I clicked on the update link last evening. This is a version change and the update process is a two part process. The first phase updates the old version and readies it for the transition to the new system. The program runs through the update cycle and all seemed well up to this point. When the updater has run there is a link to get back to the admin panel. This worked and I was returned to my regular admin UI environment.

The update link was still showing at the top of the page, so I clicked it again. There was a pop-up with some words of wisdom. I think that I followed the words and then clicked the proceed button. Again the updater ran and there was a link to return to the admin section. I had played a bit with a beta version so the change to the UI was not a shock. I wanted to see what the site looked like, so I clicked the view site link. When I got there there was just a message stating "We are upgrading to the latest version of ArticleMS, please be patient." There was also a link that allowed for an admin sign-in.

The admin section seems to be working properly but the main site is not visible. I may need to go to the support forum for an answer if there is no help in the local help file. This is just my test bed installation. It is here for me to experiment with before making changes on one of my active sites. It is no big thing if this directory is not available, but I need to find the answer to the problem before I do any updates to production sites.

I have used the ArticleMS software in several ways on many sites. There are six article directory sites or sections. There is one more site that is primarily based on AMS. Several sites have special features using the script to allow for user generated content on those sites. It looks like I am using the script in about 16 places through my sites. Just doing a major update is enough work without the problems that I have seen with this installation. I may have done something wrong or there may be a bug in the installer. I will update this article when and if I find the answer. But, of course, if you are reading this it will mean that the problem is solved.

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Dummy me! I looked at the glogal settings and there was a check box for 'site enabled' that was not checked. Checking the box got my home page displayed in my choosen colors, indicating that my css changes were still in tact. The site was the full width of the window. A quick edit of the header and footer templates returned the site to its normal display. There were some SEO additions made to my regular sites, but since this is a test bed installation I may not have done them here. I will have to look for those on some of the other sites when I do the updates there.

The Updater does seem to work without any problem and only seems to overwrite the necessary files. Since I found the simple solution to this problem I have much more confidence and will proceed with the other updates later this evening (probably) once I have looked around a bit more.

Posted by the site admin, The Hobby WebMaster.

This is a purple flower has been sized to 200 pixels. The native display has no border and is situated to the left. I will attempt to add about a two pixel border and center the image in the css. This will be a temporary situation as I will return the css to normal if I succeed, so, if you happen upon the page, the fact that the images start on the left does not necessarily mean that it can't be done.

This Image has been sized to 300 pixels. On to the next shot - -

An airborne Monster Truck. I worked the event.

The Sorcor's Apprentice on a Motorcycle Faring.

Nice barrel 'trunk' on a trike - VW powered.

One of several 57 Chevy rear end trikes that I have seen around the country. This one is V-8 powered.

Admin doing more testing with images from MC-Rally.com.

A flaming skull with hints of a flag.

A Lovely Young Lady with Cat and Mouse tatoo decal applied to a tank.

The site admin using some of his images from Number One Pictures for a test gallery.

I may need to make a page for instructions on how to do some of these things. There are good capabilities within this script, but little information about how to make things happen. It is possible to upload images and files to the directory and use the images in a post as can be seen by the presence of the page background image here. I will have to look on the server as it appears that there is a directory created within the uploads directory for each user that uploads a file.

The image placement I did with an inline style statement. I can add some classes to the css file to cover much of this. The script enclosed the image in <p> tags instead of <img> tags. It does appear that one can then click on the image and use the image dialog box for placement within this editor. I will need to do some further testing to see what does work with that. If you use the image dialog it should change the <p> tags to <img> tags. I just hope that it does not leave the <p> tags and insert the<img> tags within the paragraph.

Here we have an example of the image dialog at work. Notice that the picture is set in from the edge of the workspace. This is the h-space in action. The unusual thing is that I don't see it in the code. I prefer the css presentation rather than the image dialog presentation. One always has better control with the css, although you will have to drop into the html to use it I believe. Something else for the instruction page. There does not seem to be a help file included with the script.

The upload dialog box has input boxes for title and caption for the image. The script does not seem to use the information. There is no alt tag in the image information. I did not see a way to add alt text, either. Still it is better than having no image capability at all.

There is also file upload capability and I could edit that to use with .mp3 files. It may be the answer to my file upload problem with the music player site.

There are a few features that I wish the article editor/writer had. I see no spell checker and I am don't believe that FireFox's spell checker can see within the editor window. I did just find a save button at the bottom that does save the article as a draft, but then you are out of the editor, so doing incremental saves is not as convenient as it could be. If you save the article you can preview it before publication, but a preview function would be a nice thing.

I had mentioned that I did not see the h-space listed in the image properties in the code. When I did the save the text moved to the bottom of the image. I ended up putting inline styles in the code to format the image and text. I suspect that the answer is to upload all the images and then use the image dilaog to place them in the article body. I will have to try that with the next image. I still don't like the h-space property though. Maybe a combination of image dialog and css will produce the best results. I will have to think about that a bit.

At any rate, it is possible to upload images and get them into the articles. That was the main reason for producing this article in the first place.

Wink pulled the background image for this site from his Symmetrical Backgrounds site, a site featuring free tiling background images.

This video is not showing up in the editor which is unusual, so I will post the article and see if it is available.

This is a test article by the site admin.

The next item on the agenda will be to figure out what I need to do to use includes. I will want to add some greater site navigation and I prefer to put my ad units in include files.

I also found that there is an article distribution service plug-in available, so these directories can be self populating. If the resolution of the content of imported articles is good this will be a welcome addition to several sites.

The features that are available seem nice and most things function as desired. There was some help on the forum to make the pages more SEO friendly, and perhaps more searchable. I will implement those suggestions if needed.

The site admin is The Hobby Webmaster. He has several sites and blogs in various states of disrepair. You can find a list of those sites at Wink's Website Directory.

There are some features that I like already, and the things that are lacking are not significant. This script allows for images to be uploaded with the articles. I like images in articles as they break up the block of text and make the article more interesting. The major article directories do not allow images with the articles.

The admin interface is not as slick as WordPress, but it is functional. The templates are available for editing as is the stylesheet. I did not find a spell checker in the article input section, but FireFox has a fairly good spell checker built in. Many authors will actually write their articles in some word processor program that does have spell checking anyway.

One thing that I am not too enthused about is the hybrid layout. There is some use of tables and some use of divs. I would prefer a div based layout. I may look at what would be required to convert this to a completely div based layout, but I am concerned that it may be too extensive or break the script.

The script does come with one small banner from the developer, but it is not locked. It is, in fact easy to replace with any other banner or other advertising. There is one link in the footer that is required unless you pay for the privilege or removing it by buying a non-branding liscense. I don't mind that. If the script works I will be happy to promote it.

I wrote and submitted a short article after playing with the css file for a bit. I still do not have the site exactly as I would like it, but it is loosing the family look to some extent. Remember that it is a work in progress, but if you want to check out the script do the famous click here. I have not published the link on the site, not that anybody visits there or that there is any reason to visit for that matter.

This is really just a test install. If it works out I may go live with it, but my real purpose is to investigate the possibilities that the script offers. I have two sites that need something of this sort and may adapt this for another application as well. This could end up providing user generated content on several sites. I was nearly ready to buy a script, but in my investigations it appeared that support was a problem and so I held off. I may be very glad that I did.

Please check out the new script on my site and give me your impressions. If you get there soon you may catch it before I make more changes. Try submitting an article or something while you are there.

Wink owns and maintains several websites on various subjects around the web. His primary business has been in Sound Reinforcement. One of his websites, Mixing Live Sound attempts to pass some of his years of experience on to those interested in producing better quality live sound.

Symmetrical Backgrounds is another one of my sites. I offer free tiling background images on that site. I have set the site up with galleries that use the featured image as a page background. Sometimes it is hard to visualize how a tiled image may appear in use. My galleries show how a page would look using that background image.

This article is all about site backgrounds. I am gaining background information on this article directory script by writting this article. This is a free article script that I found through a google search today. There is a link at the bottom of the page if you are interested in using it yourself. Most of what I have seen so far I like. I will probably make a blog post about the script on my Monetize your Site blog.

The site Admin here is sometimes known as the Hobby Webmaster. He has several sites up on the web. His most visited site at the present time is a viral email archive site called Web PickUps. The link takes you to the newer section of the site, but there is a lot of older material on the Main Web Pickups site as well.