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.
Legends of Nor'Ova is a website / database based on the table-top role-playing game of the same name. It contains Wiki+ pages and catalogues with a vast amount of knowledge regarding the game and its resources. It features a customized theme / templates. And it has a community for people to discuss the game.
Super Tilted is a team of pinball enthusiasts who develop original digital pinball tables for the Visual Pinball X platform. This website showcases their releases and ongoing (public) projects. All tables are free to download. And people can request to join the team.
This site has some secret sauce behind the scenes: a custom block for Scorbit leader-boards (pinball scores), and some webhooks to alert the team in their Discord of certain site activity. It also takes advantage of the Support Tickets e-mail integration and using zones for "sub-sites" for each released pinball table.
Technically, Wiki+ pages cannot be moved because they don't have a fixed location within the network structure. Creating child links forms a path, not a strict hierarchy. However, you can manipulate the breadcrumbs by ensuring only one path leads to a page.
Yes, Wiki+ includes a revision history feature accessible through the page edit screen. This feature allows you to view a log of edits, see changes highlighted in tooltips, and revert to previous versions of a page as needed.
How can I view the complete tree structure of my Wiki+?
Answer
You can access a view of the complete Wiki+ tree structure through the designated option in the admin panel. However, it's important to note that this view will reflect guest access permissions. Some pages may be hidden if they are restricted to specific user groups.
Wiki+ offers several features to help you moderate user contributions and maintain the quality of information:
Email Notifications: When a new post is submitted, an email notification is sent to the designated staff address, alerting you to new contributions.
Permissions Control: You can configure permissions to determine whether regular users can create new pages or only contribute through posts.
Page History: The revision history feature allows you to track edits made to pages and revert to previous versions if necessary.
Composr Moderation Tools: Wiki+ integrates with Composr's site-wide moderation features, providing additional tools for monitoring and managing user contributions.
Yes, users can contribute content to Wiki+ through posts. When the "Show posts" option is enabled for a page, users can add their insights and information as posts below the main page content.
What are orphaned pages and how should I handle them?
Answer
Orphaned pages are pages that exist within the Wiki+ database but are not linked to the main tree structure. These pages are not accessible through the tree navigation but can still be reached through direct links or cross-linking.
Orphaned pages are not necessarily problematic. They can be intentional if you prefer to link pages using the wiki-style syntax instead of a rigid tree hierarchy. You have the flexibility to choose the linking method that best suits your content organization.
While Wiki+ shares similarities with traditional wikis, it provides two key distinctions:
Optional Post Contributions: Wiki+ allows users to contribute short snippets of information (posts) directly on pages, enriching the content without formally editing the page itself. This feature is optional and can be enabled or disabled as needed.
Optional Tree Structure: Unlike standard wikis that rely solely on cross-linking, Composr's Wiki+ offers the flexibility of organizing pages within a hierarchical tree structure. This structure can be used in conjunction with or as an alternative to cross-linking.
How can I communicate privately with other members?
Answer
Conversr offers two ways to have private conversations:
Private Topics:
Start a private topic from a member's profile, by clicking "Whisper" on their post and selecting "Quote post to a new Private Topic with this member," or from your account by selecting "Start a Private Topic" and entering the desired username.
Participate in the topic just like a regular forum topic.
You will receive notifications for new posts in your private topics.
Topics can be moved to the "Trash" category or other categories of your choosing for organization.
Inline Personal Posts (Whispers):
Send a private message within a public topic by clicking "Whisper" on a post and selecting "In-topic personal post to this member."
Whispers are visible only to the sender and recipient, and the whispered post is highlighted.
How can I ensure the privacy of personal information stored in my catalogues?
Answer
Composr's privacy system can help manage personal data within catalogues. To leverage it:
Use specific field types: Utilize dedicated field types for sensitive data like member IDs, usernames, emails, IP addresses, and passwords for efficient handling by the privacy system.
Enable "May contain personal information": Mark fields that may contain personal information, enabling the privacy system to identify and handle such data during purging or downloading.
Catalogue breadcrumbs can be customized using XML code (Admin Zone > Structure > Configure breadcrumb overrides). By default, they include the list of catalogues. However, Composr provides default breadcrumb XML that removes this, focusing on the current category hierarchy. Tree catalogues omit the index link, while non-tree catalogues include it.
What is a tree catalogue and how do I create one quickly?
Answer
A tree catalogue has a hierarchical category structure (which can contain sub-categories), similar to the download system. Composr offers a special feature for creating tree catalogues by simply typing the desired categories in a specific format (which is explained and available when adding a new catalogue), which automatically generates the tree structure.
Alternatively, a non-tree catalogue is simpler and only has top-level categories.
Can I customize the look and feel of my catalogue?
Answer
Yes, Composr allows advanced users to customize catalogue appearance through Tempcode programming. This involves using template IF directives to apply specific styles based on the catalogue's name and manipulating template parameters for complex layouts. Alternatively, you can create new template files using the catalogue name in the file to specify complete templates for specific catalogues. Check out the tutorials for more information.
While Composr catalogues offer great flexibility, they can become complex if you need sophisticated data relationships, efficient searching, high data reliability, or advanced customization. In these cases, a programmer's expertise in database design, normalization, and templating can be invaluable.
Catalogues are custom databases you can create within your Composr website. They allow you to define your own records with custom fields and organize them into categories. Think of them as powerful tools for managing various types of content, like a database of books, a directory of businesses, or even a classified ads system.
