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**Ray** · Apr-21-2006, 01:34 AM

Most of what you wish to change can be achieved via CSS and the ZLANG file. For reference, here are the support pages relevant:

Q. How do I customize the appearance of my search page with CSS?
http://www.wrensoft.com/zoom/support/css.html

Users Guide Ch 5.6, "How do I customize the look of my search page?"
and Ch 6.2, "Translating the search page":
http://www.wrensoft.com/zoom/usersguide.html

You can find more CSS tutorials and resources online via Google, etc.

For your specific requirement, here are some tips:

- You can make the category text appear on a new line by specifying the .category CSS with an attribute "display: block;"
- You can make "Score:" and "URL:" appear on a new line by modifying the ZLANG file and adding "
" before their text. For example,

Code:

STR_RESULT_SCORE=
Score&#58;
STR_RESULT_URL=
URL&#58;

However, to add the "category:" text in front of each category name, and to remove the "-" from in between the Score: and URL: etc. this would require modifying the script. We plan to make these elements more easily customizable in future versions.

**Animal Makers** · Apr-21-2006, 10:03 PM

Originally posted by Ray

Most of what you wish to change can be achieved via CSS and the ZLANG file. For reference, here are the support pages relevant:

Q. How do I customize the appearance of my search page with CSS?
http://www.wrensoft.com/zoom/support/css.html

Users Guide Ch 5.6, "How do I customize the look of my search page?"
and Ch 6.2, "Translating the search page":
http://www.wrensoft.com/zoom/usersguide.html

The 2nd link you provided just goes to the user manual. The "How do I customize the look of my search page?" section of the faq, is not very helpful at all. I am looking for a way to modify the way the form lays out. Not just the font color.

I do need to know what to add to my css to make the search engine text (before the search results are needs) to be arial font.

Originally posted by Ray

You can find more CSS tutorials and resources online via Google, etc.

Thank you. I will research on css at Google. However, I need to know a full listing of all the field names I can use for my zoom search pages in the css. The link at http://www.wrensoft.com/zoom/support/css.html is very helpful, but you mention a couple that is not on that page. Is there a full listing?

Originally posted by Ray

For your specific requirement, here are some tips:
- You can make the category text appear on a new line by specifying the .category CSS with an attribute "display: block;"
- You can make "Score:" and "URL:" appear on a new line by modifying the ZLANG file and adding "
" before their text. For example,

Code:

STR_RESULT_SCORE=
Score&#58;
STR_RESULT_URL=
URL&#58;

Thank you. I have impleneted this and am re-generating my search file. We will see if this works.

Originally posted by Ray

However, to add the "category:" text in front of each category name, and to remove the "-" from in between the Score: and URL: etc. this would require modifying the script. We plan to make these elements more easily customizable in future versions.

OK, what file do I need to edit? What do I search for to make these changes?

**David** · Apr-21-2006, 10:26 PM

The 2nd link you provided just goes to the user manual.

Yes. If you understand the section on language translating that Ray referred you to, then you can see, in conjunction with Ray's post, how to include addition HTML that control layout.

I am looking for a way to modify the way the form lays out. Not just the font color

I think you mean the result layout and not the form layout? I think you might have somewhat missed the point about CSS. The use of CSS is the standard way to build any web page now days. It is very powerful and does far far more than just allow a change in font color. There dozens of books written on the subject. Our FAQ is just the tip of the CSS iceberg.

Here are links to more CSS learning aids.
http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/learning

If you are not a programmer then we don't recommend trying to customise the script itself.

-------
David

**Animal Makers** · Apr-22-2006, 02:32 PM

Originally posted by Wrensoft

Yes. If you understand the section on language translating that Ray referred you to, then you can see, in conjunction with Ray's post, how to include addition HTML that control layout.

I did look at the zlang file and made the changes that Ray suggested (BTW, thank you Ray). That was pretty simple.

Originally posted by Wrensoft

I think you mean the result layout and not the form layout? I think you might have somewhat missed the point about CSS. The use of CSS is the standard way to build any web page now days. It is very powerful and does far far more than just allow a change in font color. There dozens of books written on the subject. Our FAQ is just the tip of the CSS iceberg.

Actually, you all were right. Between the css entries and the zlang file, I got the results looking the way I wanted (to some degree). I was looking for a way to modify the look of the actual form tho. I looked in the original search.php file and made some changes. It looks acceptable now.

Originally posted by Wrensoft

If you are not a programmer then we don't recommend trying to customise the script itself.

I am not a programmer, but I have used vBulletin software for a long time and am familiar with adding new features with instructions. I looked in the original search.php and found

Code:

I just removed the - from all instances and that solved that problem.

What I need is the following:

I still cannot find a spot in any of the files that allow me to add the phrase "Category: " before the [$Cat] is displayed on the page.
A full list of all the zoom css entries I can modify/add to my css entries. I believe that the ones that are referred to in the faq are only part of the complete list.

**Ray** · Apr-24-2006, 12:42 AM

Glad you found most of what you were looking for.

Originally posted by Animal Makers

Actually, you all were right. Between the css entries and the zlang file, I got the results looking the way I wanted (to some degree). I was looking for a way to modify the look of the actual form tho. I looked in the original search.php file and made some changes. It looks acceptable now.

The FAQ linked above has a section describing the CSS classes for the search form. This allows you to change some aspect of the search form's appearance. For more radical changes, it recommends defining your own search form in HTML as explained here:
http://www.wrensoft.com/zoom/support...tml#searchform

This allows you to create a search form exactly how you would like, without having to modify the script.

Changing the search form code in the script can work, but it is the least recommended solution since script changes can be confusing for users who are unfamiliar with PHP. In addition to this, we are unable to provide support for modified scripts, so we recommend that users be well aware of the changes they are making (or always be prepared to revert to the default provided script if they break functionality).

Originally posted by Animal Makers

I still cannot find a spot in any of the files that allow me to add the phrase "Category: " before the [$Cat] is displayed on the page.

As mentioned above, we are unable to provide support for modified scripts (otherwise we will just spend all our time debugging people's scripting).

I'm happy to offer some quick tips, but apply these at your own risk. Generally, if you are unable to determine where the change should be made, it's probably not a good idea to apply the change yourself (or be prepared to deal with the possibility of breaking functionality and having to undo your changes and revert back to the original script).

Do not modify the search scripts if you are not familiar with the scripting language.

Having said all that, the line which the category name is displayed along each result looks like this (as of Version 4.2.1011):

Code:

print " <span class=\"category\">&#91;". rtrim&#40;$catnames&#91;$catindex&#93;&#41; . "&#93;</span>";

You can add the words "Category: " before the name like so:

Code:

print " <span class=\"category\">Category&#58; &#91;". rtrim&#40;$catnames&#91;$catindex&#93;&#41; . "&#93;</span>";

Originally posted by Animal Makers

A full list of all the zoom css entries I can modify/add to my css entries. I believe that the ones that are referred to in the faq are only part of the complete list.

The most comprehensive list is ch 5.6 of the Users Guide (see "CSS class listing"). It is also all listed in the default search_template.html file generated.

**Animal Makers** · Apr-24-2006, 03:54 PM

Originally posted by Ray

The FAQ linked above has a section describing the CSS classes for the search form. This allows you to change some aspect of the search form's appearance. For more radical changes, it recommends defining your own search form in HTML as explained here:
http://www.wrensoft.com/zoom/support...tml#searchform

This allows you to create a search form exactly how you would like, without having to modify the script.

I did not do this because your faq says that "The disadvantage to this method is that your custom search form will not maintain search queries and options after a search (as it does by default, when you use the script generated version)".

Originally posted by Ray

Changing the search form code in the script can work, but it is the least recommended solution since script changes can be confusing for users who are unfamiliar with PHP. In addition to this, we are unable to provide support for modified scripts, so we recommend that users be well aware of the changes they are making (or always be prepared to revert to the default provided script if they break functionality).

I do appreciate the help you are giving me. I do not expect anybody to troubleshoot my own scripts. Just point me in the right direction.

Originally posted by Ray

Code:

print " <span class=\"category\">&#91;". rtrim&#40;$catnames&#91;$catindex&#93;&#41; . "&#93;</span>";

You can add the words "Category: " before the name like so:

Code:

print " <span class=\"category\">Category&#58; &#91;". rtrim&#40;$catnames&#91;$catindex&#93;&#41; . "&#93;</span>";

Thank you. That is exactly what I was looking for,

Originally posted by Ray

The most comprehensive list is ch 5.6 of the Users Guide (see "CSS class listing"). It is also all listed in the default search_template.html file generated.

I will be sure to read this entries section. Thank you.

BTW, the results of your help can be found by going to http://www.animalmakers.com/Search/i...=1&zoom_sort=0

This is a search for "Dog" on our site. It is EXACTLY the way I wanted. Thank you. With over 1 million hits a month on our site, Iwanted to get the biggestest feature of our site perfect. Thank you for your help.

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