phpFox2 Alpha 3 Released
phpFox2 has now reached Alpha3. For those that have just joined us and want to catch up on what was accomplished so far with the first two public alphas you can check here to follow up on Alpha1 and more information can be found here for Alpha2.
This might sound a little repetitive now but I would like to mention briefly that this is an Alpha release and it is not a final product nor is it supported by us just yet. The idea behind releasing such a product is to get feedback from the community, which has been a great help in our development process and something we really appreciate and want to thank everyone that is helping out.
Alpha3 focused more on fixing the inner functionality of the product, however there are still some goodies for us to test.
Drag & Drop Profile Blocks
A major part of phpFox2 will be how users can alter their profile to the max. In the past we allowed users to change their profile design and this is something we want to include with v2 as well. To start things off we wanted the community to test the drag & drop of profile blocks. This feature allows your users the ability to position blocks such as their Friends, Basic Information, Comments etc… anywhere on their profile. Currently blocks can only be moved vertically, they will eventually be allowed to move blocks anywhere on either sides of the profile if the specific block allows it. Users will also be able to shorten blocks so it will make moving blocks easier, especially when trying to move the comments block as it contains a lot of data. The ability to hide/remove blocks will be added in the near future.
To best demonstrate this functionality we created a short video below.
Profile Inline Editing
We provide users the ability to edit their profile from the Edit Profile section, however inline editing makes things a lot easier and they can see the changes directly on their profile.
Here is a short video on how to edit profiles using the inline functionality.
To edit profiles using the conventional method we provide a profile editor, which can be seen here.
Managing Themes
We have added a new drop down menu in the AdminCP within the Extensions menu. You will notice the Themes menu from where you can find Manage Themes.
With past versions of phpFox we had one theme and many styles. Altering the site design with past versions is a little difficult as it would require altering default template files, which would cause problems when upgrading as it would require overwriting any of your changes. phpFox2 is being designed to solve this problem in several ways. First, we offer the ability to create as many themes for your site. Each theme can have as many styles as it would like as well. This will allow designers a lot more control when it comes to how phpFox looks and not worry about overwriting default files.
Alpha3 introduces the ability to edit the default templates direct from the AdminCP. When a template is modified from the AdminCP and if you were to upgrade in the future our changes would not overwrite anything modified from the AdminCP. Not everyone will want to edit templates via the AdminCP as this is really being designed for small quick edits and to store template modifications from 3rd party plug-ins. In the near future you will be able to create new themes and this will allow you to edit files directly on your server or on your localhost so you can open files in your favorite text editor and work from there.
Each style can have its own logo and you can change this from the AdminCP. In the past we required that the default logo have write permission. Things have changed with v2 and we cache your new image in a static cache folder to make sure you do not overwrite any default logos. There is no size restriction when uploading a logo, however we recommend the pixels the logo should be based on the style you are editing as it could be different. We also provide the option to auto resize the image for you based on what the style recommends.
Friends Feeds include Profile Images & Comments
Alpha3 introduces some more functionality to the Friends Feed. With past Alpha versions we have used small icons to inform users what sort of a feed was being displayed and this will still be the same when viewing feeds on a users profile. However, when viewing feeds on the sites index page we replaced the feed images with the users profile image instead.
As per clients request to add comments to feeds, Aplha3 introduces this feature for the community to publicly test. Currently there is no limit on how many comments can be added to a feed, however there is a global setting on how many comments to display for each feed and to hide the rest.
Here is a short video of this feature in action.
Display Options for Browse Section
By default we display a users name and photo when browsing users. We added the option to browse users and list results with their user name, photo, selected personal information and links to view their profile, message them or ask them to be friends. There is a global setting that can set the default view when visiting the browse section and not filtering results the first time.
Notification & Request Blocks
Alpha3 modifies the Notification and Request blocks found on the sites index page when you are logged in. These two blocks are used to notify users when there is something they need to approve or letting them know they have a new message. These two blocks by default are hidden unless something new has come up for the user. Per users requests we added an option where you can show these two blocks even when there is nothing new to notify the user with. We also added small icons beside each of the links.
Renaming Profile Images
Clients brought something to our attention a few days ago and we looked into making this happen before Alpha3 so we can get some early testing before beta.
When uploading images to your gallery we rename the images with a unique 32 character hash. This was designed to keep images private so we simply didn’t visit the folder where images were stored and incremented the ID number (eg. 1.jpg, 2.jpg, 3.jpg etc…). What we have done now is add an option that if you would like to rename images based on what the title of the photo is, which is created by the user it will do so. For example if I were to upload an image and name it “this is a test image”, the file name would be “natio-this-is-a-test-image.jpg”. Notice the prefix “natio-”, this is my user name so it is added before the title of my image.
The idea behind these changes is to help search bots pick up your images. Further testing is needed here especially when dealing with non latin characters. This feature can be disabled from the AdminCP if you want to continue using the 32 character hash system we have in place.
Known Issues
IE6 still has known issues, which we mentioned when releasing Alpha2. To follow up on some other publicly reported known issues feel free to check our bug tracker.
Some other known issues worth mentioning:
- Non latin characters display incorrectly due to a feature to shorten long strings.
- BBcode not parsing correctly.
- Auto parsing URL strings to anchors disabled, so this feature is not working.
- Fully tested on a Linux box, needs more testing on Windows servers.
- Unable to edit photo categories, when browsing your photos.
- Transparent images not working when uploaded.
Live Demo
View this alpha demo in action here.
Download
phpFox2 Alpha3 can be downloaded direct from the clients area. When you have selected a license and reached the download page look for “phpFox2 Alpha 3″ to download the product.
Developers Documentation
Our developers documentation can be found here.
Change Logs
We have added a spec log here and a SVN change log here for Alpha3.
Feedback and Bugs
Your feedback is appreciated, please feel free to leave them here. We also provide a bug tracker here so we can get ahead and start squashing bugs.
Next Release
Stay tuned for the next Alpha release (Apr 22, 2009), which will introduce more modules to test and updates on the current modules released.
Good luck and Enjoy Alpha3!
This is going to be great stuff! 
Thanks
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Downloading now and can’t wait to play with the new features. In regards to the drag & drop boxes, I’m assuming from the admin panel we’ll be able to use this feature to layout our homepage?
And also layout the default setup for the different profile types (i.e. we can setup the default layout for a musicians profile compared with that of a regular member)?
Also, will it be possible in the admin panel to lock profiles (i.e. prevent certain member types from moving stuff around?) My idea here is that we may want to allow certain profile types to be laid out however the user wants, while we want other profile types to always be laid out in a specific manner so it’s easy for our members to find the information they’re looking for on that type of profile.
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Hi!
So far v2 looks pretty cool, but judging from your blog post I’m getting a bit worried about profile fields and how much you are able to customize them.
You keep talking about “Basic Information”. Will we be able to edit what kind of info we consider to be “basic” or is this just some standard stuff like age, timezone, date of birth, etc???
I really hope this isn’t the case. All in all I think v2 is far better than Social Engine, but one thing I do like about SE, is the way you are able to customize everything regarding profile fields.
I do know this is an alpha release but could you please give us some more information about this.
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Anthony Reply:
April 8th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Hey Gonzo,
I’m confident that they’re going to give us a lot of customization options here. Remember that this is only the third alpha release, we haven’t even hit the beta phase and even then there’s still enhancements being made and all that.
So try not to get discouraged by the early versions, as I know phpfox is going to deliver a lot of awesomeness with this platform.
They’ve been ridiculously responsive to ideas and comments in their forum and here on the blog. Rome wasn’t built in a day, give this time and it’ll take shape nicely.
Not to mention that this is still 100% open source, so there’s tons of modification and add-on potential for those wishing to go above and beyond what the script initially delivers.
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drag and drop profile blocks–that’s sweet! can’t wait to get my hands on 2.0!
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All I can say is yummy!!!!
Hatts off to dev team. Loved the new features.
One suggestion though.
Is it possible to add the ability to have different template/theme for different sections of the site? Just like joomla allows it. I mean possibilities are end less if you do this. It can also create a whole new branding options for advertisers to allow them brand a section of the site with their own theme. WOW! that would be huge.
thanks guys for your hardwork!
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Purefan Reply:
April 9th, 2009 at 4:14 am
This is already possible (since the first alpha actually), check here:
http://wiki.phpfox.com/guide/V2/Modules#File_.26_Folder_Structure
You can have other than the default to have a whole different layout for every module if you so want it
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chodhry Reply:
April 9th, 2009 at 10:14 am
purefan, i think you did not get my point. I was asking if it is possible to add an admin panel feature to assign different stylesheet to any section. For example, blogs with blue style sheet, videos with orange, music with purple, just as you change the style sheet of your profile. I hope it is clear now.
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Purefan Reply:
April 14th, 2009 at 5:17 am
oh ok, well as of Alpha 2 there is not from the admin panel, but for sure there will be, we have it in 1.6 so it will be definitely available in V2.
Basically anything that you see in 1.6 will be available in V2
ClubUgly Reply:
April 16th, 2009 at 2:37 am
I think to better understand it, a professional designer needs to be hired. In 1.6 you have to manually do what Chodhry is asking. Please don’t misunderstand me but it seems that you guys are dependent on the 1.6 and old method and are scared to leave it completely. I have seen countless posts where you as developers admit to not having any design skills which is typical of developers so please let us know what’s up and who’s in charge of design?
Invision Power Board and I hate to bring it up for example handles this in the ACP under the “Look & Feel” tab. Joomla has similar setup too. What you guys need to do as a suggestion is ditch the clumbsy idea of themes and templates separate and combine them into one and call it SKINS. With a similar management system like below, there is no need to refer to them separate or continue to keep things difficult in designing specific sections.
**Skin Manager
<<>>
Edit Board Header & Footer Wrapper
-Edit Template HTML
–Edit Stylesheet (CSS Advanced Mode)
—Edit Colours (CSS Easy Mode)
—-Edit Replacement Macros
—–Edit Settings…
——Revert All Skin Customizations…
——-Export Skin Set…
——–Generate HTML Differences Report…
———Remove Skin Set…
Skin Tools
Skin Search & Replace
Skin Import/Export
Skin Differences
Skin Remapping
Easy Logo Changer
Whereas Chodhry is looking for this setting:
Skin choices for Events:
Apply which skin to this section? [Drop Down Menu]
Skin choices for Gallery:
Apply which skin to this section? [Drop Down Menu]
Peter Armenti Reply:
April 22nd, 2009 at 11:20 am
I’d like to concur with ClubUgly in that I think you should really consider hiring a professional designer to push out a design for your final product. I think the core design really prevents a lot of newbies from purchasing your product and seeing the great potential that it has. It would also make it a little easier for ALL of us that we don’t have to completely redesign the entire script. Just my 2 cents as I think you could sell a lot more product if it looked my polished in it’s core state.
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Location: serbia and montenegro
Since 2006. serbia and montenegro does not exist anymore. They are separate countries now. In 1.6 you have Yugoslavia - does not exist since 2003.
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Purefan Reply:
April 14th, 2009 at 5:22 am
I think this is the wrong post for that…
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It’s great but where are the music and video mods beside can you fix the photos size i mean cropping them because when i see small pic and another big pic it destroys the layout , keep up the great work
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Anthony Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Hey Arabyeah:
This is just the third ALPHA version, so it’s still very early code. They aren’t going to have all features, modules or functionality this soon.
Be patient, they’re releasing new code every couple of weeks with new features to play with, it’s coming along quite nicely.
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Purefan Reply:
April 14th, 2009 at 5:21 am
Thank you Anthony!
This is 100% correct, we are releasing new features every 2 weeks and this is the first run of the cycle as we will be adding more features to existing modules later on. So if X module now has M number of features most likely this number will grow by the final version.
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is there a link to access the ACP as i really don’t want to have to download and install a demo to try out the ACP
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Really love all the features……… keep em coming
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A “pages” feature like Facebook is a must for the future of social networking.
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Purefan Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 2:45 am
All suggestions should be submitted to the Feature Request section in our forums: http://forums.phpfox.com
Thank you for your feedback
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Hi
Sorry for this off topic comment. But no one is paying attention to this.
When we will see = Load Balance = plugin/feature in phpfox. It is essential.
Most other popular sns prrovide this feature.
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ClubUgly Reply:
May 6th, 2009 at 9:22 am
You might want to ask that in the forums under the V2 General Discussions category.
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I am close to buying phpFoX but have a few questions of the community to confirm my understanding before being locked in. Where can I do this? I can’t access the forum.
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Purefan Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 2:45 am
You can submit a ticket to sales: http://support.phpfox.com/index.php?_m=tickets&_a=submit&step=1&departmentid=10
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