Maintenance mode (plugin)

[Andrew da Silva]

How should we go about doing a maintenance mode plugin?

What should be accessible, do we temp. replace htaccess to forward to
a specific template file?

What exactly is a maintenance? When would one activate it? (reasons)

[Silvester]

You read minds.

A maintenance plugin redirects all http requests except the admin
screen to something like a 503 page. I think.

Such plugin would be useful for times when your site has to go down
(or hibernate) for whatever reason. Like updating.

[Christian Mohn]

Basic Usage scenario:

1. New version of Habari available.
2. You don't want users accessing the site while you upgrade
3. Place site in maintenance mode
4. Upgrade Habari install
5. Logon as admin and remove maintenance mode.

Another scenario would be to not have users access the install while doing
backups, etc.
Yet another is if you want to test a theme or something, and don't want
users to get a "sneak peek" before you are sure that it works

Imo, maintenance mode should just redirect to a static template file
provided by the theme, but with a "core" fallback in case the theme doesn't
provide the template. Site Admins should be able to use the site as normal
(eg. If logged in), other users should see the template.

Christian