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

Title Chatrooms and IM
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Description

Make unlimited chatrooms each with your choice of access restrictions.

Moderation: Moderate messages and ban troublesome users.

Integrate shout-boxes into your website

Instant messaging: Members may have IM conversations with each other, or in groups. Members receive an archive of the conversation in Private Topics once closed.

Site-wide IM: Give your members the ability to pick up conversations anywhere on your site.

Sound effects: Members may configure or upload their own.

Download chatroom logs

Blocking: Choose to appear offline to certain members.

Allow members in certain usergroups to make their own chatrooms, and control when they expire based on inactivity time.

Title Points
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Description

So many ways to earn points: From submitting different content to logging in, you control the economy.

Integration with eCommerce: Members can buy advertising space, temporary privileges, gamble, and more! Members can also use points for store discounts.

Send points: Members can send each other points to reward each other

Escrow points: Members can escrow points with a written agreement in exchange for a product or service. The recipient does not receive the points until both members satisfy the escrow. Escrows can be disputed to staff.

Gift points: Enable the gift points balance so members can send a limited amount of points to other members without it deducting from their spendable points balance.

Leader board: Create some community competition by showing who has the most points or who earned the most points for a configurable time interval

Auditing: View every points transaction that has taken place, and reverse any of them, in the points ledger.

Profiles: Browse through member points profiles, and see what virtual gifts members have been given.

Ranks: Create usergroup promotion ladders with rank points; members rank up as their rank points increase. Members can view their rank and unlocked / unlockable privileges on their profile.

Title Conversr Topic Polls
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Description

Conduct a poll on a forum topic to gather user opinions and feedback

Add unlimited choices

Define a range of acceptable number of choices on which members can vote

Control when voting is open or closed

Control if guests can vote or if you must log in

Require making a post (reply) in the topic when voting

Allow (or deny) the ability for members to revoke / change their vote

Show or hide results from the public

Enable viewing of which members voted on which choices

Add a date/time voting automatically closes

Enable weighted voting through the points system

Enforce topic poll options on a forum basis including defining default or required choices

Title Content Sharing
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Description

Show topics on your website through blocks

Comment integration: New topics appear in the ‘comments’ forum as you add content to your website. Members can watch these topics so they never miss an addition to your website.

Title Third party integration
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Description

Support for integrating popular forum software: See our download page for a list of supported forums.

Share login credentials: Login to the Composr site with the same usernames/passwords as your forum.

Share usergroups: Control website access based on someone's forum usergroup.

Emoticon support: The emoticons on your forum will also be used on your website.

Title Stay on Top
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Description

(Conversr only)

Virtual Forums: Find posts made since you last visited or within a time frame.

Remembers your unread posts even if you frequently change computers

Recent activity: See what topics you recently read or posted in

Unanswered topics: Find which topics have not yet been answered

RSS and Atom support

Title Conversr Forums
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Description

The usual: Categories, forums, topics, posts, topic polls, announcements / pinning, sinking, quick reply, topic closing

Forum and Topic tracking: Receive notifications when new posts are made on monitored topics and forums.

Password-protected forums

Present an 'introductory question' which members must answer or agree to before accessing a forum.

Full moderator control: Determine who may moderate what forums.

Inline personal posts: Whisper to members within a public topic; only those members will see the post.

Over 50 bundled emoticons: Also, support for batch importing new ones

Multi-moderation: Record and perform complex routine tasks; make post templates for those tasks.

Mass-moderation: Perform actions on many posts and topics at once.

Post preview: Read a topic's first post directly from the forum-view. Also see the latest posts when making a new post.

Highlight posts as ‘important’

Title Membership
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Description

(These features pertain to Conversr only)

Profiles: Browse through and search for members, and view member profiles.

Multiple usergroups: Members can be in an unlimited number of different usergroups. They can also ‘apply’ to join new ones.

Social networking: Create and browse friendships.

Custom profile fields: Allow your members to add extra information which is relevant to your website (or to their subcommunity), and members can set privacy settings on them.

Promotion system: Set up a usergroup rank ladder so members advance the ranks through their rank points. Members can view rank on their profile rank tab including unlocked and unlockable privileges.

Private Topics: A special kind of private messaging system between 2 or more members. Think 'on-site e-mail inbox'.

Invitation-only websites: Restrict registrations from the public; existing members can invite others to join.

Allow members to create and manage clubs (personal usergroups).

Avatars: Include avatars that members can pick from, or allow members to upload their own.

Member signatures, photos, and personal titles

Users online: See which members are currently online (unless they logged in as invisible)

Account pruning: Find and delete unused accounts, or merge duplicate accounts, based on defined criteria.

CSV files: Import and export members using CSV files, including support for automatic creation of custom profile fields and usergroups – great for migrating data

Title Support Tickets
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Description

Users can communicate with staff privately through Support Tickets.

Assign to individual staff: Includes the ability for staff members to “take ownership” of raised issues, and for staff to discuss.

Allow users to e-mail in their tickets and replies to a designated e-mail address

Expanded access granting: Grant third party members access to individual tickets.

FAQ integration: Automatically search FAQs before opening a ticket.

Multiple ticket types: Set up different types of support tickets, with different access levels and fine-grained ticket notification settings.

Anonymous posting: Allow staff to post anonymously or as a designated support operator account so that customers don't always expect the same employee to reply.

Merging: If customers open multiple tickets for the same issue, you can merge them.

Closing: Let customers close tickets that are now resolved, or do it yourself.

Filtering: Filter the tickets you see by status and ticket type.

Title eCommerce and Subscriptions
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Description

Paid membership: Sell access to sections of your website, or offer member privileges.

Shopping cart for running an online store

Extendable framework: Programmers can easily add new product types to sell, or payment gateways / tax services / shipping providers.

Multiple payment gateways: Accepts payments via PayPal or other gateways developers may add, and manual transactions (cash/cheque).

Invoicing support: Including status tracking and online payment tracking.

Basic accounting support: Input your incoming and outgoing transactions to get a basic ledger, profit-and-loss, and cashflow charting.

Currency conversions: Perform automatic currency conversions within your website pages (requires an API key).

Top 10 Entries

Question How does Composr prevent spam?
Answer Composr offers several tools and techniques to combat spam, including:
  • CAPTCHA: A visual or audio test that humans can easily pass but bots struggle with. This helps prevent automated spam submissions.
  • Heuristics: If Composr thinks an action is spam based off of configurable criteria, it can either flag the content for validation, block the attempt, or ban the IP address outright.
  • Public block lists: Composr can utilize the Stop Forum Spam system or other block list systems to identify and block known spammers based on IP addresses, usernames, and email addresses.
  • Link posting restrictions: Disallowing links in member profiles for users with no posts and adding "nofollow" attributes to links discourages spammers seeking backlinks.
  • Black hole fields: Hidden form fields that should remain empty. Bots often fill these in, allowing Composr to identify them.
  • Project Honey Pot integration: A system that places hidden links on pages, attracting and identifying spam bots.
  • Content/post reporting: Users can report spam, enabling staff to take action.
  • Guest posting limitations: Restricting guest permissions raises the bar for spammers.
  • Advanced techniques: Developer addons like "antispam_question" or probation systems provide additional layers of protection.
Question What is the "Sitemap" in Composr, and how is it used?
Answer The Sitemap is a hierarchical representation of your website's content, including zones, pages, categories, and entries. Composr generates the Sitemap dynamically and uses it for various purposes:
  • Generating menus.
  • Creating the user-facing sitemap page.
  • Generating the XML Sitemap for search engines.
  • Providing a visual representation of your website structure in the Sitemap editor and Permissions tree editor.

You can edit the sitemap under Admin Zone > Structure > Sitemap editor.
Question Can I change the URL scheme after my website is already live?
Answer Yes, you can enable or change a URL scheme on an existing website. Old URLs will redirect to the new format, ensuring that your SEO isn't negatively impacted. The canonical URL will also be specified in your website's HTML, further protecting your search rankings.
Question How do URL schemes work, and what are the benefits of using them?
Answer URL schemes allow you to control the structure of your website's URLs. Composr offers several schemes that create shorter, more user-friendly URLs:
  • /pg/ (e.g., /pg/home)
  • .htm (e.g., /home.htm)
  • Simple unadorned URLs (e.g., /home)

Benefits of using URL schemes include:
  • Improved user experience with more readable URLs.
  • Potential SEO benefits, as some believe search engines favor cleaner URLs.
  • Easier sharing on social media and other platforms.
Question What are "breadcrumbs," and how can I customize them?
Answer Breadcrumbs are a navigation aid that shows the user their current location within the website's hierarchy. In Composr, breadcrumbs are customizable through an XML file.

You can override default breadcrumbs using "match-keys" to target specific pages and define the desired breadcrumb structure. This allows you to adjust the breadcrumb trail to better match your website's organization.

To edit, go to Admin Zone > Structure > Configure breadcrumb overrides.
Question How can I control which panels are displayed on specific pages?
Answer Panels are the areas around your main content area where you can place menus, blocks, and other dynamic elements. You can control panel visibility using display rules within your panel's Comcode:
{+START,IF,{$NEQ,{$PAGE},example_page_1,example_page_2,example_page_3}}
... panel content ...
{+END}

This example prevents the panel from showing on pages named "example_page_1," "example_page_2," and "example_page_3."
Question What is a "page-link," and how does it differ from a URL?
Answer A page-link is a Composr-specific way to reference a page or screen within your website. It's a simplified, local representation of a URL, independent of the URL scheme you might be using.

For example, the page-link site:downloads:browse:10 points to the download category with ID 10 in the site zone. This page-link remains consistent even if your URL scheme changes the way URLs are structured. Page-links also do not consider monikers, so if a URL moniker changes, page-links will stay the same.

This is a powerful feature as you can use the Comcode [page="page-link"]Page title[/page] tag to generate URLs of local content. And these will always work regardless of URL scheme or moniker.
Question How do menus work in Composr, and can I customize them?
Answer Composr has a flexible menu system that can be customized to your needs.
  • Default Menu: Generated automatically from the Sitemap, reflecting the structure of your content.
  • Editable Menus: You can create and fully customize these menus, adding links to specific content or external websites.

Menus can be added to panels (sidebars, headers, footers) or embedded directly within Comcode pages. The menu editor provides tools for adding branches, setting captions, tooltips, and URLs, and even defining context-sensitive behavior using "match-keys."
Question What are "zones" in Composr, and what are they used for?
Answer Zones are like sub-sites within your Composr website. They provide a way to organize content and apply different settings, like permissions, themes, and navigation. Some default zones include:
  • Welcome Zone: The initial landing page, often used for login/signup.
  • Site Zone: Your main website content, with features for viewing, submitting, editing, and deleting content on the member level.
  • Admin Zone: For site administrators to manage the website.
  • Content Management Zone: Where content is added, edited, and deleted, typically by site staff.
  • Forum Zone (if using Conversr): Houses the forum section of your site.
Question What are the different ways to control access in Composr?
Answer Composr offers a robust permission system with various methods for controlling access:
  • Zones, Pages, and Categories: Control which usergroups can view specific zones, pages, and categories (permissions).
    • Admin Zone > Security > Permissions Tree Editor, or on the UI for the Zone / Page / Category.
  • Global Privileges: Define permissions for actions like using advanced Comcode or bypassing the word filter, applicable across the entire site.
    • Admin Zone > Security > Global privileges
  • Module/Page Overrides: Tailor privileges for particular content types by overriding them on the controlling module or page.
    • Admin Zone > Security > Permissions Tree Editor [> Content permissions]
  • Category Overrides: Modify privileges for specific categories, allowing fine-grained control over actions within those categories.
    • Admin Zone > Security > Permissions Tree Editor
  • Match-key Permissions: Implement ad-hoc access control based on specific match-keys, offering flexibility beyond traditional permission structures.
    • Admin Zone > Security > Match-key page restrictions