Topic: How to make portal front page forward/show a SP Page instead?

[Stigmartyr]

Subject is pretty self explanitory.  Here's what I did: http://stangnation.com/

Front page pulls iframe in an HTML block.  Notice to the right side border that the page should be centered, but it is actually pushed to the right a few pixels so you can't see the right border of the page within the Iframe.

I have gone over the iframe HTML already from CSS to div layers to ensure its straight.  I am inclined to think that 960 wide as a TOP BLOCK is breaking the theme even though it shouldn't

To test, I use the exact same HTML code and put an iframe in a SP page: http://stangnation.com/index.php?page=beta

It's fine in a page.

So my question is: can you help me make it so I can just have the SP portal open the page instead or perhaps put a page in a block or something?  I'm tired perhaps, I've been up hours with this.

The only way this seems to work is in IE with compatibility mode right now.  Its broken in Opera, Chrome and Safari

[Stigmartyr]

Edit: for the record - I have tried BBC block using an HTML tag instead, I have attempted to use PHP include but always get syntax errors, so..

It would be nice if the page itself could be optioned to be set as 'Homepage'


Thank you!

[Stigmartyr]

Does anyone know the difference of how SP renders the portal page than from other pages?

I'm hoping if I can sort that out, I can probably devise a patch.

[AngelinaBelle]

I'd like to help you find a Simple way to achieve your goal.
 
I am not sure what you are trying to achieve. I have a few suggestions, anyway.
 
The Portal page is like a very special example of a SimplePortal page.  It is as though it has its own special type though. You don't get to choose between BBC, HTML, and PHP.  The only choice for the central area is ARTICLES, which works out to be pretty much like an ARTICLES block (though it doesn't use the ARTICLES block)
 
If you want your Portal page to have a BBC, HTML, or php block in the middle of the page, you can put it at the bottom of the top blocks, and restrict it to show up only on the portal page.
 
If you would like the articles turned off, you can use the setting to turn it off. If you want to use them elsewhere, you can leave them on and make a one-line customization to keep them out of the center of the Portal Page: http://simpleportal.net/index.php?topic=5208.msg31437#msg31437

[Stigmartyr]

TY Angelina - I don't care how, I just want the method that doesn't suffer from the same alignment issues as using a HTML or BBC top block to render a 960px wide iframe.

It seems the 'page' can render it just fine in my example, however a top block has some issues, shortening the width and creating an ugly scroll bar I have to hide with (overflow:hidden) but even then the content is still chopped off on the right.

What I was wondering is if there was a way to make a page show first on the homepage, but you suggested using articles.  I don't want to use articles because that is in a forum post format and I don't want that.

I simply want to display my iframe on the front page or display an 'SP page' as the homepage/portal page.

[AngelinaBelle]

Articles is not an issue,then.
 
It sounds as though your alignment issues arise from some kind of CSS problem.
Please give links to
* Portal page with top block showing alignment issues
* Special page with same content, showing no alignment issues.
 
960px wide iframe?
 
 

[Stigmartyr]

Articles is not an issue,then.
 
It sounds as though your alignment issues arise from some kind of CSS problem.
Please give links to
* Portal page with top block showing alignment issues
* Special page with same content, showing no alignment issues.
 
960px wide iframe?

What you ask is all explained in my first post

Articles would be an issue also because it introduces pagination at the footer which I don't want either.

[AngelinaBelle]

I think articles are not an issue because you do not want them at all.
So - no articles.
 
To my eyes, and using IE8, (compatability mode on or off) the Portal and simpleportal page you linked to look identical.
 
In both cases, stuff is piled on top of other stuff.
Except for those moments when "Stang Nation Sponsors" contains "Service Temporarily Unavailable"
Then everything looks much better on both pages, and still identical.

[Stigmartyr]

I think articles are not an issue because you do not want them at all.
So - no articles.
 
To my eyes, and using IE8, (compatability mode on or off) the Portal and simpleportal page you linked to look identical.
 
In both cases, stuff is piled on top of other stuff.
Except for those moments when "Stang Nation Sponsors" contains "Service Temporarily Unavailable"
Then everything looks much better on both pages, and still identical.

Bad timing - all that is now happening because of service interruption with the advertising plugin I think.

[AngelinaBelle]

Well, now, they look identically beautiful. My eyes cannot tell the difference between the two.
Maybe you can post some pictures of the differences you see.
The differences may be CSS related. Or not.

[Stigmartyr]

Well, now, they look identically beautiful. My eyes cannot tell the difference between the two.
Maybe you can post some pictures of the differences you see.
The differences may be CSS related. Or not.

Cool - so if you can see what I'm talking about you'll want to look very closely to the borders and edges in the example pics below.

When its in an HTML front page block pulling that 690px wide iframe, the portal crops a few pixels off:





When it's in a Simple Portal Page, it will show perfectly using the exact same iframe code:




I am running IE9 Beta and must use compatibility mode to view it correctly.  However in Opera, Chrome, Safari it is broken.

[AngelinaBelle]

I did  little experimenting on my own (portal top-block vs page)
I saw some changes in padding, but no cropping in either case.
One difference I noticed in your two examples is the two is that on the portal page you use

Code: [Select]

<div id="Synthetik">, whereas on the simpleportal page, you did not.

[Stigmartyr]

I did  little experimenting on my own (portal top-block vs page)
I saw some changes in padding, but no cropping in either case.
One difference I noticed in your two examples is the two is that on the portal page you use

Code: [Select]

<div id="Synthetik">, whereas on the simpleportal page, you did not.

Ah yes, and the reason for that is because unlike in the SP page, I do not have to compensate for the horizontal scroll bar that gets created at the bottom.  I made that css call to provide me a way to do 'overflow: hidden;' on any elements I need to with just a div layer.

I was brainstorming today wondering how to get SP to just show a page onload of the home URL.  Is it possible that whatever code calls the SP page templates up could just call an SP page instead of the SP portal template?

I know I'm asking alot, but I started thinking: if admins had an option to mark an SP page to 'set as home' or 'set as front page' that might be rather handy.  If not, I started pondering how the portal worked in different modes, like stand alone, etc. which tell the site how to render the front page.  If that could be modified to simply call the contents of a page instead we might be in business.

I can't understand what might be the culprit - I wondered if it was the elements that collapse the side bar but it was unclear to me, even using the developer console of my browser.  Was hoping for some insight from the SP gurus as to any differences between how the front page is rendered to account for all the blocks, etc and how a page is rendered.

I know it's just a few pixels but I'm committed to resolving this!

[AngelinaBelle]

I understand what you are saying. You want help figuring out how to make a major change in SimplePortal function. It might even be relatively easy.And here I am, trying to push a very different way of looking at it on you.

I'm still stuck in the "defining the problem" step, whereas you desire information on implementing the solution you've identified.

I can guess, from your attempts to reword, that you are just trying to get me to understand. I'm sorry I'm frustrating you. So I'm going to make only one more attempt at defining the problem before I pass your question up to an (very overworked) expert

I don't think you have any clipping of the iframe contents.  I think you've got issues with whitespace OUTSIDE the iframe.

Here's why I don't think there is no clipping:
I blew up both pages way up (400%), and used IE8 developers tools to put a blue line around the IFrame. The inside of the iframe part looked the same to me on both pages.

Here's what I see for the beta page:
   
 
 
and for the portal page:
   
 
What I do see is a difference in the space put around the iframe, especially the space after.
There are ways to handle this, to get control over the padding and one extra <br />
 

[Stigmartyr]

I tried </iframe><br /></div> and </iframe></div><br /> but none worked for me.  Did you intend I put it somewhere else?

Thanks again!

[AngelinaBelle]

If you have firefox, get firebug.
If you have IE7 or IE8, hit F12 to bring up the developers tools.
This makes it very easy to analyze the HTML.
 
On your portal page, your iframe is in block 80.
After that block, but still within <td id="sp_center"> comes two <br>
The first <br/> comes because simpleportal puts one after every block, as a spacer between blocks.
Not everyone likes this. It can be addressed like this: http://simpleportal.net/index.php?topic=5276.msg31858#msg31858
 
I'm not sure where the second one comes from.  I is probably from 1) the end of all top blocks 2) the end of the (empty) central area, 3) the end of the (empty) bottom blocks or 4) not from SimplePortal at all.  I'm guessing 1 or 4.  One would have to hunt through the code.
 
On the beta page your iframe is in the page's center block, enclosed by

Code: [Select]

<div>
<table class="sp_block">  After that, but still within <td id="sp_center"> comes one <br/> (see reasons 1-4 above)
So you could make the beta page a bit more like the portal page by adding a <br/> in pages center block. But not the other way around.
 
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And then, you have margins-and-padding in all the various containers. If you have IE developers tools or firebug, you can easily sort out the differences in style.
 
Why are there such differences in style? Maybe historical reasons.
 
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"Make the portal page just a special case of a SimplePortal Page" might be a good feature request.
Because, really, the SimplePortal page is KIND OF like a SimplePortal page of type "Articles".
But it is not implemented that way.
 
OK.  I made that request myself. Feel free to add your comment.
 
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Whatever you decide to do with your portal page, you are now definitely heading into themes and graphics or customization territory.