This month the first Innovation Award goes to Davide N. P. Rossi (dnprossi), from Italy, for his innovative work on the xNews
Where are you from, and where do you live now?
Born in Milan but always lived in Rome, Italy
How long have you been programming?
Since 1981
What is your expertise?
Database systems, Pascal programming and since I started with XOOPS - PHP, HTMS, CSS
What got you to XOOPS?
I needed a CMS for a friend and bumped into XOOPS finding it the most promising in features and easy to use for non experts.
What do you like the most about XOOPS?
Many sites I have installed are maintained by non experts in computing and they all use it without extreme trouble compared to others. XOOPS' ease of use and its modularity are excellent.
Why did you decide to work on xNews?
Same as above. In my point of view modules must be easy to use and the news module is an example. It needed some new features to keep up with other article management modules so I decided to work on it.
You just released the version 1.68. What are the future plans for xNews?
I am working on improving SEO functionality and have had success with both .htaccess and path-info in an x-language environment soon in 1.69. I am also working on tcpdf configurator so users do not need to modify code (hated makepdf.php). On request I will add topic weight ordering. I will have to do some cleanup work with old unused code. And anything that will come to my mind because I use xNews for practically everything news, blog, links, info and what ever.
If you could add one feature to XOOPS, what would it be?
I would like to see more multi-language functionality. (x-language included???)
What is your major achievement in programming that you're most proud of?
Between 1992 and 1997 the creation of a series of software products called Pc-Photo. This was for photographers who wanted to get their negatives and slides scanned, delivered on floppies, archived and viewed in albums.
What are your hobbies, when you're not coding?
Coding...
You favorite dish and drink?
I live in Italy, hard to say. Everything!
What about movies and music?
Rock, Blues and any movie that does not go beyond idiocy.
If you would have a chance for a 30 seconds commercial with a message to the world, what would you say?
Hello World!
If you could choose a place and time to live, what would it be and why?
Turkey. Spent a long joyful time there and miss it.