Contributors: A-Z Index

A

Name Photograph Title / Role Contributions / Notes
Allen Ellis Image 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

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C

Name Photograph Title / Role Contributions / Notes
Chris Graham Image 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.

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Chris Warburton developer for ocProducts

Made some key contributions to ocPortal

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H

Name Photograph Title / Role Contributions / Notes
Haydn Maidment project manager for ocProducts

None available

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J

Name Photograph Title / Role Contributions / Notes
Jim Davidson contributor

written many tutorials via Arvixe

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P

Name Photograph Title / Role Contributions / Notes
Patrick Schmalstig Image 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.

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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

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R

Name Photograph Title / Role Contributions / Notes
Robert Goacher Image 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

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S

Name Photograph Title / Role Contributions / Notes
Steve Jarvis project manager for ocProducts

Wrote many tutorials via Arvixe

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Newest 10 Entries

Question What other methods exist for featuring content in Composr?
Answer
  • Random Quotes: The quotes feature allows you to display a rotating selection of quotes on your site.
  • Community Billboard (Requires Addon): The Community Billboard addon provides a dedicated space for displaying important announcements or community messages.

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Question How can I create countdowns or display hit counters on my Composr website?
Answer Composr offers blocks for both functionalities:
  • Countdowns: Use the main_countdown block to add countdowns to specific dates and times.
  • Hit Counters: While generally considered outdated, you can use the main_count block to display hit counters for specific content.

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Question Can I display forum content in a prominent way on my Composr site?
Answer Absolutely! Composr provides several blocks designed for featuring forum content:
  • News-Style Blocks: side_forum_news, main_forum_news, and bottom_forum_news display forum topics in a news format, ideal for forums used for news posting.
  • Topic-Focused Block: main_forum_topics showcases recent topics from specific forums, allowing you to highlight active discussions or important announcements.

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Question What is the difference between using the main_awards block and directly selecting content with the main_content block?
Answer Both blocks can feature content, but they offer different approaches:
  • main_awards: Provides a structured system for managing featured content through award assignment, archives, and optional point rewards. Requires active management to update award holders.
  • main_content: Offers direct control over specific content or allows random selection from chosen categories. May require manual updates or adjustments.

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Question What is the Composr Award system, and how do I use it?
Answer The Award system is a powerful tool for highlighting and promoting specific content. Here's how it works:
  • Award Types: Define awards associated with specific content types (e.g., "Download of the Week" for downloads).
  • Award Assignment: When editing content, designate it as the current holder of a relevant award.
  • Display: Use the main_awards block to showcase current award holders on your site.
  • Archive: Awarded content is automatically archived for easy access and historical reference.
  • Points: If you use points, recipients of awards can also receive points as a reward.

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Question How do I feature specific content items on my Composr site?
Answer You can feature content using various methods:
  • Blocks: The main_content block allows you to display specific items by content type and ID or randomize content from selected categories.
  • Awards: Create awards for different content types and assign them to specific items. You can then use the main_awards block to display current award holders. Awards also integrate with points to credit points to award holders. And you can be reminded on the staff checklist to assign a new award every configurable amount of time.
  • Advanced Embedding: For greater control, use the main_include_module block to embed entire module screens within other content.

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Question What are the benefits of featuring content on my Composr website?
Answer Featuring content provides several advantages:
  • Freshness and Activity: It gives your site a dynamic feel, showcasing updates and encouraging return visits.
  • Effortless Variety: Featuring content introduces diversity without extensive effort.
  • User Engagement: It draws users in and motivates them to check back for new featured items.
  • Prominent Placement: Featured content receives prime visibility, highlighting its importance or rewarding its creator.

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Question How can I handle bounced emails?
Answer Composr includes a bounce filter tool that helps you remove bounced email addresses from your subscriber list. To use this tool, you'll need:
  • The PHP IMAP extension enabled on your server.
  • A dedicated folder on your email server to collect bounced emails.

The bounce filter tool scans the specified folder for bounce messages and lets you remove the corresponding addresses from your newsletter list. Composr will also halt attempts sending e-mails to those addresses to help prevent you from getting listed on spam blocklists.

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Question How can I customize the appearance of my newsletters?
Answer You can customize the look of your newsletters by editing the following templates:
  • NEWSLETTER_DEFAULT_FCOMCODE.txt: This template defines the default content and layout for newsletters.
  • MAIL.tpl: This template controls the overall appearance of emails sent from Composr.
  • Custom mail templates: You can create custom HTML templates for specific newsletters.

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Question How can I ensure my newsletters comply with data privacy regulations?
Answer Composr provides built-in mechanisms for compliance:
  • Unsubscribe links: Newsletters include an unsubscribe link, allowing recipients to opt out of the newsletters.
  • Global unsubscribe: All Composr emails include a link to a global unsubscribe page (data/unsubscribe.php), letting users unsubscribe from all site emails.

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Top 10 Entries

Question How do I manage refunds in Composr?
Answer
  • Monetary payments: Issue refunds through your payment gateway.
  • Point payments: Manually refund points through the points system.
  • Cancellations: Cancel purchases in the Admin Zone to allow repurchasing. Remember to manually undo any associated actions (e.g., removing name highlighting).

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Question What are the shipping options in Composr?
Answer You can handle shipping costs in three ways:

  • Flat rate per order: Configure a fixed shipping cost for all orders.
  • Weight-based calculation: Define shipping costs based on the order's total weight.
  • Shippo integration: Get real-time shipping quotes from various carriers based on weight, dimensions, and destination.

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Question How do I handle taxes in Composr?
Answer Composr offers flexible tax handling:

  • TaxJar integration: Supports international taxation for many countries.
  • TaxCloud integration: Supports complex USA taxation, including destination-based rules.
  • EU digital goods tax: Handles EU-specific regulations for digital products.
  • Custom tax rates: Define your own percentage-based tax rates.
  • Tax hooks: Developers can extend tax functionality and implement additional tax providers.

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Question What are the different types of products in Composr?
Answer Composr offers various "products," which are broader than typical eCommerce products. They include:

  • Usergroup subscriptions: Offer access to specific usergroups with recurring payments.
  • Catalogue items: Physical or digital goods sold through the shopping cart and a special "products" catalogue.
  • Orders: Collections of products purchased together.
  • E-mail addresses: Sell personalized email addresses on your domain.
  • Topic pinning: Allow users to pay to pin forum topics.
  • Name highlighting: Offer highlighted usernames on the forum.
  • Banners: Sell banner advertising space.
  • Custom products: Define and sell any product or service you wish.
  • Permission products: Sell access to specific permissions, such as download categories.
  • Gambling: Allow users to wager points.
  • Work: Represent invoiced services.
  • Non-purchasable products: For accounting purposes (interest, tax, wages, other).

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Question How do I set up PayPal in Composr?
Answer
  • Sign up for a PayPal Business Account.
  • Enable "Auto Return" in PayPal and set the return URL to http://yourbaseurl/index.php?page=purchase
  • Enable "Payment data transfer" in PayPal and copy the data transfer identifier for Composr.
  • In Composr, go to Admin Zone > Setup > Configuration > eCommerce options > Payment gateway (PayPal-specific).
  • Paste the data transfer identifier and save.

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Question What payment gateways does Composr support?
Answer Composr supports PayPal, CCBill, and Authorize.Net for processing payments. While Composr could be extended to support other gateways, doing so may require professional development and customization.

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Question What are the limitations for uploading large files?
Answer
  • 32-bit PHP build: Files larger than 2GB are not supported.
  • 64-bit PHP build: Files larger than 2GB are supported, but the file size will not be displayed.

For very large files, it's recommended to upload them manually and provide the URL instead of directly uploading them through the web form.

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Question Can users search for specific downloads?
Answer Yes, the unified Composr search system allows users to find downloads based on keywords. This includes searching within download titles and descriptions, as well as within the content of certain file types like PDFs, text files, and even some binary formats (providing they are not too large in size).

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Question Can I add images to my downloads?
Answer Yes, Composr automatically creates a gallery for each download (if the galleries addon is enabled). You can easily add images directly after creating the download or through the download-view screen. The download gallery is displayed within the download-view screen itself.

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Question Are there security features to protect downloaded files?
Answer Yes, Composr includes security measures to protect downloads.
  • Protection from hackers: Uploaded files are stored with obscured filenames, preventing direct access and bypassing of the download system. Additionally, an anti-leech feature (when enabled) prevents direct download links from being shared on other websites (this is done by requiring a session ID which is validated against the person / device accessing it and only provided when Composr presents the download links to you on the site).
  • Basic security: Composr will not let anyone upload dangerous scripts (such as PHP files) which can be executed.
  • Rootkit detection: The rootkit detection tool under yourbaseurl/rootkit_detection.php can help scan files for shell scripts and backdoors. Composr's Health Check can also do this regularly. Note this only offers very basic detection and will not work for obfuscated backdoors (you should use antivirus to scan for those).

It is the responsibility of webmasters to run antivirus on their site to regularly scan files uploaded to it. Composr does not include antivirus software or virus scanning.

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