How does IP Content work?

[CaptJeff]

HI,  My name is Jeff.  I have two sites that I manage.  HotAirBalloonist.com and TheSkiSkool.com

I am not a developer,  I am a commercial pilot by trade.

So this stuff is rather hard for me.  I am trying to set up a video page using the IP Content thing.  it took me six weeks to figure out what an IP Content was.  So now I understand some.  It is building blocks you can build a page with.  But the whole blocks and templates and why there are some categories that dont have templates and some not??  When you make a page where does it go?  How do you get the new categories to show in the new pages? and how do you get a left border and right border and and and and ..

So I am lost.  I know what I want to do but I have no idea how to make it work.

Does anyone know of a tutorial about the Content app (if that is what you call it) where I can go and read about how it works and what the parts do?

Just so you know we are talking about 3.4.X  I can not even navigate the front side of 4 let alone the back room or CP.  In my oppinion they took a great product and trashed it.  Then created something that is totally useless, at least for me.

 

All the best.

Jeff

[Meddysong]

Hi, Jeff. Something like this can be daunting if you're new to it. I've been there myself.

What used to be called IP.Content has been Pages for the last couple of years. The 3.4.x series isn't supported anymore, so you'd be wise to upgrade to the latest version of the suite. Pages is a lot easier to work with than the old IP.Content, that's for sure. There are tutorials for it here: https://invisionpower.com/4guides/suite-applications/pages/

[CaptJeff]

Thank you Meddysong,

4 is so screwed up I can not even use the front side of it let alone the CP.  Tried 5 of the sample communities and could not even function in it.  So that is NOT NEVER EVER an option.  It is worthless to me.  In fact it boggles my mind that they even released it. 

I know there is no more support for 3 stuff so they may have just completly put me out of buisness becasue 4 will not work for my use's at all.  In fact I have a hard time even getting round in here to find the stuff I am after.

Thank you very much for tring.

Jeff

 

In fact I did not even know you had posted anything.  I just happened to stumble back on this while I was looking for help

[opentype]

 

3 minutes ago, CaptJeff said:

In fact it boggles my mind that they even released it. 

Well, it’s working fine of 99,9% of the thousands of users. If it doesn’t for you, it must be a problem on your end (i.e. your browser or whatever). So maybe rather investigate that problem on your end instead of making unjustified broad claims about a supposed “trashed” product. 

[CaptJeff]

You mean they will still support 3?  That is great news.  I thought they have pushed three to the side and abandond it.

As I said I tried several of the sample communities and could not use them.  When I say trashed it I mean they took a product that was very good and dumped it along side the road.  4 is so different it does not even resemble 3.  I was just barly begining to understand 3 and POOF they rolled out this entirely new and completly different thing that I have tried and tried to understand and to use and can not.  I do not know how it works an can not use it.  Simply too different.

 

[opentype]

17 minutes ago, CaptJeff said:

You mean they will still support 3? 

No. I didn’t say anything like that. Not sure where you see that. 

 

17 minutes ago, CaptJeff said:

As I said I tried several of the sample communities and could not use them. 

I understand that. But that claim alone doesn’t achieve anything. At least it needs to be established what the cause for these/your problems is. You do realize that 4.x is running on hundreds of websites with each tens of thousands of visitors every day, do you? And the product is out since 2015. Its the first time since then that I hear a single person claim such general problems with using the product. So everything points to an problems on your end. 

 

17 minutes ago, CaptJeff said:

When I say trashed it I mean they took a product that was very good and dumped it along side the road. 

Yeah, it was good – for its time. But the web moves on and so does EVERY web software. You know before 3.x there was 2.x, right? And 1.x before that and various .X releases of the main versions. What do you expect? That they double the team every year to keep each of these versions alive forever? 
If you wanna be a web admin, you need to be able to deal with changes or find a partner who does and handles the administration for you. 

 

[Dean_]

Jeff, as above things change on the www, I think you'll need to bring someone one to help you. You may have to pay for this which you've already recognised. The forums as a whole and the software can be difficult to use and understand if you've never done it before.
Sorry you're finding it tough and I feel some communication has been lost somewhere along the way in this topic. Did someone help you setup your current board and teach you how to do things and the general running of the site?

Going from a previous post that you've said to me (which outlines what you want/need) -

Quote

 

Learn how to use the IP Contact thing.

Why does my Add media link not work?

How do I see a page template?

I have a link on my media page that takes me to the Articles page. How do I make a link to put on the articles page that takes someone to the Media page.?

Why do my category links not function?

When I create a new Media Category where is that page?  It does not show up in the pages listings.

What are all these database templates?  How do they work?  Are they something you can see?  What hooks them to the pages?
I look at the help menues and it says stuff like this.

What is Content?  Pages? Templates?  So the first sentance "When you edit content" and I am already lost..  I see exactly what they say and when you say "Edit content in Content" it just screws my mind up.

I am not worried about you cloging anything because I do nto even know what that means.

I need a very kind developer who would like to take me under thier wing and walk me around the Content category inside the CP and tell me in english what all that stuff does because its like putting a homeless person in the cocpit of a DC-10.  Lots of cool buttons and switches but no clue what they do and simply not possible to use them for they can actually do.  Can not even get the engines started let alone fly the plane.

 

The bold and italic text at the very bottom is what you need, but it's going to find someone who can do that and do it for a good price and spend the time with you and teach you the ways of the software. And something like this can't really be done over a monitor, you'd need someone next to you. 

[CaptJeff]

I am still trying to learn 3.  That is why I posted for help!  People telling me to go to 4 does not help.  I cant operate what I have.  Trying to learn a whole new version is not a logical option.  "Never mind learning how to drive that car. Here jump in this jet aircraft and take off!

When I made the reference to supporting 3 it was in responce to you indicating that I said that 4 was trash. I did not say that.  I said that they trashed 3 by tossing it aside.

I have way to much to learn on how to run what I have before I even contemplate attempting 4.  Read my signature line.  It is not a joke.

If you have some wisdom or a place where I can go read and learn that would be great.

Thank you.

Jeff

[CaptJeff]

Hey Dean,

Most of it I have done myself,  Purchased a few modifications and then beat my head on a wall for a few weeks to get them to work but for the most part I have managed it myself.  NOT EASY because there are so many different parts to it.  The one part is the "Content" thing. I purchased a media page from I think Marcher to set up the one on the HotAirBalloonist.com site.  Now I am trying to duplicate that on the TheSkiSkool.com site.  And YES when 3.X was supported I submitted more than my fair share of support tickets.  I tried the forums for help but no one seemd to ever respond or when they did respond the Teckno Babble gibberish was so bad I could not even tell if they were trying to help or send me down ilse 5 looking for a left handed smoke shifter.  I am simply not on the level that everyone else seems to be.  Part of my problem when looking for help is that I can not even understand the topic titles let alone the content inside.

My signature line is exactly correct.  It is not a joke.  But where do I go to learn?

Thank you for your kindness to me.

JEff

To give you an idea of how crazy litteral I am,  For the first year when I submitted a help ticket in the very first section where it say's "Title" I would write "Capt Jeff".  I then made a comment that it sure would be nice if there was a way to go back and find specific tickets about the topic I was asking about.  That was when they told me that the Title was not asking for MY TITLE but rather the topic I needed help with..  So now imagin me trying to read a help guide.

 

[Joel R]

17 minutes ago, CaptJeff said:

I am still trying to learn 3.  That is why I posted for help!  People telling me to go to 4 does not help.  I cant operate what I have.  Trying to learn a whole new version is not a logical option.  "Never mind learning how to drive that car. Here jump in this jet aircraft and take off!

When I made the reference to supporting 3 it was in responce to you indicating that I said that 4 was trash. I did not say that.  I said that they trashed 3 by tossing it aside.

I have way to much to learn on how to run what I have before I even contemplate attempting 4.  Read my signature line.  It is not a joke.

If you have some wisdom or a place where I can go read and learn that would be great.

Thank you.

Jeff

Take a deep breath.  It'll be okay  

It took me a year to figure out IP.Content in v3 to figure out how it works.  (Just to let you know, if and when you do upgrade, IP.Pages in v4 is much much easier to manage and create.)  

With that said, it'll be hard for you to find tutorials for v3 since most of the IPS community has upgraded to v4.

This is the only public resource I could find for you:

 

[Dean_]

That's what I've found but it wasn't that good, specially not in Jeff's situation.

[Joel R]

1 minute ago, Dean_ said:

That's what I've found but it wasn't that good, specially not in Jeff's situation.

Meh.  He's asking for information on a customization for a software that's about to go EOL.  He's not even posting in the right forum, he needs to post in the graveyard for his v3 questions and then I think he'll realize that the rest of the IPS community has moved on.  

If he was on v4, I would point him to:

And in less than 3 min, he would have a fully-functional video application and he would be done.  

[Dean_]

Just now, Joel R said:

Meh.  He's asking for information on a customization for a software that's about to go EOL.  He's not even posting in the right forum, he needs to post in the graveyard for his v3 questions and then I think he'll realize that the rest of the IPS community has moved on.  

If he was on v4, I would point him to:

And in less than 3 min, he would have a fully-functional video application and he would be done.  

I've sent him here because he needs to be upgraded to IPB4 ideally, and hoping someone can help him. So please don't have a go, I'm just trying to help so a 'meh' response isn't helpful....

[CaptJeff]

Thank you guys,

No worries Dean,  I dont know what an MEH is or an EOL for that matter.

I have honestly tried to use the 4.  I have had 5 demo communities.  Things that I did learn how to do were completly unrecognizable in the new version 4.  I am still learning the one I have so starting over I just can not do.  I would loose all of the customization I have done.  Then I would have a site that I could not recognize and no way to fix it.  If there had been small changes along the way I may have been able to adapt but, this was going from a hang glider to a boing 727.  Way too much of a leap for me at this time.  I know there are hundreds of developers out there who will scoff at me but then if they tried to fly a hot air balloon they would most likely kill themselves.  So at least in here you can throw all the names at me you want and it will not hurt me.  I am just trying to learn.  I guess I will need to learn the secret handshake before anyone will welcome me to the club.

Once again thank you or being kind to me Dean.

 

[Dean_]

You're very welcome, Jeff.

[opentype]

9 hours ago, CaptJeff said:

I know there are hundreds of developers out there who will scoff at me but then if they tried to fly a hot air balloon they would most likely kill themselves.  So at least in here you can throw all the names at me you want and it will not hurt me. 

Please stop these kinds of misrepresentations. No one here used name calling because you are “clueless” (as you say). There is nothing wrong with being clueless in certain areas. Everyone is, as you pointed out yourself with the hot air ballon example. So we can skip any discussion about that and don’t need these kind of accusations and misrepresentations. The problem is: what are you saying and doing from this position of “cluelessness”. And one thing was, that you are blaming IPS for developing the software further (as the vast majority of users want it) and you blame them for not sticking to that one of many many versions you just happen to be used to. I merely pointed out the flaws in that logic.

And the core of the question is: what to do in your situation. You were getting different answers than what you expected, but that doesn’t make these answers unreasonable. It’s a matter of fact, that development and support for 3.4 has ended. So keeping that version running and secure, getting any kind of support or tutorials or developer help will get more difficult the more time passes. In addition, as pointed out, Pages, the successor of IP.Content is now in fact easier to use and does require less HTML knowledge to set up databases by the admin. Because of all this, the suggestion to upgrade is a reasonable one, whether you rule it out or not. If I am clueless about hot air balloons and ask an unreasonable or just stupid question, you would give a reasonable suggestion based on your experience as well, wouldn’t you?

If you rule out 4.x, then the only other options I see is to either drop your video directory plan or to hire a developer for it. If the general usage of 4.x is too much for you, than setting up IP.Content databases is as well. That’s my honest answer based on my experience. 

[Joy Rex]

My two cents on this whole thing:

As you admitted, you are a pilot and not a developer - so, do what you do best, and for your website, hire someone (preferably from here who has experience with IPS 3.4/4) who knows what they are doing (people trust you to fly the balloon; you need to trust them to help manage your site) and save yourself the time and frustration.

It's admirable you gave it a go, but it really is apparent this is not your forte and should focus on what you do best, and let someone who knows what they are doing make your life easier.

[CaptJeff]

thank you all very much.

We have gotten way off track here,  I am just asking if anyone knows of a way for me to learn how to use the IP content module. 

If you read my original post I was very honest and upfront about my experience.  I said I do not understand the V4 at all.  When I said they took a good program and trashed it I was not talking about V4.  I was talking about the 3 series that is being tossed out. My only statement about V4 was that it was so different that I was lost on both the front side and on the CP side.  I honestly believe it makes sense that if you do not understand one thing you dont abandon the 10 things that you DO UNDERSTAND, for 20 things you dont understand.  Especially when there is 0 things you do understand.  So going from some functionality to ZERO functionality is really not a good choice no matter how many other people are using it.

I understand you can not support an old version forever but why destroy or delete the help documentation?  I am unsure how much documentation there even was since I never did stumble on a treasure trove of "How TO" stuff. 

Thank you Joy,  I have not a clue about what to even ask when it comes to get a developer.  Imagine sending out your 9 year old daughter to purchase a good used car. 

As  I said,  If someone knows of a place I can go read on how to do this please let me know.  If you look at HotAirBalloonist.com or TheSkiSkool.com you will see I ahve done OK for someone who knew nothing when I started.  I CAN LEARN I just need to know where to go.  There must be a document or tutorial somewhere that will help me.

Thank you all

 

Jeff

 

[Joel R]

30 minutes ago, CaptJeff said:

thank you all very much.

We have gotten way off track here,  I am just asking if anyone knows of a way for me to learn how to use the IP content module. 

If you read my original post I was very honest and upfront about my experience.  I said I do not understand the V4 at all.  When I said they took a good program and trashed it I was not talking about V4.  I was talking about the 3 series that is being tossed out. My only statement about V4 was that it was so different that I was lost on both the front side and on the CP side.  I honestly believe it makes sense that if you do not understand one thing you dont abandon the 10 things that you DO UNDERSTAND, for 20 things you dont understand.  Especially when there is 0 things you do understand.  So going from some functionality to ZERO functionality is really not a good choice no matter how many other people are using it.

I understand you can not support an old version forever but why destroy or delete the help documentation?  I am unsure how much documentation there even was since I never did stumble on a treasure trove of "How TO" stuff. 

Thank you Joy,  I have not a clue about what to even ask when it comes to get a developer.  Imagine sending out your 9 year old daughter to purchase a good used car. 

As  I said,  If someone knows of a place I can go read on how to do this please let me know.  If you look at HotAirBalloonist.com or TheSkiSkool.com you will see I ahve done OK for someone who knew nothing when I started.  I CAN LEARN I just need to know where to go.  There must be a document or tutorial somewhere that will help me.

Thank you all

 

Jeff

 

Try this:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130725013759/http://www.invisionpower.com/support/guides/_/ips-community-suite-apps/ip-cont/

It's all of the official IPS guides for IP.Content for v3 from back in 2013, courtesy of the Wayback Machine.  

[CaptJeff]

Joel you just became my hero!  I know about the wayback machine but did not think of it.  Even if I did think of it I would not have known where to look.  I will go and print all this stuff right now.  I have already read some of it and it does help understand the format or concept.  YEA there is hope.

Jeff

[Joel R]

8 minutes ago, CaptJeff said:

Joel you just became my hero!  I know about the wayback machine but did not think of it.  Even if I did think of it I would not have known where to look.  I will go and print all this stuff right now.  I have already read some of it and it does help understand the format or concept.  YEA there is hope.

Jeff

If you can understand v3 IP.Content, then v4 IP.Pages will be much much easier if and when you do decide to upgrade.  I'm not pressuring you to upgrade -- I'm just pointing out that IPS v4 is most definitely the spiritual successor to IPS v3, and significant improvements were made (especially to building pages, databases, and blocks.)  

When @opentype and I suggested you think about upgrading to v4, we were doing it with the best of intentions.  The IPS community is very small and there aren't a lot of public resources, so it's going to be extremely difficult for you to find coders, customizations, or even documentation about v3 as time goes on. IPS clients tend to move in lockstep with IPS releases.

If you do decide to jump into the deep end into v4, then I encourage you to connect with @kar3n2 who shares a similar background as yours, and who can probably take the time to walk you through IPS v4 as she also had a steep learning curve when she first migrated.  There is also extensive documentation on v4 now:

https://invisionpower.com/4guides/

https://invisionpower.com/release-notes/

[CaptJeff]

Thank you again Joel,  I can use these notes to help me from getting so lost when I am trying to create what I want.  I do have the Marcher Tech Content Media modification on my HotAirBalloonist.com site but do not remember how to use it and I had Marcher go in and fix it for me years ago and promised him I would never touch it again since I screwed it up the first time.  Heck I dont even rmember how to upload the files.

But,  You may be able to answer a question for me.  My Member Map modification is TOAST if I go to V4 correct?  And my media page, Toast, my skin? Toast?  My Who Read this modification, Toast?  I also have to redo my Zend or what ever is on my server to get Nexus to work again.  So just about everything I have ever done will be wiped out!  My navigation bar is gone and replaced with the two tier nav bar.

If I am wrong please let me know

So what works?  What do I have that will work in V4?  Anything?  You see my hessitation.  Doing this stuff is extreemly painfull for me because I have to learn this all from scratch with no developer knoledge. Lots of trial and error with mostly error.  Terrified to upgrade because I loose everything and Freaked out to do anything with V3 for fear I will screw it up and no one will help fix it.

Bless you for pointing me in a direction that should help.

Jeff

[Joel R]

45 minutes ago, CaptJeff said:

Thank you again Joel,  I can use these notes to help me from getting so lost when I am trying to create what I want.  I do have the Marcher Tech Content Media modification on my HotAirBalloonist.com site but do not remember how to use it and I had Marcher go in and fix it for me years ago and promised him I would never touch it again since I screwed it up the first time.  Heck I dont even rmember how to upload the files.

@Marcher Technologies is still alive and available.  You should ping him.

45 minutes ago, CaptJeff said:

But,  You may be able to answer a question for me.  My Member Map modification is TOAST if I go to V4 correct?  And my media page, Toast, my skin? Toast?  My Who Read this modification, Toast?  I also have to redo my Zend or what ever is on my server to get Nexus to work again.  So just about everything I have ever done will be wiped out!  My navigation bar is gone and replaced with the two tier nav bar.

Not just toast, but scorched earth burnt toast.  In fact, one thing you can do to visualize your IPS 4 migration is to disable all plugins, disable all applications, disable all custom blocks, and revert back to the default skin.  Strip everything out, and that's what you will begin with on v4.  Sounds terrifying, eh?    

Take a deep breath.  There is some light at the end of the tunnel:

• Member Map - updated to v4.  Not sure about the modification
• Media page - updated to v4 (and you have 3 choices!!)
• Who Read This - updated to v4
• Skin - updated to v4 (and you have 236 skins or themes to choose from, so I'm sure you can find one you like)
• Zend / Ioncube - not needed, since IP.Commerce is no longer encoded
• Navigation Bar - IPS includes a really cool Menu Manager that's very easy to build
• IPS Support will upgrade your community from v3 to v4 as a courtesy.  Really. Just send in a ticket.  (But make sure you take a database backup, take screenshots, make archives of everything before you upgrade, write down what you want to rebuild, etc.).  

So ... not so scary.  In fact, for ALL of the issues you specifically asked about, you can rebuild into your IPS v4 community fairly easily.  If those specific items are the biggest fears of yours, then everything is already available for you.  There's an upgrade path for everything that you want and v4 is not such a terrifying stretch any more.    

Here's the final thing for you to consider: I understand you're still shaky on v3.  That's understandable, especially IP.Content which has an extremely high learning curve.  I also understand you'll be taking a couple of steps back and needing to re-learning everything such as the ACP, permissions, navigation, etc.  But you'll have official IPS Support and the IPS community to support you.  We can help you on v4.  We can point you to guides, tutorials, resources, Marketplace files, and other forum topics.  We can't do that with v3 since most of that stuff has been archived, hidden or deleted.  The longer you stay on v3, the more you'll be left out on your own.  

[Marcher Technologies]

1 hour ago, CaptJeff said:

Thank you again Joel,  I can use these notes to help me from getting so lost when I am trying to create what I want.  I do have the Marcher Tech Content Media modification on my HotAirBalloonist.com site but do not remember how to use it and I had Marcher go in and fix it for me years ago and promised him I would never touch it again since I screwed it up the first time.  Heck I dont even rmember how to upload the files.

Thanks for mentioning me Joel.... Jeff, that was 3.x Content, which actually required some code editing to even rearrange a page(and at the time, you were downright scary to allow in templates). That was not meant to be a moratorium on upgrading at all. In fact, quite the opposite, Pages for 4 has much drag and drop editing and easy option toggles, it's a much better app for you than Content was in ease of use.

[CaptJeff]

First off,

Thank you ALL! 

@Marcher Technologies O cool I figured out to to that thingy @Joel R did...  Does this send a note or message to you guys?

Here again please forgive me.  I can learn this but it is all completly new to me.  YOU guys have now got me believing that mabey v4 may be a possibility for me someday.  Please understand how hard this is for me not having any previous Developing or coding experience.  I have to learn EVERYTHING from scratch and it takes hours and hours of painfull trial and error with mostly ERROR..  My HotAirBalloonist.com site is fairly good and I am trying to build another called TheSkiSkool.com 

My resistance to 4 is sort of like this.  You have spent 100's of hours building a beautiful sand sculpture on the beacn and some idiot with a 4X4 pickup truck just ran over the sculpture several times destroying in and now you have to rebuild it.  Worse than that not only did they destroy your sculpture but they took all your tools and erased your memory of how to build one.  WTF comes to mind.

Dear Marcher, I am still scary...  I honestly try my hardest to read and learn but there is still so so so much I do not understand.  The worst part of this is that I only have a small about of time to sit and learn.

Joel R.  You made the comment.

Quote

Zend / Ioncube - not needed, since IP.Commerce is no longer encoded

So how does the store work?  Is there different special stuff my host people have to upload on the server for me?  What sort of hickups will I run into to get the store to work.  Does is still use my stripe account? 

I know we are way off topic on this stuff but honestly I have tried the forums a bunch of times and you are the only ones who have honestly tried to help so I am thrilled with the communication.

Thank you all

Jeff

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