WOX (World of XOOPS) Newsletter # 44 (May 2011) - World of Xoops (WOX) - XOOPS News

World of Xoops (WOX): WOX (World of XOOPS) Newsletter # 44 (May 2011)

Posted by: MambaOn 2011/5/28 5:30:00 15109 reads

WOX - World Of Xoops

Welcome to the May 2011 issue of WOX (World of XOOPS) Newsletter (see here previous versions)

And as always, as the first thing in each newsletter we wanted to express our gratitude to all of you who have donated money to XOOPS Foundation! We truly appreciate your trust and support! This month our donors are:

- Ivan Kosak: $15

Thank you! If anybody else would like to donate - please don't be shy!

Highlights of the last month:

Xoops Engine Alpha 2 Is Released
extGallery version 1.09 final Released
New CPanel for XOOPS Themes by IXThemes
XOOPS Innovation Award - for people who create something very unique and innovative for XOOPS. This time the award goes to to Richard Griffith (geekwright) from the USA for his work on gwreports module
XOOPSer of the Month Award: is given to XOOPS members who show extraordinary dedication to XOOPS, and go the extra mile for XOOPS. This month, it goes to Davide Foresti (ianez) from Italy, for his help on various themes issues, like the Cssified Default theme, and recently recently help on several modules from the upcoming "XOOPS Basic Modules Pack"!

Congratulations to all of our Winners. Starting this year, all Winners will receive a free book of their choice from O'Reilly. Also a free copy of PHP Storm from JetBrain.

Summary

Please help us spread the word about XOOPS!! .

If you are a happy XOOPS user, let the world know - please blog about XOOPS, share your experiences with others, rate and review us on SourceForge and other Websites. We need to let the world know about XOOPS!!!

And if you're not happy with something in XOOPS, please let us know so we can fix it and improve! Better yet - help us fix it and improve it!

Remember - XOOPS is powered by YOU!!!!

01. 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 2009 XOOPS Financial Report. The 2010 XOOPS Financial Report is coming soon.

This month we've got donation from:

Ivan Kosak: $15

Thank you so much for supporting XOOPS!!!!

02. New XOOPS developments

Current Releases

XOOPS 2.5.1a Quick Fix Release
Xoops Engine Alpha 2 Is Released
Modules working with XOOPS 2.4.x (Babylon by Xoops)

03. Team Reports

In 2010 we've re-introduced monthly Team Reports from our XOOPS Teams.

Core Development Team

- Xoops Engine Alpha 2 Is Released
- XOOPS 2.5.1a Quick Fix Release
- Converting old modules to XOOPS 2.5.0 GUI: Tutorial
- Updates on Xoops Engine and XOOPS 2 development

Documentation Team

- new Wiki page for module Tutorials:

- Converting old modules to XOOPS 2.5.0 GUI: Tutorial
- Debugging XOOPS with FirePHP/Firebugg
- XOOPS 2.5.x Operation Guide - Feedback needed
- XOOPS 2.5.0 Installation Guide Released

Module Team

- Voltan finished extGallery, fmContent coming soon
- Zyspec is working on MyLinks and XoopsPartners
- Mamba is working on Marquee, extCal, Contact, XoopsPoll, xSiteMap
- Mage is working on TDMDownloads
- Luciorota is working on AjaxFileManager
- Standardizing XOOPS Module GUI (help in testing needed)

Theme Design Team

- several new themes
- First community-developed theme for XoopsEngine
- HTML5 theme for XOOPS

Community Coordination/Support Team

Standard maintenance of the Website, and keeping it current.

International Support Team

See Support Site Guidelines. Unfortunately some support sites do not anymore offer the quality of support we are looking for so these sites will have to be removed as official support sites and no longer linked to from the International Support page. This will however, open the opportunity for other webmasters in these regions to start and maintain a local XOOPS Support site, which is a lot of fun and you'll help a lot by spreading our great CMS to your area and language. To apply for official status, use this form (login required).

XOOPS on Facebook: join the main XOOPS group on Facebook

Communication/Marketing Team

WOX newsletter, keeping press informed about Xoops Engine, additional PR

04. XOOPSers of the Month

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 Davide Foresti (ianez) from Italy, for his help on various themes issues, like the Cssified Default theme, and recently recently help on several modules from the upcoming "XOOPS Basic Modules Pack"!

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

I'm from Italy and I live close to Milan

How long have you been programming?

Playing with code since 1997

What is your expertise?

Mainly CSS, Html, user interface in general

What got you to XOOPS?

As for many people it started searching a CMS for some works.. then I came to Italian Xoops community (actually http://www.xoopsitalia.org) and I'm still there

What do you like the most about XOOPS?

It's a very solid system and highly customizable, plus it use smarty for theming!

In what area of XOOPS do you contribute and why?

Mainly theming and templating, because it's one of the 'weak' point of Xoops

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

A stable and offical template/theme ruleset for developers

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

Don't know.. may be the next achievement I'll reach..

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

Ultimate Frisbee and motorcycle

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

At this moment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann

05. XOOPS Innovation Award

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

This month, we would like to recognize Richard Griffith (geekwright) from the USA for his work on gwreports module

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

I was born and raised in West Virginia and also spent some years in southern California. I'm currently living in the Las Vegas, Nevada area.

How long have you been programming?

Back in college in the late 1970's I was taking a digital electronics course where we were designing a microprocessor from discrete logic gates. At the same time I was taking introductory computer science. I got hooked, shifted my focus from engineering to computer science, and never looked back.

What got you to XOOPS?

A gentleman presented a very enthusiastic overview of XOOPS at a Mid Ohio Valley Linux Users Group meeting. I don't remember the exact date, but 2.0 series was fairly new. I started comparing XOOPS functionality to other frameworks used in both my personal and professional pursuits and came to understand the source of that excitement.

What do you like the most about XOOPS?

That is a tie between the community and the module structure. The module structure is simple, powerful and easy to grasp. I read a couple of tutorials and was able to jump right in. Comparing that to the several days spent researching another big name CMS, where buried in jargon I still had only half a clue how to proceed, XOOPS is a clear winner.
The real message in that experience is the value of a community that actually gave out real, useful information without requiring a credit card up front. That is a tremendous asset.

Why did you decide to work on the the gwreports ?

The first primitive incarnation was a self defense tool for monitoring and cleaning up a SPAM infestation. When I went to reach for that code again for a new purpose, it seemed like it was time to drop back and do a full design. What emerged was the gwreports module, that I like to think of as system integration duct tape.

You also released previously gwloto module, web based hazardous energy control plan manager. Any plans for other XOOPS modules?

My prices are much lower when I can keep the full rights to the code, and I like open source and the XOOPS platform. I hope there will be lots more. Right now there is a design for a data collection tool on my whiteboard that will probably be released in a few months.

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

Having something like the easiest multi-language hack built into the core would be a godsend in a lot of the local opportunities I encounter.

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

There are a lot of contenders for that spread across more years than I like to count, and platforms from Amigas to Mainframes, but ultimately I have to hope it will be the project I haven't finished yet.

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

Genealogy is a passion. I also dabble in music, keyboards and drums mostly, with a fondness for classic synths, ARP's are my favorite.

You favorite dish and drink?

Pizza is the perfect food. And although pizza goes best with beer, coffee is the essential beverage, classic Columbian, black.

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

Buy my services, please! No, seriously, it would be that open source isn't about some hippie communist plot; it makes good business sense to not keep re-inventing the wheel and to learn from and leverage the work of others. When I released gwreports to the world, it wasn't an altruistic gesture; it could even be considered selfish. I expect one, or both, of two outcomes. First, it may come back to me even better than it was. Second, it may enable someone else to skip solving this particular problem, and devote more time to something even more useful. Either way, I (and we) win.

Congratulations to all of our Winners. Starting this year, all Winners will receive a free book of their choice from O'Reilly. Also a free copy of PHP Storm from JetBrain.