Installation
Note that these instructions are brief for now, and will most likely only be of help to people who are very comfortable with managing their web server. - Last updated on 2008-10-21 21:49:15.
Before You Begin
While installing Articlass isn't all that hard, currently there is no automatic installation method. It's assumed that you know enough about managing your web server that you can access MySQL and FTP to your web directory.
Requirements
Articlass requires PHP 5. You also need to have the GD image library installed in order to enable Articlass's image handling and CAPTCHA functions.
MySQL 5 is recommended, although 4.1 might also work. Ensure that that any text encoding or collation is set to UTF-8.
Install The Database
First, you need to create an empty database for inserting the database structure into. You can name the database anything you like. You will also need to create a MySQL user account with full permission to access that database.
In the archive that you downloaded, you will fine a directory called sql. Inside that directory is a MySQL file called articlass_db.sql. Import the contents of that file into your new database. The database is now set up.
Configurations
There is another directory inside the archive file called "web". This contains all the scripts that will go onto your web server.
Before uploading, you need to open that directory and locate a subdirectory called site. Inside that subdirectory is a file called Settings.php. Open that file with whatever program you use to edit HTML or PHP files. A simple text editor will do.
When you open it, you will hopefully notice right away that there are a few sentences in capital letters saying "MUST BE SET BY ADMINISTRATOR". You must set these up or articlass will simply not work. When replacing these with the correct information, replace everything starting from the first /* characters to the closing */ characters. And, enclose the information you place in the file inside quotation marks, and ensure that there is a comma at the end of every line. Below the settings you will need to change, you will see some optional settings that you can use for reference as to how each line should look when properly formatted.
domainName This is the domain name of the site, with only the site name and top level domain designation. For example, articlass.org.
dbServer This will most likely be localhost, and if you are in doubt, you should try that first. If it's something else, you probably already know what it is. Otherwise, you will have to check with the administrator of your hosting service.
dbUser This is the name of the MySQL user account that has access to the database you have set up for Articlass.
dbPassword This is the password for the MySQL user account.
dbName This is the name of the database that you created in the instructions above.
baseDirectory This is the full path to the directory on your web server where the Articlass files will be located. It may look something like /home/web_account/public/html/. If you don't know what it is, you will need to consult your web hosting service.
Once you have written in all the important data, you can save the file and you are ready to upload. If you want, you can change some of the optional settings.
Uploading
Important Notice: Articlass was written with the intention that it would manage the main body of the site. In other words, that all the PHP files that drive the system would be in the top directory of your site. If you install Articlass into a subdirectory, it may not work. It's not that Articlass was designed to definitely not work outside the top level directory, it's just that installation into a subdirectory was not an initial priority. So, if it works for you now, that's great. But, be warned that there are no promises of operation if you install Articlass anywhere other than the top directory of your site.
Taking the above notice into consideration, the place you FTP the Articlass files, along with all subdirectories in the web directory in the archive, should be the same as the baseDirectory you specified above.
Note that there is a file in the web directory called .htaccess. A file of this type, with a period at the beginning, is hidden on Unix systems, and you may not see it. You must make sure that this .htaccess file gets uploaded to the web server, because Articlass will not work without the settings that are contained within it. If you already have an .htaccess file with some settings you want to keep, you can probably copy the contents of the Articlass file into your existing file. If your settings are really complicated or conflict with the Articlass settings, then you're on your own to figure out how to resolve that.
Once you have successfully uploaded the files, Articlass is ready to go.
Change The Administrator Password
Hopefully, when you load up your web site in your browser, and all the previous settings were done correctly, you will be greeted with a very simple web page that says "Welcome to our wonderfule web page".
On the page there is a link that says "Log in". Click that link and you'll get a log in screen asking for a username and password.
To log in, the username is "Admin", and the password is "password". Enter those and click on the button that says Log in,
Once you are logged in, there should be a menu somewhere on the page with a link that says "Edit your user information". Click that link and on the page there are a few fields for changing your administrator account information. The only important ones right now are the two for entering in passwords. Enter in a new password in the first field, and then again to confirm that you have typed it correctly in the second. Click the button at the bottom to save the changes.
Finished!
You are now basically done. From this point forward you, or whoever is responsible for the design of the site will need to start creating style sheets and graphics in the layout directory. And, to start building content, you will need to start to add articles, starting by clicking on the "Create admin only article" on the menu that's visible when you are logged in.
The first and most important thing you need to do