Dirk Herrmann  (dhsoft)   Germany

This month the award goes to Dirk Herrmann (dhsoft) for his work on of Simple-XOOPS, a very innovative extension of XOOPS. Dirk is also the current Administrator of XOOPS Germany.

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

I come from Germany, near Leipzig and still live there

How long have you been programming? 

Over 15 years, starting with Basic on C/CPP , currently is PHP/MySQL

What is your expertise? 

OOP in PHP5/6 , CSS and my http://www.simple-xoops.de 

What got you to XOOPS? 

... the search for a challenge

What do you like the most about XOOPS? 

plain, simple, modular, easily expandable

You've became recently the Administrator of XOOPS Germany. Tell us more about the German community - how long have you been involved, what are the strengths of the German community? 

I joined XOOPS Germany in 2004.  I think that the strengths lies in the design (Themes) and translations (German / English). But there are also some very good modules being created (debaser by frankblank / DH Info - alfred) 

What are your goals as the new leader of XOOPS Germany?

More user enthusiasm for XOOPS

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

The DH-INFO module

Why did you start with the development of Simple-XOOPS? What was your desire for it? 

Because me and the users were missing features that would make XOOPS perfect!

Did Simple-XOOPS, as it is today, fulfilled your expectations? 

Not quite, but it is well on the way there...

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

Model railways

You favorite dish and drink? 

I like to eat Greek food and drink sometimes glass of wine

Your favorite movies and music? 

Film: Independence Day, music -> I like it all, I don't really have a favorite one

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

Stop the wars in the world

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

Canada. Why ? I love the mentality of the people there

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

mhhh, sorry, I will not reveal it to the public 

Hossien Azizabadi  (Voltan)   Iran

This month, we would like to recognize Hossein Azizabadi (Voltan) from Iran for his continues support and development of Oxygen Admin GUI, that will be our default Admin GUI in XOOPS 2.5.   This is a second "XOOPSer of the Month" award for Hossien!!

Sushang Yang (ezsky)   China

This month, we would like to recognize Sushang Yang (Ezsky) from China , for his tremendous work organizing the Open Source Conference in Beijing. 

Philippe Masson  (Philou)   France

This month, we would like to recognize Philippe Masson (Philou) from XOOPS France , where he is one of the Webmasters, for all the support there

Where are you from?

I am French and live in the middle of the country, in a small town called Blois.

How long have you been programming? 

I am falling in the code when I was young, in the beginning of the 80’s (I’m born in 1967)

What is your expertise?

I’m an IT guy, and my skills are especially turned in the production software, MRP II, Kaban,… but I like also installing server, maintain it. I find interesting the network admin part. For my job I have worked on many languages as Fortran, Basic, VB, Delphi, C++, windev, Unix shell… and of course PHP / MySQL

What got you to XOOPS? 

At the beginning I needed to find a CMS to my work purposes. I wanted to build an intranet but after some tests with nuke-like I have discovered XOOPS and keep it !

In what area of XOOPS do you contribute and why? 

It’s difficult for me to give a complete answer to this question.

Since 2002, when I had discovered XOOPS, I’ve made many different things. 

First I have worked in themes with Befamao, a very cool guy, a friend now. I have worked with him to the site www.xoops-themes.org this website was the first multilingual support dedicated to the themes. It was for XOOPS v1 and after a while for XOOPS v2.0 It was also the first theme library. After one year I have worked to fill the theme library in www.xoops.org 

In the mean time I have worked to merge frxoops.org, xoops-themes.org, xoops-modules.org… in one website to help the French community to find support and be more efficient. I was in the core team of xoops.org during few years. I push frxoops in a French meeting, the RMLL in 2004. The second RMLL2005 was in Dijon, many French team members were present (Chritian, Solo71, Herve, alain01, king76, vivi, foups, thecat). After this we decide with Solo71, Herve and Christian to represent the French community at the FOSDEM in Brussels I think it’s a very important to know others contributors. During this meeting we meet Skalpa, Herko, Mithrandir, jegelstaff and some other international users…). 

Since the FOSDEM I’m working to build different team in frxoops, the open source is not so easy to manage  and it’s very very difficult to see the difficulties for them to take their places. (Especially when we have to be cool when we have some relationship issues between major valuable users) In summary. It’s strange because I hate adversity ! but if no one take these problems in charge there is no future for our community . 

I promote XOOPS every time I can ! There is a lot of website build with XOOPS in my relations (personal but also professional). I will say a big 'THANK YOU' to the other french team members because they are doing a good work, even it's difficult with some "specials" users. In an other hand I had produce some public themes and modules (formulaire, pictureurl, pages…) but also many non public modules created for my work. (industrial waste manager, hazardous product manager, technical data support, quality repository, after sales apps….) I work now to give these modules to the community but it’s not so easy because it was professional oriented. I have just finished also a new public module for car repair service.

Benoît Puissant  (Solo71)   Belgium

This month, we would like to recognize Benoît Puissant (Solo71) from Belgium for the support on XOOPS France and his many modules. Solo71 is a XOOPS member since 2002

Where are you from?

I'm from Belgium (Europe). I grew up in Tournai, and now I'm in Arlon (bordering France and Luxembourg) where I live, work and pay my taxes. I'm native French speaker. I'm about to be 40 soon (guess why my nick is Solo71), married and the proud father of a respectively 10 and 2 years old girl and little boy.

How long have you been programming? 

My very first contact with programming was on a Tandy 64k with BASIC, in the early 80'. Which was at that time more like a hobby, discovering how computers work.

Being a "media man" as a TV oriented journalist, my professional career got me in touch with the Internet. But mainly as a newbie consumer.

It was only in 2003 that I got interested in web programming thanks to XOOPS. Discovering HTML at first, but since then I learned to program with PHP, MySQL, Smarty, CSS and some JavaScript. I'm sort of a self-made man. 

What are your skills?

Basically, I am a journalist by education and profession, mainly in the audio-visual! Professionals detours led me to abandon this area and I redirected myself to the web. A media I find alike more flexible, lighter and just as much as powerful.

I was once called a one man band, where I much consider myself more like a "communication technician". I like to say how that the better I know the tool, the better I can use it. And if I can also share these tools, I feel even better!

What got you to XOOPS? 

Random internet meeting. In 2002, someone I met online proposed to create what was my very first online community project : www.wolfpackclan.com. The very first site version was powered with php-Nuke, and a few weeks later the designer proposed to switch to a new system a friend of him was working on: XOOPS. The first installed version was an early XOOPS Alpha, which we used as it is for about 8 month!

After a few month, our webmaster was getting less involved, and I had to take over all the webmaster work, and that's when I started to learn HTML.

It was only in July 2003 that I started my very first professional website for the company I worked for: www.arma-sa.com. At that time, it was also my very first XOOPS 2.0 website. And thus, looking for help, I got in touch with www.frxoop.org (the french xoops support site). Only a few weeks later, I joined the support team - not that I was an outstanding Xoopser, but because I was more helping people than being helped...

What brought you to register on frxoops.org? 

At the time of the establishment of Arma site (the site is in French), I was regularly coming on the frxoops.org forums with my questions. Ironically, while few of my questions found replies, I started to help the other users....

Why did you join the admin team?

... Which led Alain and Anexia (both founders of frxoops) to invited me join the "Dream Team" in August 2002. At the time there were only Christian ... and empty private forums! The years that followed were very prolific for our francophone community and names like Philou (then-webmaster of Xoops theme.org), Herve, Marcan, Blueteen, Skalpa, Marco, Kris, DuGris, and many other to join the team and contributed to the development of our French speaking community and the XOOPS project.

What do you like the most about XOOPS? 

I think we can say I fell into the cauldron when I was young (Internet speaking of course). Besides I have never been really interested in trying any other kind of CMS, since XOOPS presents many advantages to my eyes:

On a technical side: 
- the modularization: with a XOOPS Core and its modules you can power up all kind of websites: from a small showcase website to a very powerful community oriented website. Also without having to reinvent the wheel, you can create quite easily your own; 
- the customization : from little know-how to expert programming knowledge, you can fit you website to your needs. 
- its general qualities: its object oriented architecture and search engine optimization make this system a very efficient tool. 
- Programming languages: the mix of so many internet languages (HTML, PHP, mySQL, Smarty, JavasSript and anything that may power a website - even Flash!) makes (almost) everything possible. What one language can't do, the other one can. Some developers complained about the Smarty template system addition to the 2.x xoops version. I wish I knew then, what I know now to show them their mistake! 

On a more philosophical side: 
- Community spirit. Being able to share knowledge, projects and pieces of code. Beyond the virtual , having met Xoopsers of flesh and bones as you recall we're all men and women from all backgrounds, with our qualities and our defects. But I loved and still love to share this passion for this CMS with each and every one. 
- The open-source project. Being able to contribute, each according to his competence, his desires and his pace, building a global project that transcends all boundaries and divisions. I had to the opportunity to cooperate on many projects (modules, support site or even the future of Xoops) with French, Canadian, Dutch, Americans, Brazilian, German and even .. . the Flemish (Belgian Dutch) developers. This is a world without borders and limits! 
- Programming. I've always been fascinated by computers, the fact that a machine can do all the work (even in your absence) at your place is a concept that I like. I'm what you might call a "lazy intelligent". I will deploy a lot of energy to find ways to make maximum work in minimum time. Object programming in general and XOOPS in particular allows me to accomplish all this.

In what area of XOOPS do you contribute and why? 

The visible part are probably the modules. Once a Xoopser told me that there are no more than one or two XOOPS sites that are not using Multimenu (whatever version). I don't know if it's true, but I know that my applications have experienced some popularity. So much that I can't provide an active support (sorry guys, we must choose - I either develop new features, or I provide support). I also made some themes that I see resurfacing in my backlinks from time to time.

The most hidden part in the project is as a member of the team www.frxoops.org. I have traveled thousands of miles (by train and car) on behalf of XOOPS (damn, it looks like I spoke of a God!?). I met many Xoopsers and often very indirectly I contributed to the project. Even if it has not always been successful ... But even if I'm not as "public" on the xoops forums as I used to, my interactions with administrators of www.frxoops.org and www.xoops.org are almost daily. With Philou, we tend to consider that we are some kind of Xoops' "dinosaurus". Is there any threat to see us as endangered species? In any case, I haven't seen the comet that will finally put a end to our to days yet. 

You are also author of many modules. What are you working now on?

Hey, indeed with time, I came up with numerous modules and code. Many of them came from personal needs: Edito, as content manager, Multimenu, as navigation tool, MyReferer for traffic monitoring and many other tools like popgen, mygal, mystats, etc. My favorites are also the very first ones: Multimenu and Edito, which I still continue to develop, enhancing, sometimes rewriting from scratch. I'm currently redesigning both of them. Edito (which I now have renamed to Editos) is currently on my workboard, adding some very useful tools like "independent PHP scripts manager", image manager or pageear manager. You can currently see it working on http://diy.arma-sa.com/modules/editos, which I use as a bridge between the company CRP database and the website. I know it's a long time I haven't released any stable application. This probably due to the fact that I'm never ever happy of the final result, or every time find a way to enhance it... which endlessly led me to postpone its publication.

If you could add one feature to XOOPS, what would it be? 

If I could, I would. The development of a project like this is a perpetual challenge, a constant adaptation of the tool to the actual web (bots, spambots, URL rewriting, hackers, JavaScripts - jQuery, user management, new web trends and tools, etc.)

I can not answer that question today, because tomorrow I know I'll find a new feature to deal with...

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

First the fact that some of my modules are appreciated by some webmasters. Knowing that I am not a developer (I know some may laugh at that statement), this is some kind of recognition I appreciate.

Xoops France, of course is my pride and joy. The site has experienced many setbacks, its ups and downs, but it is still there. And thanks to the work of a permanent and continuous team (not always the same) passionate people who at one point in their life have decided to devote time and energy to the project and sharing his experience. And above all, its entire community of users and contributors. It is primarily for me a place to meet ... and there are ways to make it beautiful.

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

Besides XOOPS, and my kids, I particularly enjoy taking care of my garden. As for the rest, it's also in another secret garden 

You favorite dish and drink? 

Sea fruits, generally speaking, but I don't spit on frog legs and Garlic Snails.

What about movies and music? 

Very classic. I followed the last series: Lost, Desperate Housewife (I am married), the historical series and science fiction, but not the police series. As webmaster of the cinema in my town, I have my free entries. So a bit of everything.

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

Stop slapping each other in the face, there's much more interesting things to build together.

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

Today. Truly, we live, I believe, in a key period in human history, its development and its knowledge. But we tend not to realize it all goes so quickly and that we do not take the time back ...

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

The whole www.frxoops.org team and Mamba.

The new team of www.frxoops.org (2010 edition), with whom I interact daily. I met Ben (another Benedict), but not Nikita nor Tatane yet. I need to make it happen!

About Mamba - I got to know him over time, and if I had reservations early about his impact for the project, I realize now how the task is not easy. But he gained my respect with professionalism and patience which amazes me every day.

Hats off, ladies and gentlemen, is an old Xoopser telling you.

August 2010

Jamal Benaissa  (Corbatis)   France

This month, we would like to recognize Jamal Benaissa (Corbatis) from France for the creation of XOOPS Video Commercial

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

I live in South Lyon Rhône-Alpes Isère France. Small quiet town of 6,000 inhabitants. I work as administrator of Systems and Networks

How long have you been programming? 

In 1995 after a visit to a computer fair with a colleague, I discovered one of the first ISPs in France: "imaginet". After that, in order to enhance my knowledge and networks system, I began to develop in HTML. Unfortunately I am still not in that good in HTML and in PHP.  

What got you to XOOPS? 

I've been asked to develop a site for the family and after that "Electronic Document Management" for my computer service business.

What do you like the most about XOOPS? 

Tough to answer in a nutshell ... I love everything ... is the simplicity, speed, French XOOPS Support site, because I'm terrible in English language, but also the teams, and spirit, which are behind! It is fully opened, combined with a very active community and dynamic users.

In what area of XOOPS do you contribute and why? 

Mainly graphics, as this is where I am good at. With the help of Tatane, who I am very thankful for his patience, I learn now to master CSS and PHP to be able to offer more themes

If you could add one feature to XOOPS, what would it be? 

- Integration of company-oriented modules 
- An instant messaging between members of MSN, GoogleTalk, etc. Just by clicking on a connecting member, I can chat with him privately.

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

Header for www.frXoops.org, video promo, and banners. I hope to develop more...

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

A lot of time with my children and the Shooting sports

You favorite dish and drink? 

The seafood, a good sausage Ardeche, and because of my origin  good Couscous, 
Drink: a good wine, a Cote-Rotie, which is pretty normal as I live 5 km from there.

What about movies and music? 

Film: The science-fiction, History and documentaries. Music: any kind, "The most needed and most difficult in the music is the beat" [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart].

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

Living the difference is above all to know that life on the other side, it then becomes possible to learn from the differences between each of us and live in peace.

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

Now and in the world where you can feel at home.

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

1 - the whole FrXoops team because by working virtually we don't know each other
2 - Dalai Lama, for the message of Peace 
3 - Barack Obama for being the Symbol. 

Mirza Mrkaljevic  (Bleekk)   Austria

This month, we would like to recognize Mirza Mrkaljevic (Bleekk) from Austria for his continues support on XOOPS Germany. He recently redesigned the Website to make it accessible also from mobile phones.

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

I am from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Currently I live in Vienna, Austria. It is a beautiful city.

How long have you been programming? 

I started with HTML, CSS 8 years ago and with PHP and JavaScript 3 years ago. 

What is your expertise? 

Mainly HTML and CSS but also PHP and JavaScript.

What got you to XOOPS? 

In 2002 I was a member of a Bosnian students club. Their site was based on XOOPS and my job was it to keep the site up-to-date. I started with small changes on the site and the rest is history 

What do you like the most about XOOPS? 

The great worldwide community, tons of modules and its ease of use.

In what area of XOOPS do you contribute and why? 

Mainly supporting the German XOOPS community, make themes and templates whenever I have time. I like to help wherever I can and designing themes is my hobby

If you could add one feature to XOOPS, what would it be? 

I would like to see a better multi language functionality.

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

I am every time proud when I see satisfied, happy users and customers with my work.

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

My biggest hobby is doing nothing. In my free time I like to play counter strike 

You favorite dish and drink? 

My favorite drinks are water and coffee. In Austria we have a really good quality and it is the best drink in summer.

What about movies and music? 

When I am working I like to listen to Gipsy Kings, Los Zafiros and the Cuban All Stars. My favorite movies are Casino and Good Fellas.

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

iPhone 4 has a antenna problem   hmm I think this would be my longest blackout

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

I would stay in Vienna. The city has a high quality standard of living, it is not too big, has lot of green spaces and a great public transportation.

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

I would like to work for one day together with Al Bundy from "Married with Children" in his shoe store. I am sure it would be fun

Stephane Gorteau  (Tatane)   France

This month, we would like to recognize Stephane Gorteau (Tatane) from France for his continues support on XOOPS France. Stephane, has always shown his dedication to the community by testing and debugging modules or by providing answers on the forums. With great patience for beginners he did not hesitate to intervene via MSN to help more easily if needed. His kindness, his presence and his dedication to XOOPS has attracted the attention of the Frxoops administrators. He joined the "XOOPS France team" as administrator in late 2009, at a time when the future of frxoops.org was not secured. But his passion, his dedication, his perpetual optimism has been a force to revitalize the French team. Over time, he gained experience, and has always wanted to move the Xoops project forward in a more concretely way. He spends countless hours and energy helping people, not including his various inputs like designing modern themes. He also contributed to the section of video tutorials which he is the author for the most.

He is also the webmaster of a large site of free ads for second-hand equipment for people with disabilities: www.handi-occasion.com. Not many people know that Stephane has suffered a very serious accident on his parents' farm at age of 19, that made him completely paralyzed. That's why he is using a special program to help with the dictation when doing his tireless support for his for our favorite CMS. In short, Tatane is a magnificent example of courage, dedication and passion for a virtual community in which he communicates this humanity that is sometimes lacking on our Xoops planet. The XOOPS community salutes Stephane for this!

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

I am from Sarthe region in France (72)

How long have you been programming? 

Since 1998 

What is your expertise? 

XOOPS 

What got you to XOOPS? 

In 2005, I wanted to create a website with pictures of agricultural materials. Knowing absolutely nothing about PHP language and computer programming, I asked through a computer science web forum, that I actively followed, if there was a system to easily create a dynamic website. I was advised to use Xoops. So I installed the 2.0.16 version at the time with the Myalbum module and it was exactly what I was looking for. I then looked a little deeper in this system and it confirmed that it was what I needed. Going further, I started to look into the templates but couldn’t really do what I wanted precisely. I then decided to sign up for the French support, since I saw that it was very dynamic - when someone was posting a question, he got a very quickly answer. So I decided to sign up

What do you like the most about XOOPS? 

For me, XOOPS is the most flexible CMS I tried. It’s so easy to manipulate its themes and templates.

In what area of XOOPS do you contribute and why? 

In the newbie forum, because I do not know anything about PHP. I like developing modules but I find the PHP language so complicated for me that I am mentally blocked 

If you could add one feature to XOOPS, what would it be? 

For me, Xoops contains lot of features. The latest version 2.5 is simply genial , however I think XOOPS is missing the URL rewriting system to improve referencing.

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

With no doubt being a part of a great team of Admins on XOOPS France where all people are working hard together, following the same ideas and goals. When we work as a team, trust and exchange of ideas are key. And the best thing is that right now, our team has all these qualities!

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

Hmm!! I xoops  But I also like fishing

You favorite dish and drink? 

I love Chinese foods

What about movies and music? 

Braveheart, The Green Line (la ligne verte) and David Guetta

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

Share and promote XOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPSSSSSSSSSS, it is very adaptable, and contains lot of modules

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

Middle Ages

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

David Guetta, because despite being famous, he remains very simple and approachable. 

Hossien Azizabadi  (Voltan)   Iran

This month, we would like to recognize Hossein Azizabadi (Voltan) from Iran for his continues support and development of Oxygen Admin GUI, that will be our default Admin GUI in XOOPS 2.5.   This is a second "XOOPSer of the Month" award for Hossien!!

Christophe Capitaine  (Burning)   France

This month, we would like to recognize Christophe Capitaine (Burning) from France for his continues support in the maintaining Theme Gallery, and Module Compatibility list, and currently updating the Module Repository.