Hello Composr community,
I am stuck between a rock and a hard place and would like your input.
I am currently the only active developer for Composr CMS. But I am struggling immensely to remain active. My financial situation is dire, and no one is hiring me despite my experience and hundreds of applications filed. Development of Composr is not paying my bills; I am not getting funding for general Composr development, and I don't have nearly enough paid client work to cover my expenses.
I am also struggling to find other developers interested in contributing to Composr in the (currently probable) event I fall off. This is mainly because Composr CMS uses dated PHP coding standards instead of being written in, say, Laravel (a very popular PHP framework, almost a gold standard / requirement nowadays). And most everyone I've spoken with are not interested in contributing to a PHP project which is not written in modern syntax / Laravel.
However, getting Composr CMS to the standards expected by most modern PHP developers today is a commitment I cannot currently make. It would basically require rewriting it from scratch. And I cannot commit to that kind of development in my current financial situation without some serious financial backing (we're talking thousands of U.S. dollars at least).
And this creates a catch-22. Developers aren't interested in Composr because it's not coded in modern PHP. I can't get it to modern PHP standards without enormous funding or more developers.
This situation is leading me on the path of not being able to maintain Composr anymore in the near future. And that will inevitably result in its temporary (or permanent, depending on the situation) stalling of any new releases / updates / development.
I really need your help to keep this project alive. Either of the following will ensure that I, or someone else, can ensure Composr development continues and does not stall:
- Funding me on a regular basis for the work that I do (I can set up a Patreon or something if people express interest in this)
- Contracting me to manage your Composr website, which what you pay me will then fund me to work on general Composr development, and what I do for your site could also be pushed upstream to the main Composr code.
- Hiring me as an employee for any (ideally PHP) web development work not necessarily related to Composr, so that income can pay my bills and then I can funnel some of that into Composr development
- Becoming a contributing developer for Composr CMS so that I'm not the only developer working on it anymore
- or Finding people you know willing to do any of the above things
Please contact me / leave a comment if you believe you or someone you know can help in any of these ways.
Ultimately what I'd like to do, if funding and developer power permits, is get v11 out the door and then immediately begin work on v12 (while also still supporting v11) with the goal of v12 using the Laravel framework.
Your help will be greatly appreciated and will help ensure I can continue to keep Composr CMS alive and with updates coming out.
Comments
I have implemented a "session is about to expire" overlay warning. It is now live on composr.app and will also be pushed into 11 beta9. It will pop up 4-5 minutes before the session expires. And if you click okay before it expires (expiration time will be displayed), your session time will be refreshed automatically without the page refreshing so you stay logged in. I think this was the best approach.
I'm still unsure about the remember me bug. I'll continue to look into that.
I'm going to investigate. What I might do as well is make it so that notifications.php refreshes your session clock… when you're on virtually any page, JavaScript regularly pings notifications.php to see if you have any new ones. I'll have to analyze the security implications of this though. It might not be ideal if, say, you leave a computer unattended on the site. So maybe it could be a config option.
Remember Me should definitely be logging you back in though when sessions expire; I'll look into that.
Twice (different days) I tried replying to this topic with a long post. Twice I got kicked out for taking too long and had to sign back in. Both times I had logged in using the "remember me" option. Both times no auto save.
So confirm with me if you could:
- Are you browsing on a mobile network or VPN? Or does your internet service provider given you a new IP address frequently?
- Do you clear cookies often?
- Are you trying to access the Admin / CMS Zones and *that*'s where you get prompted to log in again? Or is it everywhere?
1. No. Same IP.
2. No
3. Forums.
Home broadband, with no inbound VPN, and with lightly used outbound VPN (not used while on composr.app or on my localhosted test sites). I'll have to double check my router config. I just updated the firmware two weeks ago. I do have a dual WAN config in a load-balance/failover configuration. My network is (or was) setup so machines and some network segments are manually forced through only one WAN connection. Maybe the firmware update broke that manual load-balance setup I had. I'll have to check more into that this weekend.
I don't clear cookies often. Generally only when I suspect there is an issue related to cookies. I do have multiple Chrome windows and many tabs open at any given time, along with several Chrome extensions, so that may be a contributing factor. I'll do some more testing with a different/clean browser this weekend as well.
The test sites are in 'Closed' mode and it re-prompts login in non-admin/non-cms zone. If 'Closed' mode = admin zone security required, then that is why my test sites may be re-prompting for login. But I'm sure I've checked the Remember Me box here on composr.app when logging in and then my login expires after a certain amount of time and I have to re-login. I'll check again with a cleaner browser…my Chrome is out of control with about 200 tabs across 4 windows and about a dozen Chrome extensions.
First, many thanks go to Chris and Patrick for their past and present efforts dedicated to keeping Composr alive amidst the struggles of life! I can relate. And many thanks to all other past and present contributors (coders, bug reporters, forum support)!
At the end of the day, Chris has done what Chris needed to do and I can't (and don't) fault him for that. Similarly, Patrick, you need to do what you need to do.
I wish I had money to give to Composr development, or even just more time to hunt bugs or provide forum support. I'll try to pop in here more frequently, but I've got a couple of projects that will keep me busy until mid/late November.
(This post was about 10x longer, but my login expired and the website ate my post, so this is the short, short, version
However, there may be a bug with the 'Remember Me' on the login form. I'm noticing this also on my test installations of v11 beta 8 when logging in with the 'Remember Me' option checked. The logins don't persist for very long and re-login is required after a certain amount of time.
The Remember Me might not be working if you clear your browser cookies or if your IP address changes. This is especially true if using a mobile device or VPN. Composr has extra security on session cookies and validates against the IP address which created the session. So if you change IP addresses, the session is invalidated.
But Remember Me should still re-log you in when that happens (I don't think it will give you a "confirmed session" though for security reasons so you'd still have to re-log in to get to the Admin or CMS zones).
So confirm with me if you could:
- Are you browsing on a mobile network or VPN? Or does your internet service provider given you a new IP address frequently?
- Do you clear cookies often?
- Are you trying to access the Admin / CMS Zones and *that*'s where you get prompted to log in again? Or is it everywhere?
I find it hard to believe that Chris would know for sure that he has no time within the next decade to contribute to his project. If Chris doesn't have faith in the future of Composr then that speaks volumes. Hopefully something works out for yourself on with the fully booked diary of Chris. Composr deserves to exist.
Chris doesn't know for sure. The several years is something he did not say; it's something I predict based on what he told me.
I'd still cut him a break. It's not his fault he can't work on the project anymore. It's a combination of terrible economics in the U.S. and him being overworked by the big tech company he is placed in. His priority right now is self preservation and being able to take care of his family. My priority is starting to go that route as well (though fortunately for me, I don't have a family I need to take care of).
I do not see these two conditions holding him back changing… at all. And that's why I believe there is a high chance he will not return to Composr development anytime soon, and a chance that will even be permanent.
He also said that the age of web as we know it is dying given Artificial Intelligence. Composr is legacy (using legacy web technologies) compared to how the web is today. Composr falls in similar industry categories as Drupal and WordPress. And even in those platforms, the top developers are struggling to make ends meet. As such, Composr is only going to seem attractive to a small number of people, which will grow smaller over time as the web evolves unless Composr can catch up (which is very unlikely).
(What I say below is my words now and not Chris')
Most people now want quick, cheap, and AI-driven web solutions now. And they want other people to manage the site for them instead of having to worry about getting their own hosting, installing their own software, and maintaining it themselves.
I mean, Composr is cheap (free)... until you need to hire a developer to work on your Composr site. It's relatively quick (but not as quick as some Software as a Service solutions). And regarding having someone host a Composr site for them... there are developers like me who can do that for them. But Composr is not (and probably never will be, for good reason) AI-driven. And it's not self-managed. You can't simply click a few buttons and boom you have a website. And in this fast-paced world, that's unacceptable for a lot of people.A simple web search reveals:-
In 2025, WordPress remains a dominant force in the website landscape with the following statistics:
These figures highlight WordPress's continued popularity and growth in the digital space. So even if they are struggling they are clearly still relevant, as is Composr (to a lesser degree as it is currently lesser known). I am sure the WordPress devs will find a way to recover and I hope Composr does too.
The idea of a framework is that… just an idea. v12 doesn't exist yet, and won't exist until v11 is stable. I'm kind of thinking a little about v12 but not committing to anything especially since v11 is not done.
However, I've heard from multiple PHP developers that the fact Composr uses vanilla PHP and has not been modernised to utilise many of the PHP 8 concepts turns them away from contributing or using Composr. Chris considered maybe making Composr a NodeJS system in the distant future since, at the time, PHP was dying. But Laravel and all the advancements in PHP 7/8 have brought new life to it. And now people are starting to get overwhelmed by JavaScript and the number of frameworks there are. So I think Composr would be better off staying with PHP but perhaps adopting Laravel.
Point blank, we need developers, or at least I need enough funding to afford working on Composr on a regular basis. Otherwise, Composr development might stall at any time for who knows how long if/when I run into a situation where I cannot objectively justify contributing anymore. I know that sounds cruel. It's not meant to be. But self preservation needs to take priority. I am in no condition to be working on Composr right now. But I'm choosing to continue… to keep my mind sharp, to maybe (although this is desperate) increase my chances of employment, and to try keeping this project alive.
Are there any actual features on the roadmap that would be more easily achievable using e.g. Laravel than vanilla PHP (especially considering the existing Composr codebase)? Would using e.g. Laravel make maintenance easier or lower-touch in the long term? Those questions seem equally as important as the question of attracting more developers (especially when that's not guaranteed).
Patrick, I really appreciate that you've been keeping up with maintenance and even feature development as Chris has been less available to do so. I do hope you're putting yourself first and, if you need a job, can focus on looking for one above Composr development. From a "keeping the project alive" perspective, I'd personally rather see you busy with unrelated employment but able to help with e.g. security issues down the line than spinning half a dozen large plates that could come crashing down if your situation deteriorates.
I think there are some features of Composr that would be easier to maintain at least in the Laravel framework. For example, Composr has several external APIs for interfacing with Google Analytics (defunct) / external login providers / reCAPTCHA / Transifex etc. I think some of these could be managed by Laravel instead… using Laravel packages maintained by other developers. It's not easy, especially with it just being me, to maintain these, which I'd have to do in Composr's current state. Some things in https://composr.app/maintenance-status.htm don't work anymore even in v11. This is just one example, but a big one. It's impossible anymore to maintain support for external features in Composr.
I appreciate it Jacob. I'm doing what I can. But I have yet to find a hire. I've offset some of the work to a company who is helping me with filing these job applications so I have more time on my hands. Honestly, without them, I'd have absolutely no chance in the job world. They've been able to apply for hundreds of positions for me in the time it would have taken me to apply for maybe 25 if I were lucky. Just, no bites yet. I'm going to tweak my plan of action and broaden the scope of seeking.
The current plan is that 11 beta9 is where I am going to stop. At that point, one of four things will happen:
I think based on current trends, the most likely outcome would be A. I want to say B is the second most likely outcome, but at this point with how things are going in the job market, I'm afraid D might be the second most likely.
I got word from Chris today. It's not looking good. Due to changes in policies at where he works, what he once thought would be possible free time at some point in the future is now gone. And he doesn't have faith in being able to return to Composr any time in (probably) the next several years. So we must now consider the real possibility that Chris will not return to Composr development… either in the next several years, or possibly ever.