Welcome to the June 2012 issue of WOX (World of XOOPS) Newsletter (see here previous versions)
This month was very busy for our Module Developers, with welcome updates to several modules, such as:
NewBB 4.3 RC,
SmallWorld 1.11 RC5,
News 1.67 RC3,
XoopsTube 1.05 RC1,
Defacer 1.11 Final,,
Xortify 3.06
and few others. Many of them need help in testing, so we can solid bug-free Final releases. Please also help with translations!
Work continues on XOOPS 2.6.0, with Mage extracting features into stand-alone modules (like Banners). You can follow the development on XOOPS SVN, or you can subscribe to our SVN mailing list to receive updates.
As every month, we would like to encourage everybody to ask a question:
What can I do for XOOPS?
What could I contribute to XOOPS?
There are many areas where you can contribute, based on your skill level: Core, modules, themes, documentation, providing support on the Forums, and translating XOOPS into local languages.
We need to create more teamwork and more community spirit by getting more people actively contributing to XOOPS.
Let's make XOOPS a true "Community Project"! 
Recent Highlights:
XOOPS featured on SourceForge
- XOOPS Innovation Award - for people who create something very unique and innovative for XOOPS. This time the award goes to Michael Albertsen (Culex) from Denmark for the creation of SmallWorld, our social networking module.
==> You can see our previous winners here
- XOOPSer of the Month Award: iis given to XOOPS members who show extraordinary dedication to XOOPS, and go the extra mile for XOOPS. This month, it goes to Mowafag Ragas (Mowaffaq) from Libya, for his leading role in winning two very important users for XOOPS: the Libyan Ministry of Defense, and Libyan National Elections High Commission
==> You can see our previous winners here
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.
Please help us spread the word 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!
Standard maintenance of the Website, and keeping it current.
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 Mowafag Ragas (Mowaffaq) from Libya, for his leading role in securing two very important users for XOOPS: the Libyan Ministry of Defense, and Libyan National Elections High Commission
Where are you from, and where do you live now?
I am from the beautiful country of Libya. I was born in the coastal city of Derna and now live and work in the capitol of Tripoli..
How long have you been programming, what got you interested?
I have always enjoyed web developing. I have had a fascination with web designing and developing since early 2000’s. I actually began a career in medical technology and quickly decided I didn’t want to do that, so I decided to dive into web developing and started my own business in this area.
What is your expertise?
Developing/Designing websites. I am more interested in themes/templates customization.
What got you to XOOPS?
My first experience with XOOPS was about 8 years ago. A friend of mine recommended XOOPS to me. I was looking for a CMS, so it was perfect.
What do you like the most about XOOPS?
What I like most about XOOPS is the flexibility in object-oriented design, stability and security of the platform.
In what area of XOOPS do you contribute and why?
I am the sole translator for XOOPS in Arabic. I would love to see users get benefit from great applications that are completely free.
You did a tremendous job in winning some major users for XOOPS in Libya. How did you do it?
I had organized some unofficial presentations to explain to people what XOOPS was all about and to encourage them to try using it. I wasn’t surprised when they liked the secure system of XOOPS and I am happy that I was successful.
What did these users like most about XOOPS?
The highly secured system and the flexibility of design.
Now that the Websites are up and running, are they still happy with their choice?
Of course! 
If you could add one feature to XOOPS, what would it be?
I would like to add the Content Construction Kit (CCK) as an official module in the new XOOPS package.
What is your major achievement in programming that you're most proud of?
I consider my work with my friend Trabis and other developers to establish the “Publisher” module as one of my biggest achievements in web developing.
What are your hobbies, when you're not coding?
Spending time with my family, traveling and get to know new people from different places.
If you would have a chance for a 30 seconds commercial with a message to the world, what would you say?
Wish for others what you wish for yourself
If you could choose a place and time to live, what would it be and why?
I don’t know if I would want to live in any other time. Libya has been reborn and this is the most exciting time in my life.
Who is the person that you would like to meet and why?
I would like to meet the original freedom fighters who sparked Libya’s revolution!
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 Michael Albertsen (Culex) from Denmark for the creation of SmallWorld, our social networking module.
Where are you from, and where do you live now?
I am born in Skagen Denmark, and after a little bit of moving around this is where I live now with my wife Pavlina..
How long have you been programming?
I have been programming since my early teens some centuries ago, back then it was the basic C-64 language, but later I was introduced to HTML and PHP. I think I haven been using PHP since 2005.
What is your expertise?
"To look like I'm working hard but actually doing nothing" In programming I believe I'm beginning to get the hang on PHP, MySQL and to some degree jQuery. Not quite expert yet though
What got you to XOOPS?
I was building a website for a locale radio station I got bored from getting 5 emails every week to change names, schedule, picture etc. and decided to find a CMS system that every user in the radio could use instead, so didn't have to do all the work. Later I also decided to do the same in my own website. Irony is that I'm still doing all the changes in the radio website.
What do you like the most about XOOPS?
XOOPS is easily set-up, it's easily extended and the structure is pretty fast learned. More than this it can be themed so it doesn't look like other websites using XOOPS. Every time I go to a website created in WordPress or Joomla I am never in doubt which system is running it. Plus XOOPS have the coolest users and the best community 
Why did you decide to create the SmallWorld module?
I was speaking a few years ago it seems, - to Rune about creating a posting wall where the admin couldn't censor the users posts. Little by little it has become some what more than just a wall module, but I think the general idea is still intact.
What was your most important learning from working on SmallWorld?
A lot of things, I begin to learn the advantages of using classes with modules of a certain size, I learned a lot about AJAX and jQuery and using versioning - most importantly the big, big, big advantage of releasing modules as RC before just going public...there are still some bugs in-there, I know it
What are the future plans for this module? Any other modules in development?
For this module I would like to have all plugins being run only from the SmallWorld pages, at the moment they runs out of preloads. I tried various things but it looks like the code doesn't like my ideas. I'll find a solution though - I hope. Extending the module later with a plugin system would be nice (games, quizzes, polls) and some blocks could be useful (Geo statistics, users you might know, last update, SmallWorld users online)
I hope also to find time to start or join a radio suite module, update a bit on my Indexscan module (PHP standard scan, broken links).
If you could add one feature to XOOPS, what would it be?
More inline functionality, most functions at the moment require refresh or pointing to submit pages. It would be more fresh to do all this using for instance AJAX files.
What is your major achievement in programming that you're most proud of?
That would have to be Smallworld, closely followed by Xim created together with Andrax
What are your hobbies, when you're not coding?
I like to travel, read, watch football (called soccer in USA), and listen to some good radio. All of them are a little put on hold at the moment as I had to take an extra jobs. But later I expect to go for 3 weeks to Bulgaria for vacation.
You favorite dish and drink?
Food I don't prepare anything myself, hehe.. I like Danish roasted pork (flæskesteg) or duck - with brown sauce and sweet potatoes. Beer-wise still a big fan of the Bulgarian beer Zagorka but Ariana is catching up. In regular beverages Coffee is the one I like most.
What about movies and music?
I like documentaries at the moment, History channel's "ancient aliens" is very interesting, but historical movies without too much Hollywood drame are good. Music wise I like all genres from Black metal to Lara Fabian or mainstream pop / dance..
If you would have a chance for a 30 seconds commercial with a message to the world, what would you say?
Having the state of the world in mind, this past week most likely wasn't the worst in history, but still let's try to make the next week better.
If you could choose a place and time to live, what would it be and why?
28th of February 2075. Sitting in a big party with a big grin on my face, drinking a beer while the locale fire brigade prepare to put out the candles on my cake
Who is the person that you would like to meet and why?
My mother. She died some 10 years ago very suddenly. A moment or two more with her would be great.
Congratulations to all of our Winners. Starting last year, all Winners will receive a free book of their choice from O'Reilly. Also a free copy of PHP Storm from JetBrain.
07. New/Updated Modules
08. New Hacks
09. Security Issues/Alerts
10. YAXS, Sites using XOOPS
11. Tutorials/Add-ons/Documentation
12. New/Updated Themes
13. New Translations
XOOPS 2.5.5:
Earlier versions:
We are still looking for more translations!!! Can you help? See the list here
14. News from around the World
15. Local support sites
16. How to contribute
