I've been working with XOOPS for more than 2 years now, i've done some work with drupal too and a little with wordpress.

I still like xoops, because i easily can make a module and it'll work without problems, unlike drupal which has hooks and you are limited in actions you want to succeed in.

Wordpress is generally aimed at blogging so it does the job perfectly, but when it comes to integrate something more serious than one php page, it's getting hard, so is making plugins which basically are intended to bring more possibilities to posts/comments/pages and cannot be considered as stand-alone modules.

BUT both drupal and wordpress use AJAX, which makes user experience so much better! it's almost like pleasure! XOOPS seems to me very old-fashioned, although i love it for development freedom and stability i can count on, unlike drupal.

I suggest implode AJAX tools heavily into core!

redirect messages -> ajax
comments -> ajax
pm -> ajax
ETC.
make it more up-to-date, WEB 2.0, dynamic

and add effects.

There is a lot more going on than meets your eye. We've had a great discussion over the past couple days on the implementation of a tabbed content script in the Xoops.(like on Yahoo.com homepage)

There are a lot of sharp competent people around here, but not hanging around to answer newb questions for the most part.

Like yourself I've messed around with several CMS in the past couple years.

I don't focus on any one best CMS package for my users. I use what fits the need best, which I can build fast.


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I agree the XOOPS needs a facelift, the forums are dowdy looking, the search is from the dark ages. There is still a lot of interest in XOOPS by some very competent devs.

The dating on the mods in the repository will scare off anyone. It's just the devs around here don't seem to get off on making sure their information descriptions are current. You can find out on their sites and by discussions on the forums what's what and where to get it.

Many devs don't even put mods or themes up on the repository. If you want to see current themes and stuff click on the news and use the selector. You'll get more uptodate information that way. I don't think a new theme has been put up for download on the Xoops.org theme repository in months, but there are plenty being done.

The new formulize module is an excellent example of some serious coding being done with Xoops. You've gotta be a pro to understand what the mod does.

Hang out, share your knowledge, spread some grief and you might just find yourself a CMS home.

Here are the basic XOOPS modules using an Ajax plug-in for Smarty...these could be done much better and with more work on the Smarty plug-in we could make XOOPS more Ajax overall.

I agree, Ajax-style features are missing from a lot of XOOPS modules, but that's largely because the free and easy development approach that you like about XOOPS (and that we like too!) means it's really up to each module developer to build the Ajax features they want in their module.

And serious Ajax stuff that really makes a difference to how the module works, is hard. And it usually means you have to rethink the information architecture of parts of your module, or of the whole thing. We would love to add tons of asynchronous requests to the standard "list of entries" view in Formulize, because it is a serious pain in the butt when you have to reload the page after each change you make to the view. But the whole architecture of that screen is based around making a request to the DB for your entries and then formatting them all. Changing it so you could modify how the list is displayed without making a new request, would fundamentally alter how that screen works. So it's a lot of work.

It will happen eventually though, in Formulize and other modules.

Thanks for the kind words Domineaux, it is much appreciated!

--Julian

of course it depends on module developers, but im talking about XOOPS core feature - comment system, pm, search, paging, menus, profiles, redirects... i can try to upgrade them to be AJAX compatible, but core developers are masters here.. it would be a waste if i'd do that and then new XOOPS release comes with all those features in much better way..

so here comes the big question - is big improvement job with XOOPS core being done?

as for AJAX modules, is there a useful guide how to make AJAX compatible module with the new smarty version?

I was looking into it my self a bit and found the author of the original Ajax Smarty plug-in had done quite a bit in explaining it.
The current XOOPS modules work more via the theme and less by Php code, as you can make form calls with Ajax using Smarty.

that's true...xoops often seems come from past...