Review Foundry Review Engine User Manual CONFIGURATION -- Build / Browse

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• CONFIGURATION
• Build / Browse
• General Build Settings
• Build Orderings
• Build Plan
• General Browse Settings
• Admin Browse Settings
• General Layout Settings
• Category Item Layout Settings
• Team Member Layout Settings
• Yellow Page Supplier Layout Settings

CONFIGURATION

Build / Browse

The organization of your Review Foundry pages is determined by the tree-like structures you create when you add Category, Team, and Yellow Page records to your Review Foundry database. Once you have these structures in place you can fine-tune their appearance with the options found in the Build / Browse control panel. The term "Build" refers to the process of creating equivalent static HTML pages out of these "Browse" trees.

General Build Settings

• build_ext
  Example: htm
  Built pages appearing in your document root will have the file extension specified here. In general you will specify html, or perhaps htm, or if your pages will include SSI calls you might specify shtml
• build_staggered_category_block_size
  Example: 1
  If possible, try to build pages either by logging in via telnet and running the nph-admin.cgi script from the command line, or arrange for it to be executed via a scheduled cron job (once every few days, or perhaps weekly). Only if that isn't viable should you resort to less recommended method of building via the browser, which can be subject to timeout problems.

  In order to perform a build via the browser, the process must be broken into many separate segments each able to complete before the server times out (after a period which is generally a few minutes). Presently the smallest unit of processing via the browser is a single container (be it a Category, Team, or Yellow Page) so you should try not to overpopulate your containers. If you have many very small containers, each with less than a few dozen things, you can process more than one container at a time. Otherwise you should probably attempt to process one container at a time.

• nph_headers
  Example: Yes
  In order to output the result of the build process to the browser, as the process takes place, it is usually necessary to inform the browser that the page will be delivered in segments. In this case the application is responsible for sending ALL document headers normally left to the web server to fill in, or parse. Use non-parsed headers if Review Foundry should send all the required headers when building (the usual case). If you run into problems trying to get the build process off the ground, try toggling this option from "Yes" to "No".
• nph_staggered_pause_duration
  Example: 0
  After each NPH page (non-parsed headers page) has been generated a pause can be added before the next page of processing begins (if you want to study the result temporarily).
• build_verbosity_high
  Example: High
  As the build process proceeds, some information about the build is written to the screen, or command line. You can reduce the amount of output by toggling this option to "Low".
• build_compress_html
  Example: Yes
  If you are concerned about the overall amount of disk space that will be used to store built pages, you can compress stretches of whitespace into a single space by activating this variable. This is good for a file size reduction of approximately 10 percent.

Build Orderings

• build_orderings_item,
  build_orderings_member,
  build_orderings_supplier
  Example: Yes, Yes, No
  When you build your static pages you have the choice of whether or not to add the various possible sortings that a user might be interested in. For example, instead of viewing the Items of a Category in a predetermined order (perhaps sorted alphabetically by Item name) the user might wish to see the Items ordered according to the average value for a particular rating attribute (e.g. "Least quantity of defects"). For this to be possible in the static setting, each possible Item sorting needs to be built. If you have N possible sortings (for a given category, team, or yellowpage) then, by electing to add these ordering to the build, you will increase the number of pages built (and the time to do so) by a factor of N. But you will then have lightning-fast presorted pages for the user to peruse by their own sorting criteria. It is recommended that you use a scheduled cron job to handle the building in this case, due to the time required to complete such a process.
• build_review_orderings_item,
  build_review_orderings_member,
  build_review_orderings_supplier
  Example: Yes, Yes, No
  If you elect (above) to build the various Thing sortings, you probably would also like to add the built pages for all possible Item, Member, and Supplier review sortings. If you have M possible sortings (sorting on each specific rating attribute associated with the given Category, Team, or Yellow Page PLUS sorting by last-modified date or rated helpfulness) then you will increase the number of pages of reviews built (and the time to do so) by a factor of M. But you will then have lightning-fast presorted reviews for the user to peruse by their own sorting criteria. Again, with this degree of processing, a scheduled cron job is the recommended way to go.

  Note: be sure also to activate the corresponding browse_sort_item_review_menu, browse_sort_member_review_menu, and browse_sort_supplier_review_menu, options if you elect to build these extra sorted review pages, else there will be no way to access them!

Build Plan

• build_plan_item,
  build_plan_member,
  build_plan_supplier
  Example: Yes, Yes, Yes
  When building static pages, the links placed on these pages will be to static pages where possible and dynamic otherwise. Because some of the static pages to be linked to MAY NOT exist at the stage of the build when they are referred to, some "plan" about the state of the final build needs to be available so that the appropriate static or dynamic link can be inserted. For each Item, Member, or Supplier branch that you intend to make available as a static directory, add it to the plan.

General Browse Settings

• browse_items_enabled
  Example: Yes
  This parameter controls whether or not the Item branch of your Review Foundry implementation is active or not. If not, the Category pages disappear from your public pages.
• browse_members_enabled
  Example: Yes
  This parameter controls whether or not the Member branch of your Review Foundry implementation is active or not. If not, the Team pages disappear from your public pages.
• browse_suppliers_enabled
  Example: Yes
  This parameter controls whether or not the Supplier branch of your Review Foundry implementation is active or not. If not, the Yellow Pages disappear from the public pages.
• browse_default_dynamic
  Example: item
  When you click on the "Dynamic" link in the navigation bar on the administrative pages, which dynamic Thing branch should appear in the new window: Item, Member, or Supplier?
• browse_default_static
  Example: item
  When you click on the "Static" link in the navigation bar on the administrative pages, which static Thing branch should appear in the new window: Item, Member, or Supplier?
• browse_navigation_item
  Example: navigation.ttml
  The default navigation template for Items/Members/Suppliers is navigation.ttml, but this can be changed for each of these branches. The alternate template MUST reside in the SAME directory as navigation.ttml. BEWARE: If your new navigation template is not properly coded, expect MAYHEM. It is recommended that you start with a COPY of navigation.ttml and modify it as needed.

Admin Browse Settings

• browser_recursion_category
  Example: No
  This parameter controls whether or not recursion should be used to populate categories within the administrative Category Browser. Recursion should be disabled if the number of categories per level can be in the hundreds or thousands. But disabling recursion you load ONLY the immediate subcategories of the category clicked on. For smaller category hierarchies, recursion increases browser usability by loading more categories (possibly even all categories) into javascript memory.
• browser_recursion_team
  Example: Yes
  This parameter controls whether or not recursion should be used to populate teams within the administrative Category Browser. Acts in exactly the same way as the corresponding category parameter.
• browser_recursion_yellowpage
  Example: Yes
  This parameter controls whether or not recursion should be used to populate yellowpages within the administrative Category Browser. Acts in exactly the same way as the corresponding category parameter.
• browser_recursion_cutoff
  Example: 100
  This parameter is used to limit the number of Category, Team, or Yellowpage nodes that are loaded at a time when recursion is enabled. While following a depth-first retrieval path, a cumulative count of the number of nodes retrieved is compared to this cutoff. Once the number exceeds the cutoff, no attempt will be made to proceed to the next level of nodes, and you will need to requery the database to get to the next level.

General Layout Settings

• browse_stylesheet_switching
  Example: Yes
  If enabled, users will be able to click on one of the presented font size changing links and have the text on the page switched to a smaller or a larger size, without the page needing to be reloaded. This is achieved by having the browser swap the CSS stylesheet for the page. There are 4 font size possibilities: small, normal (the default), large, and xlarge (for those who really like large characters on the page, such as the elderly visitors to your site). A cookie is issued so that the new font size is maintained as the user navigates pages.
• browse_reviews_per_page
  Example: 10
  For each Item, Member, or Supplier detail page, this specifies the maximum number of reviews that can appear on a single page.
• browse_more_pages_range
  Example: 10
  For each set of results (detail pages or review pages) which span more than a single page, a series of "more results" links appears which link directly to the next N pages. This parameter specifies the maximum number, N, of links to be displayed. A good number is probably 10.
• browse_latest_reviews_list_size
  Example: 5
  If you wish for a list of Latest Reviews to appear in a side panel on the topmost page of the Item, Member, and Supplier branches, provide a non-zero length for the list size. A good number is probably 3-4.
• browse_latest_things_list_size
  Example: 5
  If you wish for a list of Latest Items, Latest Members, or Latest Suppliers to appear in a side panel on the topmost page of the corresponding Item, Member, or Supplier branches, provide a non-zero length for the list size. A good number is probably 3-4.

Category Item Layout Settings

This section and the following 2, which present basically the same set of parameters, control the appearance of elements on your browsable pages. The following two section, instead of repeating the same information, refer back to this one. So what is said here for one variable will apply to the corresponding variable in the next two sections (which consider Team/Member and Yellow Page/Supplier layouts).

• browse_top_category_columns_per_page
  Example: 3
  By default, the templates which control the appearance of listed Categories list these Categories alphabetically in vertical columns. You can control the number of column that will be used with this variable.
• browse_sub_category_columns_per_page
  Example: 3
  This the corresponding number of columns for pages beneath the topmost page of the browsable Categories.
• browse_items_link_to_homepage
  Example: No
  If you want to have items that appear on the item summary page of a category link directly to the external homepage for the item (if it has one) set this variable to 'Yes'. Otherwise the title of the item will simply link to the item detail page.
• browse_items_per_page
  Example: 10
  For each displayed summary page of Items within a Category, this specifies the maximum number of Items that can appear on a page.
• browse_items_sort_by
  Example: known_as
  For each displayed summary page of Items within a Category, this specifies the column on which the Items are sorted by default.
• browse_items_sort_order
  Example: ASC
  For the default ordering of Items within a Category, this specifies whether the list should be sorted in ASCENDING or DESCENDING order.
• browse_sort_item_menu
  Example: Yes
  Toggle to "Yes" if you wish to add a menu to allow Items within a Category to be sorted in an order other than the default. If so, all columns offered in the menu above for the browse_items_sort_by variable will become possible sorting options. Note: you'll certainly need the menu if you elect to build presorted Category pages.
• browse_sort_item_review_menu
  Example: Yes
  Should a menu be placed on Item detail pages allowing reviews to be sorted according to all possible available sorting criteria? Note: you'll certainly need the menu if you elect to build presorted review pages.
• browse_item_menu
  Example: Yes
  Toggle this to "Yes" if you wish to add a menu to each dynamic Item detail page which will allow the user to jump to nearby Item detail pages. This requires the construction of a TEMPORARY TABLE when the page is generated in order to determine the position of Items within a Catgeory. Currently this menu ONLY appears on DYNAMIC pages (this may change in the future).
• browse_item_menu_length
  Example: 10
  This is the length of the menu which allows a user to jump to nearby items.
• browse_item_linked_target
  Example: new window
  The webpage for an Item linked to a URL can either be opened in the same window, or a new window can be launched (probably the thing you want to do if the URLs are all known to be external).
• browse_item_thumbnails_per_row
  Example: 8
  If you add extra item image columns according to the procedure outlined in the tutorials, these will appear as thumbnails on the item detail pages which popup the full-size images. These are tiled from left to right with the maximum number of item images per row specified by this variable.
• browse_item_thumbnail_spacing
  Example: 2
  This variable adjusts the spacing between the table cells used to tile thumbnailed images across and down the page.
• browse_top_category_description
  Example: No
  Should the Category description be displayed on the top page of your browsable Category pages?
• browse_sub_category_description
  Example: Yes
  Should the Category description be displayed on the browsable pages below the top level?
• browse_top_subcategory_links
  Example: Yes
  Should links to Subcategories be shown below the top level Categories on the topmost browsable Category page?
• browse_sub_subcategory_links
  Example: Yes
  Should links to Sub-Subcategories be shown below Subcategories on pages beneath the topmost browsable Category page?
• browse_rating_style_item
  Example: thermometer
  Style of images used to represent Item review ratings. There are 4 possibilities: stars, bar, thermometer, colorometer
• browse_calendar_item
  Example: Yes
  Should a javascript Calendar be shown on the topmost browsable Category page? This calendar displays the days for the current month with today's date highlighted. Works on both the dynamic and static pages.
• browse_url_item
  Example: Yes
  If an item has a website associated with it and you wish to display the URL for that website on the item detail page, then select 'Yes' here. An additional jump link (there is always at least one) will be added to the page which displays the URL.
• browse_url_mouseover_item
  Example: Yes
  If you choose to display the item URL on item detail pages you can also choose to display an alternate URL instead of the one actually used to form the jump link. This is called the MOUSEOVER URL (which only admin can supply/modify). Use of the MOUSEOVER URL allows you to do such things as display a simplified URL, or it can be used to hide a true URL. If a MOUSEOVER URL is not available, the true URL will be used.
• browse_custom_jump_item
  Example: Yes
  When the website associated with an item is visited, Review Foundry performs the redirection using an intermediate jump script that records the hit. This jump script can also ignore the URL associated with the item and read instead from a custom "URL template" stored in the template file item_jump.ttml. When activated, this configuration variable enables the parsing of the custom URL template. Item column values are filled into the template.

Team Member Layout Settings

The variables in this section are in one-to-one correspondence with the variables covered in the corresponding Category Item section, Category Item Layout Settings, so check there for the interpretation.

Yellow Page Supplier Layout Settings

The variables in this section are for the most part in one-to-one correspondence with the variables covered in the corresponding Category Item section, Category Item Layout Settings, so check there for the interpretation. Variables that have no analogue in that section are:

• browse_yellowpages_header_footer
  Example: Yes
  Toggle this to "Yes" if you wish to add a characteristic Yellow Page header and footer to all Yellow Pages.

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