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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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".
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.
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.
Question What is the input syntax for quiz questions?
Answer Quiz questions are inputted in blocks, separated by blank lines. The first line is the question, followed by potential answers on subsequent lines. Different question types are indicated by tags after the question, such as [MULTIPLECHOICE], [MULTIMULTIPLE], [LONG], [SHORT], and [SHORT_STRICT].

Top 10 Entries

Title Galleries
Icon Image
Description

Multimedia: Supports images, videos, audio, and more.

Personal galleries: Allow your members to create their own galleries which show up on their profile.

Support for embedding YouTube videos: Save on bandwidth.

Auto-detection of video length and resolution (most file formats)

Full tree-structure support: Have galleries within galleries within galleries.

Multiple display modes

View entries as a slideshow

Automatic thumbnail generation

Mass import: Also supports importing metadata

Optional watermarking: To guard against thieving swines ;) .

Geotargeting

Adjustments: Automatic size and orientation adjustments according to metadata.

Title Catalogues
Icon Image
Description

Think “databases on my website”.

Flexible data control: Set up multiple catalogues, each with its own set of fields. There are many types of fields, such as short text fields, upload fields, and date fields.

Multiple display modes: Display the contents of categories using tables, boxes, or lists.

Powerful structure: Each catalogue contains categories which contain entries. Catalogues can have a tree structure of categories and/or work from an index.

Configurable searching: Choose which fields are shown on categories, and which can be used to perform searches (template searches).

Compliance with data protection legislation: Specify which fields may contain sensitive data. These fields will be anonymised as appropriate when members download or purge their data.

Entirely customisable: Full support for customising catalogues, categories, and entries, exactly as you want them- field by field. You can even make custom page templates per-catalogue.

Classified ads: Entries can automatically expire and get archived. You can also send out view reports.

Community interaction: You can allow users to comment upon and rate entries.

Import data from CSV files

Periodic content reviews: Helping you ensure ongoing accuracy of your data.

Name Patrick Schmalstig
Photograph Image
Title / Role Lead Developer
Contributions / Notes

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.

Links

PDStig, LLC

Name Jim Davidson
Title / Role contributor
Contributions / Notes

written many tutorials via Arvixe

Name Chris Warburton
Title / Role developer for ocProducts
Contributions / Notes

Made some key contributions to ocPortal

Name Haydn Maidment
Title / Role project manager for ocProducts
Contributions / Notes

None available

Name Steve Jarvis
Title / Role project manager for ocProducts
Contributions / Notes

Wrote many tutorials via Arvixe

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 Image
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 Image
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