File: readme.txt
Script Name: vNews 1.2
Author: Vincent Ryan Ong
Email: support@beanbug.net

Description:
vNews is a site news script used to relay the latest information
regarding any topic to visitors. And being a part of vScripts,
vNews comes with a powerful and flexible administration module 
where administrators/webmasters can easily change the look of 
the embedded news to conform with their existing site design.

This script is a freeware but if you want to give donations,
please send your checks (coz cash will probably be stolen in the
post office) them to:

Vincent Ryan Ong
Rm. 440 Wellington Bldg.
655 Condesa St. Binondo, Manila
Philippines, 1006



=======================
 vNews 1.2 README FILE
=======================

Contents:
  * Introduction
  * Package content
  * Requirements
  * Installation
  * Administration
  * Usage
  * Change Log

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* INTRODUCTION

  vNews is a news script embedded on sites to give visitors
  an up to date glance at what has happened, what will happen, and 
  what is new. Being a part of the vScripts family, vNews also 
  comes with a flexible and powerful administration module.

    FEATURES:
    1. Flexibility
	= vNews allows administrators and webdesigners to modify 
	  almost every aspect of the aesthetics of the News box. This
	  paves the way to seamless integration with existing sites.
    
    2. Speed
	= vNews uses the dynamic-duo of PHP and MySQL which enables
	  blazing fast transactions where only your server speed 
	  dictates the limit.
    
    3. Compactness
	= vNews is very small thus takes up little space allowing 
	  you more room to enhance your site's other features.

    4. Modification & Deletion of News
	= vNews does not only allow administrators to add news, it also
	  allows them to modify those news in case grammatical errors
	  were found later on. Deletion of news is also possible without
	  having to directly use MySQL. This helps clean up database
	  server space.


* PACKAGE CONTENT

  edit.gif - edit news icon
  delete.gif - delete news icon
  newsadmin.php - admin home interface
  newsdesign.php - admin design interface
  newscontent.php - admin content interface
  config.php - database configuration file
  news.php - news file to be included in site
  createdb.sql - database creation file
  readme.txt - this file
  credits.txt - list of people I give credit to


* REQUIREMENTS

  OS: Linux, Windows NT/2000/Whistler(XP) Server Family, Unix
  WEB SERVER: Apache (latest release)
  SCRIPTING: PHP 4 (latest stable release)
  DB: MySQL (latest stable release)
  DB MANAGEMENT: phpMyAdmin or any similar types of db manager

* INSTALLATION

  1. Edit config.inc and set the values to reflect your host's
     	configuration. Be sure to edit the value for $hrdiff and
	$ahead if you and your host are situated in different 
	time zones. 

  2. Create a new directory on the server/host for vNews.

  3. Edit news.php and change the line:
	require("News/config.php"); 
     to reflect the new directory. If the new directory name is
     "NewDirectory" then, the above line should be:
	require("NewDirectory/config.php"); 

  4. Upload edit.gif & delete.gif to the new directory in BINARY MODE 
     	(Use an FTP client for transferring files. A good one is WSFTP 
     	or CuteFTP).

  6. Upload all other files to the new diirectory in ASCII MODE. Be sure
     	NOT to separate the image files from these files by creating a 
     	different directory for it. All of these files should exist in the same 
     	directory.

  7. Create the necessary tables found in createdb.sql by executing it
	either in a database manager like phpMyAdmin or by using the 
	MySQL prompt. For details regarding the use of MySQL, please
	visit http://www.mysql.com


* ADMINISTRATION

  After installation, 2 new table named "newsdesign" and "newscontent"
  should have been created including a sample news entry in newscontent.
  Follow the instructions below to administer vNews.

    CREATING NEW POLL:
    1. Go to newsadmin.php using your browser and click on 
	News Administration.

    2. To add a news, fill up the multiline text box and click on the
	"Add" button.


    MODIFYING EXISTING NEWS
    1. In the News Content Administration section, select the news you wish 
	to modify and click on the "edit" icon that corresponds to it.

    2. Edit the news item in the News field.

    3. Click on "Modify" to save changes.


    DELETING EXISTING NEWS
    1. In the News Content Administration section, select the news you wish 
	to delete and click on the "delete" icon that corresponds to it.


    MODIFYING DESIGN
    1. Go to newsadmin.php using your browser and click on 
	Design Administration

    2. Edit the values in the fields of your choice.

    3. The color fields accept a maximum of only 6 characters. This was
	intended to discourage using words like RED, BLUE, etc. in the
	color fields. Use the Hex value instead (FF0000 for Red). 


* USAGE

  To include the news in your existing webpage, use the include statement of php:
	<? include ("news_directory/news.php") ?>


* CHANGE LOG
	Version 1.1 - Added time-offsetting feature. Watch out for vNews 1.3 where
			faster querying will be used. (MySQL's LIMIT function will
			be used instead)
	Version 1.2 - Changed the configuration file extension to .php to put a 
			cork in the security hole.


***********************
THAT's IT!
email support@beanbug.net for support.
***********************
