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

Name	Philip Withnall
Title / Role	Early Developer
Contributions / Notes	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

Name	Allen Ellis
Photograph
Title / Role	Founder
Contributions / Notes	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

Name	Robert Goacher
Photograph
Title / Role	Founder
Contributions / Notes	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

Name	Chris Graham
Photograph
Title / Role	Founder
Contributions / Notes	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.
Links	gameRevolt (@[email protected]) - LinuxRocks.Online

Website	Earth & Sky
Screenshot
Short Description	Earth & Sky is a Composr v11 gallery website showcasing natural photography by Mark Brunner.

Website	Saving Wallden
Screenshot
Short Description	This is an informational website for a Visual Pinball X game in development called "Saving Wallden". The site features the planned game rules, development news, and a download of the game as it is so far.

Website	PDStig, LLC
Screenshot
Short Description	This is an informational site / portfolio for PDStig, LLC, the company run by one of Composr's lead developers, Patrick Schmalstig.

Website	Composr CMS: Content management meets social media
Screenshot
Short Description	This is the main website for Composr CMS version 11. It runs the latest build of v11. Currently it is just a placeholder but will soon replace compo.sr when v11 becomes stable.

Question

Should I use the bleeding edge releases or the git repository?

Answer

That depends on several factors. Here are some pros and cons of each:

Bleeding edge releases	Git repository (v11 branch)
Easier to set up and use, and does not require knowledge of git	Harder to set up and use unless you are familiar with git; must routinely run the file integrity check, database upgrade tool, and check database schema tools in the upgrader after pulling
More stable, but less frequent updates	Less stable, but more frequent updates (almost daily!)
Only contains core code and addons unless you manually install non-bundled addons; non-bundled addons must be manually updated	Contains all core code and non-bundled addons; non-bundled addons are updated with pulls (though you will need to check file/database integrity often and check blocks/modules for available upgrades)
Ability to test the upgrader / upgrading between new v11 versions	Not able to effectively test the upgrader because git pull might load in and update new code early before the release is available
Always contains the latest files.bin and db_meta.bin because these are compiled with every release	Does not always contain the latest files.bin and db_meta.bin. Therefore, file and database integrity may report false-positives.
Intended for general user testing	Intended for developers / developer testing: * special run-time checks are enabled for extra debugging (if the .git directory exists in the install) * contains the automated test suite for running tests

Click here to access the git repository.

Question	Can I switch a v11 install from git over to using the releases from composr.app?
Answer	It is not recommended you do this because you may run into issues. For example, some changes were made in crypto_master.php and data/upgrader2.php prior to the first v11 alpha. These changes will result in a broken upgrade unless you already pulled these changes from git. Similar situations could happen in the future as well. It is recommended you either discard the git install and use a fresh install from the Downloads, or to maintain a git install and a bleeding-edge release install separately. Do not combine the two.

Top 10 Entries

Question	What are the different media types supported for banners?
Answer	The Composr banner system supports various media types: Images: Uploaded directly or via an image URL. Text: Textual banners, including support for "hot text" that dynamically displays banners based on keyword matches within the content. Frames: Banners embedded within frames using an iframe URL. Direct Code: Raw HTML or PHP code can be used to integrate banners from third-party banner networks or create custom banner implementations.

Question	What is a banner wave, and how is it different from a banner rotation?
Answer	A banner wave displays all banners within a specific type as a single advertising block, similar to a list of sponsors. In contrast, a banner rotation randomly displays banners from a set based on factors like display likelihood. You can add a banner wave using the main_banner_wave block and configure it to show a specific number of banners or all banners within a type.

Question	What is a banner network, and how can I create one?
Answer	A banner network is a system for exchanging banners between websites. You can create a banner network in Composr by associating banners with specific websites. When a site joins your banner network, you provide them with an iframe code to display banners from your rotation. Composr uses a "hit balancing" system where sites in the network receive banner impressions based on the clicks they generate for other sites in the network.

Question	Can I restrict who can see specific banners?
Answer	Yes, by enabling the "Permissions" configuration option in the Admin Zone (Admin Zone > Setup > Configuration > Feature options > Banners), you can control which usergroups can see individual banners. This feature allows for banner targeting and prevents inappropriate banners from being shown to specific audiences, such as adult banners to minors.

Question	What are the different types of banner deployment agreements?
Answer	There are three types of banner deployment agreements: Permanent: These banners are always displayed as long as there is available space. Campaign: These banners have a limited number of impressions or clicks before they stop displaying. They can be associated with specific campaigns and can have their hits increased if needed. Default: These banners are displayed only when there are no permanent or campaign banners available to show. The system displays permanent and campaign banners with a 50:50 split.

Question	What should I do if URL Schemes are not working properly?
Answer	If URL Schemes, which rely on web server rewrites, are not functioning correctly, you can disable them using the `http://yourbaseurl/config_editor.php` script. Enable the option "Whether to block the URL Scheme (mod_rewrite)" to override the main configuration setting.

Question	What should I do if an addon causes problems on my Composr website?
Answer	Composr's Safe Mode can help isolate addon-related problems. Enable Safe Mode: Use the safe mode link or the config editor (http://yourbaseurl/config_editor.php) to enable Safe Mode. Uninstall the problematic addon: Once in Safe Mode, navigate to the addon management section and uninstall the addon causing the issue. Disable Safe Mode: After resolving the problem, disable Safe Mode through the config editor.

Question	How can I manually edit my Composr database?
Answer	phpMyAdmin is a widely used web-based tool for managing MySQL databases. It allows you to: Browse tables: View and edit individual rows within database tables. Run SQL queries: Execute SQL commands directly for specific tasks. Repair corrupted tables: Access table repair functions. Refer to the "Manually editing your database with phpMyAdmin" tutorial for more detailed instructions.

Question	How can I reset a forgotten account password in Composr?
Answer	If you have access to phpMyAdmin: Access the f_members table. Find the row corresponding to the user whose password needs to be reset. Edit the row, setting m_pass_hash_salted to the new password using MD5 encryption, clearing m_pass_salt, and setting m_password_compat_scheme to 'md5'. If you have FTP access: Obtain your IP address. Edit your _config.php file, setting $SITE_INFO['backdoor_ip'] to your IP address. This enables a temporary backdoor login for your IP address, bypassing security restrictions. Remove the backdoor entry after logging in and resetting the password through standard means. Caution: Using the backdoor method is a security risk and should be done with extreme caution.

Question	My Composr installation seems corrupted. How can I repair it?
Answer	Composr offers several tools and methods for repairing corrupted installations: Integrity checker: The upgrader tool, accessible via `http://yourbaseurl/upgrader.php`, includes an integrity checker that identifies outdated or corrupted files. MySQL table repair: The Admin Zone > Tools > Cleanup tools provides access to MySQL table repair functionalities. Alternatively, use phpMyAdmin or your web host's database management tools for more direct control. Safe Mode: Access safe mode via the bookmarked link from the setup wizard or by adding &keep_safe_mode=1 to any website URL. This disables custom themes and caching, helping isolate problems caused by themes or custom code.

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