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.
What is the fast custom index and why should I use it?
Answer
The fast custom index is Composr's own search engine, designed to be faster and more efficient than MySQL full-text search, especially for large websites and filtered searches.
Benefits of the fast custom index:
Faster filtered searches: Significantly improves search speed when you add filters like category or author.
Configurable stop words: Control which common words are ignored during search.
Better stemming: More accurately recognizes variations of words (e.g., "like" and "liking").
Multilingual support: Indexes content based on different language translations.
Downsides of the fast custom index:
Slight lag in indexing new content: New content takes a short time to be indexed.
Less accurate ranking: Ranking is based on the most obscure keyword, not a blend of all keywords.
Cannot perform blank searches: You must enter at least one keyword.
What is the difference between natural and boolean searching?
Answer
Natural search is a more relaxed approach where you type in your search terms and Composr tries to find the most relevant results, even if they don't contain all the words. It's like a Google search.
Boolean search requires more precision and uses operators like "+", "-", and quotation marks to define exactly what you're looking for. For example, searching for "+car -maintenance" will only return results that contain the word "car" but not "maintenance".
There are a few ways to search your Composr website:
Using the search bar in the header: This is the simplest way to search. Just type your search term in the box and click the search button.
Using the 'Search' module: This module offers more detailed search options. You can access it via the 'site:search' page-link (usually under About > Search in the default menu).
From the Forum: Click the 'Search' button on the forum or use the contextual search box on the forum member bar. This will search within your current forum or topic.
For questions with predefined answers, you can mark correct answers by adding [*] after the answer. If no answer is marked correct, the question will require manual marking. You can also use the [UNMARKED] tag after a question to exclude it from scoring.
Quiz questions are inputted in blocks, separated by blank lines. The first line is the question, followed by potential answers on subsequent lines. Different question types are indicated by tags after the question, such as [MULTIPLECHOICE], [MULTIMULTIPLE], [LONG], [SHORT], and [SHORT_STRICT].
Can I create complex, multi-screen quiz interfaces in Composr?
Answer
While Composr's built-in quiz system is excellent for standard formats, creating intricate multi-screen quizzes might require custom development using Composr's decision tree framework or other programming tools. This allows for highly customized quiz structures and advanced branching logic.
Composr enables you to export quiz results to a spreadsheet file, facilitating in-depth data analysis. This is especially useful for manually marked questions, identifying competition winners, and processing data for marketing or research purposes.
Quiz Sets are a helpful organizational feature in Composr. By prefixing quiz names with "Example: ", you can group related quizzes together. This allows for combined scoring and percentage calculations, particularly beneficial for multi-part questionnaires or tests.
