| PHP-Nuke comes with a few useful blocks to start with, and it's easy to add more. Generally, just copy the block's file (which will have a PHP filename extension) into your site's Blocks subfolder, and the block will show up on the Filename drop-down list. These come with PHP-Nuke: Advertising. Displays banner ads in a block. This block displays only banners that have been entered as block banners so that you can make sure they're not too wide for the block. Generally, about 100120 pixels in width is the max. Amazon. Displays a rotation of Amazon.com products (which you can set up). Users who click through to an actual product are sent along with your Amazon.com affiliates ID (if you have one), giving you credit for any sales. This block isn't included with newer versions of PHP-Nuke, and several replacement blocks are available that offer more functionality. Big Story. Shows the most-read story of the day. Content. Displays shortcuts into your Content module. Encyclopedia. Displays shortcuts into your Encyclopedia module. Ephemerid. Displays an ephemerid. That's one of those "on this day in 1776, such and such occurred" things. PHP-Nuke lets you manage your own ephemerids. Forums. Shows recent posts in the forums and provides a shortcut into that module. Languages. Allows users to select their language. Last 5 Articles. Lists the last five articles posted to your site and provides a shortcut into the News module. Last Referrers. Shows the last five Web sites that referred someone to your site. Login. Provides a place for users to log in or, if they're logged in, log out. Modules. Serves as a main menu, listing all active and visible modules in your site. Note that administrators will see an extended list, including inactive and invisible modules. Old Articles. A shortcut into the Stories_Archive module, listing some of the older news stories from your site. Reviews. Shows an item from the Reviews module and provides a shortcut into that module. Search. Provides a shortcut into the Search module. Subscription. Provides a link to your subscription page, where users can pay you for access to your site. Note that PHP-Nuke doesn't come with a built-in subscription page; you have to build one yourself or get one from someone else. Topic 63, "Creating a Pay Subscription Site," covers this in some detail. Survey. Displays a survey from the Surveys module and provides a shortcut into that module. Top 10 Downloads. Shows the top 10 downloads from your site and provides a shortcut into the Downloads module. Top 10 Links. Shows the top 10 Web links and provides a shortcut into the Web Links module. Total Hits. Shows the total number of visits, or "hits," to your Web site. User Info. Shows the current user his basic information and provides a shortcut into the Your Account module. Who's Online. Shows a small block listing the number of users currently online. Also shows you how many private messages you have waiting and provides a shortcut into the Private_Messages module.
As you can see, many of these blocks simply serve as teasers or shortcuts, helping attract attention to other modules of your site.  | Sidebar . FAQWhat blocks should I choose? As few as possible, to start with. Don't overwhelm your usersor yourselfby enabling every block that PHP-Nuke comes with. Pick a few blocks that lend real value to your site, and leave it at that for a while, until you decide that another block is really needed. I don't understand RSS blocks. What are they? Simply put, they display news headlines downloaded from another Web site. That other Web site has to provide those headlines in a special format called RSS. PHP-Nuke comes preprogrammed with several sites that provide RSS newsfeeds, as they're called, although some of the preprogrammed sites are no longer in operation, so you won't be able to pull headlines from them. How is a block different from a module? Blocks appear in the left and right columns (and, in certain circumstances, in the top-middle or bottom-middle of the page) on every page of your site; modules provide different functionality and constitute the primary "middle column" content on each page of your site. I added a subscription block. What's my site's subscription URL? PHP-Nuke doesn't come with onethis is something you have to build on your own. Check out Topic 63 for more details. |
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