World of Xoops (WOX): WOX (World of XOOPS) Newsletter # 20 (May 2009)

Posted by: MambaOn 2009/5/2 0:40:00 27358 reads
WOX - World Of Xoops

W.O.X. - WORLD OF XOOPS #20 (May 2009)

Welcome to the May 2009 issue of WOX (World of XOOPS) Newsletter  (see here previous versions

As first thing in this newsletter we wanted to again express our gratitude to all of  who have donated money to XOOPS Foundation! We truly appreciate your trust and support! 

Highlights of the last month:

Summary



Another very successful month for XOOPS! Government of Parana went live with its new Website based on XOOPS,  Arabic XOOPS Support Site got nominated for World Summit Award, and we started the "Blue Move Initiative". So a lot of positive things are happening in the XOOPS community!

Our wonderful Theme Designers have created more new Themes with Sinnedesign and Algalochkin being the most active this month! Thank you!!!

Check out also updated news from around the world - it's always nice to see activities in local XOOPS Websites. Please keep us posted about new developments, so we can keep the worldwide XOOPS community updated!!!

Remember - XOOPS is powered by YOU!!!!

01. Donations

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Donations

If you like the XOOPS system, and would like to give something in return, you can make a donation to the XOOPS Foundation! Simply use the XOOPS Donation System and use your PayPal account or your Credit Card to donate .

Your donation will be used to promote and advance the use and development of the XOOPS system. The XOOPS Foundation is a registered not-for-profit organization in the USA, dedicated to promote XOOPS! All donators will get the Friend of XOOPS rank here on this website. Thanks to all the Friends of XOOPS for their donations and continued support!

If you wonder what is happening with XOOPS money, please read the 2008 XOOPS Financial Report

This month we would like to acknowledge following donors:

  • Daniel Stypulkowski: $5
  • Ian A. Underwood (iunderwood): $15
  • Anonymous from Brazil: $25
  • Jan-Inge Pettersen: $100

Thank you so much for supporting XOOPS!!!!

03. XOOPSers of the Month

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Our "XOOPSer of the Month" Award is given to XOOPS members who show extraordinary dedication to XOOPS, and go the extra mile for XOOPS. Sometimes they do something spectacular, but most of the time they just do something everyday, but by doing it day-in and day-out, they make a BIG DIFFERENCE in life of XOOPS community. And we thank them for that!!!

This month, we would like to recognize John Neill (Catzwolf) for his work on updating several XOOPS Modules, and his restarting the Modules Team and the Blue Move Initiative.

Where are you from, and where do you live now?

I’m from a little place at the very top of England called Scotland. Many people seem to think that the British Isles is England only, but that is not true. I currently live at the Bonnie bank of Dundee.

How long have you been programming?

Since the days of the Spectrum, back in the days when you would load your program, sit and wait for 30 minutes to find out that there was a loading error right at the end. That was fun. So, you could say on and off from the 80’s.

What is your expertise?

Retail. I have spent my last 20 years in various aspects of the retail trade.

What got you to XOOPS?

I was working for a company that decided to update their website. I was given the task of looking for alternatives to static html. I think I tried just about every CMS that there was at the time and that is when I discovered Xoops. Well Xoops v1 at the time. It was still very much along the lines of the Nuke version, but even then it had something that just made it stand out from the others.

What do you like the most about XOOPS?

When I first stated using Xoops, I had no real idea of the issues using a CMS at all, and the community were wonderful with helping no matter what issue or problem I had or with answering my questions, no matter how silly they seemed. So I would have to say the community to start off with.

I have developed for so many different CMS’s. Mambo, Joomla, Drupal and Xaraya and the list can go on. Yet, I have to say that Xoops, even with its older code, is far the easier to work with and develop on.

In what area of XOOPS do you contribute and why?

I’m not sure where I should start with this. I like to think I try to contribute to as much of Xoops as I can right now, from Support within the forums, to working on the core. Right now, I am trying to get WF-Projects back up and running again, and have all the WF-Project modules moved over to work with 2.3 branch and PHP5. So this will require some real change. I also want to refactor many of the modules like WF-Links and WF-Downloads to be lighter, more compact and use more of Xoops technologies and PHP5 throughout.

I am helping on the ‘Move to Blue’ initiative with the Xoops Module development Team. What this means is, we are driving to make sure that no matter which module you use, is will work with Xoops 2.3 and PHP5. We are still in the early stages of this and if you would like to help, you know where to contact me

As part of the Move to blue, we are also working on the new Module repository. This is still in the early stage of planning, and we are looking into many different technologies we could use to make adding modules to the repository as easy as possible and to making it extremely user friendly, but at the same time content rich for everyone.

At the moment I am working on the 2.3.4 branch of Xoops.

What you you major achievement in programming that you're most proud of?

I would like to say that within the Xoops environment, it would have to be WF-Sections. I basically broke into using PHP with this module. Though I have to say that this is not what I consider my most proud achievement in programming.

I basically have two that I hold with fond memories and when I look back I sometimes wonder how I managed to do them lol

1. I wrote a complete OS for a computer called the SAM Coupe (many of you may not have heard of it). The programming language was Basic and very easy to use. I didn’t like the interface that came with the original OS, so I wrote my own and complete with new disk format for it.

2. Me and my Brother wrote a football managerial game many years ago. The game was complete with real football player stats, player negotiations and graphic animations for in game. That was a lot of fun for us to write.

What are your hobbies, when you're not coding?

Music: I have been a musician for as long as I can remember. Played guitar in numerous bands, also did a lot of session work and taught budding guitarists for a good few years. Over the last few years I have been writing and producing more with Computer related tools and instruments.

Gaming: I find that this helps me relax a lot.

You favorite dish and drink?

Lol, ok, I have to admit, I am not a food person. Very picky about what I eat, and I am not one of those people who get excited about eating. Though I must admin, I am very partial about Indian food, when I am in the mood for it.

Drink, Tea. I have one of those thermal cups and it sits there all the time when I am coding full of tea. My whole family are tea drinkers. When we visit other members of our family, the first thing that goes on is the kettle.

What about movies and music?

Anything with Tom Hanks in it will do me. The man is a fantastic actor and puts everything into any film that he stars in. and, I have to say Braveheart, with being Scottish, even though the film was nothing like what happened in real life. I like the fact that it changed a lot of politics here in the UK.

I listen to a lot of music, especially when I am programming. If I am doing something that I need to concentrate on, I normally listen to ambient or dance, otherwise I will mainly listen to hard rock. At the moment Nickleback – Dark horse is blasting out.

If you would have a chance for a 30 seconds commercial with a message to the world, what would you say?

Your life on this planet is shorter than you think. Rather than spending all your time trying to kill each for just having different points of views, politics and religion. Why not get in a pizza, six pack and kill each other on Halo?

If you could choose a place and time to live, what would it be and why?

I honestly think I was born too early. I really would have liked to have been born around the time of space exploration, warp drive and all that. Visit new worlds, meet new races, civilizations (Without the need to kill them first) and exchange history, culture, technology and new ways of life and living.

Who is the person that you would like to meet and why? 

I think that of all the musicians that influenced me more anyone else with my guitar work, I would have to say Gary Moore did. So yes, from that point of view I would like to meet him, discuss guitar styles and techniques and maybe have a jam with him.

04. XOOPS Innovation Award 1

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Our XOOPS Innovation Award is given to people who create something very unique and very innovative for XOOPS! We are clear that XOOPS can only succeed, when we push the limits of our creativity, imagination, and innovation to "infinity and beyond" . And therefore we would like to recognize people who create this "WOW!" effect, when we see what they've done. The XOOPS Innovation Award is not a monthly award, i.e. theoretically, there might be a month where we won't give one, but we certainly hope that this will never happen

Xoops Innovation Award Xoops Innovation Award

The first Innovation Award goes to Gesine Max (sinnedesign) from Germany:

Where are you from, and where do you live now?

I am from Germany and I live and work in Leipzig.

How long have you been programming?

Since 2003 I am working on designs and 2 years ago I learned HTML and CSS. For that reason I have the background and skills to implement my own ideas and designs with HTML and CSS.

What is your expertise?

My specialty is the work with Open Source products like Gimp, the development of designs and the implementation of these designs in Web projects.

What got you to XOOPS?

Approximately one year ago my boyfriend showed me the XOOPS CMS and told me how easy it is to implement my ideas with the help of XOOPS.

What do you like the most about XOOPS?

Mostly I like the nice and helpful community, that motivates me every day to create new XOOPS themes and to actualize myself. Furthermore I like the clean and flexible framework of XOOPS.

What is your major achievement in programming that you're most proud of?

Actually I can't tell it, because I am very proud of all my designs and I am always really looking forward to the next one I will finish

What are your hobbies, when you're not coding?

In my spare time I like to go to the cinema and I often hang out with my friends.

You favorite dish and drink?

Most of all I like salmon with spinach, pasta and cream sauce and my favorite drink is Latte Macchiato.

What about movies and music?

I I like mostly German movies, but of course I like to watch movies from Hollywood, too. My favorite music is by the German hip-hop band "Fettes Brot

If you would have a chance for a 30 seconds commercial with a message to the world, what would you say?

Justice, the combat of poverty and universal peace.

If you could choose a place and time to live, what would it be and why?

I would like the most to live in Australia for one year to improve my English

Who is the person that you would like to meet and why?

That is a very difficult question. There are so many people I would like to meet, too many to tell you one single person.

I am really looking forward to carry on giving the XOOPS community many themes and to extend my own skills. In the future I will try to create many themes with divs.
Happy XoopsSing.

04. XOOPS Innovation Award 2

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Xoops Innovation Award Xoops Innovation Award

The second Innovation Award goes to Alexander Galochkin (algalochkin) from Russia

Where are you from, and where do you live now?

I am from Russia, and live in Ekaterinburg. It's the third most important city in Russia (after Moscow and St.-Petersburg), and is is located near to border of Europe and Asia.

How long have you been programming?

If I consider coding in general, then for a long time, as I started programming in C in 1985. But if we are talking about Web-programming, then more recently - approximately in 1996. Although now I am involved more in the design of sites.

What is your expertise?

Mainly HTML, CSS, a little PHP and Javascript

What got you to XOOPS?

When I worked once on a site for one of my clients, it was required to provide high degree of dynamic interaction, thus the big capacity of a site, support of various languages and still possibility of connection of the modules. In the end, only XOOPS was able to fulfill these requirements!

What do you like the most about XOOPS?

I love in XOOPS its amazing flexibility when I develop sites of various complexity and direction. And, of course, its modular structure.

What made you to decide to work on XOOPS Themes?

I wanted to help XOOPS community to have in addition to program flexibility (i.e. modular structure),  to have also visual flexibility (i.e. design and templates)

What is your major achievement in programming that you're most proud of?

I think, the main achievements still ahead and, probably, not in the field of programming.

What are your hobbies, when you're not coding?

My hobbies are quite usual, I take a great interest in sports. In the winter - mountain skiing. And in the summer, in the spring and in the autumn - the rollerskating.

You favorite dish and drink?

I am indifferent to alcohol. But if it is necessary to name, I will name good cognac

What about movies and music?

Music-wise I like to listen to old Rock: Freddi Mercury, Pink Floyd. Movies: I love watching French comedies and films with Al Pacino, or Robert DeNiro.

If you would have a chance for a 30 seconds commercial with a message to the world, what would you say?

Stop wars and stop disagreements. Let's think together of how to save OUR PLANET.

If you could choose a place and time to live, what would it be and why?

We live during interesting time, therefore - here and now.

Who is the person that you would like to meet and why?

There is a good statement for such occasion: "do not create to itself an idol"

 

05. New/Updated Modules

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06. New Hacks

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07. Security Issues/Alerts

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Xoops Security
  • none this month

07. YAXS, Sites using XOOPS

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08. Tutorials/Add-onss

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09. New/Updated Themes

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Themes

10. New Translations

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Translations

We are still looking for more translations!!! Can you help? See the list here

11. News from around the World

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12. Local supportssts

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13. How to contribute

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