Setup instructions for Online News Site

Copy the files from the zip file "newssubscriber" directory to the internet server that hosts the public website.

Copy the files from the zip file "newseditor" directory to the intranet server on the LAN (local area network) or, if not available, to a web resource.

Log into the news editor system as "admin" with a password of "admin." Select the "Settings" tab. Within the administration area, the admin password is required for each change. Input the following:

  1. The newspaper name and description.
  2. The newspaper news sections and their sort order. Do not include classifieds and other non-news sections that will form the site menu.
  3. The remote sites URI(s) for the internet server(s) that hosts the public website.
  4. Test connections to remote site(s). If successful, then change the password for remote sites.
  5. For productions systems, change the admin password from "admin" to a unique password.

Add users by their area of responsibility

A person's log in name determines what area of the system they access. Visit the other tabs in the menu to add users for news editing, patron management, advertising management, classified management and menu management.

Menu management

Select the predefined tab. Enable as appropriate, 1) archive search, 2) calendar, and 3) classified ads. Select the menu tab. Add the other menu items and establish the sort order. Page content can be added and edited later. Community calendar events are lefttained on the calendar tab.

Files updates will not overwrite

In order for updates to not overwrite databases and customized files, there are files and locations that updates will not overwrite.

  1. images/logo.png and other images added to the images directory
  2. z/local.css
  3. z/system/configuration.php
  4. includes/custom/ and its subdirectories

Evaluating the system does not require modifying the above files. Production systems will want to modify the files to substitute the organization's logo, color scheme and system configuration.

Editing the system configuration file

For evaluation purposes, the configuration file, configuration.php (displayed below), might not require modification. For production systems, the four following edits should be made:

  1. Edit the time zone offset as the number of hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), formerly called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Valid entries are shown as examples.
  2. Edit the location of the includes directory, which should be moved to a location outside the public HTML directory.
  3. Edit the URI scheme, if needed, either "http" for sites without SSL encryption, or "https" for secured systems, the recommended and default configuration.
  4. For paid subscriber websites, change "free" to "paid" to enable the paywall to secure access to the news for paid subscribers. When set to "paid," searching the news archives will also require a log in. Viewing classified ads will not require a log in.


//
// INPUT: Time zone offset from GMT, Greenwich Mean Time
// The following entries are allowed:
// -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4.30 -4 -3.30 -3 -2 -1 0
// 1 2 3 3.30 4 5 5.30 5.45 6 6.30 7 8 9 9.30 10 11 12 13
//
$gmtOffset = '-8';
//
// INPUT: Path to the includes folder, without trailing /
//
$includesPath = 'z/includes';
//
// INPUT: URI scheme, http or https
//
$uriScheme = 'https';
//
// INPUT: Free or paid access to news
//
$freeOrPaid = 'free';