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 debug email integration issues?
Answer	Email Tracking: Composr marks emails as read when processing posts. Marking an email unread will trigger re-processing. Log File: Create an empty file named data_custom/mail_integration.log to capture detailed log data for troubleshooting.

Question	How can I control who can post in my forums?
Answer	You can manage posting permissions using Composr's usergroup system. Forum View Access: Determine which usergroups can view each forum. Privilege Overrides: Grant or deny specific privileges (e.g., posting) to usergroups within a forum. Bypass Validation: Allow trusted members to post without moderation (or vice versa, require validation for certain usergroups).

Question	What special features does Composr's Conversr offer compared to other forum software?
Answer	Advanced Polls: Blind polls, forcing or setting of default options, and point-weighting. Private Topics: More sophisticated than traditional private messages. Forum Introduction Questions: A flexible way to control access and encourage engagement (e.g. forum-specific rules or forum passwords). Cascading Topics: Pinned topics that appear in multiple forums. Integrated Moderation: Streamlined moderation tools within the forum interface.

Question	How do topic polls work?
Answer	Topic polls are a powerful tool for gauging opinion within discussions. You can: Control Result Visibility: Choose whether results are visible before voting. Require Topic Reply: Force users to reply to the topic before voting. Show Voter Identities: Optionally display which members voted for each option. Allow Vote Revocation: Let voters change their vote while the poll is open. Set Voting Close Time: Define a specific date or time for the poll to close. Restrict Selections: Limit the number of options voters can choose. Allow Guest Voting: Enable voting for unregistered users. Weight Votes by Points: Give more influential members greater voting power (requires the points addon).

Question	What are the different types of posts in Composr forums?
Answer	Regular Posts: Standard posts made by members within a topic. Quick Replies: Shorter replies made directly from the topic view. Anonymous Posts: Members can choose to post anonymously, appearing as a guest. Staff can track the actual user if needed. Emphasised posts: Posts made by staff (or marked by staff) which are highlighted to draw attention as they are important. Whispers: Private messages embedded within public topics, allowing for side conversations. Private Topic Posts: Private messages sent between specific members (e.g. an on-site "inbox").

Question	Can I integrate email with my forums (mailing list)?
Answer	Yes, you can enable email integration for each forum individually. This allows members to post and receive updates via email. Requirements: PHP IMAP extension installed System scheduler (Cron) running IMAP-compatible mail server Recommended: Mail server enforces SPF and DKIM for email validation Mail server limits email size to prevent abuse System scheduler runs frequently (e.g., every minute) so members get prompt updates

Question	How do I organize my forums effectively?
Answer	Structure: Composr's forums follow a hierarchical structure. You can create forum groupings, forums, and sub-forums (and sub-sub-forums etc) in that order of hierarchy. Strategies: Avoid creating too many forums, which can dilute activity. Start with a few well-defined forums and expand as needed. Permissions: Use Composr's permission system to control access to forums and features. For example, you can create private staff forums.

Question	How can I keep track of activity in busy forums?
Answer	Composr provides several tools to help you stay up-to-date with forum activity: Virtual Forums: Special forums like "Posts since last visit" and "Topics with unread posts" provide filtered views of recent activity. Read Status: Topics with unread posts are displayed in bold with a jump-to-first-unread link. You can manually mark topics or entire forums as read or unread. Notifications: You can enable email notifications for specific topics or forums, either manually or automatically based on your activity.

Question	What security measures should I consider for local payments?
Answer	While Composr supports local payments (Authorize.Net), it requires high PCI compliance. Ensure you adhere to the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) guidelines, including secure coding practices, firewalls, intrusion detection systems, regular security audits, and staff screening.

Question	How can I audit my eCommerce activity in Composr?
Answer	Composr provides tools for monitoring your eCommerce activities: Sales list management: Cancel purchases, view sales history, and manage refunds (Admin Zone > Audit > eCommerce > Sales list management). Charts: Generate profit/loss accounts and cash flow diagrams for specific periods (Admin Zone > Audit > eCommerce, and Admin Zone > Audit > Site statistics). Manual transactions: Record transactions outside of Composr for accurate accounting (Admin Zone > Audit > eCommerce > Manual transaction).

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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