Cumulus Support

Well, it appears the interest for the 'AJAX-PHP Saratoga templates for Cumulus' has dwindled to ... nothing!

To a certain extend, I was expecting such a lack of interest from most users, more so from the users of Cumulus.

Before anyone start bashing my head, let me explain why my expectation for the 'AJAX-PHP Saratoga templates for Cumulus' were so low...

As I stated quite a few time, the design (appearance) of the 'AJAX-PHP Saratoga templates for Cumulus' (and for the other weather station software) is dated, really dated (according to the comments inside the files, the cascading style sheets have not been modified since April 2003 - I compare the CSS files released in April 2008 with the most recent release (in April 2011) of the same CSS file and they are identical). Some of you would probably tell me that if something is not broken there is no need to change it. Well, I am not writing about something being broken, I am writing about something being outdated, page designs that have not changed since 2008, page designs that are cold and stern - the pages supplied/produced by Cumulus are much more inviting, much more pleasant to look at (and also more modern).

I am not trying to discredit Ken True's incredible work for the past four years on the scripts of the 'AJAX-PHP Saratoga templates'. The point I am trying to make is that a new more modern page design should have been created/developed before releasing the templates - I even think the templates should have been released as a content storage management (CSM) not unlike WordPress, a flexible software that can be used to create powerful Web sites.

Some of you will probably question the fact that my main weather Web sites (Tzouhalem-Maple Bay Weather) are still using (although internally highly modified) the 'Saratoga Weather Display (PHP-AJAX) Website Templates'... ...Over the years, I have found a dozen different type of templates I could use, including a couple of CSM packages, but when I look at the time needed to adapt/convert/modify some 300 pages/scripts/templates, I just cannot convince myself to undertake such a project.

That is why a couple of years ago, after reading about Cumulus, I decided to install and try Cumulus. I liked the new look of the Web pages Cumulus produced but really disliked the very limited HTM format the templates were using. So, every templates were adapted/converted/modify to PHP. I have since continued adapting/converting/creating/modifying templates (from other weather software and other developers) to make them compatible with the data provided by Cumulus.

Over the past weeks, I have tested the cloudbase script (there might be some bugs left, but, so far, none have shown), I have re-written the Cumulus-designed annual weather data summary script (to PHP only - I do not have the knowledge to convert the PHP script to Ajax/JavaScript) and have updated a few other scripts.

Yes, I am still around, but my interests for the 'AJAX-PHP Saratoga templates for Cumulus' are almost completely gone - I think I will concentrate on learning more about CSM to eventually adapt my weather pages to that media...

Note: I will clean up the cloudbase script (remove the debugging code) and release the update later on today or tommorrow.

gemini06720 wrote:To a certain extend, I was expecting such a lack of interest from most users, more so from the users of Cumulus.

This thread is over 38 pages, probably one of the largest on the forum.... hardly a lack of interest.

I didn't use the scripts because there are already about a thousand weather websites that all look the same and I'd be just another one but I do like some of the functions within the scripts.

I do admire Kens work and all those who contributed to getting this working on their sites.

All good things must come to an end I guess..

Here is the latest release of the cloudbase script - two packages, one with all the files required (full install) and one with the changed/updated files (update).

The cloudbase script should be replacement for any of the previous scripts - first, (always) make a copy of the old cloudbase script and then copy the new script, overwriting the old script. I recommend that you read the 'cloudbase_readme.txt' file to find out which command-line switches have changed (either removed or renamed). The cloudbase script now has its own language file(s) independent of the main language file(s) - the cloudbase script will check/look for the system-wide '$lang' variable to determine which language file to use - if a specific language file is not available, the script will display its information in english (default language).

The script will first read the 'Settings.php' and the 'Settings-weather.php' files to get the weather station information. Then the 'realtime.txt' file will be read to get the weather data. Finally, the 'CUtags.php' file will be read to get additional weather data (data that is not available from the 'realtime.txt' file).

All weather data is then converted to metric measurement (if supplied as imperial measurement) before being processed. Finally, if requested, the weather data will be converted to imperial measurement before creating the graphic image.

The cloudbase script still contains debugging lines of code - if no bug is reported within the next week, a final version of the cloudbase, without the debugging code, will be released. So, please, report immediately any problem you might encounter. Thank you.

Sorry for my absence from this thread.. the wife and I just finished a European vacation/cruise and returned about a week ago after 28 days abroad. Still adjusting to the timezone shift and catching up on many items.

Regarding Ray's comments about the seeming ancient CSS and some of the code, I plead guilty, but ask the court's indulgence for a bit of explanation:

I'm a firm believer in providing a stable starting point for each person desiring to use the scripts (templates included) to have a working construct as a base for them to craft their own unique expression from the parts (if they so desire), learn HTML, CSS, PHP coding by examples included, and preserve a high degree of backward compatibility where possible. So...

The scripts/templates work with commonly available PHP .. the recent shift to PHP5 was made in only a few scripts, and the rest work fine in the now deprecated (but still widely-used) PHP4.

The templates use CSS2, and the presentation works in all browsers from IE6 to current releases of the major browsers. Browser-specific CSS extensions were not used.

The templates use PHP to display the main conditions/pages, and AJAX updates optionally provide more current conditions to JavaScript-enabled browsers. (I really hate sites that require JavaScript to be enabled just to display their content).

The V3 templates added plugin ability to support four different weather station software packages.

A common site design/structure with built-in CSS-based menu system allows for easy site maintenance (over separate HTML pages).

A simple translation system is included to allow multilingual support (maybe not to the high standards that Ray wishes for translations).

I didn't use CSS3/HTML5 as those browsers supporting that are only now emerging and the 'standard' is still in flux. XHTML-1.0 Transitional was used as it is a stable system supported by all the browsers in current usage.

I didn't use a Content Management System like Joomla/phpNuke/WordPress as they all require extra complexity for the person to setup and manage (needs a SQL DB) and sometimes provides an avenue for exploitation of PHP/SQL code.

Yes, there are about 450 template users worldwide and their sites do look much the same. Some have replaced the CSS and structure to create a very different look while preserving the benefits of the common code underneath. My own site is really the common template with a slightly different page structure and very different CSS.

I guess what I want to say is that I intend the template/scripts to be a starting point for the weather enthusiast to create their own vision for a weather website. It's also ok if they want to just use the package as-is and are not interested in learning more PHP/HTML/CSS.

In summary, not all old stuff is "bad" nor is all new stuff "good" .. working stuff across a wide variety of platforms implemented using varying degrees of expertise that result in good presentation is always good IMHO

Best regards,
Ken

BTW.. the cloudbase work seems to have supplanted discussions about the templates in this thread.

No arguments mate (... and the beteljuices server is still PHP4 !)

I for one would like to thank you for your collection of scripts over the years, and the insights they have given everyone into coding and Ajax and html manipulation and ....



PS. You should be used to recurring 'thorns' by now

Hi..

I´m using the Saratoga Ajax/PHP template in 000webhost (free), but i´ve a big issue:

-Since i start using this template, i´m loosing web access to my site (only via Web, i can access via FTP)..according to 000webhost support a IP can only access the site 2000 times a day otherwise it will be banned 24h (Dos attack prevention)..since i setup Cumulus updates every 30 seconds, in a day i was having 2800 connections. So i set it to 120seconds (+-700 connections a day), again my IP is banned. But with Cumulus own web template, i didint have this issue in two months...

Can anyone help me resolve this situation?

Thanks.

Auriolws wrote:Hi..

I´m using the Saratoga Ajax/PHP template in 000webhost (free), but i´ve a big issue:

-Since i start using this template, i´m loosing web access to my site (only via Web, i can access via FTP)..according to 000webhost support a IP can only access the site 2000 times a day otherwise it will be banned 24h (Dos attack prevention)..since i setup Cumulus updates every 30 seconds, in a day i was having 2800 connections. So i set it to 120seconds (+-700 connections a day), again my IP is banned. But with Cumulus own web template, i didint have this issue in two months...

Can anyone help me resolve this situation?

Thanks.

The PHP templates (and weather websites) generally do not work well with the free PHP website hosts as they assume very low volume of traffic, and sometimes add unwanted ads to the HTML of the site.

I'd recommend you switch to a paid website hoster (e-rice.net can be as low as 13$US a year) and avoid the issues with the free hosting.

Best regards,
Ken

Deleted by the author.

saratogaWX wrote: The PHP templates (and weather websites) generally do not work well with the free PHP website hosts as they assume very low volume of traffic, and sometimes add unwanted ads to the HTML of the site.

I'd recommend you switch to a paid website hoster (e-rice.net can be as low as 13$US a year) and avoid the issues with the free hosting.

Best regards,
Ken

Hi..

Thanks for the answer..

Since i put a 240 seconds interval i didint get more "banned IP"..but i will follow your advice and get a paid hosting, 000webhost its nice for very low traffic, but once it get more heavy..the support will always advice on getting a premium package.

Just one last question, how can i have the Saratoga AJAX page and get the Cumulus banner?

After a long absence from this forum and learning some new programming tricks, I have decided to make some (very minor) modifications and finally release the cloudbase script...

Note: Because of copyrights disagreements, the scripts were removed...

Many thanks for that Ray

Geoff

[quote="gemini06720"]After a long absence from this forum and learning some new programming tricks, I have decided to make some (very minor) modifications and finally release the cloudbase script...

I installed your script, very nice, however even with all the settings correctly set for Imperial, when it rained yesterday it still showed
the rain in "mm" rather than inch's. Also even with a cloud height of 2100, the red indicator always stays at the bottom, slightly above "0"
Anyone else seeing that?

I have made a few additional modification including some new switches - I will be testing the script for a few days and release it if not problem is detected during the tests.

Hi Ken,
what is the most up to date version of gen-CUtags.php newest i can find 1.04
is there a 1.05 ?
thank Beau

n9mfk wrote:...what is the most up to date version of gen-CUtags.php newest i can find 1.04...

Beau, the 'gen-CUtags.php' I have on my system is version 1.09 last updated yesterday (August 23rd).

My 'gen-CUtags.php' is a highly modified version of Ken's original 'gen-CUtags.php': Cleaned up the code to my likings, added additional functions, parameters and tags - a more flexible script. I have also kept the 'tags.txt' file up-to-date with a last update yesterday (new tag added).

I cannot release my modified version as it will 'break' the standard template release packages ... unless Ken accepts to package an unmodified version of my 'gen-CUtags.php'...