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Our Purpose

CMSReport.com was founded in 2006 on the belief that information technologists, website owners, and web developers have a deep desire to visit online news site where they could learn about content management systems without the sales pitch. The primary focus of this site is Web content management systems (CMS) as well as on the people that are involved developing and using content management solutions. CMS Report has a healthy interest in opinions and stories that involve open source and proprietary CMS solutions.

Most of the activity here at CMS Report involves informing readers of the latest happenings in the world of content management systems followed by discussion (comments). We currently provide the information we do through three sources:

Have a story idea that you would like to see posted here at CMS Report? See our Submit Story page for details. In brief, all you need to do is register an account here at CMS Report.  Any stories or links you submit will need to be reviewed by the editor before we publish it on the site.  More than likely, you will see your article or link posted within a day or two after you have submitted it to us.

CMS Topics: 

phpBB 3.0.6

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

The open source Web forum application, phpBB, is available in a new version. phpBB 3.0.6 introduces not only bug fixes and stability improvements but also some major new features.

We are very pleased to announce the availability of the phpBB "Fast and Furrious" 3.0.6 package. This release fixes numerous bugs, introduces some major features, as well as improves stability and performance. Furthermore, the internal updater has been updated to detect and solve most conflicts, resulting in a reduction of necessary manual interaction by administrators.

Please note that we urge you to update. phpBB 3.0.6 fixes bugs being quite important for a smooth operation of your forums. With this release our support team will only give support for phpBB 3.0.6, updates to phpBB 3.0.6 and conversions to phpBB 3.0.6. Submissions to our trackers for older versions will not be accepted, please make sure you update/upgrade before you submit a bug report.

Some of the new features that have been implemented in phpBB 3.0.6 include:

  • Better spam control using improved captcha options and backported 3.2 captcha plugins:
    • Classic and GD CAPTCHA
    • reCaptcha
    • Q&A CAPTCHA
    • 3D Wave

Build a Social Networking Website using Drupal 6 with New Book

Packt is pleased to announce a new book on Drupal that will guide users in creating and managing their own social networking website, using powerful and feature rich social networking modules. Written by Content Management expert, Michael Peacock, Drupal 6 Social Networking will help users in promoting and marketing their website using the Drupal CMS platform.

Drupal is a free Open Source modular framework and Content Management System (CMS). Drupal is extremely scalable, making it ideal for both a simple personal website as well as an industrial strength commercial or institutional web presence. Written in the programming language PHP/MySQL, its power and flexibility combined with its exceptional design means it is one of the most popular choices for creating a CMS website.

This book will guide users from the basics of both Drupal and Social Networking right through to more complicated aspects, like creating their own custom design and features for their website. It will walk users through the creation of a custom module, making use of Google Maps, to illustrate how easily the social network can be extended to meet their needs. It will also introduce users to Drupal themes to install and enable new themes and customize the existing ones.

In addition to this, the book looks at communicating with the users of the social network through mailing lists, theme changes and Twitter feeds, to keep them up to date, and improve user retention. Through this book users will learn some useful methods for promoting their website through Search Engine Optimization, Online Marketing, and a range of new Social Media.

Mailbag: MyBB

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

Alex S. wrote to us and and recommended that everyone take a look at MyBB, a Web forum application.

I noticed MyBB isn't on your CMS Focus list.  I would recommend you looking into it as it is an amazing system.  It even just went open source recently.

But, don't take my word for it KDE is now using it them selves.  It's new compared to SMF and phpBB but it's already competing with the best (including IPB and vB).

http://mybboard.net/

I'm not a developer or anything.  Just recommend this amazing forum system with a bright future.

While I make no promises on getting MyBB into CMS Focus, I do think it is time to take a new look at SMF, phpBB, vB, and the new comers.  Perhaps in a couple days we'll see if it is time for another forum application to knock SMF off the top 30 CMS list.  May the best forum software win...

OpenSourceCommunity.org Alternatives?

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

I was a huge fan of Amy Stephen's Open Source Community.  The site's mission was built on a desire to be a "place for those of us interested in open source solutions and community issues".  OSC shared a similar goal of mine in which I have a strong desire to bring people together from competing Web CMS projects, products, and organizations and compare perspectives (though I have interest in propriety systems as well as open source).  Unfortunately OSC went offline last April with only a promise to be back up sometime in the future.

I will be taking the site down sometime tomorrow evening and will likely be down for awhile. It could be a week - maybe two, but one day, it'll be back! Thanks!

Recent discussion here at CMSReport.com brought the whereabouts of OSC back into question.  I personally don't know when OSC will ever be back online.  However, I think perhaps the better question might be, if you liked OSC.org what other sites should be considered?  That is a very hard question to answer.

Simple Machines grants permission for Drupal-SMF Bridge

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

Last week, I mentioned that the the Drupal SMFforum Integration module was no longer being supported by the module's project leader, "vb". Apparently, Simple Machines had not granted permission to the module developer to distribute code found in the SMF application as required by the Simple Machines License. While some discussion followed this announcement at the SMF forums, as well as here at CMS Report, none of this discussion compared to what took place at the Open Source Community.

The good news is that Simple Machines LLC has granted vb to continue distributing some of the SMF code to work with the Drupal SMFforum Integration module. vb wrote:

I am glad to announce that distribution of the smf_api_2 package is resumed due to the express permission granted from Simple Machines LLC.
You can download the new package from http://vgb.org.ru/download.

"Orstio", SMF CMS Bridge Developer, added the following at Open Source Community:

I think we are all happy that we've come to an arrangement that benefits everyone.

Hopefully we will be able to work more closely with vb on the future of both his project and SMF so that code redistribution is eventually phased out by making future versions of SMF more accommodating to this type of integration.

Drupal SMFforum Integration module no longer supported

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

Development of the SMFforum Integration module for Drupal is no longer.  Amy Stephen over at OpenSourceCommunity.org pointed out on her blog that the module's project  leader, "vb", pulled the module due to licensing disagreements with SMF LLC.  Amy references vb's original post at the Drupal forum, but she has a lot more to say.  Amy's an active participant in the Joomla! community, a community which had their own issues with a bridge between Joomla! and SMF.

According to vb's post, an email sent by Michael "Oldiesmann" Eshom, Project Manager, Simple Machines LLC stated that:

The problem isn't with the smfforum.module file or the packages distributed on drupal.org. The problem is with the "smf_api_subs.php" file that you're distributing as part of the smf api package - it contains modified versions of several SMF functions, and you did not ask for permission to use this code or distribute it.

It appears that Simple Machines LLC doesn't have so much of a problem with bridging SMF and Drupal as much as they have issues with their own code being used without proper permission.  The Simple Machines License clearly states that "Any Distribution of a Modified Package or derivative requires express written consent from Simple Machines LLC."  No word on whether Simple Machines LLC would endorse the use of their code if permission is asked.

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