Ok, we have the engine mostly done, i’d like to know how we release each addon, and how it work for activation?
as nobody wants to provide us with a solution for licensing, i have to drop the idea to verify the clients. as for the idea to encrypt the files or scripts, this is always cumbersome as we will have to provide support for dumb admins who know nothing about ion-cube etc… and i hate supporting dumb people.
what choices do we have left?
I was about to start working on the extra threads/forum field manager and I thought do we really need to managers that do the same thing? I mean if we just keep a hidden field based on input field in the forms on the page. It would be a lot easier then duplicating the current manager. Does this sound okay?
As we will make all these new engines completely dependant of the forum itself, it’s easy to think that we will be able to evade the big problems from the other products already on the market.
example, all of MadeByMary stuff is complete independant tools — she lied about it, but all her tools were existing tools she stole and recoded to be compatible with vB… i’m not stupid!
same for Lionel’s stuff at vbCover, as for vba-Dynamics, Photopost, and so on… all these tools have Search capabilities, but are dependant of their own core, so when we do a global search via vB, we can not search these elements.
So we need two different things:
in the Search tab of the navbar, we will be able to add selective types:
Search Forum [x]
Search Articles [x]
Search Classifieds [ ]
Search Reviews [x]
etc…
you see the picture (a picture worth thousand words usually)
so we can uncheck what we do not want to search for… the result in the next page would be a selection by type, or mixed up with a prefix of each type… we could add a setting in the adminCP where we choose to display in a style or the other…
the example above is based on the navbar proximity with the whole site… but we also need something specific per type… the actual structure of vB makes it hard for the visitors to find the right search field… so we will add a little modification that i have in bank for a long time:
Search the Whole Forum
Search This forum Only
Search Type X Only
so when we’re in the Classified, the first accessible search field would be the Classified, and the visitor can check to search the whole site… etc!
The goal when the MTF is started well is to rebuild everything that i have in store, and develop new tools. most of these tools are plugins to insert into vBulletin, so they are easy to update from their old form.
So if you want to play with these products as a hobby, just let me know, i will put them in ftp or something.
Ok, today i was thinking (bleh)… what about global addons that are not linked to a specific type?
I have a ton of features and hacks, and they could easily be integrated to MTF, but instead of being per-forum, they can be integrated globally, and activated without a type choice…
The actual deal with MTF is that for each forum, we select a Type and then we configure how that Type will look like in that forum. but what if we select the Articles type and decide that we want to add « Referred Links » in the articles?!… do we have to make each type filled with millions of possibilities?
And for each element we add, like the Custom Fields generator is made for, where and how the info is managed ? we could require that option X is shown on top left in a forum, and in bottom right in another forum…
GARS have an horrible way to deal with that question, as you can create as much types you want and you create each display page as a portal with blocks… maybe our best guess would be to go the « portal » way too ?!
these are details we need to fix because the next step!
Ok, here is a list that I THINK would tease the buyers… i already own most of the hacks that were released to fill these functions from other sites, so i also can stop their production in any time, and switch all the clients to MTF…
ex: i own the rights for MadeForMary’s Classified… we need a MTF Classified. Mary also had that Pals/Mates meeting scripts… we will have a MTF to fill these interests too.
so here is a list:
– Classified
– Realty
– Auctions (a lot more complexe)
– Articles
– Meeting (personal ads)
– Photo Votes
– FAQ / Knowledge base
– Answers.yahoo.com and other content grabbers
– Q&A à la answers.yahoo
– Links Directory
– RSS Feed (vB one is crap)
– Podcast (vB one is crap)
– Magazine
– Interviews
– Cart
– Help Desk
– Support Ticket
– Bug Tracker
– Project Planner
– Releases
– Licenses
– Portfolio
– Quotes
– Artists Lyrics / Discographies
– Bibliographies
– Recipes Books (ton of custom fields)
– Product Reviews
– Sports Statistics
– Bookie
– Trading
– Blogs
– Photo Albums
– Dictionary
– Documentation
– Guestbook
– Movies/Music Database
– nfo – torrent
– Poetry
… some other ideas and what-not?
a New adminCP Control Panel Home, with VERY useful elements… and a suite of cpnav elements to quickly access needed functions, and spare some clicks.
note: version updated to 1.5.1, with the addition of two hooks, to please Taragon who was interested to add his own things to it… 🙂
hooks: nex_basics_belowquickies, nex_basics_belowinfos
you need to upload all the files again as the hooks file need to be located if you build your own products!
Ok, I have been trying to be extremely organized with products I’m associated with so I thought it would be good to make a features list with dates and completion status. Feel free to change things.
As we know what will be displayed at the end of global.php, we will be able to switch to a complete different files from there instead of running into showthread and forumdisplay, when needed… why? less need of hooks usage.
forumdisplay need tons of hooking when we change anything to be displayed when reading a forum… so for a addon that require too much stuff to be edited or replaced, instead of running thru these files, we simply have to use a included file and end the process there…
i know that my classified engine, like the auctions are expensive in codes, and may require a lot of edits in showthread… we can spare some time by doing that technique…
am i right??
as i just said to Mert, when MTF is released, we can say bye-bye to GARS and most of vbCover and Gio’s products… and the products of a lot of guys who first planned to change the display of a thread….
My goal was not to make all these vanish *(ok, i lie here)
But with a solid engine, which need no core file edits or no change in the queries etc, we can make a lot with simply nothing…
GARS is a hell for anybody, but is a required pain for the moment… as i own the Articles from Mary and other products on the same path, we will not have to upgrade them, we will simply replace them all.
So for that we will need importers for each of these competitors… and as i’m a good seller, i’ll provide a rebate of 10% for each client who switch to MTF from an existing product, in exchange of a proof that they have that system on their site… even if GARS is free, i prefer to gain some clients with a rebate… that proove my point.
Mon style est atypique :
Mon objectif : contribuer à des initiatives qui changent la vie, redéfinissent les standards et rassemblent les gens — en bâtissant des solutions aussi humaines qu’innovantes.
