Features: A-Z Index

A

Administration Zone

Administration Zone

B

Banners

Banners

C

Calendar

Calendar

Catalogues

Catalogues

Chatrooms and IM

Chatrooms and IM

Community features

Community features

Content Sharing

Content Sharing

Conversr Forums

Conversr Forums

Conversr Topic Polls

Conversr Topic Polls

D

Design without barriers

Design without barriers

Downloads

Downloads

E

Ease of Use

Ease of Use

eCommerce and Subscriptions

eCommerce and Subscriptions

Extendable

Extendable

F

Featured Content

Featured Content

G

Galleries

Galleries

I

Installation

Installation

Integration

Integration

L

Localisation

Localisation

M

Membership

Membership

N

News and Blogs

News and Blogs

Newsletters

Newsletters

P

Parental Controls

Parental Controls

Performance

Performance

Points

Points

Privacy Tools

Privacy Tools

Q

Quizzes and Surveys

Quizzes and Surveys

R

Rich Media

Rich Media

S

Search Engine Optimisation

Search Engine Optimisation

Searching

Searching

Security

Security

Spam Protection

Spam Protection

Stay on Top

Stay on Top

Structure / Navigation

Structure / Navigation

Support Tickets

Support Tickets

T

Template Programming Language

Template Programming Language

Testing tools

Testing tools

Themeing tools

Themeing tools

Third party integration

Third party integration

W

Warnings / Moderation

Warnings / Moderation

Web Pages

Web Pages

Web standards

Web standards

Website Polls

Website Polls

White-labeling (Debranding)

White-labeling (Debranding)

Wiki+

Wiki+

Newest 10 Entries

Question How can I filter the news archive to show specific content?
Answer The news system allows advanced filtering:
  • Blog vs. Non-Blog Posts: Choose to display blog posts only, regular news posts only, or both.
  • Category Filtering: Limit results to specific news categories.
  • Double Filtering: Apply a second category filter for a two-level categorization system (useful for large sites).

These filters are controlled through parameters passed to the news blocks and carried through navigation links. When viewing a news post, you can also filter by the categories associated with that post.

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Question How do I display external RSS feeds on my Composr website?
Answer Composr offers two blocks for displaying RSS and Atom feeds in a news-like format:
  • main_rss block: Suitable for main content areas
  • side_rss block: Designed for sidebars and smaller spaces

To add a block, use the Block Construction Assistant or insert the following Comcode into your page:

[block="http://example.com/feed.xml"]main_rss[/block] [block="http://example.com/feed.xml"]side_rss[/block]
Replace "http://example.com/feed.xml" with the actual feed URL.

Important: Exercise caution when using external feeds. Ensure the source is trustworthy, as malicious feeds can contain harmful code.

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Question What are RSS/Atom feeds and how do they benefit my website?
Answer Feeds, in formats like RSS and Atom, are XML files that syndicate your website content, making it accessible beyond your website. They can be viewed using feed reader applications (e.g., Feedly, Vienna) or integrated into other websites or web browsers.

Composr supports both RSS and Atom for syndicating news and other content. While RSS is more common, Atom is a cleaner, standardized format. Both effectively share your content updates.

Benefits:
  • Wider audience reach: Your content becomes accessible to those using feed readers and aggregators.
  • Content repurposing: Other websites can incorporate your feed, increasing visibility.
  • Increased traffic: Users discovering your content in feeds may visit your website directly.
  • Staying on top: Those who use your RSS feeds will see when you post new news articles.

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Question What are Personal Categories/Blogs in Composr? How do I create one?
Answer Composr allows members of permitted usergroups to have their own personal news categories, also known as "blogs". These blogs appear as a tab on the member's profile (Conversr-only) and may also appear in the main news block depending on your configuration.

To create a blog, a member simply adds a news post and selects their personal category. If the category doesn't exist, it will be automatically created upon submission.

A dedicated "Blogs" CMS module (Admin Zone > Content > Blogs) is available if the "Separate blogs" configuration option is enabled. This simplified module focuses on blog posting and can be used to restrict members from submitting to general website news.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Top 10 Entries

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.

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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.

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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.

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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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Question How can I improve my search results?
Answer Here are some tips for improving search results:
  • Use specific keywords: The more specific your keywords, the better your results.
  • Use boolean operators: Use "+", "-", and quotation marks to refine your search.
  • Optimize content titles and meta keywords: These fields are given priority during search, so make sure they accurately reflect your content.
  • Consider enabling the fast custom index: Especially beneficial for large websites or frequent filtered searches.

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Question What is the fast custom index and why should I use it?
Answer The fast custom index is Composr's own search engine, designed to be faster and more efficient than MySQL full-text search, especially for large websites and filtered searches.

Benefits of the fast custom index:
  • Faster filtered searches: Significantly improves search speed when you add filters like category or author.
  • Configurable stop words: Control which common words are ignored during search.
  • Better stemming: More accurately recognizes variations of words (e.g., "like" and "liking").
  • Multilingual support: Indexes content based on different language translations.

Downsides of the fast custom index:
  • Slight lag in indexing new content: New content takes a short time to be indexed.
  • Less accurate ranking: Ranking is based on the most obscure keyword, not a blend of all keywords.
  • Cannot perform blank searches: You must enter at least one keyword.

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Question Can I filter my search results?
Answer Yes, you can filter your search results by:
  • Content type: Choose to search specific content types like news, forum posts, or Comcode pages.
  • Author/Submitter: Search for content submitted by a specific member.
  • Date: Limit your search to content submitted within a specific time frame.
  • Category (for certain content types): Narrow down your search to specific categories within a content type.

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Question What is the difference between natural and boolean searching?
Answer Natural search is a more relaxed approach where you type in your search terms and Composr tries to find the most relevant results, even if they don't contain all the words. It's like a Google search.

Boolean search requires more precision and uses operators like "+", "-", and quotation marks to define exactly what you're looking for. For example, searching for "+car -maintenance" will only return results that contain the word "car" but not "maintenance".

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Question How do I search my Composr website?
Answer There are a few ways to search your Composr website:
  • Using the search bar in the header: This is the simplest way to search. Just type your search term in the box and click the search button.
  • Using the 'Search' module: This module offers more detailed search options. You can access it via the 'site:search' page-link (usually under About > Search in the default menu).
  • From the Forum: Click the 'Search' button on the forum or use the contextual search box on the forum member bar. This will search within your current forum or topic.

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Question How do I mark correct answers in a quiz?
Answer For questions with predefined answers, you can mark correct answers by adding [*] after the answer. If no answer is marked correct, the question will require manual marking. You can also use the [UNMARKED] tag after a question to exclude it from scoring.

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