Contributors: A-Z Index

A

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Allen Ellis		Founder	Original designer for ocPortal Also conceived and coded the Theme Wizard and Point Store Son of one of the early inventors of Internet protocols (Usenet, aka Internet newsgroups) Token non-brit	View

C

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Chris Graham		Founder	Original developer of ocPortal, former lead developer of Composr CMS Masters degree in Computer Science from The University Of Sheffield Undertaken work for over 15 FTSE-100 companies, as well as many small and mid-sized organisations. Includes a number of banks and major brands.	View
Chris Warburton		developer for ocProducts	Made some key contributions to ocPortal	View

H

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Haydn Maidment		project manager for ocProducts	None available	View

J

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Jim Davidson		contributor	written many tutorials via Arvixe	View

P

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Patrick Schmalstig		Lead Developer	Joined Chris Graham behind the scenes in the development of Composr CMS in 2016. Took on the lead developer role in 2023 when Chris Graham stepped back to attend to his new lifestyle changes. Spearheaded the development of Composr CMS v11 and the new website, Composr.app. Formed the company PDStig, LLC to take on professional support and development for Composr CMS users especially after the discontinuation of ocProducts, Ltd.	View
Philip Withnall		Early Developer	Coded the chatroom, blogging support, the analytics system, and OcCLE (now Commandr) Masters Degree in Computer Science degree from The University Of Cambridge Other work has included helping out with Firefox, and ongoing work on GNOME	View

R

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Robert Goacher		Founder	Ran some of the early websites where ocPortal came from Technically the original developer of ocPortal, in that he wrote the first few lines of code Heavily involved in the feature design process Hosted some of our early meet-ups	View

S

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Steve Jarvis		project manager for ocProducts	Wrote many tutorials via Arvixe	View

Newest 10 Entries

Question	How do I set up the forum base URL correctly?
Answer	The forum base URL should be a URL prefix to your forums without a script name. For example, `http://forums.example.com` is correct, while `http://forums.example.com/index.php` is incorrect. You can fix this using the config_editor.php script and then clear the Comcode page cache.

Question	How do comment topics work?
Answer	Most Composr resources with commenting enabled create comment topics in the configured comment forum. If the forum uses BBCode, Comcode features not supported by BBCode may not display correctly. Moderate comments from the forum as you would any other topic.

Question	Can I switch forums after installing Composr?
Answer	It's not easy to switch forums after installing Composr. The member and usergroup IDs referenced by Composr would lose their association. Check the "Importing data into Composr" tutorial for more information on this.

Question	What is Conversr and why is it recommended?
Answer	Conversr is Composr's built-in forum system. It offers seamless integration, allowing you to use Comcode for forum posts, a unified Admin Zone, shared themes and templates, and innovative features like Private Topics and in-post whispers. Using a third-party forum can be clunky and may lead to maintenance headaches.

Question	What forum drivers does Composr support?
Answer	Composr supports several forum drivers, including Invision Board, phpBB, myBB, vBulletin, Burning Board, and Simple Machine Forum. If your forum is not listed, professional developers can add support. Composr also provides converters for migrating from these forums to its own forum system, Conversr.

Question	What are the web server requirements for running Composr?
Answer	Composr is compatible with Apache and IIS servers. For Apache: Enable mod_rewrite for URL Schemes or URL Redirects. Ensure AllowOverride All or at least AllowOverride Options FileInfo Limit is set in the server configuration. Recommended modules for optimal performance include mod_headers, mod_setenvif, mod_env, mod_deflate, and mod_filter. For IIS: Don't disable default Feature Delegation for settings changed in the bundled web.config file. Install the URL Rewrite module, essential for URL Schemes, URL Redirects, and basic security. Configure IIS for additional mime-types if needed, as it doesn't serve unrecognized file types by default.

Question	What are the PHP requirements for running Composr?
Answer	Composr requires PHP 7.2 or higher, but versions not officially supported by PHP developers are discouraged. The maximum tested version is PHP 8.3. Required PHP extensions: GD2 (gd) with PNG and JPEG support MySQL extension (mysqli or pdo_mysql) XML extension (xml) Multibyte String (mbstring) cURL extension (curl) JSON support (usually available by default) Sodium (libsodium) ZIP extension (zip) if ZIP file support is needed Additional recommendations: posix extension for permission checks zlib extension for faster upgrades, compressed backups, and page compression ctype extension for slightly faster performance IMAP extension (imap) for managing newsletter bounces OpenSSL extension (openssl) for encrypted CPFs, DKIM, and SSL certificate expiry checks Pspell (pspell) or Enchant (enchant) extensions for spell checking Ensure the following PHP settings are configured: File upload size limit of at least 5MB (or higher as needed) Maximum execution time of at least 30 seconds Memory limit of at least 128MB The installer will warn you if any critical functions have been disabled via disable_functions or other PHP modifications. Avoid web hosts that heavily restrict standard PHP functionality.

Question	How do I uninstall Composr?
Answer	To uninstall Composr, access the uninstall.php file in your web browser, enter your administrator password, and follow the prompts to remove the database data. Afterward, you can safely delete the Composr installation directory.

Question	What are the recommended web hosting options for Composr?
Answer	Choosing a web host is crucial. Avoid the cheapest options and look for hosts with recent positive reviews and minimal credible complaints. Ensure they meet Composr's requirements, including adequate disk space, no restrictive file size limits, and support for required PHP extensions. Composr is compatible with various hosting control panels like Plesk and cPanel, and works on Windows, Linux, or Mac OS servers.

Question	Can I install Composr on a Windows desktop?
Answer	Yes, you can install Composr on a Windows desktop using software packages like WampServer, XAMPP, EasyPHP, or ampps for simplified setup. Alternatively, you can manually install Apache, PHP, and MySQL, following the instructions provided in the respective documentation. Remember to configure file permissions appropriately and ensure the webserver isn't accessible from outside your network.

Top 10 Entries

Question	What is the purpose of "confirmed" and "non-confirmed" sessions?
Answer	Composr distinguishes between confirmed and non-confirmed sessions for added security: Confirmed: When you actively log in with your credentials. Non-confirmed: When you return to the site and are automatically logged in via cookies. You can configure zones to require confirmed sessions, preventing access from cookie-based logins alone. The Admin Zone uses this by default.

Question	How can I enhance the security of my Composr installation on shared hosting?
Answer	Shared hosting environments can be inherently less secure. Here are some tips: Choose a Secure Host: Opt for hosts that offer suEXEC and open_basedir for better account isolation. Test Security: Verify the host's security measures with the provided filesystem_browser.php script. Restrict _config.php: Remove world-writable permissions from _config.php after installation.

Question	How does Composr protect against Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks?
Answer	Composr utilizes multiple layers of defense against XSS attacks: HTML Filtering: Configurable levels of filtering prevent malicious script injection. Content Security Policy (CSP): Restricts the sources from which scripts and other resources can be loaded. Input Sanitization: Data is sanitized before being processed to prevent malicious code execution. Output Encoding: Data displayed to users is properly encoded to prevent interpretation as active code.

Question	What are the different types of security alerts in Composr?
Answer	Composr has a variety of hack-attack codenames that trigger security alerts and logging. Some common examples include: DODGY_GET_HACK: Suspicious URLs with potentially harmful characters. EVIL_POSTED_FORM_HACK: Possible CSRF attempts via malicious form submissions. SCRIPT_UPLOAD_HACK: Attempts to upload PHP scripts, potentially malicious. DOWNLOAD_PRIVATE_URL_HACK/TRY_TO_DOWNLOAD_SCRIPT: Attempts to download sensitive files. BRUTEFORCE_LOGIN_HACK: Repeated failed login attempts. SQL_INJECTION_HACK: Attempts to exploit SQL queries for data extraction. You can customize alert handling for each type in data_custom/xml_config/advanced_banning.xml (Admin Zone > Security > Configure advanced banning).

Question	What are some tips for secure website maintenance?
Answer	Avoid FTP: Use secure alternatives like SFTP or SSH for file transfer. Secure Email: Enable SSL for IMAP and POP3 email protocols. Strong Passwords: Use unique and complex passwords for different services. Secure Computers: Keep your own devices patched and secure. Maintenance Password: Remove the maintenance password from _config.php when not in use.

Question	What are the main security features of Composr?
Answer	Composr has a robust set of security features to protect your website, including: Passwords: Visual representation of password quality and enforcement of complexity rules. Password expiry and prevention of re-use. Secure password hashing, even if the database is compromised. Temporary passwords for staff setup. Login Restrictions: Two-factor authentication via IP address approval. IP address banning, including wildcard banning. Session locking to IP addresses. Configurable session expiry times. Ability to prevent privileged actions from auto-logged in sessions. Optional member approval process. Auditing Systems: Comprehensive audit logging of administrative actions. Logging of user actions and IP address history. Tools to analyze audit logs. Failed login logging. Hack attack detection, logging, and banning. Email notifications for changes to user credentials. Framework Security: Protection against CSRF attacks. Click-jacking prevention via CSP implementation. Secure coding standards and scanning techniques. Configurable HTML filtering to prevent XSS attacks. Secure code modularization standards. Other features: Granular privileges and access permissions. Content submission validation process. Rootkit detection system. Spam prevention systems. Web application firewall rules. Moderation systems.

Question	Why are my searches slow, and how can I improve search speed?
Answer	Slow searches can occur when dealing with large amounts of content. Here are some workarounds and solutions: MySQL timeout setting: For MySQL 5.7+, set a query timeout to prevent searches from locking up your database. Composr automatically sets this, but you can configure it manually if needed. Use InnoDB tables: Switching to InnoDB tables in MySQL can prevent slow queries from affecting other users on your website. Note that InnoDB is not officially supported by Composr yet. Enable the fast custom index: As mentioned earlier, the fast custom index is optimized for handling large datasets and filtered searches, potentially leading to significant speed improvements.

Question	How does the search engine handle different languages?
Answer	Composr's fast custom index supports multiple languages. Content is indexed based on its translated version, ensuring that you get relevant results even when searching in a different language.

Question	What are quoted phrases and how do they work?
Answer	Quoted phrases allow you to search for an exact sequence of words. For example, searching for "red apple" will only return results containing that exact phrase. Keep in mind that enabling quoted phrases can increase disk space usage.

Question	How do stop words affect search results?
Answer	Stop words are common words (like "the", "a", "is") that are ignored by the search engine because they add noise and don't contribute to the meaning of the search query. You can customize the list of stop words for the fast custom index. See the search tutorial for more information.

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