CMS Made Simple Forums

Does anyone know how to hide a page in CMSMS? I would like to make a page hidden from crawlers and bots and such so that it cannot be viewed, read or copied by "outside" means. By "outside" I mean unauthorized.

Thank you.

http://dev.cmsmadesimple.org/projects/page_protect maybe?

Thanks for the reply.

That module seems to be for just adding a password. It does not say that it is for hiding pages. Of course there isn't much description so I could be wrong.

KitchM wrote:By "outside" I mean unauthorized.

What is "authorized" in your case?

The opposite of

crawlers and bots and such

Oh, and also people.

Maybe you can explain what you want to use it for then?

You can set a page inactive in options tab ('Active' checkbox) or in page overview (click the green icon in 'Active' column).

However that would make the page inaccessible from frontend.

You can set a page so it doesn't show up in the menu. I think the ebst system to prevent unauthorised viewing is using FEU and setting the page to protected content.

KitchM wrote: I would like to make a page hidden from crawlers and bots and such so that it cannot be viewed, read or copied by "outside" means. By "outside" I mean unauthorized.

Both FEU and page_protect are authentication systems, meaning that users not authenticated can be prevented to have access to certain contents/pages etc. FEU is primarily a Users Management module, while page_protect is a light plugin which provides simple but flexible and effective protection to page contents.

KitchM wrote:That module seems to be for just adding a password. It does not say that it is for hiding pages.

No module/plugin "hides" pages AFAIK, they just hide content from unauthorized (unauthenticated) visitors, including bots and crawlers.
Using page_protect or FEU is more a matter of simple protection vs users management and protection.

Now we're getting somewhere! Thank you for the explanation. That makes sense.

It also appears to clarify that FEU is the preferred method overall. However, there is one huge flaw; it does not work on the current version of CMSMS. At least the directions do not fit reality.

Does anyone know if there anything else that is like that in the cms world?

Thanks again.

KitchM wrote: However, there is one huge flaw; it does not work on the current version of CMSMS.

Both do.

KitchM wrote:At least the directions do not fit reality.

Don't quite get what you mean...

KitchM wrote:It also appears to clarify that FEU is the preferred method overall

It's really a matter of needing to use a Front End User management system vs not. For sites which only need to protect pages with passwords you don't really need FEU.

Here's what I meant. I looked around and found a pdf file that is entitled "Hiding Private Content in CMS Made Simple". But there were problems with that.

Page 12 of the manual states:

CONFIGURING FRONTENDUSERS
Once the FrontEndUsers module is installed, you can find it's administration panel in the CMS Made Simple admin console under the “Users & Groups” menu (you may have to refresh the page after the installation process, for the menu to regenerate).

Here I assume is meant “Frontend User Management”

Specifying Module Behavior
You can specify most of the options that change the modules behavior in the “Preferences” tab of the FrontEndUsers administration panel. By default these preferences are fine for most users, however I will briefly explain the important preferences here.

Here the instructions start to break down. There is no Preferences tab.

I believe that the pdf is somewhat outdated, however it still serves as general guide. "Settings" is not a tab but a link on the top just below the heading now.
Keep in mind that ALL CG modules need PHP 5.3.x, minimum...

I just checked to make sure since you mentioned it, and yes everything is still up to date including php 5.3.3.

So where does "Settings" come into play?

So I tried to muddle thru the instuctions with all the missing parts, and I finally got to the point where it goes to "Testing".

It displays this text:

Testing
Testing the configuration is a matter of clicking on the “Restricted Test 1” link when both logged in, and logged out. When logged out you should automatically be redirected to the “login” page after clicking on the “Restricted Test 1” page

But there is no "Restricted Test 1" link.

At this point, even if someone got the rest completed correctly, the user is left dead in the water.

Any ideas?

Thanks again.

I just realized that I had another post about this but it got deleted somehow. So I hope a solution can be found here.

Thanks for all the ideas. Keep 'em coming!