Architecture

Architecture

High-Level Shape

the site is a classic folder-routed PHP app with a shared shell and file-based storage.

usual pattern:

1. bootstrap shared session handling via lib/session.php
2. set $title and $description
3. locate the preferred template
4. load route-local content.html
5. inject dynamic placeholders
6. echo final HTML

Shared Building Blocks

• template.html default desktop shell with sidebar, footer, placeholders, and global asset includes
• template_mobile.html alternate shell for mobile-friendly view
• lib/render.php shared helpers for upward file lookup and mobile template selection
• lib/session.php shared session bootstrap, persistent cookie config, mustResetPassword enforcement, and admin-cookie refresh helper
• lib/feed.php feed-specific helpers for reply persistence, permission checks, datetime formatting, and inline image upload replacement
• main.js shared client behavior layer
• style.css global styling and component rules

Template Selection

mobile/desktop template choice is centralized in lib/render.php.

mobile mode is enabled when any of these are true:

• host is m.fridg3.org
• cookie mobile_friendly_view is truthy
• logged-in account has mobileFriendlyView: true in data/accounts/accounts.json

if the mobile template is requested but missing, routes fall back to template.html.

Session And Auth Model

• logged-in state lives in $_SESSION['user']
• frontend admin awareness uses a non-HttpOnly is_admin cookie
• backend authorization is still done in PHP, which is correct and non-cursed

common session fields:

• username
• name
• isAdmin
• mustResetPassword
• allowedPages

Persistence Model

there is no database. the app reads and writes JSON, TXT, HTML, and media files under /data.

main stores:

• data/accounts/accounts.json
• data/accounts/login_attempts.json
• data/feed/*.txt
• data/feed/replies/*.json
• data/journal/*.txt
• data/journal/drafts/*.txt
• data/guestbook/*.txt
• data/newsletter/*.html
• data/etc/*.json

Important Couplings

• many routes still do literal string replacement on the footer account button to swap login/logout
• main.js assumes certain DOM ids exist across templates
• bookmarks are stored in accounts.json, but some old code paths still reference a legacy /data/users pattern
• newsletter releases are HTML files in data/newsletter/*.html, and bookmark metadata for them is derived from that rendered HTML rather than a sidecar JSON index
• toast’s Discord bot is not just a stream bot anymore; it also maintains local DM history plus feed notification state under data/etc/
• page views are updated from shared frontend flow, so nav changes can silently break view counts