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

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.

@gamerevolt

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

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.

Absolutely! Frequent changes may be made to both bundled and non-bundled addons. Bundled addons will be updated via the upgrader. For non-bundled addons, you will have to update them through the addons management screen (Admin Zone > Structure > Addons). You will be informed which ones need updated.

Once version 11 reaches release candidate, we do not expect frequent updates to non-bundled addons anymore. But it is still good practice to check after every update.

Yes, for basic non-custom v10 sites. However, expect some issues to arise in the process. And please report those issues to the tracker.

For v10 sites with non-bundled addons or customisations, upgrading to v11 will likely break the site until you update the non-bundled addons or temporarily remove the customisations.

We aim to have the upgrader fully functional for a large majority of types of sites and for sites using non-bundled addons by the time version 11 reaches release candidate stage.

We do not recommend upgrading production v10 sites at this time until v11 reaches stable.

Yes (probably). Always remember especially during alpha and beta phases that things can break. Please make backups first. And let us know on the issue tracker if an issue occurs.
 

Note: You cannot upgrade from 11 alpha to 11 beta without first upgrading to 11.alpha4 (if you are not already on 11.alpha4).

• .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.

• .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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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).

• 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.

• 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).

• 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").

• PHP IMAP extension installed
• System scheduler (Cron) running
• IMAP-compatible mail server

• 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