New MOD - Site-of-the-Day v2

[esm]

OK, I have a different version of the SOTD. and even it comes in two flavors!

you can see the "inline" version here in the right side boxes: http://www.indexuhelp.com/indexu/index.php

You can see the other version here:
http://www.indexuhelp.com/indexu/sotd_scheda.php

They both do the same thing.

all you have to do is add a field to the links table and then edit the link thru the Admin Control Panel and add a scheduled date for the link to appear as the SOTD. You can schedule as many of the SOTDs in advance as you want to.

And based on the way I set it up, you can change it to a SOTWeek or a SOTMonth merely by entering the approrpriate dates for the links.

If you don't have a SOTD selected, it will just show the most recent.

[tjoerg]

Originally posted by esm
you can see the "inline" version here in the right side boxes: http://www.indexuhelp.com/indexu/index.php

ok, finally got it! You should use another border frame with "site of the day" header instead just a simple text link. This makes sure people pay attention to it!

Do you offer an link view/edit page for the SOTD sited in admin cp? If you do this on a scheduled date you have to provide some kind of overview too.
And what about the pool idea. Simply mark sites as SOTD sites and rotate them on a preselected cycle (daily, weekly, monthly). For me the date method seems to time consuming for SOTD. Could be done for SOTW or SOTM!

I would built this hack with two values for idx_links (featured_site => 1/0, featured_site_rotated 1/0) and another one in application.php (rotate_duration => daily, weekly, monthly).


Joerg

[esm]

Originally posted by tjoerg
You should use another border frame with "site of the day" header instead just a simple text link. This makes sure people pay attention to it!

That can be accomplihed by regular HTML. That version just uses a <%sotd%> tag with no other formatting. As soon as I added formatting, there would be a group of folks who did not like it or wanted to do it a different way. This way, you create your own format.

Do you offer an link view/edit page for the SOTD sited in admin cp?

Actually, all you see in the admin cp is a date field ( just like the date and last_updated fields ). Just enter the date for the link to be the sotd

If you do this on a scheduled date you have to provide some kind of overview too.

not sure what you are saying here.

And what about the pool idea. Simply mark sites as SOTD sites and rotate them on a preselected cycle (daily, weekly, monthly). For me the date method seems to time consuming for SOTD. Could be done for SOTW or SOTM!

Well, I could probably come up with a method to create a pool of links. The easiest way would be to create a text file and enter the link_id's. It would not be WYSIWYG. But can you see going thru a couple of thousand links trying to find the check box to click on to add the link to the sotd pool??? That would not be too much different than adding the sotd date to the link. I would go with a text file but I'll give it some thought.

I can't think of an easy way to "Simply mark sites as SOTD sites..." not if I have thousands of links. at least not thru a WYSIWYG screen.

"...rotate them on a preselected cycle(daily, weekly, monthly)..." I'll give that some thought.

I would built this hack with two values for idx_links (featured_site => 1/0, featured_site_rotated 1/0) and another one in application.php (rotate_duration => daily, weekly, monthly).

I think this relates to the previous "preselected cycle." There are probably lots of different ways to do the sotd. I have 4 different ways and with some tweaking, I could easily have 8 or more different ways. It is almost like it could be customized for each INDEXU site.

But I do like the pool idea using a text file...

On to the next version.

[tjoerg]

- text box: I actually didn't refer this to your hack. I thought of doing some kind of text box for the hack at your demo site so that people get aware of the new mod. Surely everyone wants to present SOTDs in a different way. But this can be done by them!

- when you use SOTD with a date field, you have to have a site in admin cp which shows you all links and dates! What happens if you mix up dates or simply want to change a SOTD. How can I find it? Running through all links?
So you additionally need a site in admin cp which shows you all SOTD sites (in your version sorted by date). I still think doing this by date isn't the right approach.

But can you see going thru a couple of thousand links trying to find the check box to click on to add the link to the sotd pool???

Would be still a lot easier than adding a date every time. I promis you will get confused, mixing up dates or simply make some spelling errors.

My understanding of SOTD is similar to editor pick. SOTD is dynamic and editor pick some kind of static. But basically SOTD sites are also recommended sites and have to have some good standing! So you have to spend some time to look for good sites in your portal. That won't be 365 but say at least about 100. And these sites just rotate on an individual basis. Once a site was SOTD it should be selected as cycled and not shown again until the whole cycle is done. So you can easily add some sites (not marked as cycled yet) without having the date problem.

Joerg

[esm]

Originally posted by tjoerg
[B]- text box: I actually didn't refer this to your hack. I thought of doing some kind of text box for the hack at your demo site so that people get aware of the new mod. Surely everyone wants to present SOTDs in a different way. But this can be done by them!

ok, I understand.

As for the other issue, it is either a completely automatic process ( as in the sotd v1 ) or some sort of manual pre-selection. And any kind of manual pre-selection will be a pain in the butt. The way that makes most sense is to just use a text file with a list of pre-selected link_id's. Then it is just a matter of cycling thru the list.

[Frank71]

ai,

these hacks sounds good - do you finished automatic rotation and is it possible to show this on other websites ?

Frank