I have some modules set to display on all pages. These include Text/HTML with Google Adsense in them, RSS feeds, and even the News Articles' own Latest Articles module.

The problem is.. when one clicks through to an article, the remaining content on the page vanishes leaving only the article itself.

I have browsed a variety of sites in this forum that use the module and they generally do the same thing, however some do not, and some do it only partly. Has anyone got some ideas on how to force the News Articles to retain the remaining page content?

Regards,
Rob

Is the module perhaps using the Admin skin to display individual articles? I've come across this behaviour previously in other modules such as the Core Forums when one clicks through to a message.

Rob

Ok, got it... duh

Article settings
Check to launch links into page by itself (no other modules loaded).

Ok maybe not quite:

That takes care of whther modules display on the page, however this was all triggered by Google Adsense not showing up. Now the text/HTML module that contains my Adsense code appears fine, but the content itself does not.

I note this happens with some other modules as well such as forums and blog when one clicks past the main instance. Anyone know how to deal with this? I'll make a post in the asp.net forums as well.

Rob

alllllrighty then

I've got it sorted now. Seems that using text/HTML to insert code (in textbox-HTML view of course) isn't all that its cracked up to be.

So I've used this item instead:
http://www.wattwanderinfo.de/DNN%20Modules/Google%20Adsense%20Module/tabid/141/Default.aspx

Adsense appears to be working fine on all pages now. I guess this is no longer on topic for the forum, but it's worthwhile info all the same.

Rob

Yep, same - where it says "using text/HTML to insert code (in textbox-HTML view of course)" in previous post. But same issue. I'll keep an eye on this and post back if the Adsense module goes awol as well.

Rob

Just to test it out on smcculloch.net...

Try placing an Adsense unit via text/HTML-Basic/HTML somewhere on the homepage, let it copy to all pages, then click one of the articles under "Latest articles" and check that the advert appears on the resulting page.

Currently, the latest articles on here open to a page that only contains the article itself plus the messages module and a membership module on the left. The idea is to have Adsense on this sort of page.

Rob

Hi Rob,

On the latest articles module, I think you can check whether or not to launch links, try toggling this setting to get the proper effect.

I use the html/text module to display my Adsense ads on the same page as my articles without any problems. The reason that sometimes nothing shows up where the ad is supposed to be is because sometimes, Google doesn't have any ads to show. That happens a lot when you add a new article and then click through to see it. Since google hasn't spidered the new article, there are no ads.

Try using the Alternate URL feature of adsense to avoid blank spaces where ads should be.

Thanks for the reply,

I'm aware of that issue but that's not it. I have mine set to display the free ads when nothing has been spidered.

The issue has now sort of turned into another one altogether. I've described it in another thread... but here it as again:

There needs to be a way to design a page specifically for the news article details to display in. The current two options of having either all of the existing page present or nothing at all isn't quite right.

The articles module is not always at the top of the page and I have a lot of other content present as well. Clicking thru to details makes the user have to scroll down to find where the article is. The Syndication/Categories and Search pages are also made less usable because of this. The only solution is to launch details into their own window but that then loses all content, including the google stuff.

When one clicks through to details, a more useful result would be to have the article dominant plus just the advertising and other related bits that might be useful to the reader.

So.. the feature request for Scott is... can you make it so that one can choose a specific page with specific modules on it for the details view?

Rob

Hmm, the only way to effectively choose another page is to use the latest articles module. The reason it is displayed on the same page currently is that it is a single module, not an arbitrary link to another page, or if launch links is checked, it displays it in the admin skin.

Could latest articles be modified to fit your needs?

Thaks for the response... I'm not sure I'm getting the idea across...

There are currently only two options for displaying the details page (and also the search/syndication/categories pages).

They are:

1. Show the results inside the current page

2. Show the results in an otherwise blank page

The desirable result would in fact be:

Show the result in a page of one's desire... meaning: a page that contains only those modules that one wants to have present.

I've noted that other modules with similar functionality also have the same issue: The core forums do this when one has clicked all the way thru to an article response... at that point it uses the admin skin and everything else vanishes.

Mind you... the Active Forums module here right now seems to display other modules alongside the response editor (I can see a recent posts module to the right right now).. so it must be possible? Or is it just using the same page all the way thru the forum?

So, to clarify again; the ideal would be if the articles details link would open a new page showing the article details plus only modules that have been specified for that page... or, as a reduced alternative, show modules that have been set to display site-wide, such as Adsense adverts.

I realise that this may not actually be possible in the current DNN framework.. any ideas?
Rob

The active forums uses a toggle in the URL to display a particular user control in the module. This effectively displays it in the same page like you have stated in your 2 options.

The only real way to have it link to a completely seperate page for the details, with modules of your choosing (that are different from the current page) is to split the module in 2 to have a details module and a listing module. Latest Articles is kind of a listing module that links to the details of the actual news article module.

Do you have an example of a module that does what you want? Is it no good to display the article in the same page? I assume you have other content above or below the article instance that causes issues with the display.

Yes, it is because there is a lot of other page content above and around the article summaries that makes it of lesser value when the details are displayed inline. And the only alternative is to have the details displayed with nothing else, which is also not the ideal browsing experience.

The way it would ideally work is how it works on pretty much any news site on the web:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/  - click on any article
http://www.tomshardware.com/  - click on something in the TG Daily section

The resulting details pages contain the article as the primary content but have any other conent the webmaster wants to have present.

I can also see this becoming a problem if I start to use the articles module for displaying lagerer artcles, not just small news items. I will of course want to have full control over remaining page content on each page of the article. It sort of defeats the purpose if one can't display Adsense or other items by choice.

I understand now from what you've said that it would require a second details module to achieve this... and tha also explains why many otehr DNN modules have the same issue.

Perhaps this is good cause to create such a detail module?  I could put it up on the feature request board?

Thanks for the response,
Rob

Hi Rob, I'm not sure if you answered above, are you able to use latest articles to achieve the effect you are after?

The 2nd details module would be ideal for your situation, i'm not sure whether or not it should be part of the default install, things are already getting complex as it is

The details mod shouldn't be a difficult task, what do others think?

No, I've gone as far as I can with the current articles module, but it really needs the second details module you've mentioned.

I have gone so far as adding hard coded content to the Search and Syndication ascx pages in order to try and overcome the issues, but of course, that defeats the point of DNN. Much more preferable would be if I could have seperate pages for things such as search, catergories, syndication and details.. then I'd regain control over my site.

I guess that's the core issue here:
I'd prefer to have control over what is on each page of my site. As it stands, the articles module is making it difficult to control anything but the first page.

Rob

(and p.s. it's very refreshing to come across such a responsive developer!)

Categories will definately be broken into its own module, as well a list of authors. Then there will be no need for syndication, as they will be in each of those modules.

The details module is a little tougher, because I still need it to be simple for users to setup and not be too different from other modules. The latest articles I use a lot to guide people around from busy pages to the actual article page (where it is just the articles and maybe advertisements). Latest articles can be filtered on category, etc, with paging, it could look very similar to the actual article instance.

The real problem is the difference between a site with modules versus a custom written application specifically for your purposes, modules/webparts/portlets are all designed to work in there own space within the portal. In dotnetnuke, we do have a details page, but unfortunately, it's in a page by itself using the admin skin. (Maybe the admin skin can be adjusted to have advertisements shown on either side?)