What is a banner wave, and how is it different from a banner rotation?
Answer
A banner wave displays all banners within a specific type as a single advertising block, similar to a list of sponsors. In contrast, a banner rotation randomly displays banners from a set based on factors like display likelihood.
You can add a banner wave using the main_banner_wave block and configure it to show a specific number of banners or all banners within a type.
What is a banner network, and how can I create one?
Answer
A banner network is a system for exchanging banners between websites. You can create a banner network in Composr by associating banners with specific websites.
When a site joins your banner network, you provide them with an iframe code to display banners from your rotation. Composr uses a "hit balancing" system where sites in the network receive banner impressions based on the clicks they generate for other sites in the network.
Yes, by enabling the "Permissions" configuration option in the Admin Zone (Admin Zone > Setup > Configuration > Feature options > Banners), you can control which usergroups can see individual banners. This feature allows for banner targeting and prevents inappropriate banners from being shown to specific audiences, such as adult banners to minors.
What are the different types of banner deployment agreements?
Answer
There are three types of banner deployment agreements:
Permanent: These banners are always displayed as long as there is available space.
Campaign: These banners have a limited number of impressions or clicks before they stop displaying. They can be associated with specific campaigns and can have their hits increased if needed.
Default: These banners are displayed only when there are no permanent or campaign banners available to show.
The system displays permanent and campaign banners with a 50:50 split.
What should I do if URL Schemes are not working properly?
Answer
If URL Schemes, which rely on web server rewrites, are not functioning correctly, you can disable them using the http://yourbaseurl/config_editor.php script. Enable the option "Whether to block the URL Scheme (mod_rewrite)" to override the main configuration setting.
How can I reset a forgotten account password in Composr?
Answer
If you have access to phpMyAdmin:
Access the f_members table.
Find the row corresponding to the user whose password needs to be reset.
Edit the row, setting m_pass_hash_salted to the new password using MD5 encryption, clearing m_pass_salt, and setting m_password_compat_scheme to 'md5'.
If you have FTP access:
Obtain your IP address.
Edit your _config.php file, setting $SITE_INFO['backdoor_ip'] to your IP address. This enables a temporary backdoor login for your IP address, bypassing security restrictions.
Remove the backdoor entry after logging in and resetting the password through standard means.
Caution: Using the backdoor method is a security risk and should be done with extreme caution.
My Composr installation seems corrupted. How can I repair it?
Answer
Composr offers several tools and methods for repairing corrupted installations:
Integrity checker: The upgrader tool, accessible via http://yourbaseurl/upgrader.php, includes an integrity checker that identifies outdated or corrupted files.
MySQL table repair: The Admin Zone > Tools > Cleanup tools provides access to MySQL table repair functionalities. Alternatively, use phpMyAdmin or your web host's database management tools for more direct control.
Safe Mode: Access safe mode via the bookmarked link from the setup wizard or by adding &keep_safe_mode=1 to any website URL. This disables custom themes and caching, helping isolate problems caused by themes or custom code.
Why are my searches slow, and how can I improve search speed?
Answer
Slow searches can occur when dealing with large amounts of content. Here are some workarounds and solutions:
MySQL timeout setting: For MySQL 5.7+, set a query timeout to prevent searches from locking up your database. Composr automatically sets this, but you can configure it manually if needed.
Use InnoDB tables: Switching to InnoDB tables in MySQL can prevent slow queries from affecting other users on your website. Note that InnoDB is not officially supported by Composr yet.
Enable the fast custom index: As mentioned earlier, the fast custom index is optimized for handling large datasets and filtered searches, potentially leading to significant speed improvements.
How does the search engine handle different languages?
Answer
Composr's fast custom index supports multiple languages. Content is indexed based on its translated version, ensuring that you get relevant results even when searching in a different language.
Quoted phrases allow you to search for an exact sequence of words. For example, searching for "red apple" will only return results containing that exact phrase. Keep in mind that enabling quoted phrases can increase disk space usage.
Stop words are common words (like "the", "a", "is") that are ignored by the search engine because they add noise and don't contribute to the meaning of the search query. You can customize the list of stop words for the fast custom index. See the search tutorial for more information.
