[Mod-Mall] Apture - Keep visitors on your pages longer (as used at economist.com)

[nitra1000]

What Apture Does
Apture allows the users to select a piece of text and then searchs your website (or websites) to find pages releavent to that text. This keeps people on your pages and website longer, as they don't go and google the next topic of interest.

It has too many features to list but if you go to there website you will get a decent idea..

Apture Website (http://www.apture.com/)

You can try it out on the economist.com (http://www.economist.com/node/16316937)

What This Mod Does
This mod inserts the javascript in your header template, saving you from having to edit or revert your templates every upgrade.

It also has built in conditionals to allow you (or your users) to configure who the script is active for

Currently supports

Disable for guests
Allow users to enable/disable from their options
Only show for certain usergroups (for example only people who donate)
Only show to people above a certain post count
More coming soon...


How to install

Import the xml
Register at apture.com (http://www.apture.com/), and configure your settings
It should give you some code that looks like the below to insert into your header
<script id="aptureScript">
(function (){var a=document.createElement("script");a.defer="true";a.src="http://www.apture.com/js/apture.js?siteToken=#######";document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(a);})();
</script>
copy and paste this into the script box found in your admincp under Settings>Options>Add apture Script
Activate and configure the add on in the same screen


To allow users to turn Apture on and off

Do all the steps listed in install
in your admincp go to "Add New User Profile Field"
Select "Single Selection Radio Buttons" and fill in the following
(you can change these as you see fit but these are my setup)

Title: Apture
Description: Turn Apture Search on or off.
Profile Field Category: Doesn't matter
Options:

On
Off

Set Default: Yes (VERY IMPORTANT!)
Display Order: Doesn't Matter
Field Required: No
Field Editable by User: Yes
Private Field: No
Field Searchable on Members List: No
Show on Members List: No

Save that, and note down the name (note this isn't the title and should be something like "field13"
Go back to Settings>Options>Add apture Script
Fill in the What is the fieldid box with the name of your field
Fill in the Disabled text (in the example above this would "Off" without the quotes)
Select Yes to allow users to enable/disable toolbar


How to upgrade

Import the xml, set overwrite to allow/yes/on
Check the settings at Settings>Options>Add Apture Script



Releases
V1.0 - Initial Release
V1.1 - Added support for different options, usergroups, post counts
V1.2 - Bug fix (to do with how VB handles defaults)

To Do List

Additional user checks (User ID, Usergroup) - Done V1.1
Allow different field options (i.e different to on/off) - Done V1.1
Vbulletin NULLS the field values, which disabled the addon - Fixed V1.2
Additional forum checks (Forum ID)
Style checks


Notes
I will support this modification but not Apture... if you need help signing up or using the service... You can find help on the apture.com (http://apture.com) website.

Do not remove the attributation link...

Please note I have nothing to do with apture, I just needed this for my forum and thought I would be nice....

[nitra1000]

Reserved for other tips/advice

[Juggernaut]

Tagged for later.

[nitra1000]

Small update:

Now Supports checks for

Set which usergroups to show Apture to (i.e only to members who have donated)
Set a postcount at which the Apture is available


And you can now use different options i.e instead of on/off

[mfnforex]

I will try , thx

[BadgerDog]

Ok, I'm confused ...:confused:

Installed fine and tested with Apture from their set-up site. It says it's installed fine and running, but I don't see anywhere how to type anything into a bar or use it?

I must be missing something obvious.. sorry about that ... give me a coffee break and you have to retrain me... :D

Any help would be appreciated ...

Regards,
Doug

[nitra1000]

Ok, I'm confused ...:confused:

Installed fine and tested with Apture from their set-up site. It says it's installed fine and running, but I don't see anywhere how to type anything into a bar or use it?

I must be missing something obvious.. sorry about that ... give me a coffee break and you have to retrain me... :D

Any help would be appreciated ...

Regards,
Doug

Its really simple just select some text, and the learn more button will come up

[BadgerDog]

Its really simple just select some text, and the learn more button will come up

Well, their demo site shows that, plus just if I start scrolling the bar drops down using their test demo window.

However, when on our live site logged in, nothing happens ... :confused:

It works fine if I log out and only be a "guest"?

Regards,
Doug

[nitra1000]

Check your settings, it's most likely that a setting is not setup properly....

If you can't solve it pm me a screenshot of your settings page and a url of your forum

[Juggernaut]

Installed, and looking good, does Apture support any language other than english?

[BadgerDog]

Check your settings, it's most likely that a setting is not setup properly....

If you can't solve it pm me a screenshot of your settings page and a url of your forum

Ok, will do ... :)

Here's a settings screen shot ... I xxx'd out the Token in he script for security ...

As a test, just installed on our 4.13 vBulletin devforum and as with our 4.04 production version, works fine with "guests" ONLY, not with logged in user.

Thanks ...

Regards,
Doug

Edit: Just took the java script and put it directly into the bottom of the footer template of the style and it worked fine, even for a user logged in and not just guests, so whatever is wrong, involves the process of inserting it through the mod's plugins?

[BadgerDog]

Ok, figured it out .... :up:

For anyone else who experiences the problem of it not working, I traced our issue back to the "field" On or Off .....

Yes, you can add and set up a field as described using Radio Buttons, but the field doesn't have any default value for any existing user, until they go into their profile and click on one of the two values.

So, when these two fields in the mod are completed .. ie:

What is the FieldID (in the name column) of the user profile field you created? field15

What is the enabled text in the user profile field options (please enter it exactly)? On

It doesn't mean anything because the value in the user record is "null" until they place something there.

As soon as I went through a few users from the various UserGroups permitted by the mod in that field and manually checked On, the "apture" started working just fine, of course, just for the users that go through that process.

I think the mod should somehow assume the field is ON as the starting default for all users, until they get around to going into their profiles and selecting the OFF option if they don't want it.

Nice mod and a good addition to our site nitra1000 ... :up:

Will be sending PayPal ... ;)

Regards,
Doug

[nitra1000]

Nice mod and a good addition to our site nitra1000 ... :up:

Will be sending PayPal ... ;)

Regards,
Doug

Many thanks Doug will make the mod assume on, rather than assume off next version... You can set the default when setting up the field itself (it will always assumes the top of the list).... I have edited the documentation to tell people to do this now (Set Default).

All the Best,
John

p.s Many thanks for the donation! it is very much appreciated

[BadgerDog]

Many thanks Doug will make the mod assume on, rather than assume off next version... You can set the default when setting up the field itself (it will always assumes the top of the list).... I have edited the documentation to tell people to do this now (Set Default).

All the Best,
John

p.s Many thanks for the donation! it is very much appreciated

You're welcome John ... nice work .. thanks again ... :up:

By the way, I do have the default set in the "fieldxx" set-up area ..

Set Default Will set the first non blank option as the default. "checked ON"

... but, for whatever reason, it doesn't use that value except to cosmetically display (in the case of radio buttons) which button is highlighted. It doesn't put anything into a user record until they actually choose which one and save their profile again.

I'd like to bring live your mod in the next few days for everyone, so anything you can do to assume the default is ON in the mod would be great. There's not much sense for us to bring live the mod globally, when I'll have to tell 16,000 members to go to their profile, select a button ON or OFF, then save it, just to see what the mod looks like. Most probably wouldn't bother and I think they'd be missing something pretty neat.

Regards,
Doug

[nitra1000]

You're welcome John ... nice work .. thanks again ... :up:

By the way, I do have the default set in the "fieldxx" set-up area ..



... but, for whatever reason, it doesn't use that value except to cosmetically display (in the case of radio buttons) which button is highlighted. It doesn't put anything into a user record until they actually choose which one and save their profile again.

I'd like to bring live your mod in the next few days for everyone, so anything you can do to assume the default is ON in the mod would be great. There's not much sense for us to bring live the mod globally, when I'll have to tell 16,000 members to go to their profile, select a button ON or OFF, then save it, just to see what the mod looks like. Most probably wouldn't bother and I think they'd be missing something pretty neat.

Regards,
Doug

Updated to reflect this bug, let me know how it handles :up:

Note the change to the Settings page now you must enter the DISABLED text not the enabled text!

[The Rocketeer]

demo site is not working. using ff4

[Brandon Sheley]

demo site is not working. using ff4

it's working fine for me in ff4

Is there a way to turn that toolbar off? I don't care for that part but I do like how you can highlight text and get related threads..

thx

[The Rocketeer]

<a href="http://www.economist.com/node/16316937" target="_blank">http://www.economist.com/node/16316937</a>

no, it doesn't work Brandon, I have tried different browsers....

[nitra1000]

it's working fine for me in ff4

Is there a way to turn that toolbar off? I don't care for that part but I do like how you can highlight text and get related threads..

thx

Yes you can turn off the toolbar (I beleive it's off by default, when you setup an account)

[nitra1000]

no, it doesn't work Brandon, I have tried different browsers....

Are you blocking javascript or running an adblock?

[BadgerDog]

Updated to reflect this bug, let me know how it handles :up:

Note the change to the Settings page now you must enter the DISABLED text not the enabled text!

Seems to work fine now and is ON by default. :up:

Interesting though, I forgot to change what you said:

"Note the change to the Settings page now you must enter the DISABLED text not the enabled text!"

.... and, it still worked with that field set to On, although I have gone back and set it now to Off as you suggested, but I thought I'd let you know about this anomaly in case it was important. :)

The little drop down bar can get annoying, but it's nice they have the arrows in the top left corner so one can cause it to not drop down, at least for the page you're on. Unfortunately, it starts dripping down again as soon as you refresh any page. It would be better if they stored that condition in a cookie so that it remembered the user's setting of active or not, from session to session.

Thanks again .. :)

Regards,
Doug

[nitra1000]

Interesting though, I forgot to change what you said:

"Note the change to the Settings page now you must enter the DISABLED text not the enabled text!"

.... and, it still worked with that field set to On, although I have gone back and set it now to Off as you suggested, but I thought I'd let you know about this anomaly in case it was important. :)

This suggests that it hasn't been setup properly.. basicly if it can't find the exact value in the fieldid you give it, it will pass the test and carry on

The little drop down bar can get annoying, but it's nice they have the arrows in the top left corner so one can cause it to not drop down, at least for the page you're on.

You can turn this off, in the apture account settings

[The Rocketeer]

Are you blocking javascript or running an adblock?

adblock!:eek:

i forgot about that. now working... thanks :)

[BadgerDog]

This suggests that it hasn't been setup properly.. basicly if it can't find the exact value in the fieldid you give it, it will pass the test and carry on

Interesting ...

I have field15 setup in the profile as a redio buttons field, exactly as you suggested (see pic). I also have the mod setup as in the pic as well.

Does that look ok?

I know it worked (default ON) with text in last field for disabled mode set to On and it also works fine with that field now set to Off ..... :confused:

Regards,
Doug

[BadgerDog]

By the way, has anyone noticed that it automatically puts in "Facebook", Twitter" and "Email" buttons. Is there any Apture settings to remove any or all of those? I can't find them if there are.

Also, I notice the results returned on a "search" are limited to a few. How does one increase the number of items found in a "search", particularly on our own site?

Thanks ... :)

Regards,
Doug

[Robbie P]

Thanks for this, i'll try it out!!!

[nitra1000]

Interesting ...

I have field15 setup in the profile as a redio buttons field, exactly as you suggested (see pic). I also have the mod setup as in the pic as well.

Does that look ok?

I know it worked (default ON) with text in last field for disabled mode set to On and it also works fine with that field now set to Off ..... :confused:

Regards,
Doug

I'll pm you tonight sometime (BST) otherwise this thread is going to get messy :)

[Taurus1]

I like this. Thank you very much. However, I do not like the fact that I have a white page for like a second between opening any page. When I disable this, the white page is gone. Why does this happen?

[8thos]

I have both your apture and wibiya modifications working well on my site. Your awesome!

Question though, have you ever tried getting your amazon affiliates ID working with this mod? Theirs a tutorial on their site on how to do it but it's not working. I emailed them about it yesterday and haven't got an answer yet.

[BadgerDog]

I'll pm you tonight sometime (BST) otherwise this thread is going to get messy :)

Something is wrong with the usergroup setting and the guest setting .... :confused:

I have it set for just Admin Group 6 to test and NO guests, yet it's appearing for all users as well as guests.

I've installed you wibiya add-on as well and it's doing the same thing there, but that mod has the original problem that was here, of it not showing for users unless they go into their profile, click and save the settings at least once.

Thought I'd let you know ....

Regards,
Doug

[The Rocketeer]

You see, I have no problem retaining the copyrights, but with the number of mods installed id we vB users kept copyright tags to every one of them, we would end up with an extra 5 inch space on our footer.

@nitra1000, I understand and appreciate you hard working on this mod but, I had to remove your link from the XML file, sorry. It points to your forum, and not really the Apture thingy (even though its credited).

I hope you understand..

[nitra1000]

You see, I have no problem retaining the copyrights, but with the number of mods installed id we vB users kept copyright tags to every one of them, we would end up with an extra 5 inch space on our footer.

@nitra1000, I understand and appreciate you hard working on this mod but, I had to remove your link from the XML file, sorry. It points to your forum, and not really the Apture thingy (even though its credited).

I hope you understand..

Then uninstall it and pm me, don't uncredit my work without asking! It takes a lot of hard work to make modifications and to remove someones credit like that is just plain rude!

If you want to remove the credit link, then drop me a pm and ask

[The Rocketeer]

Like I said, I understand and appreciate you hard working on this mod but if we users kept copyright tags to every one of the mods we used on our forums.. then we would end up with an big chunk of space on our footer.

Look I was nice enough to tell you that, a lot of people wouldn't. But if you find that rude well, then that's up to you. *uninstalled by the way(not because you asked me so, but because the script becomes kinda annoying after a while specially when you try to copy and paste).

[nitra1000]

Like I said, I understand and appreciate you hard working on this mod but if we users kept copyright tags to every one of the mods we used on our forums.. then we would end up with an big chunk of space on our footer.

Then make the mods yourself (or ask the modder), good day...

I think you'll find most modders will be happy for you to remove the copyright for a small donation....

[The Rocketeer]

Then make the mods yourself (or ask the modder), good day...
I think you'll find most modders will be happy for you to remove the copyright for a small donation....

Wrong.

Just look around the most popular modders in vb, such as vSA, DragonByte Tech etc. Most modders here who are genuinely wanting to help people, they wouldn't even put up such a thing on the footer in the first place. Because they understand the users needs and they know better not to. Heck, half the time even the average "Joe Sixpack Modders" would say "Feel free to remove the copyright if you wish" Let alone beg for money donations and promote their website asking to have a entire section of your forum dedicated to irrelevant links. :confused:


Then make the mods yourself (or ask the modder), good day...

No, I will not make the mods myself, and I will not ask modders to do it either, I'll do what most people happily do here, but I am just pointing out to you the Fact. Just for the sake of the argument, how many people do you think that have installed your mod are going to donate to have your footer removed?If you think people like and willingly want to keep 50 odd and irrelevant links on the bottom of their forum, then That logic of yours is flawed sir, And if you cant cope with the facts and stay arrogant and ignorant towards me because unlike others I was honest about my intentions, then thats your problem, please do remain rude and arrogant sir. You can find someone else to put up with that insane bull$#!t of yours...

Now I Bid you a good day..

[8thos]

Wrong.

Just look around the most popular modders in vb, such as vSA, DragonByte Tech etc. Most modders here who are genuinely wanting to help people, they wouldn't even put up such a thing on the footer in the first place. I have a DragonByte credit in my footer.

I don't WANT it in my footer but I'd have to pay to get it removed.

This is a dumb thing to complain about in this thread though.

This is a great mod. You always have the option of installing apture in the footer instead of using his script.

[BadgerDog]

Wrong.

<snip>
Now I Bid you a good day..

Well, I'm just a retired 63 year old veteran who's obviously not as articulate and sure of what the world order should be as you are, but in our case, we operate a not-for-profit site that survives just on donations, so funds are scarce.

However, I felt that nitra1000's efforts to create a value added script with additional options warranted sending him a PayPal donation, which we did. I honestly didn't think about removing his copyright notice, even if that donation gave us legitimacy in doing so.

I do understand your point about all these types notices taking up screen space at the bottom and it is becoming a problem for us too. It would be interesting to have a way of creating a drop down box area for credits, or perhaps some kind of small window scrolling method that only took up a line or two.

Regards,
Doug

[Taurus1]

I like this. Thank you very much. However, I do not like the fact that I have a white page for like a second between opening any page. When I disable this, the white page is gone. Why does this happen?

Can you please help me on this?

[nitra1000]

Can you please help me on this?

I don't think it's anything to do with my mod and more a combination of performance factors taking there toll but I will investigate (if you have a link to a test site with it installed could you pm me)

[angeljs]

I love this, thank you :D

[BadgerDog]

T
You can turn this off, in the apture account settings

Thanks ... :)

Is there a place to increase the number of items returned in a search of the site? It only seems to return links on the first dozen or so, even if there's 50 or more? :confused:

Regards,
Doug

[BadgerDog]

Un-installed ...

Members didn't like it and it interfered with another mod for "Quotes" ...

Thanks to the developer nitra1000 for his efforts though ... :)

Regards,
Doug

[dadoc]

Apture has stoped working on my site.

This is from the Apture website

After enhancing more than a billion pages with our products, we think now is the best time to expand our efforts with another team just down the road that shares our vision of making the web better. :) That's right -- we've been acquired by Google and will be joining the Chrome team to continue driving innovation and creating a better user experience on the web. The modern web is an amazing platform, so stay tuned for even more enhancements to your Chrome browsing experience.

Sincerely,
The Apture Team

is it still working on your site?

[nitra1000]

Please graveyard this mod, it was designed for apture.com that had been bought out by Google (and they have removed the service)