World of Xoops (WOX)

WOX (World of XOOPS) Newsletter # 28 (January 2010)

Mamba  04-Jan-2010 04:23 15160 Reads   22 Comment(s) 
WOX - World Of Xoops
Welcome to the our first issue of WOX (World of XOOPS) Newsletter in 2010 - the January issue (see here previous versions

First, we want to wish your all a Happy New Year and all the very best!!!!!

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! 

December was a busy month. We've released XOOPS 2.4.2 and XOOPS 2.4.3. We've also published a draft of the XOOPS 2008-2009 Annual Report, and we were also very happy to have Trabis joining the XOOPS Council, and Kris_fr releasing Mor.Pho.GEN.e.sis 3.0.  

On a little more sober note, we were disappointed that after 2 years of trying we were not able to find an amicable solution with our former Project Manager and Chairman of Stichting XOOPS in Netherlands, Herko Coomans, and were forced to file a lawsuit against him for return of XOOPS funds and Intellectual Property back to the XOOPS Community. We very much appreciate the support from the XOOPS community. Already over 135 XOOPS Community members signed the petition for the court in Netherlands in support of it, and and if you didn't sign yet, please sign it today

But the most important thing is that, as you've seen in the XOOPS 2008-2009 Annual Report, there have been a lot of exciting activities in the last two years, the community is uniting, growing, and becoming more vibrant and active - creating new themes, new modules, and new Core releases - with the new XOOPS 2.5 coming out soon in the Alpha release, and later on the XOOPS 3.0. The year 2010 will be a great year for all of us!!!

Highlights of the last month:

Summary



The XOOPS 2.4.3 is out!!! We continue to improve on our best ever release, and keep ironing out any bugs and security vulnerabilities

As we mentioned last month, there is already work being done on XOOPS 2.5, and we hope to have a first Alpha release in the next week or two. The 2.5 will be the first XOOPS release focused on PHP5, so don't expect too many new features, since the focus will be more on optimization and refactoring. But there will be some nice surprises with the new AJAX-ed System Module   And we're honoring this month the three developers behind it: Nicolas Andricq  (ForMusS), Cointin Maxime (kraven_30), both from France, and Grégory Mage (Mage), from Switzerland.

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

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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 2008 XOOPS Financial Report

This month we would like to acknowledge following donors:

  • Ian A. Underwood: $25
  • webmystar: $25
  • Liew Voon Kiong: $10
  • Curt Jacobson : $25
  • Darin Allen: $25

Thank you so much for supporting XOOPS!!!!

03. XOOPSers of the Month

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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  Mariane Antoun (Mariane) from Lebanon for her continues support on these forums, as well as ArabXOOPS and XOOPS France, and her fantastic themes and modules!

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

I am Lebanese and I am living in Lebanon

How long have you been programming?

Since 2006. My first websites were simple HTML pages built with FrontPage.

What is your expertise?

I'm not an expert, my expertise is a little mix from a lot: Photoshop, HTML and CSS, jQuery, and a little PHP.

What got you into XOOPS?

Good question! And I'm sorry if my answer is long, but let me tell you the story - I am graduate in psychology, and as undergraduate I was looking for part-time job. I found one in printing press: resizing pictures with Photoshop then submitted them to the press‘s website by using the famous photo album Coppermine. I liked the idea especially that I learned at school some of Photoshop basics but I didn't have any idea about managing pictures online, a week ago I could understand every task in coppermine . I was surprised by PHP options and I decide to build paid websites for clients and create for them their online identity, sure in HTML because it was so easy for beginners, but still looking how to learn PHP and build websites written in that language. I've tried for the first time PhpNuke, because it was used a lot in my country, but I didn’t like it a lot. When my friend asked me to develop his new political website with a secure application, I spent 2 days thinking about it, but I knew well that PhpNuke cannot be the right choice due its big susceptibility to be hacked. I felt that I cannot build such a websites so I decide to give up and leave the world of web development with beautiful memories and useful experiences. However, at the same time a precious advice from someone motivated me to look forward and find another CMS written in PHP. I found XOOPS and many others CMS, but while comparing their features, XOOPS was always in the top, especially since I could find an Arabic support at ArabXOOPS. I contacted Mowaffak without knowing him and asked him if XOOPS can do my friend’s website requirements. I found a very generous assistance from him and I did the first website with XOOPS!

What do you like the most about XOOPS?

Lot of things: Simplicity and security are the most important, and XOOPS let you always get more by doing less

In what area of XOOPS do you contribute and why?

I am a moderator in ArabXOOPS community, also a member in XOOPS official website here and the French community. I like to contribute in the forums and helping newbies to better use XOOPS and solving their technical problems : in CSS, in PHP…etc, I create free xoops themes, and also translate modules from English and French into Arabic and vice versa

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

I think it will be a nice "look & feel" for module templates and blocks by adding AJAX effects or to make them more friendly use and editable from the home page.

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

I am proud of everything I did so far with XOOPS, especially since my major (a psycho-analytic help in schools) is totally different from web development. But even with my limited skills, I was able to create over 20 free XOOPS themes and developing one module (Obituaries) and now I am preparing the second one with Nikita (a moderator on the French support)

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

Sport, cooking, reading, I like to spend time with my family and my friends, helping seniors and homeless through NGOs, walking on the beach in the morning and listen to a quiet music,

You favorite dish and drink?

Pizza is always in the top of my list

What about movies and music?

I prefer comedy movies. Regarding music , I consider it a part of me, I listen to all kind of music except rap. Music for me is a friend that can change my mood, and that can intervenes in my life without permissions.

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

As Gandhi once said: Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviors. Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.

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

Usually today and here, but if it’s for a few days vacation, I would like to live a true adventure in any forest or desert with the team from Animal Planet Channel to pack my curiosity and venture into the very heart of adventure and discover a world I never knew existed.

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

The only person in my mind now is my father, who passed away when I was little child, so I would love to meet him one day just to tell him "I love you"

I would like to say "Thank you" to all XOOPSers, especially to you Mamba, to Mowaffak Ali, Kraven, Nikita, Trabis, Kris, Ghia and Marcello Brandao - I learned from your kindness a lot.

04. XOOPS Innovation Award

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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

  Xoops Innovation Award Xoops Innovation Award

This month the Innovation Award goes to  to Nicolas Andricq  (ForMusS), Cointin Maxime (kraven_30), both from France, and Grégory Mage (Mage), from Switzerland, for their innovative work on the new System module for the upcoming XOOPS 2.5 (to be released as Alpha soon).

Please note: since we have already interviews with Nicolas Andricq (click here) and with Cointin Maxime (click here), the answers below are coming from Grégory Mage, unless noted otherwise. 

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

I come from Switzerland in a small town near Genève (Lully).

How long have you been programming?

I have been programming since 2001. I have started with programming on ADA95, C and C++ during my study. Since 2008 I have been interesting by PHP and took some lessons to improve my knowledge.

What is your expertise?

I know that I have a lot of things to learn in PHP (classes and PHP5).

What got you to XOOPS?

I discovered XOOPS in 2006. I researched for a CMS for an association I am active in, and XOOPS was the only one that fulfilled my requirements.

What do you like the most about XOOPS?

There is a lot of reasons and I haven't enough place to list them all here For example fully modularized, classes and functions that can be help for module development.

Why did you decide to work on refactoring of the System module? What was the main objective?

All: We have decided to refactor system module to include all functionalities like AJAX and more...

This is the first version of the "ajaxed" System module. What else do you plan, if anything, for the System in the future?

All: For the moment we are waiting for all the feedback from XOOPS users.

You're also the founders of TDM, which exploded recently with some really cool modules. What are you goals and expectations for TDM?

Mage: As we are 3 in TDM (Venom, kraven30 and mage), personally, I want to create a lot of cool module for XOOPS
Krave: Create a lot of module
MusS: I am not in TDM, so this is not my answer, but I like their work for XOOPS, so if I can help them, I will do it with a real pleasure

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

I think that XOOPS can have new functions in SEO

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

For me, it is TDMDownload and System module. I hope better stuff will come this year…

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

I like sports like badminton, skiing and climb. Climbing is my favorite sports because I like nature (mountains, etc ...)

You favorite dish and drink?

My favorite dish is : "Saucisse à rôtir" with potatoes. I like cider, cocktails and wine.

What about movies and music?

I have a preference for DIE HARD trilogy and NCIS series. Concerning music, I listen to old rock, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Dub Incorporation and my brother's groups "Wind Of Change".

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

I think that I would deliver a message to respect Earth for next generations

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

I would like to live in "Valais" (mountain area in Switzerland) because I love montains

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

I would like to meet "Patrick Edlinger" because he is the best climber and he contributes a lot to this sport

05. New/Updated Modules

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06. New Hacks

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07. Security Issues/Alerts

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Xoops Security

08. YAXS, Sites using XOOPS

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09. Tutorials/Add-ons

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10. New/Updated Themes

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11. New Translations

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Translations

We are still looking for more translations!!! Can you help? See the list here

12. News from around the World

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13. Local support sites

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14. How to contribute

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