I think this is something that needs to be addressed, I think no HTML elements or CSS should be hardcoded into module php files, it kind of defeats the purpose of using templates surely?

irmtfan wrote:
dont be unhappy my friend.
fortunately, today i had time for you and it just take one hour to show you how you can remove at least this one hardcode.

1- in news/language/YOUR_LANG/main.php change the following:

// START hacked by irmtfan
define('_NW_ONECOMMENT',"comment");
// END hacked by irmtfan

define('_NW_BYTESMORE',"%s bytes more");
// START hacked by irmtfan
define('_NW_NUMCOMMENTS',"comments");
// END hacked by irmtfan

2- in news/class/class.newsstory.php change the following:

$morelink = '';
        if ( $fullcount > 1 ) {
            $morelink .= '.XOOPS_URL.'/modules/news/article.php?storyid='.$this->storyid().'';
            $morelink .= '">'._NW_READMORE.'';
            $morelink .= ' | '.sprintf(_NW_BYTESMORE,$totalcount);
            if (XOOPS_COMMENT_APPROVENONE != $xoopsModuleConfig['com_rule']) {
                $morelink .= ' | ';
            }
        }
        if (XOOPS_COMMENT_APPROVENONE != $xoopsModuleConfig['com_rule']) {
            $ccount = $this->comments();
            $morelink .= '.XOOPS_URL.'/modules/news/article.php?storyid='.$this->storyid().'';
            $morelink2 = '.XOOPS_URL.'/modules/news/article.php?storyid='.$this->storyid().'';
            if ( $ccount == 0 ) {
                $morelink .= '">'._NW_COMMENTS.'';
            } else {
                if ( $fullcount < 1 ) {
                    // START hacked by irmtfan
                    //if ( $ccount == 1 ) {
                    //    $morelink .= '">'._NW_READMORE.' | '.$morelink2.'">'._NW_ONECOMMENT.'';
                    //} else {
                          $morelink .= '">'._NW_READMORE.' | '.$morelink2.'">';
                    //    $morelink .= sprintf(_NW_NUMCOMMENTS, $ccount);
                          $morelink .= '';
                    //}
                } else {
                    //if ( $ccount == 1 ) {
                    //    $morelink .= '">'._NW_ONECOMMENT.'';
                    //} else {
                        $morelink .= '">';
                    //    $morelink .= sprintf(_NW_NUMCOMMENTS, $ccount);
                        $morelink .= '';
                    //}
                    // END hacked by irmtfan
                    
                }
            }
        }
           // START hacked by irmtfan
        $story['numcomments'] = $ccount;
           // END hacked by irmtfan
        $story['morelink'] = $morelink;

3- then in news/templates/news_item.html change the following:


        itemPermaLink"><{$story.morelink}> <{if $story.numcomments gt 0}> <{$story.numcomments}> <{if $story.numcomments gt 1}> <{$smarty.const._NW_NUMCOMMENTS}> <{else}> <{$smarty.const._NW_ONECOMMENT}> <{/if}> <{/if}>
        

you can see the right way of doing that. One smarty variable should only used for one php variable.

Edit:
by the way, english language is weak in this point because it needs to add a "s" to make a countable word plural (1 comment and 2 comments) . in persian we dont have this obstacle! (comment=nazar and comments=nazar)

IMO the best way for localize it for languages like english is adding a "s" suffix that can be used in such a situation. eg:
for english:

define("_COUNT_SUFFIX","s");

for persian:

define("_COUNT_SUFFIX","");

In case of modules, the module developers have to do the code clean-up themselves.

or example right now I am modifying templates for extcal to make them cleaner and to use divs instead of tables (except for month/week calendar view). I have also modified xcgal templates to use divs instead of tables so that I can make them responsive. But having to dig through tons of php code to find some HTML can be annoying and time consuming.