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ocPortal, Content Management System, Version 4.3.2 Released

Srikanth AD — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 16:32:51 +0000

ocPortal, which we have mentioned here, one of the upcoming web content management systems has released its new version 4.3 RC 3. This version introduces some new features and a number of bug fixes have been made since the last release. If you haven’t tried ocPortal yet, you might want to check a personal demo here.

Following are the new features and fixes that have been made in this new releae.

Fixes:

Fixed problems with CSS image paths on SSL
Fixed that CEDI pages were missing in the Permission Tree Editor
Fixed errors in the CEDI new-post notification emails
Fixed some major problems that had developed with Facebook HPHP support
Fixed problem with main_quotes block on Facebook HPHP
Fixed Comcode-render permissions on various notification emails*
Fixed various problems on our inbuilt database for developers
Fixed stack trace when stock maintenance warnings are sent
Fixed problems on multi-site installs with regard to template overriding in the default theme
Fixed stack trace when uploading archives to the attachment system
Fixed problem with cache-safety of the Comcode ‘list’ tag
Fixed rare missing parameter error in side_forum_news block, if certain parameters used
Fixed error when adding a zero-byte file to a TAR file
Fixed bugs in shopping cart system, with regard to disabling stock control and hiding protected fields.
Fixed some problems with Javascript-based Comcode tags that theoretically could fail on certain browsers if the site loads in a weird order
Fixed problem whereby on galleries in flow mode it would say ‘edit image’ for a video (now just says ‘edit’)
Fixed error when hovering over the Zones icon
Fixed proxy server support via the cURL library
Fixed problem with results-browser template producing (unseen) errors
Fixed the instant messengers intelligent chat message box growth on Google Chrome
Fixed the mouse monitoring API on IE
Fixed the Comcode ’section_controller’ tag so that the controller may go before the content, if desired
Fixed problem submitting uploaded files on IE if URLs are supported also
Fixed rare stack trace in XHTML validation code
Fixed problem with SpellChecker since 4.3.1
Fixed the ’switch zone’ warning, which was producing a Javascript error

New Features:

Upgraded side_weather block for Yahoo’s new location IDs
Added extra parameters to main_rss and side_rss blocks
Added date sorting to side_rss block
Improved catalogue AED usability, less abstract UI
Made chat bots have decent usernames instead of being just a Guest
Allowed chat bots to respond to general messages (rather than just private messages sent to them)
Allowed chat bots to decide whether to make a response or not
Stopped errors inside previews giving links to show a stack trace
Speculative fix to an error message showing a problem inside the points API for an AJAX script
Added Google Chrome detection support
Changes to primary-key-length restrictions, to ensure compatibility with file-system based database such as our inbuilt development database
Allowed MySQL ‘DESCRIBE’ queries to work correctly
Allowed canceling of eCommerce orders that were not taken up, and making them sink to the bottom
Made the point count on the OCF member bar a link to the logged-in member’s points profile
Removed ‘network down’ Javascript AJAX error, due to problems of reporting on some browsers in some circumstances
Added missing description for the products catalogue
Added warning to stop people accidentally locking themselves out of the Admin Zone by making their usergroup not a super-administrator
Reference the ‘development tools’ in the footer, in the Style section of the Admin Zone
Added dismissible warning if the Setup Wizard is never run

Read more about this new release of OcPortal 4.3.2 here.

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ocPortal, Content Management System, Version 4.3 RC3 Released

Srikanth AD — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:08:36 +0000

ocPortal, one of the upcoming web content management systems has released its new version 4.3 RC 3. This version introduces some new features and a number of bug fixes have been made since the last release. If you haven’t tried ocPortal yet, you might want to check a personal demo here.

New features

WordPress, Joomla and HTML web site importer
iCal exporter and quiz responses CSV exporter
New ‘importer redirects’, which lets you easily redirect to the appropriate place in ocPortal, for cases when import is done natively through modules
Added submit-URLs to the side_news block, main_forum_news block and side_forum_news block
Reply counts have been added to the side_forum_news block
New Comcode ‘pulse’ tag which is configurable with parameters
New parameter to main_leader_board block has been added to filter out staff from the points leaderboard
CAPTCHA support has been added to the main_contact_simple block and main_contact_us block
Auto search capability for expanded day selection
Allowed the download A-Z index to support ocFilter notation

New features for developers:

Generalised shared-installs support so it is more flexible for people
Improved shared-install functionality, so that theme files and Comcode pages may be shared between sites also, if desired
Added memory debugging functions for developers
ocPortal can now run without a database as the inbuilt database is now a bundled feature
New developer feature has been added for the quick addition of language strings, written (temporarily) in-line into the code
Added support for running a server behind a proxy server

ImpressPages Open Source Content Management System Review

Srikanth AD — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:05:29 +0000

ImpressPages is an open source content management system which lets you build functional and effective websites in quick time. It’s interface is user friendly and can be adapted to your needs. It’s multilingual, absolutely free and open source.

If you spend lot of time on editing font type, re-sizing pictures, regulating spaces between elements etc., then ImpressPages could be a real time saver for you. It is based on the idea that most functions of CMS could be performed automatically. With ImpressPages, all the information could be administered directly in the website without the need to perform sequential tasks.

System Requirements

To run ImpressPages Content Management System, you need:

Apache server
Apache ”mod_rewrite” extension
PHP 5.3 and higher
PHP GD library
MySql 5 and higher
30+ Mb free disk space

ImpressPages is SEO friendly and it caters to your SEO needs.

Specific SEO features of ImpressPages:

Automatic generation of SEO friendly URLs.
Setting of title, keywords, description and URL values for each page.
Automatic sitemap generations.

Built-in Features

It has built-in features like sitemap, RSS, smart search, newsletter etc., ImpressPages automatically creates sitemaps for you and provides you with custom templates for newsletters so that you can collect and manage your subscriber details.

Administrator Interface

ImpressPages has an easy-to-use back-end interface. It lets you quickly make changes to your site. Each block on the site is provided with options to move it up or down, edit, delete or hide it. This allows you to quickly change the appearance and position of the blocks and elements on your site.

Menu Management

The order of pages and sub pages can be changed quickly. They are made available as a tree structure. So, you can drag and drop the pages and sub-pages to change their order. It also provides you with options to set ‘page properties’ which include meta keywords, description, URL, visibility, date modified etc.,

Configuration

The built-in features like sitemap, RSS, search and newsletter can be configured with just a few clicks from the admin interface. It’s currently available in English and Latin languages.

Conclusion

ImpressPages is an open source, fully functional and light weight content management system. Without much technical skills like CSS or HTML you can quickly get started with it and create your site in no time. It’s back-end is easy to use and gives you full control to make changes to the site. It loads with built-in features like sitemap, newsletters, search etc., which can be used without having to install any further plugins.

It’s new, but seems to be a promising web software to create fantastic websites in short time.

You might want to check out a quick demo of ImpressPages CMS here.

Download ImpressPages CMS

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Book Giveaway: Joomla! with Flash

Srikanth AD — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:03:48 +0000

Recently we reviewed the book, Joomla with Flash, build stunning, content-rich, and interactive websites with Joomla! 1.5 and Flash CS4.

As indicated in the review, the book, Joomla! with Flash, is aimed at explaining how to use Flash objects with Joomla! content with minimal efforts and maximum output.

We are pleased to inform you that we are giving away an exclusive copy of this book to a lucky winner.

Contest Rules

Three simple rules to be eligible,

Subscribe to our Email newsletter to stay updated with the latest news and reviews related to web software’s.
Re Tweet this post using the Re-Tweet button (optional).
Leave a comment on this post with your Name and email id used for subscription.

The contest is open for anyone in the United States and one lucky winner will be rewarded with an exclusive copy of Joomla! with Flash book sponsored by PACKT Publishing Ltd.

Entries will be accepted till February 1st, 2010.

Book Details

Language English
Paperback 260 pages [191mm x 235mm]
Release date October 2009
ISBN 1847198244
ISBN 13 978-1-847198-24-2
Author(s) Suhreed Sarkar
Topics and Technologies Content Management, PHP/MySQL, Open Source, Joomla!

Highlights

This book enables you to build interactive and content-rich web sites with Joomla! 1.5 and Flash CS4.

You can build stunning web site(s) and integrate Flash objects into Joomla!
Joomla! with Flash gives you step-by-step guidelines on how to create stunning photo galleries with Flash transition and animation effects
The books also includes explanation on, how to use interactive Flash-based maps, animations, videos, charts, MP3 players, logos, headers, and banners in Joomla!-based web sites
Contains easy to follow guides with enriched screenshots for better understanding.
After going through the book, you can renovate your Joomla! based web site into an interactive, feature-rich multimedia site

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Book Review: Joomla! with Flash

Srikanth AD — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:44:39 +0000

Joomla! is an award winning Content Management System(CMS) with a wide range of features. It’s a prolific CMS which is suitable for designing and maintaining any type of websites. Joomla has a modular architecture, providing the users with lots of options for extensibility. Apart from the fabulous modules, it is also well known for strong security, templating system, extensive community support and the authorization framework.

There are many extensions available for Joomla! like plug-ins and modules to extend the functionality of Joomla!. These extensions provide – further options for customization, enhancing the functionality as well as ease of administration.

You might want to integrate technologies such as Flash into Joomla!, as it provides great features for creating stunning graphics, interactive games, animated objects and alike to add a new flavor to your site.

The book, Joomla! with Flash, is aimed at explaining how to use Flash objects with Joomla! content with minimal efforts and maximum output.

Book Details

Highlights

This book enables you to build interactive and content-rich web sites with Joomla! 1.5 and Flash CS4.

You can build stunning web site(s) and integrate Flash objects into Joomla!
Joomla! with Flash gives you step-by-step guidelines on how to create stunning photo galleries with Flash transition and animation effects
The books also includes explanation on, how to use interactive Flash-based maps, animations, videos, charts, MP3 players, logos, headers, and banners in Joomla!-based web sites
Contains easy to follow guides with enriched screenshots for better understanding.
After going through the book, you can renovate your Joomla! based web site into an interactive, feature-rich multimedia site

A Brief Walk Through

The book starts with introducing the reader to the different types of Flash objects and various tools that will be helpful for developing web sites based on Flash and Joomla!. Then, the author gives a detailed explanation on how to use Flash-based image slide shows in Joomla and display them at different positions on the site.

By using the ‘random image’ module, you can implement a slide show in no time. The explanation is easily understandable. As, each step is enriched by screenshots, comprehending the text becomes much easier.

Simialarly, you will learn to use the RokSlideShow, one of the popular slideshow modules for Joomla!

This extensions helps you in integrating a slide show with options for dynamic image resizing, captions, loading progressbar, titles and more. Apart from these, you will also be able to set transition and other eye catching effects to further customize your slide show. Chapter 2 also focuses on showing Flash based movies in Joomla! articles/content.

Chapter 3 gives you an introduction to the built-in menus and navigation in Joomla! and then illustrates the use of two extensions, Flash Floating Menu and Super Web Flash for using Flash based menus in Joomla!

The book also covers other related extensions for customizing the flash menus based on your need.

Other intriguing stuff like building photo galleries using Flash into Joomla! based sites, building interactive Flash based maps, and charts, tickers, logos, headers is clearly explained in the book to meet the needs of all kinds of audience. This book also focuses mainly on how to embed Joomla! content into a Flash sites and how to troubleshoot your applications to overcome the most common problems in Joomla!.

What you will learn from this book

Create Flash objects and choose some popular flash tools for working with them

Improve the overall design of your site by learning to use Flash templates and tickers in Joomla!

Build stunning photo galleries with Flash animation effects and display photos on your Joomla! web site from a Flickr account using third-party extensions for Joomla!

Embed and display flash movies inside Joomla! contents using a simple video flash player

Create attractive Flash-based menus for your Joomla! web site

Display interactive Flash maps on a Joomla! web site using YOS amMap extension

Transform your Joomla! site into a streaming media site using Jvideo! extension to embed videos in Joomla! contents

Create mind maps based on your Joomla! site’s structure with the help of Joom!FreeMind component

Customize your Joomla! template to display Flash logo, header, and banners

Display Joomla! contents in Flash objects using amfPHP and J-AMFPHP extension for Joomla!

Maintain and troubleshoot your Joomla! and Flash web site

Approach

This book is a fast-paced step-by step-guide. It is loaded with examples and lots of illustrations showing configurations and their results on the screen.

Who this book is written for

If you are a Joomla! web developer who wants to integrate Flash into your web sites, then this book is for you. Knowledge of Joomla! and basic knowledge of Flash is assumed.

Joomla with Flash, build stunning, content-rich, and interactive websites with Joomla! 1.5 and Flash CS4 is definitely a must have if, you are planning to build and enhance you Joomla! based web site with Flash.

Check out Joomla! with Flash at PACKT Publishing

Note: Keep track of this blog to get a chance to grab an exclusive copy of this book.

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Movable Type Open Source Content Management System Version 5 Released!

Srikanth AD — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 02:05:25 +0000

Movable Type, an open source blog software, which we have reviewed here, has recently released its new version 5.01. Following are some of the highlights in this release.

Some long-awaited features like the following are made available in this release:

User Dashboard for quick access to the most used blogs and websites
Themes are provided with full support for custom fields, templates, static files, categories, folders, etc for blogs and websites
Revision History for entries, pages, and templates
Websites for grouping blogs together
Custom Fields are made available for all objects

Movable Type 5.01 is available in English, Japanese, German, Spanish, Dutch and French.

Download

Movable Type 5.01 – commercial license
Movable Type Open Source 5.01 – open source license

Source: Movable Type blog

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Movable Type Open Source Content Management Version 5 RC 2 Released

Srikanth AD — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:02:04 +0000

Movable Type, an open source blog software, which we have reviewed here has recently released its new version 5 RC 2. Following are some of the highlights in this release.

Highlights

A lot of work has been done by the Movable Type team to get the dynamic publishing in sync with the static publishing.
Updates to the Professional blog templates have been made.
Unbundling of Motion and Action Streams
The Entry/Page “previous” and “next” container tags now account for entries/pages with the same date-time, rather than skipping them.

Many other bug fixes have been made in this release. You can download Movable Type Version 5 RC 2 here. You might want to check out the release notes here.

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EntropySoft releases Standalone Content ETL for Cloud integration

Serge Guillerme — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:21:29 +0000

EntropySoft, specialist of the ECI market (Enterprise Content Integration), is releasing a standalone version of its Content ETL product for unstructured data. Standalone Content ETL is specifically designed for SaaS companies that want to simplify cloud integration. By releasing this version of Content ETL, EntropySoft is reinforcing its position as one of the main suppliers of cloud integration products for unstructured data.

The development of Software as a Service (SaaS) means that more and more companies work with document repositories that are no longer managed “in-house”. Using external document repositories is the fastest way to deliver document-based solutions without the pain of deploying and maintaining internally complex architectures. Additionally, a cloud strategy is very common when mergers and acquisitions happen: organizations with different IT architectures need to put their resources in common as fast as possible.

External document repositories increase content fragmentation and the need to exchange securely and easily documents over the firewall. The use of cloud repositories must be initiated in conjunction with a strategy to have easy transfers between cloud and corporate repositories.

EntropySoft’s Standalone Content ETL is specifically designed to be an ideal product for such transfers.

In all companies, most common practice is sending an e-mail with an attachment when sharing information inside or outside of the company. It is common to first download a document from a content-centric application and mail it. The receiving party uploads and saves in its own repository of choice.
This common practice highlights the dangers of not managing company-wide content transfers. Taking the document out of its initial repository comes with major risks regarding permissions, lifecycle management and mail server overload. A protected document extracted from its initial repository becomes a non-protected document. The complete history of the document is left behind or lost. Knowledge Management becomes impossible.

Content ETL is the best product in its category to manage cross-repository document lifecycle. It can manage real time, on-demand or on-schedule transfers between more than 30 applications, without losing permissions and history.

Applications can be fundamentally different, especially with regards to permissions, metadata models or users and groups directories. Content ETL is deploying “bridges” between repositories. The role of the bridges is first to map the different models (permissions, metadata, users and groups…) and then manage the actual transfer.

Thanks to EntropySoft’s state-of-the-art connectors the bridges can be deployed between more than 30 enterprise content repositories including Microsoft SharePoint, Documentum, Google DOCS, IBM FileNet, Opentext Livelink, Alfresco and many other.

If requirements include data cleansing, de-duplication or rendering, Content ETL includes a large selection of pre-programmed actions that can easily be added in the content bridge. Adding the required features is very easy, since it is done by dragging and dropping a new stage in the graphical representation of the bridge.

Standalone Content ETL also has the ability to dynamically track changes in a repository and deliver a list of added, updated and deleted documents. Changes to content, permissions and metadata are taken into account on an immediate basis. This is a vital feature for all companies who want to have an accurate view of their content and take real-time actions such as immediate Records Management to minimize critical data loss risk.

Standalone Content ETL comes with two scheduling options for transferring documents: pre-programmed transfers on a regular basis or real-time immediate transfers.

Standalone Content ETL is an all-in-one version of Content ETL. It combines an embedded Content Federation server with content ETL so as to simplify product download and deployment.

Customers deploying Standalone Content ETL can, at any time, upgrade their deployment by adding a separate EntropySoft Content Federation Server. The full architecture gives customers a third scheduling option: the ability to manage on-demand transfers with Content ETL web.

By using a pre-defined content transfer bridge, SaaS companies can now offer their customers a downloadable package that can be easily deployed, so as to seamlessly integrate any corporate content repository with their online service, while preserving permissions and delivering full traceability.

Standalone Content ETL’s immediate benefits are easier content transfers between repositories, better information life-cycle control and stronger compliance with rules and regulations.

EntropySoft brings Content Management Intelligence to its customers.

About EntropySoft
EntropySoft is focused on the integration of unstructured data and is a pure-player in the ECI global market (Enterprise Content Integration). An information-access expert, EntropySoft’s mission is to facilitate content access and make content interoperability easy.

EntropySoft technology is used by software vendors to simplify the integration between their solution and all content management solutions. Applications fields are numerous (Enterprise Search, BPM, e-discovery, Records Management, Collaboration, etc…). EntropySoft has the most extensive read / write connector portfolio in the market.
EntropySoft also has a Content ETL (for cross-repository transfers and cloud synchronization) and a Content Federation Server (to simplify enterprise connectivity architecture).

The following leading global organizations integrate EntropySoft connectors: Attivio, Coveo, Digital Reef, Endeca, Exalead, IDS Scheer, Image Integration Systems, Jahia, Kazeon and W4.
For more information, visit www.entropysoft.net.

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Joomla Open Source Content Management System Version 1.5.15 Released

Srikanth AD — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:51:22 +0000

The Joomla project has recently announced the immediate availability of its new release, Joomla 1.5.15 codenamed “Wojmamni ama mamni”.

The key features and changes made in this release include,

Security
Two security issues were fixed in this release:

Moderate Priority – Core – Front-End Editing.
Low Priority – Core – XML File View.

Components

Allowed search to use the Itemid of the current Menu Item
Removed unnecessary quotes in search results
Fixed problem when using relative URL’s in editor with SEF enabled.
Fixed formatting problem in Category List layout with Internet Explorer
Fixed problem with entering HTML in user confirmation messages
Fixed Media Manager issues in Windows
Fixed problem with Archived Article filters when cache is enabled
Fixed RSS feed problem with ampersand in page title

Modules

Allowed underscore character in menu names
Fixed problem with mod_newsflash and altenative read-more text
Fixed problem with Alias Menu Item Type not opening in new window
Fixed problem with UTF-8 characters in breadcrumbs

Plugins

Fixed problem with email cloaking and non-ASCII characters
Fixed TinyMCE configuration error
Fixed problem with multiple editor instances on one page
Fixed problem whereby TinyMCE stripped some image HTML
Fixed TinyMCE Extended Valid Elements problem
Fixed problem with TinyMCE blockquote
Allowed Firefox inline spell check to work in TinyMCE
Fixed problem saving changes in TinyMCE
Fixed TinyMCE problem with caption.js and filtering
Fixed TinyMCE bullet issue with Internet Explorer
Made image title names consistent in front and back end
Fixed issue with email cloaking and images
Fixed problem in email cloaking syntax
Fixed caption alignment when image alignment is not set
Fixed JavaScript error in TinyMCE
Added option to create templates in TinyMCE editor
Fixed problem with TinyMCE Sql
Fixed problem when using email cloaking and JavaScript
Fixed problem with email cloaking when using images

Templates

Fixed problem with missing template CSS files
Fixed problem with linked images in Beez template
Added default text color for backend error messages
Added missing spinner.gif
Fixed problem when copying Beez template to new name
Fixed error in JA_Purity template with Internet Explorer 8

Language

Added TinyMCE Language file for Toggle Editor button
Added Ulaanbaatar in timezones
Fixed problem with localisation of pagination strings
Added missing Display # language string
Added missing com_media language strings
Improved tooltip text for mod_search
Fixed problem with version information for core languages

Administrator

Fixed problem with FTP fields auto-completing

System

Don’t show password in configuration.php file
Fixed problem when Itemid does not exist
Fixed PHP 5.3 compatibility issues
Fixed problem with caching for com_weblinks and com_contact
Fixed additional PHP 5.3 compatibility issues
Fixed problem with warnings in system_config.php file
Added missing JEXEC checks in code
Fixed problem converting UTF-8 characters to ASCII
Added option to disallow users to view extension XML files
Fixed problem with onAfterDisplayTitle event and PHP 5.3
Fixed problem with displaying error messages with right-to-left languages

Downloads Joomla 1.5.15 here.

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Joomla, Open Source Content Management System, Version 1.6 Alpha 2 Released

Srikanth AD — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:52:02 +0000

The Joomla project has recently announced the immediate availability of its new release, Joomla 1.6 alpha 2. This release contains many new features requested by the community. Other features are listed below as well as what you can expect in the future for Joomla 1.6.

This is an alpha release. It is intended to be a developer/hobbyist preview and is not intended to be used on a production web site.

New improvements/features since alpha 1 include:

ACL: access management for global permissions as well as content item specific permissions, variable user-groups, users member of more than one user-group, permissions are inherited, really fast
Extendable user profile, profile view in frontend, extendable user parameters
Improved com_content modules (mod_articles_archive, mod_articles_latest, mod_articles_popular)
Article linker plugin for editors
New frontend template (atomic)
Tableless com_content layouts
New backend template (bluestork)
New uploader for media manager

Other Joomla 1.6 improvements that existed in alpha 1:

Mootools 1.2
Refactored back-end
JForm
Nested Categories and category parameters
New views in front-end: categories, category
Lots of small code improvements, almost cut the code size in half while adding to the functionality
PHP 5.2 required, huge performance improvements, partially eaten up by new features => 1.6 will be faster than 1.5

Download Joomla here

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