Cutenews Continues To Deteriorate HTML Function Gone

[Misanthrope 0]

Greetings, I am attempting to add new posts to my site (vivianbritton.com) via Cutenews, and while I can do so, the program is suddenly lacking HTML function, making it impossible to render individual paragraphs. If you look at my last entry you'll note it views as one long paragraph, verses the several that would render normally. I am lacking technical skills, so for all I know I'm missing something on my end. All advice, help, and input is appreciated. Cheers

[BuffaloHelp 24]

Try entering double space. While you see it as a sufficient for a paragraph style (during your news posting), the program might purge the unnecessary space as a mere "blank space." By entering another space, double space to your end, Cutenews program will interpret it as next new line.

Another helpful (or maybe not) hint is that you can turn on WYSIWYG editor. Go to Options > System Configuration > News tab > Use WYSIWYG Editor to YES. This changes how you post to your news. You can have posting style similar to our forum (bold, underline, link, paragraph, font, size etc). You can always turn it off at any time. Great thing about WYSIWYG is you can resize pictures by cropping on the spot.

I forget what version I recommended to you, but if you don't have Cutenews 1.4.6 please upgrade now.

If you are going to upgrade to a newer version, please consider Cutenews UTF-8. The original version has stopped developing since September 2008. The supporters of Cutenews has launched their own modifications and calling it UTF-8. See their discussion http://cutephp.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=32324

One thing great about UTF-8 is the placement of login ban. If there are attempts to brute force login and guess passwords, after X numbers of tries, the IP will be placed on a ban list and the hacker cannot continue the attempt. I had to make my own script for v1.4.6 but UTF-8 includes it native.

While Cutenews 1.4.6 is still good enough for some (if you do not have multiple users, members, crazy commenting designs), UTF-8 is still being developed and maintained. The choice is up to the user's environment.

[Misanthrope 0]

Thank you for the timely and excellent response, BuffaloHelp; as always, it is much appreciated. I tried double spacing to make paragraphs with no luck so far, I'm guessing because I'm on an older version that's apparently been rendered defunct. Is "WYSIWYG" something I can engage within Cutenews? If not, where might I look? I will also look into the upgrade you recommended.

[BuffaloHelp 24]

If you tried to double space but still having issue creating new line, I believe it's due to the posting setting.

 

When you post a new article or editing on, click on Article Options found at the bottom right of the posting box.

 

Check to see if Convert new lines to <br / is checked. If not, by checking this box it will accept double space as a new line.

 

If this does not solve your issue, then convert to WYSIWYG editor. I believe v1.4.0 and newer versions feature WYSIWYG editor.

 

Go to Options > System Configuration > News tab > Use WYSIWYG Editor to YES

 

in case you missed it on my previous post

[truefusion 3]

I visited your site and could not find the visual problem you have experienced. So, is it safe to assume that you have fixed the problem?

[Misanthrope 0]

Hi BuffaloHelp, thanks for troubleshooting this further. I?ve noticed just recently when I?m in there trying to add or edit a post, the html toggle view is no longer visible (it used to show up under the ?short story? box). I clicked on article options and while ?Convert new lines to <br/> shows up, nothing happens when I try to check it. It won?t even highlight. Then I went into WYSYWIG and it was already activated. But when I try to make any changes within System Configuration:News, I get a whole page of error messages, starting with:Warning: fopen(./data/config.php) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/vbritton/public_html/cutenews.1.4.5/cutenews/inc/options.mdu on line 754So, I ended up manually entering code (<br /><br />) to get a page break on my last post. Would you happen to know if I can (easily) upgrade straight from v.1.4.5 to UTF-8 without losing all my material and settings? Thanks again.

[BuffaloHelp 24]

First issue, check to see if you can write to config.php. This is noted when you log in. You'll see it at the bottom right. If you see NO then you must use FTP or cPanel to make config.php to CHMOD 777. This should solve your problem.Upgrading to v1.4.6 or UTF-8 are very easy. Both forums, cutephp and UTF-8, have written step by step instruction how to upgrade.Basically, Cutenews has few files you really need to keep: *.tpl (that's any template you built for your cutenews for your site. If you have not built any then don't need to save), comment.txt (if you have comments), news.txt, category.db.php, users.db.php, cat.num.php.When in doubt, download the entire DATA and UPIMAGES from your cutenews directory. If anything goes wrong you can simply upload your downloaded backup.

[Misanthrope 0]

Hi BuffaloHelp, Config.php doesn't show up as an option, so I guess I have to go through Cpanel. If you happen to know where within the Cutenews file I need to make the change to CHMOD 777 I'll go ahead and try. Otherwise, I'm ok manually entering code until I have time to upgrade. Sure appreciate your help thus far. Hi TrueFusion, thanks for investigating the problem. Looks like I'm on an older version and will ultimately have to upgrade. Yikes!

[BuffaloHelp 24]

Using FTP or cPanel, go topublic_html/cutenews.1.4.5/cutenews/dataFind config.php and change permission to 777.There's no real reason to upgrade, as far as I know, to v1.4.6 except if you have members registering to your website or allow SEARCH function, then there were exploits which allows regular members to gain as administrative level and really mess things with your cutenews.I believe I reminded all v.1.4.5 users to disable search.php found in public_html/cutenews.1.4.5/cutenews/search.php to something like search.bak or search.php.bak when the exploit was reported.Don't trust 100% what I have to say, but when I did that to one of my sites I have not had any incidence after the renaming. But just because my site is alright it does not mean it's secure. Go with your gut feeling if you should upgrade your CMS.

[Misanthrope 0]

Ah, that's good to know. I don't use search function or user comments. I went to public_html/cutenews.1.4.5/cutenews/data, opened up config.php, searched through the entire page but couldn't find anything regarding "permission." Could the permission change function be located in another file? Thanks again for your help!

[truefusion 3]

I went to public_html/cutenews.1.4.5/cutenews/data, opened up config.php, searched through the entire page but couldn't find anything regarding "permission." Could the permission change function be located in another file? Thanks again for your help!

Permissions in this case are file system specific and don't deal with the contents of the file. In your FTP program (if any), for example FileZilla, locate the file in question and right-click on the file and pick "File Permissions." For the numeric value, type in 777. If you are using cPanel, in the file manager just highlight the file and click on "Change Permissions" and check all the boxes.

[BuffaloHelp 24]

cool beans, truefusion! :PLet us know if you got it or having bit of difficulty, Misanthrope.

[Misanthrope 0]

Hurah! You two are geniuses. This has fixed the problem with me having to manually enter html to double space. I'm hopeful other html functions will work out too now that the permission has been changed to 777. Thanks again BuffaloHelp and truefusion for your stellar support.