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	What is "pinging" and how does it work in Composr?
Answer	In blogging, "pinging" is an automatic notification sent to blog search engines and other services when you publish a new post. Composr can automatically ping services defined in Admin Zone > Setup > Configuration > Feature options. These services then index your new article, making it searchable. A default ping service (`http://pingomatic.com/ping/?title=title&blogurl=url&rssurl=rss`) is pre-configured to relay your ping to numerous other services. You can customize the ping URL with these placeholders: title: The article title url: The article URL rss: The URL of your news RSS feed Pinging only occurs for news categories accessible to the public (guests).

Question	How do I schedule a news post to be published at a specific time?
Answer	Once you have enabled the system scheduler (requires the Composr calendar and commandr addons), an advanced scheduling option will appear when adding or editing news posts. By setting a future date and time, your post will remain unvalidated until the chosen time, at which point it will be automatically validated and published.

Question	How can members edit their profiles and account settings?
Answer	Members can edit their profiles and account settings through the "Edit" tab on their profile page. They can change their password, update personal information, manage their avatar and signature, and adjust their privacy settings. Administrators have access to additional options for managing member accounts.

Question	What is the difference between member terms?
Answer	Visitor: Any one or device who visits the site but is not necessarily identified User: Any visitor who can be identified (e.g. has a session ID or tracked IP address) Guest: A user who is not logged in (in Conversr, they all share a special "Guest" ID / account) Member: A user who is logged in with a registered account on the website (they have a username and a member ID) Author: Specific to the authors addon, a profile of an entity (could be a member, individual, or even a company) who makes content for the site Subscriber: A user who receives newsletters from the site (they do not necessarily have to be a member) Submitter: A user who submitted content (usually a member, but could be a guest if the site is very open to submissions) Staff: A member who moderates any significant portion of the website Super-moderator: A staff member with global moderation capabilities Moderator: Same as super-moderator but does not have those capabilities globally; they may only be able to moderate certain sections or content Super-administrator: A staff member with literally undeniable access to everything on the site Administrator: Same as super-administrator but they might not have access to the most elevated of privileges such as accessing maintenance scripts It's important to understand these distinctions to properly manage permissions, track user activity, and personalize the website experience.

Question	What are Welcome Emails and how do they work?
Answer	Welcome Emails are a series of automated emails sent to new members on a predefined schedule. They can be used to introduce the website's features, encourage engagement, and provide helpful information. Website administrators can customize the content and schedule of these emails.

Question	How can I enhance or enforce the security of member passwords?
Answer	Composr offers several features to improve password security: Password Strength Setting: Administrators can set a minimum password strength requirement, forcing members to choose stronger passwords. Password strengths are calculated on a scale of 1-10 using algorithms that take into account letters (including case), numbers, symbols, repeat characters, use of dictionary words, and use of usernames / dates of birth / e-mail addresses. Forced Password Resets: Administrators can force specific members or all members to change their passwords upon next login, enhancing security in case of potential breaches. Expiring passwords: Administrators can require members to change their password after so many days. Encrypted CPFs: If the server has the OpenSSL PHP extension installed, specific CPFs (such as ones containing other passwords) can be encrypted to protect sensitive member data in case of a server compromise.

Question	Can I import or export member data?
Answer	Yes, Composr allows you to import and export member data using CSV spreadsheet files. This is useful for transferring member information between different systems, performing bulk updates, or creating backups. The export feature provides various filtering options, and the import feature supports adding new members and updating existing ones. Go to Admin Zone > Security > Members > Export members.

Question	What are usergroups and how do they work?
Answer	Usergroups are a way to categorize members and assign them specific permissions and privileges. Each member can belong to one or more usergroups, and the permissions granted by those usergroups determine what actions they can perform on the website. Website administrators can create and manage usergroups, define their permissions, and assign members to them. They can also assign leaders who then have permission to manage the members of that specific usergroup.

Question	What are Custom Profile Fields (CPFs) and how are they used?
Answer	CPFs allow website administrators to collect additional information from members beyond the basic profile fields. These fields can be customized to fit the specific needs of the website, such as collecting job roles, hobbies, or interests. CPFs can be used to: Enforce specific requirements for membership (e.g., job role in a company forum). Categorize members based on their interests or affiliations (e.g., football players in a school forum). Display additional information on member profiles and forum posts.

Question	How do new members join a Conversr website?
Answer	Members can join your Composr site in a few ways: Regular Registration: Users can click on "join" links, agree to your rules, and fill out a registration form. They will then receive an activation email to confirm their email address (if enabled). Invites: You can restrict joining to invite-only. Existing members can send invites, and only those who receive an invite can register. Manual Addition: Administrators can manually create member accounts through the Admin Zone. This is useful for pre-joining members or handling issues with the regular registration process. Other Methods: Composr also supports automatic member joining through LDAP and HTTP authentication.

Top 10 Entries

Question	What is the Composr Member System?
Answer	The Composr Member System is the system used by the Conversr forum software to manage user accounts and information. This includes usernames, passwords, profile information, and usergroups. It also handles user registration, login, and account management. For websites not using Conversr, the member system of the third-party forum software would be used.

Question	Can I Use Composr Galleries to Publish Podcasts?
Answer	Yes, Composr supports creating podcasts from galleries. The podcast URL follows this format: `http://yourbaseurl/backend.php?mode=galleries&select=galleryname&type=rss&itunes=1`. Replace yourbaseurl and galleryname accordingly. This URL can be used to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or other podcast applications.

Question	How Do Gallery Slide-shows Work?
Answer	When viewing an image or video in a gallery, visitors can initiate a slide-show that automatically cycles through subsequent entries. The slide-show can be paused with a click or keypress. The default slide-show speed can be adjusted by modifying the GALLERY_ENTRY_SCREEN.tpl template.

Question	What are Watermarks and How Do They Work?
Answer	Watermarks are semi-transparent images overlaid on gallery images to mark their origin or deter unauthorized use. When you add or edit a gallery, you can choose to apply watermarks to the corners of images. Watermarking applies permanently to the uploaded image. Composr uses a reverse tree structure for watermarks: if a sub-gallery doesn't have a watermark defined, it inherits the watermark from its parent gallery.

Question	Can Members Create Their Own Personal Galleries?
Answer	Yes, members with the "have personal galleries" permission can create their own galleries. These personal galleries are displayed under designated "Personal category container" galleries. They also show up in a tab on the member's profile. Members can only add content to their own galleries unless they have the "Submit to categories belonging to other members" permission.

Question	What are Rep-Images and How Do I Set Them?
Answer	Rep-images, short for "representative images," are thumbnails that represent a gallery when it's displayed within a list of galleries. They offer a visual preview of the gallery's contents. You can set a rep-image when adding or editing a gallery, or when adding an image to a gallery.

Question	How Do I Import Images in bulk into a Gallery?
Answer	You can import images in bulk using a CSV file. The file should be named descriptions.csv and placed in the uploads/galleries directory. The first column should contain filenames (without the path), and the second column should contain descriptions. The filenames should correspond to images also located in the uploads/galleries directory. Composr will automatically match the descriptions to the images during import.

Question	What Image and Video Formats are Supported?
Answer	Images: .jpg/.jpeg: Highly compressed, best for photos due to minimal noticeable quality loss. .png: Good compression with no quality loss, ideal if bandwidth isn't a concern. .gif: Limited to 256 colors and poor compression. Better alternatives are video or APNG. Note that Composr does not support SVG because hackers can leverage the XML-like structure of SVG files to compromise a website. Videos: .mp4 (h.264 aac encoding): The recommended format, widely supported. .mov (h.264 aac encoding): Identical to .mp4. .webm: Supported natively in most browsers, but requires plugins for Internet Explorer/Microsoft Edge and Safari. Other formats, while they may work, are generally discouraged due to compatibility issues and lack of consistent addon or browser support.

Question	What are Composr Galleries?
Answer	Composr Galleries are a system for storing, organizing, and displaying images and videos. They function like categories, allowing you to group related media together. Galleries can be structured hierarchically, with sub-galleries nested under parent galleries, similar to a folder system. Each gallery has settings that control its appearance and behavior.

Question	How are forums structured in Composr?
Answer	Composr forums are organized hierarchically: Forum Groupings: Broad categories that contain forums. Forums: Contain topics related to a specific subject. Sub-forums: Forums nested under other forums, providing further categorization. Topics: Threads of conversation containing a series of posts. Posts: Individual messages within a topic.

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