larger than 200 pixels are displayed as thumbnails in the <tt>/ecrire/</tt> area. However, when displayed in the public site they will have their actual size.

{SPIP shortcuts} (5). see below: SPIP will remind you of the 3 "shortcuts", which enable you to insert this image within your text. It is worth noting that every image is "numbered" thus: "IMG1, "IMG2"...

{Delete} (6). A "Delete" button allows you to delete the image.

You can repeat the operation with as many images as you wish (an article can contain as many images as needed). {The graphic files are stored on the server in the folder <TT>/IMG</TT>; it is worth noting that the files are renamed by SPIP.}

- {{Inserting an image inside the copy}}

At this stage, the graphic files are actually stored on the server, yet you need to indicate where they should be inserted in your copy. There is no need to write HTML for that, SPIP offers you a "shortcut" enabling the insertion of your image easily.

For each image, look at the 3 shortcuts:
- &lt;IMG1|left&gt;
- &lt; CENTER &gt;&lt;IMG1|center&gt;&lt;/CENTER&gt;
- &lt;IMG1|right&gt;

Copy one of these shortcuts and paste it inside the box called "Copy", at the position you want the image to appear. "left" aligns the image to the left, "right" to the right and "center" centres your image in the text.

When the page is displayed, SPIP will replace these shortcuts by the corresponding HTML tags by automatically calculating the dimensions of the images.

{Notice that SPIP "protects" you automatically from errors: if you insert a shortcut for an image that does not exist, or that you have deleted, SPIP simply deletes the corresponding HTML code.}

</artimg>

<artmots>

{{{Keywords}}}

In order to diversify the navigation in the site, It is possible to attribute <A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=mots" TARGET="_top">Keywords</A> to articles, briefs, and referenced sites. This way, not only the site visitor browses from section to section, but from an article dealing with a topic (indicated by a keyword) to another article associated with the same keyword as well.

It is possible to specify, for each article, brief or site, as many keywords as needed.

A drop-down menu lists all the keywords of the site. It is very easy to use. {Warning: if the number of keywords exceeds 50, this drop-down menu is replaced by a search engine: just enter the desired keyword and click on "Search".}

{{P.S.}} Only the administrators can create keywords from within the page dedicated to their management (the "Keywords" button in the main navigation bar).

{Administrators can disable the use of keywords for the whole site in the "<A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=confart" TARGET="_top">precise Configuration</A>" section.} 

</artmots>

<artprop>

{{{Submitting an article}}}

While an article is in progress (see the section "<A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=artstatut" target="_top">Article status</A>"), it displays a button "asking for the publication of this article".

{Only the author of the article is allowed to perform this operation.}

This means that the article is "submitted for evaluation", that is, submited to all the other editors who are requested to comment on it while awaiting to be validated (published) or rejected by the administrators.

Warning: once the article is submitted for evaluation, it is not possible anymore for the author to reconsider his decision and to re-place his copy in the "editing in progress" status. Consequently, the operation "Ask for the publication of this article" must only be performed after the author makes sure that his copy is complete and final. Only an administrator can re-place the copy in the "editing in progress" status.

</artprop>

<artrub>

{{{Selecting the section}}}

The menu shows the complete <A HREF="aide_index.php?aide=rubhier" target="_top">sections hierarchy</A> (in the order in which they where created by the site administrators): select the section in which you want to include your article.

A lot of novice users seem to be oblivious of this feature though very simple, and drop their article "anywhere" in the site structure. Consequently, the administrators are advised to always check if an article is in the right section before validating it.

</artrub>

<artstatut>

{{{Article status}}}

The article {status} concerns its editorial situation in the site. the article can take the following states:
- editing in progress;
- submitted for evaluation;
- published online;
- to the dustbin;
- rejected.

These states, that only the administrators can modify, enable the site management.

{{P.S.}} the articles status is symbolised by coloured bullets.

<IMG SRC="IMG2/puce-blanche.gif">  {{editing in progress}}

When it is created, an article is of course considered as being in progress: its authors are in the process of writing it or modifying it ...

{When editing is in progress, the article appears only to its authors and to the administrators. the other site editors do not have access to it.}

<IMG SRC="IMG2/puce-orange.gif">  {{Submitted for evaluation}}

When the author considers that his article is ready, he "suggests" it to the other participants, so that it could possibly be discussed collectively, before being validated (published online) or rejected.

{When the  article is "submitted for evaluation", it appears in the "to be continued" page of all the users of the private area, who are requested to join in its discussion through the internal discussion forum located below the article.

Such article is then visible to all editors. On the other hand, it can only be modified by its author or an administrator.}

<IMG SRC="IMG2/puce-verte.gif">  {{Published online}}

After being possibly discussed by the editors (during the submission stage), an article could be "validated", that is, published on line by an administrator. By then, it is available to all the visitors of the public site.

{When an article is published on line, only the administrators can modify it. Its author cannot modify it anymore if he does not have the editor status, and therefore have to ask an administrator to insert corrections.}

<IMG SRC="IMG2/puce-rouge.gif">  {{Rejected}}

A "submitted" article, which does not conform to the editorial line of the site, can be "rejected" if the administrators refuse to publish it on line.

{A "rejected" article becomes visible only to its author and to the administrators.}

{However, a "rejected" article cannot be modified by his author anymore, hence stopping him from re-submitting it for publication. In the case of an article requiring modification, it is then advised to re-place the article in the "editing in progress" status instead of just "reject" it, in order for its author to be able to modify it and re-submit it later.}

<IMG SRC="IMG2/puce-poubelle.gif"> {{To the dustbin}}

An article can be sent "to the dustbin" only by an administrator.

{An article sent "to the dustbin" is not visible anymore in the private area, even for the administrators. Be careful then, this option is "radical": the article disappears completely. 

In fact, the article is still saved in the database, but becomes excessively difficult to reach with the tools provided by SPIP.}

Therefore, this option is reserved to articles created by mistake, and destined to be totally removed. Often then, it is advised to choose the "rejected" option instead because it is less dramatic.


- Finally, it is worth noting that the administrators can, at any time, modify the {status} of an article. Hence a published article could well be re-placed in "editing". However, once an article is published on line, do not overdo these changes of status: you will end up with a site "full of holes", with appearing and disappearing pages, which is very penalising for the visitor.

</artstatut>

<arttexte>

{{{The article's copy}}}

Pretty straightforward: this is the {copy} of your article as its name suggests.

- However, there is one point which could create a problem: the length of the copy. It happens sometime that if the text is too long (according to our own experience, bigger than 32 Kb), it is truncated or indeed rejected during its transfer to SPIP. This problem is not caused by SPIP, but by the web browser that you are using. If you find yourself with a very long text for one browser, try to use another one.

- The article copy is very well suited to the use of  SPIP's <A HREF="aide_index.php?aide=raccourcis" TARGET='_top'>typographical shortcuts</A>
 
</arttexte>

<arttitre>

{{{Headline, top head, subhead}}}

- The {headline} is compulsory.

- The {top head} and the {subhead} are completely optional. If you do not need them, leave them blank, the site layout will adapt automatically to their presence or absence. 

{Should they wish so, the administrators can disable the use of the top head and/or the subhead in the "<A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=confart" TARGET="_top">precise Configuration</A>" section.}

</arttitre>

<confart>

{{{Articles content}}}

The articles are made of a number of elements: the headline, the top head, the subhead, the description, the deck, the postscript... However, some sites do not need all these elements: either the editors do not use them or the graphical interface of the public site does not include them.

In order to lighten the site's management interface and/or simply to stop the editors from using certain elements that the webmaster does not wish to include, the "precise configuration" page allows to disable completely the use of these elements.

{{P.S.} It is important to understand that, with regard to the choice of  <A
HREF="aide_index.php?aide=intersimple" target="_top">{simplified interface / complete interface}</A>, which only influences the interface of each user, the choice of the options of the "Precise configuration" influences all the users. So if you disable the use of the top head, no editor and no administrator could use top heads in his articles.

The interface will adapt to the presence or the absence of these elements. If you disable the use of keywords the corresponding button in the top navigation bar will simply disappear.

</confart>

<confbreves>

{{{Enabling/disabling the brief system}}}

Some sites do not use {briefs}, i.e. short articles without author. Perhaps, the webmaster did not include them in the layout of the public site.

In this case, you can simply decide to disable them. So the editors cannot create them. The interface will be all the less burdened.

</confbreves>

<confmails>

{{{Automated e-mailing}}}

Editors and administrators do not necessarily spend their lives in the site management area. To facilitate collective work and follow-up of the site's life, the system can warn by e-mail of some events happening to it...

<FONT COLOR="red">Warning: some hosts disable the automated e-mailing feature. If you face this situation, the following options could not be enabled.</FONT>

- {{Follow-up of public forum messages}}

In order to enable the authors to follow the discussions triggered by their articles, this option offers to automatically forward to the author each message posted for his article.

If this option is enabled, the author(s) of the article will receive by mail the text of any message posted for their article as well as a reminder of this article's URL; with one click, he (they) can then go to the page of the article and should he (they) wish to, post an answer to the message.

- {{ Follow-up of editorial activity}}

When an article is submitted for validation or published, you can ask SPIP to notify about it by mail. This way, participants to the life of the site are informed in real time of the important developments of the site.

for a collective site (several editors), we advise you to create a mailing list of editors (SPIP does not provide the mailing list feature), to which you can post messages.

- {{News announcements}}

This feature provided by SPIP offers to create e-mails of the kind "Latest news": if you enable it and set up the delay between announcements, an e-mail is sent regularly to the specified address, summarising the latest published articles and briefs.

This feature is very simple to implement: if you enable this option by fixing the delay to 7 days, once every 7 days, SPIP will send the list of articles and briefs published during these 7 days to the specified address.

A "Send now" button triggers the immediate sending of this summary e-mail (and starts a new time interval of 7 days before releasing the next e-mail).

You can send this latest news announcement mail to the main webmaster's address (who will forward it), or, if you like the complete self-managed sites, you can send the mail to the list of your subscribers (SPIP does not provide the mailing list feature).

</confmails>

<confdates>

{{{Publication of post-dated articles}}}

It is possible for administrators to modify an article's <A 
HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=artdate" TARGET="_top">date of on line publication</A> (when this article is declared as "published online").

How should SPIP behave when we set this date of on line publication to a value in the future? Should SPIP publish all the articles, whatever their publication date (risking an odd display with an article showing "31st of May 2002" while we are only on the 21st of May), or should it wait for the due date (here on the 31st of May) before displaying this article on the public site?

- The main advantage of this operation is to be able to schedule the publication of a series of articles in advance. Practically: the webmaster goes on holiday for a month; if he already wrote some articles, he can place them in the private area as "published online", but set for them publication dates spread over the month while he is absent. That way, rather than publishing on line a {bundle} of articles in one go, then nothing for a month, the site will regularly publish "new" articles despite the absence of their author.

- As for a science fiction site publishing a {Martian chronicle}, it should find it desirable to disable this feature, unless it wants to wait for the year 2030 to publish its stories. The same thing applies to a monthly on line publication when it publishes its April issue on the 20th of March.

</confdates>

<confmessagerie>

{{{Internal messaging}}}

SPIP offers an internal messaging system (a section of the present documentation is dedicated to the <a href="aide_index.php3?aide=messut" target="_top">messages between users</a>, to the <a href="aide_index.php3?aide=messpense" target="_top">memos</a> and to the <a href="aide_index.php3?aide=messcalen" target="_top">calendar</a>).

You can decide to use all or part of this system.

- {{ Enabling/disabling internal messaging}}

A reason for not using internal messaging could be the space that these messages take up in the database: these messages (as well as the messages of the forums linked to your articles, for instance) are stored in the database and therefore take up disk space at your host's. Moreover, the internal messaging features add an additional burden on the machine which is hosting your site (database queries): in case of a low specification (and/or very slow) machine, you would rather lighten the task and disable messaging.

- {{Enabling/disabling the list of connected editors}}

If you enable this feature, the list of users connected to your site's  private area will show permanently. Notably, this will ease the exchange of instant messages between users.

This feature causes additional queries to the database; you would rather disable this features on a slow machine. It is worth noting that some users find this feature intrusive.

{You should note that:} When you enable the above features for the whole site, it is still possible, for every user, to <a href="aide_index.php3?aide=messconf" target="_top"> disable these features for his own use</a>. This way, if a user finds the internal messaging functions unnecessary or intrusive, he can simply disable this feature for his own use.

</confmessagerie>

<confforums>

{{{Operation of public forums}}}

The way to manage public forums varies from one webmaster to another, namely according to the actual needs of the site. Some webmasters do not want forums, some want free access forums, others still prefer to moderate the forums {a priori}, by publishing the messages only after they were validated by an administrator.

SPIP allows you to determine the operation of your public forums (the forums which are internal to the site management are always managed as open forums for all the editors, and moderated {a posteriori}). 

- {{Disabling public forums}}

When the forums are disabled, the sending contributions interface disappears and the old contributions are no longer displayed (they are not deleted from the database, but their display is interrupted). This option stops the operation of the forums, even if the forums display is coded in the site layout (templates).

You can use it permanently (the site never provides discussion forums) or temporarily (suspend forums activity to calm a crazy spammer  or to go on a plane spotting holiday ...or even to transfer your site to another server).

- {{A posteriori moderated forums}}

When forums are moderated {a posteriori}, contributions are displayed  as soon as the users post them. You are then free to use the forums follow-up page provided by SPIP to moderate these messages with various degrees of severity. {a posteriori moderation is the default mode for SPIP.}

- {{A priori moderated forums}}

In {a priori} moderated  forums, users contributions are stored but not displayed. Administrators must use the forums follow-up page provided by SPIP to validate (or reject) each message.

- {{Forums accessed by subscription}}

If the forums are {accessible by subscription}, users wishing to contribute must register by providing their e-mail address. Then they receive their identification by e-mail. For editors who already have access to the private site, this identification corresponds to their usual login. 

This mode is a compromise between the need for responsibility (the participants must provide a valid e-mail address) and the absence of a priori moderation (once they are registered, these users can post their contributions directly).

Furthermore, this mode allows to exclude users who misuse forums ({black-list}). As a matter of fact, when you delete (via the forums follow-up page) a contribution posted in the "by subscription" mode, you can have access to the "file" (extremely small) of the author of this contribution. You can simply send this author "to the dustbin": his identification will not work anymore and he will not be able to obtain a new one with the same e-mail address.

<FONT COLOR='red'>Warning: the mode "forum by subscription" requires that your host supports automated e-mailing. If this is not the case, change your host ;)</FONT>

</confforums>

<confmoteur>

{{{Enabling/disabling the search engine}}}

SPIP contains a search engine. When it is enabled, an articles indexing system analyses the content of all articles. This operation, even though offering subsequent extremely fast searches, requires a lot of work from the server hosting the site. In the case of a slow host, this will cause a few problems.

For this reason, you can enable or disable the system indexing.

Data managed by the search engine integrated to SPIP nearly {{treble}}  the disk space used by the database. On the other hand, on slow or heavily loaded systems, indexing could cause a slight degradation of performance, or even execution errors (extreme case).

Generally, if your site is very large, we advise not to use the search engine integrated to SPIP, and to choose other specialised products such as <HTML><A 
HREF='http://www.htdig.org/' target="_blank">ht://Dig</A></HTML>.

You should also note that the search engine does not index all the pages in one go. If you enable it while your site contains already a big number of articles, you have to wait until your site records a number of hits (approximately) equal to the number of texts to index in order for the engine to be updated.

</confmoteur>

<confnom>

{{{Name and URL of your site}}}

The name and URL of your site are, in particular, used to generate the file "backend.php3" which allows the syndication of your site (i.e. display the last 10 articles published by your site in another site).

Your site's URL must be the address of the homepage {folder} not that of  the corresponding HTML file; therefore it must be ended with the character "/". If your homepage address is:

<HTML><TT>http://www.mysite.net/index.html</TT></HTML>,

Your site's URL should be written thus:

<HTML><TT>http://www.mysite.net/</TT></HTML>

</confnom>

<confstat>

{{{Enabling/disabling the site's statistical system}}}

SPIP contains a very simple statistical system: for each visit of an article, a counter is incremented, which allows to evaluate the rate of visits of each article.

However, this system is very rudimentary: in order to avoid overloading the database system and slowing the site navigation on slow servers, this system counts all the "hits" to each page even if they came from the same visitor. The statistical system integrated to SPIP provides, then, an estimate allowing to evaluate the popularity of a particular section, without relying blindly on the figures provided.

If you prefer to ignore this statistical system or use another specialised system, you can totally disable it. Of course, the interface will adapt to this option.

</confstat>

<install0>

{{{Preliminary: Setting up permissions}}}

When you install SPIP files by FTP on your own server, some {{directories}} will not be configured correctly: therefore, you must modify their configuration through your usual FTP client.

You have to modify the "permissions" of the following directories:
- {{/CACHE}}
- {{/IMG}}
- {{/ecrire}}
- {{/ecrire/data}}

FTP clients differ in their functions but the procedure is generally thus:

- select the folder of which you want to modify the "permissions";

- find in your FTP client a feature called "change (or {modify} or {set} permissions";

- If this feature appears as graphical interface, check the box corresponding to "Write" for the "Others" (or "World" or "All users"):
<CENTER><img src="AIDE/install0.gif" alt=" " width="327" height="194" 
border="0">
</CENTER>

- If this feature appears in "text" mode, the numeric configuration is "777".

When you make this modification for every directory indicated by the installation system, you must reload the page and the procedure resumes automatically.

</install0>

<install1>

{{{First step: Your mySQL connexion}}}

This step consists of entering the necessary information for the connexion of SPIP to mySQL  server.

- {Database address:} depending on your host's choice, this information will simply be "localhost", or your site's address ("www.mysite.org").

- {Connexion login:} it is often the same login you use to upload your files by FTP.

- {Connexion password:} it is often the same password as the one you use  to access your site by FTP.

- These settings cannot be invented: not knowing them means that your host has not given them to you. Therefore: if you do not have this information at hand you cannot continue.

- These settings are provided to you {{ by the host of your site}}: to obtain them, you must contact him directly (do not ask the SPIP development team to give them to you, we do not know them!). Some hosts provide such information in an online guide.

- You should note that very often, you have to {{ask}} your host to activate your mySQL access, or complete yourself a specific procedure for that. Several hosts claiming to provide support for mySQL databases do not activate this connexion automatically at the time of the setting up of a site; an additional request from your part (after opening your account with this host) is often necessary. In this case, refer to the documentation provided by your host to know how to {activate} your mySQL connexion. (Again, the SPIP team cannot help you here.)

</install1>

<install2>

{{{Step 3: Choosing your database}}}

- You must indicate the {name} of the database that was attributed to you by your host. This information is provided to you by your host: if you do not have it, ask him or refer to the online documentation provided by this host (it is no use requesting it from the SPIP development team, we do not have this information).

- Very often, this information correspond to the {login} of your hosting account (the one you us to connect to your site by FTP).

- First option (more often than not): an accounts list is displayed (sometimes a bit longish, depending on the configuration set by the host). Amongst the shown accounts, only one corresponds to yours, you simply select it then and validate it to go through to the next step.

- Second option: only one name, corresponding to your account, is displayed (your host has automatically configured his system to only display your account). Easy: select this account and validate.

- Third option (generally, for a professional account or on a server over which you have extended rights): you must {create} your own database. In this case (after verifying that such an account does not exist in the above list), you can enter the name of your choice next to the instruction "create a new database".

- Last option (failure): your account does not appear in the displayed list, and you cannot create one yourself. It is a rare occurrence: this means that your host created an access for you to the database server, but forgot to create your account. In this case, you should contact your host directly.

</install2>

<install5>

{{{Step 5: Personal information}}}

This step is very simple, but it should be completed carefully. Indeed, it is this step that determines your site connexion identification! if you proceed hastily, you might not be able to connect...

Note that once your site is installed, you will have the possibility to change this information.

- {Your public identity:} that is what will appear as a signature of your articles.

- {Your connexion identification:} this the identification that {{you yourself choose}} to connect to your own SPIP system. This information does not need to be identical to the one your host gave you to connect to your account by FTP. On the contrary, {we urge you not to use the same identification} for your access to SPIP (which you choose freely) and for your FTP connexion (imposed to you by your host).

</install5>

<intermodif>

{{{Modifying the graphical interface}}}

Everyone to his taste!

This is a feature of SPIP which has no interest whatsoever in the management of your site. However, we have included it to get round the reserves of some users: some do not like the background, others do not fancy the colours...

This page simply allows every user to modify some elements of SPIP's graphical interface.

{For these modifications to take effect, you must accept the use of cookies.}

</intermodif>

<intersimple>

{{{Simplified interface / complete interface}}}

Each SPIP user can modify his own display (without affecting the display for the other users, contrary to the " <A 
HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=confart" TARGET="_top">Precise configuration</A>" page).

Several SPIP features are very rarely used (or not at all) by some editors. Therefore, choosing the "simplified interface" allows to lighten this interface and to simplify its comprehension. In this mode, only the elements really necessary to the management of the site are displayed. For example, very few users need the "<A 
HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=artdate_redac" TARGET="_top">date of earlier publication</A>" which does not appear in the "simplified interface" mode.

{{P.S.}} the differences between the two mode of display are more obvious to the administrators who have at their disposal more features than the editors of the site.

{For these modifications to take effect, you must accept the use of cookies.}

</intersimple>

<logoart>

{{{Article logo}}}

With SPIP you can install a logo corresponding to the article. This way, it will be possible, in the public site, to display a graphic button linking to the article.

For an article, it is possible:
- not to use any logo;
- to install a simple graphical logo;
- to use an animated logo that supports "hovering" (a logo with "2 positions": the logo changes when the mouse hovers over it).

- {{Images formats}}

When you create your images (with your usual application), you must save them in one of the following formats:
- GIF (the GIF file could be an "animated GIF");
- JPEG;
- PNG (we advise against it because several browsers do not support it correctly).

{In order to avoid serious operating errors, SPIP rejects image files bigger than 256 KB.} Advice: because these "buttons" are elements of the graphical interface, make sure that their {file size} (in kilobytes) is not too big (generally, less than 10 KB) if you want your site navigation to remain fluid.

In particular, make sure that the names of your files have an {extension} indicating their formats: {{.gif}}, {{.jpg}} or {{.png}}. the file name itself is of no importance whatsoever provided that {you do not forget the extension}. 

{If you create a button which supports "hovering", create two different graphic files (one for the "normal" state of the button and another one that appears when the mouse hovers over the button): it is imperative, then, that the two files have the same size (in pixels).}

- {{Simple logo}} (no hovering)

<img src="AIDE/logoart-1.gif" alt=" " width="150" height="101" border="0" align="right">To add a button, a box is provided in the left column of the article, under the title "ARTICLE LOGO".

Depending on your browser version, click on the button "Browse", "Select", "File"...which opens a dialogue box allowing to select the graphic file corresponding to your button from your hard drive.

Once the file is selected, click on the button "Upload". Et voil! your button appears. It is followed by a button "Delete logo" that simply offers you to delete this logo.

If you do not plan to use a hovering logo, no more steps are needed.

- {{Replacing the logo}}

<img src="AIDE/logoart-2.gif" alt=" " width="150" height="219" border="0" align="left">You could wish to replace the logo with another file. This is achieved in two steps:
- start by "Delete the logo": the previous box, containing the "Upload" button reappears;
- upload the new file, according to the procedure already described.

Due to the browsers way of work, the image which is displayed then, is wrong, since it is in fact the previous version (the image is in the browser's "cache"). Click on this image (with the right button of your mouse, or while pressing the "ctrl" key on the Macintosh) to show a contextual drop-down menu: select the option "Reload image". The new version of your logo will then appear.

- {{Logo for hovering}}

<img src="AIDE/logoart-3.gif" alt=" " width="150" height="238" border="0" align="right">After installing the first file, the box displays not only the logo you have just installed on the server, but adds to it a second box, entitled "HOVER LOGO". It is through this box that you can select the second file aimed at the management of hovering.

{If, after installing both files, you delete the first one (the "simple" button), the box of the second logo disappears. Indeed, in the absence of the first logo, there is no point in managing any hovering!}

No intervention in the "copy" of your article is necessary. At the time of the display on the public site, the management of the sections logos is entirely automated. The HTML code will be generated according to the size of the logo, and the hovering instructions in JavaScript will be created automatically as well.

</logoart>

<raccourcis>

{{To make the layout of the documents published by SPIP easier, the system offers a number of "SPIP shortcuts" aiming at:
- simplifying its use for users who do not know HTML;
- easing the automated processing of page layout.

So naturally you can still use HTML code in your SPIP documents, but we advise you to use preferably these few SPIP shortcuts, which are much easier to remember and especially, provide the system with some automated operations.}}

~

{{{SPIP typographical shortcuts}}}

- {{Creating paragraphs}}

To create paragraphs, you simply leave a blank line, a bit like separating paragraphs in a e-mail (by "skipping" a line).
The simple "line feed" (enter or return) without separating the two paragraphs is insufficient to create a new paragraph (as a matter of fact, it does not even create a line feed).

You can leave several consecutive blank lines without altering the layout. As far as SPIP is concerned, a single blank line or several ones mean the same thing: a new paragraph, without any effect on the space between paragraphs.

- {{Creating bulleted or numbered lists}}

You can create lists in SPIP in the same way as in an e-mail: you only enter a line feed and start the new line with a dash ("-").

Notice that, here, a simple line feed is enough (you can create "numbering" in the same paragraph); but if you leave a blank line before the one starting with a dash, a blank line will appear before the numbering.

For example, <HTML><TT><BR>
- I like work;<BR>
- it fascinates me.<BR>
- I can sit and look at it for hours.</TT></HTML> (Jerome K. Jerome) <BR> will be displayed thus:
- I like work;
- it fascinates me.
- I can sit and look at it for hours.

{{Bold and italic}}

You specify a text in {italic} by placing it between simple braces: "<HTML><TT>...some text {in italic} in...</TT></HTML>".

You specify a text in {{bold}} by placing it between double braces: "<HTML><TT>...some text {{in bold}} in...</TT></HTML>".

- {{Paragraph headings}}

Paragraph headings are titles inside a copy that show its structure. In SPIP, they are very simply defined by placing them between triple braces: "<HTML><TT>{{{Section heading}}}</TT></HTML>" gives: {{{Section heading}}}

- {{Horizontal rule}}

It is very simple to insert a horizontal rule (or a separation line) across the width of the copy: you just insert a line containing only a series of at least four dashes, thus: 
<HTML>---- </HTML>
----

- {{Hypertext links}}

You can easily create a hypertext link with the following code:
"<HTML><TT>SPIP is an initiative of  [minirzo->http://www.minirezo.net/].</TT></HTML>" which becomes "SPIP is an initiative of [minirzo->http://www.minirezo.net/]."

The link URL can be absolute (starting, as in this example, with <HTML><TT>http://</TT></HTML>, relative (to another page of the same site), a link to a document using an internet protocol (<HTML><TT>ftp://</TT></HTML>...) an e-mail address ("<HTML><TT>mailto:minirezo@rezo.net</TT></HTML>")...

- {{Hypertext links inside the site}}

Furthermore, this same hypertext links system makes it easy to create links inside your site with SPIP. the only trick consists of finding the {number} of the article or the section or the brief to which you want to link:
<img src="AIDE/articlenumero.gif" alt="NUMERO" width="120" 
height="36" border="0" align="right">
When you "visit" an article, a brief or a section in the private area, the left column contains a box indicating this number in large digits.

This is the number that you should insert in the hypertext link:

{link to article 342 (4 possibilities):}
<HTML><TT>
<BR>link to [article->342]
<BR>link to [article->art342]
<BR>link to [article->article 342]
<BR></TT></HTML>{as for }<HTML><TT>[->art342]</TT></HTML>, {it will display the headline of article 342 with a link to that article.}

{link to section 12:}
<HTML><TT>
<BR>link to [section->rub12]
<BR>link to [section->rubrique 12]
</TT></HTML>

{link to brief 65:}
<HTML><TT>
<BR>link to [brief->br65]
<BR>link to [brief->breve 65]
<BR>link to [brief->brve 65]
<BR></TT></HTML>

- {{Footnotes}}

A footnote is usually indicated by a number inserted in the copy then repeated at the bottom of the page and offering additional information.

In SPIP, this feature (pretty awkward to manage manually in HTML) is automated: the footnotes are numbered by SPIP which also manages the hypertext links inside the document to jump directly from the number to the corresponding footnote and vice versa.

In SPIP, a footnote is placed between double brackets: "<HTML><TT> A[[Here is additional information.]] footnote.</TT></HTML>" will be displayed as: "A[[Here is additional information.]] footnote."

{Non-automated footnotes}

In most cases, the system of automated footnotes described above is more than sufficient. However, you can manage footnotes in a non-automated way.

For example:

"<HTML><TT>You can use automated numbered footnotes [[by placing the footnote text between brackets.]],<BR>
- but you can also force the footnote numbering [[<23> by indicating the number of the footnote between the symbols "<" and ">".]],<BR>
- use footnotes in the shape of asterisks [[<*> simply by placing an asterisk between the symbols "<" and ">".]],<BR>
- create footnotes without reference (not numbered) [[<> by inserting nothing between the symbols "<" and ">".]],<BR>
- give a name (in full) to a footnote [[<Sha> William Shakespeare.]];<BR>
- refer to an already existing footnote [[<23>]] by indicating this footnote's number between the symbols "<" and ">" and leaving the rest of the footnote blank. </TT></HTML>"

All this gives:

"You can use automated numbered footnotes [[by placing the footnote text between brackets.]],
- but you can also force the footnote numbering [[<23> by indicating the number of the footnote between the symbols "<" and ">".]],
- use footnotes in the shape of asterisks [[<*> simply by placing an asterisk between the symbols "<" and ">".]],
- create footnotes without reference (not numbered) [[<> by inserting nothing between the symbols "<" and ">".]],
- give a name (in full) to a footnote [[<Sha> William Shakespeare.]];
- refer to an already existing footnote [[<23>]] by indicating this footnote's number between the symbols "<" and ">" and leaving the rest of the footnote blank.

- {{Tables}}

To create simple tables in SPIP, you just have to create lines with "cells" separated by the symbol "|" ({vertical line}), making sure that the lines start and end with vertical lines. It is imperative to leave blank lines before and after this table.

For example, the table:

| {{Surname}} | {{Forename}} | {{Age}} |
| Smith | John | 23 years |
| Captain | | not known |
| Bloggs | Philip | 46 years |
| Cadoc | Baby | 4 months |

is coded thus:

<HTML><TT>
| {{Surname}} | {{Forename}} | {{Age}} |<BR>
| Smith | John | 23 years |<BR>
| Captain | | not known |<BR>
| Bloggs | Philip | 46 years |<BR>
| Cadoc | Baby | 4 months |<BR>
</TT></HTML>

- {{Bypassing SPIP shortcuts}}

In some cases, it could be useful to tell SPIP that some parts of a document should not be "processed" by the typographical shortcuts filter: you do not want to correct the typography or you want to display source code (i.e. in PHP, JavaScript...)...

The code of this shortcut is: "<HTML><TT><HTML>Warning; text to leave as is</HTML></TT></HTML>", which gives: "<HTML>Warning; text to leave as is</HTML>".

For example, the present article is typed under SPIP and it displays the source code of SPIP's shortcuts; if we had not used this code, the shortcuts would have been interpreted and you would not be able to read there source code here!

- {{Displaying programming code}}

Some users could wish at one point to display programming code in their pages. The shortcut <HTML><TT><code>...</code></TT></HTML> is available for this purpose.

Example: <HTML><TT><code><? &nbsp; &nbsp; //this is some php code<br>
echo "hello";<br>
?></code></TT></HTML> gives <code><?  //this is some php code
echo "hello";
?></code>

----

</raccourcis>

<rubhier>

{{{Hierarchical structure of the sections}}}

The sections structure constitutes the framework of your site; it is this structure which will determine its interface, its way of navigation, the relationship between articles and briefs...

In SPIP, this structure is of the {hierarchical} type: a section can contain sub-sections which can contain other sub-sections themselves, etc.

<CENTER><IMG SRC="AIDE/rubhier-1.gif" BORDER=0 WIDTH=113 HEIGHT=122></CENTER>

In the above example, we clearly see that section~222 relates to section~22, which itself relates to section~2 which does not relate to any other section (in this case, we say that section~2 is {in the site root}.

{By hierarchical structure we mean that a section is a child of only one other section (and not of several) and that a section cannot be the child of one of its own sub-sections (which means that SPIP does not allow circular structures). This very classical structure was adopted because of its ease of use.}

{{Only administrators can create, modify or delete sections.}}

</rubhier>

<rubsyn>

{{{Syndicated sites}}}

Sites developed by an automated publishing system (like SPIP or phpNuke) can easily create a file indicating always the list of their latest publications. In particular, there is standard format for this sort of file called backend file.

This file can be easily and automatically analysed in order to fetch constantly the list of latest news of such sites. That way, SPIP allows you to display, on your own site, the list of the latest articles published by other sites.

For each <a href="aide_index.php?aide=reference" target="_top">site referenced</a> in your own sections, you have the possibility to fetch the list of the latest articles published on that site. That is, of course, if the referenced site offers a {backend} file.

- {{How to find the files "backend.php3"?}}

For sites managed under SPIP or phpNuke, those {backend} files are easy to locate: that is simply the file located in the site root and called "bakend.php3" (or "backend.php"). For example, concerning uZine (<TT>http://www.minirezo.net/</TT>), the backend file address is:

<LI><TT>http://www.minirezo.net/backend.php</TT>
Other examples of backend files include:
<LI></HTML><TT>http://www.davduf.net/backend.php</TT></HTML></LI>
<LI></HTML><TT>http://www.vacarme.eu.org/backend.php</TT></HTML></LI>
<LI></HTML><TT>http://www.vakooler.com/backend.php</TT></HTML></LI>

You should note that {<AHREF="http://rezo.net/backend" TARGET="autre">L'autre portail</A>}provides such files for the sites which it references, even if those sites do not have their own backend system. You will find on that page about thirty backend files for the sites referenced by {L'autre portail}, as well as a handful of theme files.

- {{Adding a syndicated site to your own site}}

When you reference a site in one of your sections, in addition to indicating the name of the site, its homepage URL and a description, you can choose to syndicate it (therefore, a syndicated site is primarily a referenced site from which we ask SPIP to fetch the list of the latest publications).

To achieve this, select the option "syndication" and enter the URL of the {backend} file of the desired site. Immediately after submitting, a message appears to tell whether the syndication has succeeded.

If the syndication fails:
- make sure you entered the correct URL for that site;
- make sure that the site you are trying to syndicate is actually accessible on line.

- {{Quick referencing}}

The quick site referencing feature (enter directly the site's URL and SPIP will undertake the task of fetching the necessary information automatically) is very well suited to syndicated sites. Indeed, instead of entering the homepage URL during the referencing, you should enter the {backend} file URL of this site: SPIP will automatically fetch a big volume of information and proceeds directly with the syndication.

- {{Syndicated articles}}

When the syndication succeeds, SPIP displays the list of the latest articles published by that site. Look at the help page dedicated <a href="aide_index.php?aide=artsyn" target="_top">to the management of those links</a>.

- {{The backend file of your own site}}

SPIP automatically creates the backend file of your own site. However, do not forget to set up the name and the URL of your site on the <A HREF="aide_index.php?aide=confnom" TARGET="_top">Precise configuration</A> page.

 </rubsyn>

<rublogo>

{{{Section logo}}}

<A HREF="aide_index.php?aide=logoart" TARGET="_top"><img src="AIDE/logoart-2.gif" alt="" width="150" height="219" border="0" align="right"></A>
You can install on your site a logo for each section. This logo could be unique (fixed image) or animated to manage mouse hovering.

The images installation for this section logo is exactly the same as the installation of the <A HREF="aide_index.php?aide=logoart" TARGET="_top">article logo</A>.

{{P.S.}} The section logos has a {recursive} behaviour: in case of a logo missing for a given section, SPIP will try to substitute it with the logo of a parent section:

<CENTER><IMG SRC="AIDE/rubhier-1.gif" BORDER=0 WIDTH=113 HEIGHT=122></CENTER>

In the above hierarchy, and in case of a missing logo for section~221, SPIP will substitute it (only for the visit of the public site) with the logo of section~22 or if the latter is also missing with the logo of section~2. Otherwise, SPIP will display the logo installed in the site root.

You should note also that, if the webmaster has programmed it that way, a section logo could be used as a substitution logo for the articles that this section contains.

</rublogo>

<rubrub>

{{{Selecting the section}}}

The operation of this drop-down menu is very simple: the menu displays the whole section hierarchy (in the order in which the site administrators created them), you just have to select the one in which you want to place your sub-section.

- {{moving a section}}

<CENTER><img src="AIDE/rubrub.gif" width="292" height="121" 
border="0"></CENTER>

Through this drop-down menu, you can transfer this section to being the child of another section. In this case, you must understand that the set of sub-sections contained in this section will "move" along with it in the hierarchy of the site. In the same way, the articles contained in this section and its sub-sections will move along with it.

</rubrub>

<breves>

{{{Briefs}}}

Briefs are a simple and fast method of publication in SPIP. Unlike articles, briefs are made of a very small volume of information: a headline, a text and a hypertext link. Therefore, the brief system is ideal for a follow-up of current events, a press review, etc.

</breves>

<brevesrub>

{{{Position of briefs in the site structure}}}

In order to ease their use (and to avoid redundancy between briefs and articles), integration of briefs in the sections hierarchy is reduced to the bare minimum: briefs relate only to sections located at the root of the site.

<CENTER><img src="AIDE/rubhier-1.gif" alt="Rubriques" width="113" 
height="122" border="0"></CENTER>

In our example, we can put briefs in sections 1 and 2 but not in their sub-sections (unlike articles which we can put anywhere). Thereby, the layout of the briefs page is created in terms of these upper sections and the drop-down menu that offers to set the position of the briefs is very short indeed.

</brevesrub>

<breveslien>

{{{Briefs hypertext links}}}

In order to ease the use of briefs as part of an on line press review, each brief can be attributed a hypertext link. You just indicate the name of the referenced  site or article and its URL.

Of course, this information is optional.

{P.S.} This links system does not prevent the insertion of hypertext links in the body of the brief's copy, but the {separate} hypertext link allows the webmaster to apply a specific graphical treatment to it.

</breveslien>



<brevesstatut>

{{{Briefs status}}}

The management of a brief is simpler than that of an article. A brief does not have an author. Its status is either "Submitted" or "Validated" or "Rejected". Only administrators can modify its status.

- {{ Submitted brief}}

"Submitted" briefs are indicated on the page "To be continued": all the editors can consult them and edit them. Administrators are presented with two buttons - allowing their validation or rejection.

- {{Brief validated}}

"Validated" briefs are those that appear on the public site. Only administrators can edit them then.

- {{Brief rejected}}

A "rejected" brief is not published on the public site and only administrators can have access to it in the private site.

</brevesstatut>

<breveslogo>

{{{Brief logo}}}

<A HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=logoart" TARGET="_top"><img src="AIDE/logoart-2.gif" alt=" " width="150" height="219" border="0" align="right"></A>
You can install a logo for each brief on your site. This logo could be unique (fixed image) or animated to manage mouse hovering.

The images installation for this brief logo is exactly the same as the installation of the <A HREF="aide_index.php?aide=logoart" TARGET="_top">article logo</A>.

</breveslogo>

<suiviforum>

{{{Forums follow-up}}}

The forums follow-up page is an important element of your site if you allow the use of public forums (on this matter, refer to the documentation about <A 
HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=confforums" TARGET="_top">public forums configuration</A>). It is here, in fact, that the forums moderation takes place.

- {{Messages display}}

Messages are not displayed here according to their hierarchical structure (by {threads}), but one after the other in a reverse chronological order (the most recent first). On the other hand, each message is accompanied by the name of the article it refers to.

- {{Deleting a message}}

The main feature here is the ability to {delete} contributions. {{Warning:}} this operation is irreversible. However, a deleted message is not removed from the database: it appears on this page surrounded by a red frame, accompanied by the date the message was received and the IP address of the sender.

- If you already configured public forums with the option of an {a priori} moderation, messages in waiting are yellow framed and offer two buttons: {delete this message} and {validate this message}.

</suiviforum>

<cookie>

{{{The administration cookie}}}

Administrators can activate a cookie which triggers the display of additional information during the visit of the public site.

- {{Refresh this page}}

A button labelled "Refresh this page" will appear on all the pages of the public site. Because SPIP integrates a {cache} system, some modifications may not appear immediately on line. (Pages displayed on the public site are not directly pulled from the database: they are refreshed at regular intervals and stored in the cache.)

By {refreshing} a page, the administrator instigates the display of the page according to the elements stored in the database, without the need to wait for the next refresh of the cache.

- {{Modifying...}}

The pages of articles, sections and briefs contain a button labelled "Modify this article" (or "section"...). This button takes you directly from the public site to the page in the private area corresponding to this article (or section...). This button makes it easier then, for the correction of mistakes discovered on line, or the update of any element of the site.

- {{Number of visits}}

If the statistical system integrated to SPIP is enabled, the following information is added to the articles pages: number of visits (estimate) and number of different referrers.

Referrers are links to this particular article from outside the site (that is, when a site offers a direct link to this article, or when this article's address was passed by e-mail).


</cookie>

<mots>
 
{{{Keywords}}}

One of SPIP's most important restrictions is its hierarchical structure: each article can belong to only one section, which could sometimes cause classification problems.

Keywords offer a way of cross navigation inside the site. By associating one or more keywords to an article, we have at our disposal a way to create links to other articles with similar topics but located in other sections.

Keywords do not offer much benefit unless each one is associated with several articles, in order to be able to link these different articles to each others.

{Only the administrators can create and modify keywords.}

{Frequently, the structure of the sections, if it is well built, can do without keywords: articles with the same topic are simply located in the same section, it is, therefore, pointless to add those keywords to indicate the topic of each one. Administrators can then, totally disable the use of keywords in the <A 
HREF="aide_index.php3?aide=confart" TARGET="_top">Precise configuration</A> page.

</mots>

<motsgroupes>

{{{Keywords groups}}}

When you use a lot of keywords, it becomes awkward to manage them efficiently. That is why you can create groups containing those keywords. The interface then, becomes neater (for instance, a "Countries" group could contain "Namibia", "Germany", "Peru" while a "Topics" group contains "Unemployment", "Poetry", "Animals"...).

</motsgroupes>

<messut>

{{{Messages between users}}}

SPIP makes it easy to exchange messages between users of the site, without going through e-mails.

When a message is "sent" by a user to one or several other users, it turns into a private discussion forum. That way, once a message is sent, a discussion can take place, in the shape of a forum located under this message. With SPIP, we can consider that a message is also a private forum (that is, there is no point in exchanging a large amount of messages to hold a discussion, you simply "remain" in the same message with your correspondent to "chat", thanks to the private forum associated with him).

{Note:} Messages between users and their associated forums are private, this means that SPIP does not offer any interface for the administrators to see those messages. However, bear in mind that this confidentiality is very relative: a site administrator armed with a direct access tool to the database, can always check these messages.

- {{Creating a message/discussion}}

The simplest way to send a message is to click on the green logo (a small "M" followed by a triangle) displayed next to the recipient name. This will immediately opens a new message.

The second way is to use the button labelled "New Message" which appears on every page in SPIP. This will open a new message without recipient. Before sending the message, you should, of course, specify the recipient.

The editing interface of these messages is very straightforward.

The only common error to avoid is to forget to "send" this message: as long as the message has the status "Editing in progress", only its author can have access to it. It should then be sent in order for the recipients see it (warning: once a message has been sent, it cannot be modified anymore).

- {{Adding/removing a recipient}}

At any moment in time, it is possible to add a recipient: either during the editing of the message or after it was sent (for instance, to add a new participant to a discussion in a forum which is interesting to him).

In the same way, you can remove a participant at any moment. Besides, a button labelled "Stop participation to this discussion" allows any participant to remove himself from a discussion.

-{{Making a appointment}}

Any message can be turned into a appointment: this means that it is linked to a date displayed in SPIP's calendar.

- {{Can we write to any user of the site?}}

Some editors could be unreachable (they do not show in the list "Add a participant" and their name is not accompanied by a messaging logo):
- editors could decide individually, not to use the internal messaging system;
- editors who did not connect to the private area for more than 15 days are unreachable (for these users who seldom connect, it is preferable to use ordinary e-mails).

</messut>

<messpense>

{{{Memos}}}

A memo ("memorandum" or "memory juggler") is shaped like a message: but it does not require any recipient. Only its author can have access to it.

It is clear from its name that the memo aims at recording elements we would like to preserve. 

- {{Inserting a memo in the calendar}}

The most practical use of the memo is to give it a date. That way, the memo acts as a reminder to its author until that date (and during the following 24 hours) and it appears in SPIP's calendar.

{Note:} As with messages between users, we attract your attention to the relative confidentiality of these memos. SPIP does not offer any interface for the administrators to see your messages. However, other direct access tools to the database, are capable of doing it.

</messpense>

<messcalen>

{{{The calendar}}}

SPIP's calendar offers two types of information:

- {{information common to the whole site;}} these are the published articles and briefs - That way, the calendar allows articles retrieval according to their date of on line publication;

- {{private information;}} these are the messages between users and the memos endowed with an appointment date. This calendar then, can act as a reminder and a diary.

You should note that each calendar day is accompanied by a small blue logo: this logo allows the creation of a memo directly associated to that date (the time of the appointment can be adjusted more precisely thanks to the editing interface of this memo).

</messcalen>

<messconf>

{{{Messaging customisation}}}

Each user can customise the configuration of internal messaging.

{Note:} Site administrators can decide not to use the messaging system or the list of connected users. Anyway, if an option is disabled globally for the whole site (by an administrator), editors cannot have access to it.


- {{Do not use internal messaging}}

If internal messaging is available for the whole site (option reserved for administrators), each user can take an individual decision not to use it (That is, he simply does not wish to exchange messages with other users through this system).

- {{Do not use the list of connected users}} 

When this feature is available (by the administrators choice), and while he is using internal messaging, an editor can take an individual decision not to participate to the list of connected users.

This feature continuously displays the list of connected users in real time, which makes it easy for users to take part in quick discussions. Some users may find this feature intrusive and/or may not wish to be "disturbed" when they connect. They just have to disable this option: they will not appear on the list of connected editors anymore, and this list will no longer show on their pages.

{Note:} When an administrator indicates that he does not wish to appear on the list of connected editors, the list still shows: he "sees" the others, but the others do not "see" him.

</messconf>

<reference>

{{{Referenced sites}}}

SPIP offers a complete management system for lists of links to other sites. This system is very comprehensive and offers particularly:
- grouping of these lists in sections (same sections containing articles or specific sections dedicated to this use, in the same way as a links directory);
- associating a logo with each site;
- associating keywords with each referenced site;
- adding a customised description to each site.

Furthermore, and for the sites that permit it, you can automatically fetch the latest articles published (refer to "<a href="aide_index.php?aide=rubsyn" target="_top">Syndicated sites</a>").

{{Referencing a new site}}

A button labelled "Refer to a site" in every section page in your site offers you to add a new site.

The "traditional" way is to indicate the site's name and its URL, then to insert a description. It is also possible to select the section of your site in which this referencing is to be inserted.

A box at the bottom of the page allows you to manage any possible syndication of the content. For more details on this matter refer to the explanation of  <a href="aide_index.php?aide=rubsyn "target="_top">syndicated sites</a>. For a straightforward referencing, you just select the option "no syndication".

{{Fast referencing}}

During the creation of a new site referencing, a box appears at the top of the page to offer you a fast referencing of a site without the need to enter its name or description. For this, you just have to enter the URL of the page you wish to reference and to submit. As far as possible, SPIP will go to this address and try to automatically fetch the page title and a description. You can modify this information at a later time.

{{Who can suggest referenced sites?}}

In the "Precise configuration" page, administrators can specify that only administrators have the possibility to suggest sites, or the editors or even the site visitors (in the last case, a form on the public site will give the visitors the opportunity to suggest sites).

Anyway, only the administrators can validate these referencing suggestions. When a site referencing is suggested, all the participants to the private area can discuss the relevance of the suggestion in a forum linked to each site.

</reference>

<artsyn>
 
{{{Syndicated articles}}}

When you request a <A HREF="aide_index.php?aide=rubsyn" TARGET="_top">site syndication</A>, SPIP displays a list of the latest articles published on this site, under the label "Syndicated articles pulled from this site".

For each article, SPIP displays:
- the article's headline (you just click on this headline to access the article on its original site);
- the article's authors, should there be any;
- the article's description, should there be any.

This information, pulled automatically from the referenced site, cannot be modified.

Furthermore, for each article, a button labelled "block this link" allows you to block its display on your own site (because the article does not suit you or there is an error disabling this link...). You can restore the display of this article on your site at any time.

</artsyn>

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