Topic: Weather34 template(non meteobridge versions)

[ConligWX]

Yep totally agree, we can though, at least, voice our anger and frustration - and point fingers


And give praise and thanks to Brian for creating an Awesome template... Well done Sir!

[saratogaWX]

The major problem in this case is that with web apps, you cannot prevent it. As long as the service you provide is not running on your server - i.e. you do not have control over it, people will always be able to do whatever they want because due to its very nature, PHP, HTML, CSS, JS... they are all open-source and with sufficient knowledge you can modify or remove any protection mechanisms. As far as I know, this was not the first time it happened to Brian, would probably happen again and did happen to me as well...

Yep totally agree, we can though, at least, voice our anger and frustration - and point fingers


And give praise and thanks to Brian for creating an Awesome template... Well done Sir!

Let me second Jachym's and Toxic's comments. Open source in HTML/CSS/JavaScript and PHP can't be really secured against plagiarism - it can be obfuscated to make it unusable but to the most determined, but that's just annoying.  My code has been freely released for over 10 years now, and I encourage folks to use/modify to their hearts content -- I only request that attribution be maintained in the code, and a link to my site is requested.  Donations are always nice, but never expected.

It is very disappointing to see someone so blatantly assume authorship of software they have obtained from others -- that is not right and the perpetrator should be publicly shamed for the plagiarism.   

I hope that after some time, the 'itch' to code will strike Brian again, and that he might return some day to support his excellent work.

[Jáchym]

Yes Ken, I totally agree, however removing credits is one thing - it annoys you, I have seen it several times in the past with MT as well and you just think to yourself, whatever.... majority of users dont remove the credits. However it becomes a lot different when you find this person is also selling it. If at least he was just freely redistriburing it - not right, but still better than this. In case of Meteotemplate, my "advantage" is that given its size and number of scripts and the protection mechanisms, the person who wanted to also sell it later gave up and as a paradox, I got to know about this also by him actually asking me for support... 

we can though, at least, voice our anger and frustration

Agreed... I did so on the Cumulus forum.... maybe I  even went a bit overboard... well at least people know that when "nice Jachym" gets annoyed he can swear as well

[nitrx]

I wonder why templates and plugins can't be secured there are a lot of premium templates and plugins for wordpress, how do they do that ?

[saratogaWX]

The WordPress premium plugins are generally downloaded from behind a 'pay wall' that includes a token in the code -- that combined with a registration at the site results in some code that decripts/deobfuscates the running code on the WP installation.
Very complicated, prone to break if the 'pay wall' site is down (some templates/plugins check at each invocation).

A lot of trouble for those of us who offer the source code freely.

I agree with Jachym that having someone claim authorship of the plagiarized code and reselling it is way over the line unethical and inappropriate. 

[nitrx]

Thanks for the explanation , I agree about plagiat and defacing credits. And reselling ofcourse 

[Jáchym]

The fundamental difference between a normal software and a web app:

Desktop software:
- you write the code in some language such as C, C#, C++, Basic, Pascal etc.
- you compile the code into the actual .exe file and release it
- result: the person using it cannot see the code. If you open the .exe file in notepad you will see just some very long nonsense. The code cannot be reverse engineered

Web App:
- you write the code in some language like PHP, JavaScript, HTML
- you release it, there is no compile step
- result: whoever downloads it sees the code in its full extent. Now, of course you could implement some protection mechanisms, but if someone understands the code and takes the time, sooner or later they will find where in the code this protection is located and either remove it or modify it.

At least with PHP you cannot see the code if you only see the result. This means that for example, if you were selling a PHP script, you could let the user see a DEMO, without them being able to copy the original PHP code. They only see the resulting HTML, which is not enough to deduce the original PHP script. As soon as someone buys it however, they see it and if they send it to someone else there is nothing you can do.

With Javascript it is a complete disaster. If you want to show a user a demo of something you created and then sell it, they can see all the code, just view the source, download all the JS dependencies and you have it... and if you know Javascript, it is only a matter of some time to make it work on your page. No problems...

As mentioned before, you can implement some checking and protection mechanisms, but if someone knows the code well and finds it, they will be able to remove it.

[weather34]

Thank you for your all the ongoing emails however let me say quite clearly and I no longer have that "ITCH" I'm afraid Ken .Ive been trying to make this reply over the last few in the case of I might feel somewhat different but I don't in anyway Im afraid..

The weather template is no longer available from myself or weather34 website.
It has been discussed on numerous forums and unfortunately I no longer want to continue even after some consideration but I feel a total lack of trust and enthusiasm .I am very sorry for any inconvenience caused this project is over and finished . 

I appreciate your kind words and acknowledge them but there is no more support and any support emails requested will not be answered..It is finished and I no longer will monitor the email address after September 1st.. 

you can achieve anything you want in web design . I have designed websites believe it or not since 1999 up till a few days ago I thought it was 2002 .. web design is all about your imagination and also learning to understanding requirements and best practices, it doesn't come overnight and can take years,sometimes forever has trends shift and as we have seen in recent years devices have completely dictated the trends in web design, think differently and ignore , you will get left behind in the archives or just have poorly performing weather station website ...avoid flash like the plague which probably already have realised..

One serious TIP when choosing your web hosting service and and treat it as important as the accuracy and reliability of your weather station.Over the last two years i have seen many not take this view and use a low cost $1 a month package or something in that ballpark. I don't understand that in terms of offering your weather data to the public you spend perhaps 100s or thousands on your weather station and not treat the reliability of your web hosting with the same approach. Ive used ICDSOFT for a few years now I pay $90 dollars a year each year it goes down ! .it allows me to develop on and i can throw anything it, at times i have had 4 or 5 different projects running and at one point last year i was hosting a hotel portal database that was  really heavy on the server load alongside two other projects and my own weather station page...So treat your hosting choice as you would when choosing your weather station for its accuracy and reliability.

ALSO avoid external resources from other urls especially realtime iframe usage this has an enormous impact on the performance of your site , yes it looks neat but I have taken the time to measure performances of many websites where iframe and direct external resources are used on a home page or there main page and the result is appalling truly appalling , I'm surprised in this day an age that anyone will actually hang around long enough for the page to load to see something..

the results are quite shocking ill let you discover it all ...

I can only say it's a bit like building and designing your own house you can really achieve anything if you put your mind to it and those put those ideas into practice, web design does not have to be a complex disorganized array of code.follow the basic rules and don't try to be a hero and measure the performance on a regular basis, design with an empty a basic template and start at the beginning take your time you won't go wrong and the outcome will be a pleasant surprise and probably a pleasant surprise to many others.I hope this design has inspired others to try there own ideas ..

I really truly do sincerely apologise for any inconvenience, but has I said earlier in the week If I make an exception for one Ill have to do it for all and thats a trap Im not going to fall into......anyway the football season will begin again this weekend and I have today bought a new season ticket(its a plastic atm styled card now with my mugshot on it). I have set a personal goal attending all home games and as many away games as possible...thats my real passion and having a wife who shares the same enthusiasm for football is rare I think ....
"en buyuk Besiktas "... anyway the weekend has landed and football begins..

I also have just been notified the individual at the root of all this has now reverted back to a flash based website sadly i cant view it my iPad browser it don't support flash...

 brian

[Jáchym]

Hi Brian,
again, totally understood, though I would recommend you do one thing.

It is finished and I no longer will monitor the email address after September 1st..

If I were you, I would ask one of your existing more advanced users in terms of coding - some of them surely know at least the basics of HTML or PHP - to take over the emails for those who have installed the template in the past.
I am not talking about new users, but the ones who are already using it. And ask this person to answer any potential emails these people send. Of course they might not always know the answer, but better than nothing and still no extra work for you.

[Jáchym]

P.S.
if interested what his website looks like now, see screenshot - I would say, he got absoluteyl everything he could wrong.... and he calls himself a designer... this is truly appaling if I disregard the fact it is mostly just ads

[waiukuweather]

using www in front fixes that error
http://www.hastingsweather.com.au/

(the problem will be that the .xml file is set to use www and so will the license number)

[Jáchym]

Thats not what I meant Brian... thats just the icing on the cake...
- horrible color choice
- visitor counter
- marquee
- ads wherever you look
- telling users to purchase a different browser because you decided only to support some
- unreadable text on image background
...
I could go on... seriously, from the design perspective and how pages are made today, it is a textbook example of how not to do it

Last but not least.... even the HTML is not his He created this ugly webpage in a WYSIWYG

<meta name="author" content="Ali Edwards">
<meta name="generator" content="Web Page Maker">

[Weatherman Mike]

Brian,
I meant every word I said.  I do want to thank others who helped develop the template as well.  I love this template!  It is everything I ever wanted and more.

Thank you Brian, and Thank you:
Erik Madsen(translation idea), Eric Rechlin(theme switching),Wim (meteobridge solutions) , Tony (HRvista- created unreleased mysql for cumulus/MX users). 

-Brilliant...All of you!  Never Change!

-Weatherman Mike
Aka
Michael A...

[ConligWX]

P.S.
if interested what his website looks like now, see screenshot - I would say, he got absoluteyl everything he could wrong.... and he calls himself a designer... this is truly appaling if I disregard the fact it is mostly just ads

Karma is quite cruel at times,  but then again you reap what you sow....

[weather34]

Hello

I thought I would update you on this template. over the last week I quietly implemented a new menu system . it was actually done back in July but was never released as I was concentrating on other things at the time , it basically gives you a full discreet menu when using any device,desktop,tablet etc it was often asked for as I disabled the menu view when using on a mobile device . It is just a few lines of css there is no jquery or any magic switching going on it is just using "@css media" . the new menu has some svg icons you can assign to your specific extra links it was inspired by the dribble website and example of @css media is like this

@media screen and (max-width:1024px){.main-menu{background:0 0}}
@media screen and (max-width:768px){.main-menu{background:0 0}}
@media screen and (max-width:640px){.main-menu{background:0 0}}
@media screen and (max-width:320px){.main-menu{background:0 0}}

a few of you have already downloaded this and are using it and I did not receive any issues sent back or bugs so it is good for general release. This is now the most final version you will ever see of this template as far I am concerned its gone as far it can and as good as it will ever be without going down a totally different path. Since dropping the direct email support and pushing users to the various forums to iron out any teething issues has been a lot better for me personally Im no longer waking upto endless emails to work through each day..So its nice and does not seem to cause anyone any issues .Ive always said there is a wealth of knowledge and experience right across the various forums.

As for the future there is nothing in the pipeline apart from polishing of a dedicated WEATHERFLOW version when the hardware is finally available I wont release anything until WEATHERFLOW has been announced for general purpose .I am currently testing there hardware and can actually say the AIR model is a good addition to any existing weather station especially for lightning detection ..

other few little changes template the PHP version displayed at the foot of the template has been replaced with station operational since whatever date you started.
PHP version has been moved to the easyweathersetup screen its a useful reference for those wanting to know exactly what version there host is using etc..
removed the phpo contact form to problematic when trying to update for 27 languages it now just uses a standard html email link not perfect but addressing the code
and then checking 27 languages was a nightmare in fact anything involving checking across 27 languages was a nightmare..
other minor visual changes and once again the svg/css files have been optimised accordingly .

so dont see this has anyhting other than what has been said above I really have no plans to improve or continue but I personally think it is perfectly fine in its current state and doesn't need any updates .FYI information I have also been running a PHP 7.2.0 Beta http://www.php.net/ChangeLog-7.php#7.0.22 I have addressed a few minor issues and compatibility s .so I am not anticipating any issues going forward when its released but I will continue to follow the changes ..

so as always you can get the new combined download at https://weather34.com/homeweatherstation 

have a nice day have a nice week ..brian

[ConligWX]

Brian will this new version work ok with the mysql files from Tony?

[weather34]

Brian will this new version work ok with the mysql files from Tony?

hello sorry no idea I dont have that version to hand but in general i have made only changes to css files, menu.php,shared.php , index.php (you may have to adapt for tony's version but only at the footer area.) and the easyweathersetup.php has  the inclusion of php version value in the header.

so i dont think its too difficult to adapt it to tony's version.

best discuss on the cumulus forum as there are a few users using that mysql version i dont anticipate any problems tony is quite switched on IM SURE HE WILL HELP IF HE IS AROUND....

brian

[Bashy]

Hi Brian, love the new menu, thank you, i know there is no support, but i think there could be an issue with the language for wxsim
in the current conditions box as seen here, i cannot see anything untoward, all my settings are to English, I have even tried forcing
the language, i dont think i messed up anywhere so poss a wee bug? or has Bashy broke his site again, wouldnt be the 1st time

http://www.brecklandweather.com/PWS34-X5wxsim/index.php?lang=en

[weather34]

Hi Brian, love the new menu, thank you, i know there is no support, but i think there could be an issue with the language for wxsim
in the current conditions box as seen here, i cannot see anything untoward, all my settings are to English, I have even tried forcing
the language, i dont think i messed up anywhere so poss a wee bug? or has Bashy broke his site again, wouldnt be the 1st time

http://www.brecklandweather.com/PWS34-X5wxsim/index.php?lang=en

according to your website you are using currentconditionswd.php http://www.brecklandweather.com/PWS34-X5wxsim/currentconditionswd.php?_=1504014647018

should you not select current34wxsim.php "shows wxsim forecast description" for wxsim version in the easyweathersetup

[Bashy]

Hi Brian, really sorry chap, i just went over the settings again and notice i forgot to do the path fro the clientrawextra
I have just done it and the language is back to english, ever so sorry  

[weather34]

Hi Brian, really sorry chap, i just went over the settings again and notice i forgot to do the path fro the clientrawextra
I have just done it and the language is back to english, ever so sorry  

you soppy ol twonk dont apologise

[Bashy]

Hi Brian, love the new menu, thank you, i know there is no support, but i think there could be an issue with the language for wxsim
in the current conditions box as seen here, i cannot see anything untoward, all my settings are to English, I have even tried forcing
the language, i dont think i messed up anywhere so poss a wee bug? or has Bashy broke his site again, wouldnt be the 1st time

http://www.brecklandweather.com/PWS34-X5wxsim/index.php?lang=en

according to your website you are using currentconditionswd.php http://www.brecklandweather.com/PWS34-X5wxsim/currentconditionswd.php?_=1504014647018

should you not select current34wxsim.php "shows wxsim forecast description" for wxsim version in the easyweathersetup

I felt a twonk when i realized it was a "my bad" moment

I have always used the currentconditionswd.php that you actually did for me i believe on request, i have a solar sensor so
i wanted to show ,my actual  conditions

[weather34]

Hi Brian, love the new menu, thank you, i know there is no support, but i think there could be an issue with the language for wxsim
in the current conditions box as seen here, i cannot see anything untoward, all my settings are to English, I have even tried forcing
the language, i dont think i messed up anywhere so poss a wee bug? or has Bashy broke his site again, wouldnt be the 1st time

http://www.brecklandweather.com/PWS34-X5wxsim/index.php?lang=en

according to your website you are using currentconditionswd.php http://www.brecklandweather.com/PWS34-X5wxsim/currentconditionswd.php?_=1504014647018

should you not select current34wxsim.php "shows wxsim forecast description" for wxsim version in the easyweathersetup

I felt a twonk when i realized it was a "my bad" moment

I have always used the currentconditionswd.php that you actually did for me i believe on request, i have a solar sensor so
i wanted to show ,my actual  conditions

ok you numpty

use wxsim its by far the best solution out there for forecast data etc..

[weather34]

i should add sorry for the phrases but I got a 3 box sets of only fools and horses for my birthday at the weekend so thats all i have been watching all day since 6:30am its a home alone day

[Bashy]

Ha ha ha, i know what thats like, once ya start watching a decent series, theres no stopping is there