I finally managed to publish two first tutorials on the website. The first tutorial explains how to create your own language package, and the second one shows you how to use the theme override feature (very similar to the Joomla template override). I know I promised to release something last week but my right hand has been sabotaged by a ton of mosquitos...and it still hurts a lot.
Anyway, you can access the documentation by clicking on the new menu item in the right menu (or just click here). Of course this is not everything - there are more tutorials in the pipeline but not yet ready. If you have any questions regarding the documentation, please post them in our documentation forum.
- Tobias |
 I wanted to share with you the final result of our last poll "Do you need a ProjectFork 0.6.7 - 2.0 converter". The majority of people wanted us to focus on the current development and so we did. However, quite a few people are asking for a tool to convert the data from ProjectFork 0.6.7 to the next version. So I've made the decision to create this converter after the release of ProjectFork 2.0. Unfortunately I cannot tell how exact the data can be converted to 2.0 at this point, because both systems and the database structure are very different. But I will find a way :)
If any one asks for tutorials, there's something coming out this weekend!
- Tobias |
 AdminPraise, our first Joomla 1.5.x administrator template is available for download! AdminPraise is our most complex template to date (let's face it, an Admin Template is basically an extension and template combined).
If you've ever been frustrated with the default Joomla 1.5.x administrator template, this template may be your salvation! We've added a feature for just about every frustration we've ever faced.
If you've ever debated joining JoomlaPraise, it's time to subscribe and take part in the best value around. This is the 1.0 version of AdminPraise and its development and improvement will be ongoing. |
After weeks of hard work I'm happy to announce a new release of ProjectFork! I actually had something released yesterday night, unfortunately it contained a critical bug which has been fixed in today's re-release. So if you have downloaded the 2.0 Alpha yesterday or today before this message, please uninstall and download again.
What's new in 2.0 Alpha?
I'm sure that some of you are probably confused about the difference between this alpha release and the previous pre-alpha release. Our development process simply follows the standard software release life cycle as described on wikipedia.
When working on big projects like ProjectFork, I always think of them as a big puzzle.You start with laying out the frame and then add piece by piece until you get the final picture. So what you see in this release is an almost finished picture of the final product. Some functionalities and the behavior of the system may be confusing which is because of the missing puzzle pieces. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy the way this is all going and that you begin to see the full picture.
This time I've focused a lot on the config section where you can manage/install and uninstall all the different extension types of ProjectFork. As I've mentioned in my last blog entry, ProjectFork is now a modular system comparable to Joomla. So the config section is actually the interface to the heart of ProjectFork.
Please note that this release is still unstable and you should not attempt to uninstall any of the extensions that come with the current release. It would most likely knock out the entire system. You can however unpublish or publish the different extensions.
Project Workspace
Another new feature I've added is the "project workspace". Think of it as a permanent project filter which allows you to quickly switch between different projects and project related information. The feature is still in an experimental stage and will likely change until the final release.
Roll your own!
At this point it is possible for you to create your own extensions for ProjectFork. And if you would like translate ProjectFork, you can simply create an install-package and distribute it on your website or send an email to support@joomlapraise and we will publish it here. Unfortunately I had no time to prepare any documentation for you guys so far, but I promise to present you some first examples and tutorials next week. If you can't wait to get started, I recommend that you explore the code of the existing extensions that come shipped with this release.
Download ProjectFork 2.0 Alpha
- Tobias |
 In addition to all the previous features, SubmitMailer now allows you to either:
- Approve an article from an email link
-or-
- Approve and publish and article to your frontpage from an email link
On a side note, we had the wonderful surprise of hearing that SubmitMailer helped one of our members detect a hacker exploiting the 1.5.5 bug where the admin account can get hijacked:
The following is a quote from a member:
"I got an e-mail this morning from good ol' SubmitMailer telling me that someone had hacked my site, and updated an article by resetting the admin password.
Thanks to SubmitMailer, I was able to react quickly and shut this down before any damage. "
Get the latest version of SubmitMailer [v1.4] while it's hot! |
The Joomla! Community has released Joomla! 1.5.6 [Vusani]. This is a quick turnaround security release to address a high level security issue and it is recommended all users upgrade immediately.
For more information about this exploit, click here to visit the Joomla Security Blog.
We recommend immediate upgrade:
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We've been working hard on a new Joomla! 1.5 administrator template. There's so much power in a Joomla! site, it's hard to make navigation "easy" and the default Khepri template is extremely good, but confusing for beginners. We've taken customer and personal feedback into consideration in our totally unique approach. Here's a rundown of the feature set so far:
- All New Control Panel featuring accordion div and all new icons
- Mini Control Panel on all subpages with mini icons
- More Relevant grouping of icons in Control Panel and Mini Control Panel
- Left Administrator Accordion Navigation (as opposed to cumbersome dropdown menu)
- Collapsible left and right columns for smaller monitors and phones
- Administrator Site-wide Search
- Quicklinks to System Info, File Manager and Admin Template Parameters
- Template queries which File Manager (joomlaXplorer, ninjaXplorer, etc.) link to use
- New Components List page (reminiscent of "More Components..." from Joomla! 1.0.x)
- Logo link to your user account page
- Quickly replace Admin logo
- Updated version of Joomla! accordion to allow multiple open accordions
- Slick new interface styling (from an obvious fruit phone inspiration)
This list keeps getting longer the more we test the template and we want to make sure this baby is as bug free as possible, so we're hoping for a release by next Friday.
Until then, here's some screen shots:
  
and here's how the collapsible left and right columns work:
  
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 For anyone concerned with their search engine efforts (which should be everyone), we've recently done a custom Joomla template for a new site that has built some great technology on Joomla 1.5, SearchPageRankings.com. SPR (as we call them) offers a very cool free feature in which you get Google search results instantly, as you type your keywords (you must enter you domain name first of course). This is a nice way to check mulitple variations of keywords by simply backspacing and typing more words, inspired by another great site InstantDomainSearch.com, which shows you domain availability as you type. The search results are more human friendly than Google, because the results are numbered and your domain will show up in a different color.
SPR's instant domain search is just the tip of the iceberg though. If you create an account, you can rank 3 keyword phrases, and track those keywords over time. This is extremely useful in tracking how you're doing with competing sites, as you can see which sites are moving up or down over time. An even cooler feature is that you can have these results emailed to you in intervals that you define. Here's a tour of their features.
There are subscription packages for 5-20 keywords, and you can choose to pay monthly or yearly for a discounted rate.
Here's a couple of shots of the instant search and keyword history:
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 Extremely late on posting this, but for anyone who missed it, Joomla 1.5.5 [Mamni] is out. We highly recommend upgrading.
"This is a quick turnaround release to address the Duplicate Title error from 1.5.4 . This release also contains important SEF URL improvements and fixes for com_content in addition to a number of bug fixes and improvements."
(joomla.org, full article)
Download Full or Update Package |
 AudioPraise (formerly titled SoundPraise) is now available for download! AudioPraise is a bold, high-impact template. The coolest feature is a vertical blog layout for Frontpage Slideshow. Traditionally FPSS is used to display rotating banner images, and it does a great job, but we wanted to use multiple articles with background images in AudioPraise, so we basically stripped out the CSS and JavaScript FPSS uses to rotate the banners. So basically, the only feature of FPSS that would be used is the admin, because it makes it so easy for users to upload images and add new banners.
Of course, AudioPraise has lots of design and template features as well. AudioPraise comes packaged with 3 great themes, each of which featuring 3 module styles and unique iconography. Here's the list of features and parameters:
- 3 Color Themes each with 3 Module Styles and Iconography
- A Totally New and Unique Frontpage Slideshow Style
- Custom Background Color
- Custom Header Color
- Custom Font Color
- Custom Link Color
- Custom Link Hover Color
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 GolfPraise is ready for download! Ok, we know we're taking the cheesy puns to a new level, but this template really is "above par"  . Gary is our resident golfer and was dieing to create a golf template, but this template is extremely beautiful and can be used for a number of sites, not just golf. In the demo, you'll see PraiseShow has been tucked behind a div. This makes it extremely easy for a user to display either a slideshow or banner image. All you do it publish that module to the banner position and it will be tucked behind the div with no effort!
Featuring
- 3 Color Themes
- Custom Background Color
- Custom Header Color
- Custom Font Color
- Custom Link Color
- Custom Link Hover Color
- (Optional) Use our Free PraiseShow Slideshow Module in the banner position
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Just a quick information for our german speaking visitors:
If you're looking for a german version of ProjectFork, joomlanews.ch is offering an exclusive translated version of the current pre-alpha 2.
Check it out: [Download]
- Tobias |
Hi everyone,
It's time for our big monthly update!
I'm very proud to present to you the second pre-alpha release which contains the missing sections from the first pre-alpha.The sections are:
- Filemanager
- Profile
- Calendar
The sections "Controlpanel" and "Config" will be added in the process
of our next big phase, which starts now.
Phase 2
Our goal for the pre-alpha releases was to create a solid code base on which we can develop advanced features and functionality.
And I think we have have achieved that goal pretty good. So now we want to start implenting new features and improve features we had in the previous versions.
How does the new ProjectFork work?
I have promised to tell you more about the new technology we have going on for ProjectFork 2.0. So here is an overview on what you can expect and already see today (at some point): The good old ProjectFork 0.6.x series was a "linear" component where the code was all mixed together which then produced the final output/result.
Now in ProjectFork 2.0, we have a structure very similar to Joomla. The code and all the parts of the component are properly separated into sections, panels, processes and mods.
Sections
The biggest parts of the system are called sections. They act just like components in Joomla. Sections can include panels, processes and mods though certain interfaces.
Panels
The smaller parts of our system are called panels. These panels can render small bits of information or interfaces, such as the navigation.
Processes
Processes act like plugins in joomla. They usually don't render information or interfaces. Instead, they can change the behavior of a certain part of the system or a section if activated.
Mods
Mods are replacing existing code and files of any section, panel or process IF ACTIVATED. This new breed of plugin allows you to alter the entire system without actually changing or hacking the original files. The big advantage here is that you can activate or deactivate the mod at any time. You can even redistribute it as an installable package.
How you can benefit from this system
As a normal user you will certainly benefit from this new architecture because it allows you to change almost every aspect of ProjectFork. You can install new extensions or disable features you dont need. Programmers are given the possibility to create and distribute extensions of all kind to the community.
But you can expect even more from the new ProjectFork:
We also get a brand new User Access Control system and you can use ProjectFork for your company, personal stuff AND - that's new:
offer it as a service (like joomlacode.org). So you can basically allow people to manage and create their own project on YOUR website! But I'll talk about that later, I'll let you chew on that for a while now :)
Now go and download the latest pre-alpha:
[ Download ]
- Tobias |
 Joomla! 1.5.4 [Naiki] is now available for download.
"This is a normal maintenance release which includes a few low to moderate security issues, many bug fixes, and several very nice improvements. It has been a little over ten weeks since Joomla! 1.5.3 was released on April 24, 2008."
(joomla.org, full article)
Download Full or Update Package
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 We've released another great FREE Joomla module, PraiseShow. PraiseShow is an extremely lightweight slideshow module that will scan a directory and flip through all the images. That's not all though, PraiseShow has a trick up its sleeve. PraiseShow can pull link urls from Joomla's default Web Links component! If the user specifies a Web Links category ID, the name, description, and url will be used for each of the images.
Download for Free
View Demo and Information
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