Xoops Essential Modules

guide to essential xoops modules [last update: 11/3/07] looking for a bundle of high-quality xoops modules to build your site? not sure where to start? this guide covers a selection of modules that will provide all the functionality that most people will ever need. functionally, it covers the scope of the original ‘core modules*’ of the xoops system, but using their modern analogues and a few more recent innovations. the modules covered in this guide are all robust, well tested and widely supported by the xoops community. they are built by people who have a proven track record in module development and ongoing commitment to maintenance. they are therefore safe, reliable choices for building your site, and in most cases they offer the best functionality currently available in their class. many more modules are available in the xoops module repository on www.xoops.org. you might like to browse and experiment later on. it is a good idea to research what others have said about modules in the xoops forums before using them on a production site.

where to get the modules in this guide 14 easy way: download one big zip archive containing all the modules covered in this guide from: [coming soon].

15 harder way: visit the official support site of each module and download it from there to ensure you get the latest version. the support site links are listed in the summary table on the last page.

brief descriptions news v 1.53 allows news stories to be displayed on your site. features a built-in spotlight block for highlighting key content, per-topic rss feeds, per-story metadata (description and keywords, optional support for dublin core), dynamic topic sublinks in the main menu, newsletter generation, keyword search highlighting, pdf generation, automatic archiving of news stories, pruning functions, upload of attached files, and statistical data on stories. this module is compatible with php 5. good, well maintained alternative modules include aims and article. wf-downloads v 3.1 allows you to set up a section on your site where users can download files. the module supports subcategories, mirrors, thumbnail generation, has a fully integrated permissions system and allows restrictions to be set on the types of files that may be uploaded (mime types). wf-downloads supports all versions of xoops from 2.0.10 to 2.2.x. cbb v 3.08 this is a module for creating forums or discussion boards, so it is pretty much essential for any community-based site. cbb is the most advanced and best-supported forum module for the xoops system and it is used to run the forums on xoops.org. it is the descendant of newbb (that’s why the name of the module folder is the same), which is

no longer supported. you need to install the frameworks package for this module to run (downloaded separately, see module readme). xoops polls v 1.0 the polls module can be used to display interactive survey forms on your site. each poll can display a question on which visitors can “vote”. this can be a valuable way to collect feedback from your community. polls can be configured to allow single or multiple choices and visitors can view the “results” to date. some modules such as cbb provide internal linkages to polls. it is one of the original ‘core’ modules, still in active service. smartfaq v 1.04 smartfaq is an advanced question and answer management system. it allows categorisation of faqs, and provides interactive features that allow users to post and answer questions, and to propose improvements to existing answers. mylinks v 1 the mylinks module (better known as web links) is used to create a links section for your website. it is typically used to create a directory to other relevant websites, but you could use it to link to anything really (music, software, publications, whatever). links can be organized into categories and sub-categories. users can optionally be allowed to 'rate' existing links or to submit new ones. mylinks is one of the original xoops modules and is quite basic. however, it is listed here because it is the simplest and most bulletproof link module that is available. more advanced alternatives worth considering, which may require a bit of template hacking, include weblinks (similar name, different module) and mx-directory. smart partner v 1.02 smart partner is an advanced partners management system for your xoops site. it allows you to create a page for each partner, provides blocks for displaying partner logos and links. partners can be categorised, and the module is designed to be easy to clone. note: i have used smart partner 1.2 rc2 for a long time with no issues. tinyd v 2.25 a simple and excellent module for managing static html pages within a xoops site. you can either create new pages within the module itself, or upload pre-made html pages you want to ‘wrap’ within your xoops site. the module comes with a customizable menu for its contents. one of the best features of this module is that it comes ‘pre-cloned’. you can install up to 10 separate instances of tinyd simply by making copies of the directory and changing the number on the end (0) to anything from 1-9. the copies can then be installed like any other module. the author has recently released a new and completely rewritten module called pico, which will succeed tinyd once it is declared stable. extcal v 2.04 an attractive calendar module that features a per-category permissions system, notifications and pruning in addition to standard features such as categorisation of events and multiple views (day / month / year). extgal v 1.01 extgallery is a gallery module developed specifically for xoops that combines many of

the best features of other galleries. it has a fine-grained user rights control system, allows batch uploading, automated embedding of watermarks and sending of ecards. an optional lightbox hack is available. this module only works with xoops 2.0.15 and up, as it makes use of new features of the xoops code. myalbum-p is worth considering as an alternative. xoops members v 1.0 the xoops members module provides a “member directory” for your website. it enables visitors to search a site’s registered members (note that this functionality is already available to administrators through the system module -> find users) and provides a large number of options and filters for doing so. it is useful because the main xoops search engine only searches module contents, it does not search member profiles. contact us v1 this is a very simple module. it provides a link in the main menu to a form that visitors can use to send email to the website administrator without displaying the address. multimenu v 1.82 this version of multimenu allows you to create up to 16 custom menus and is compatible with both the xoops 2 and 2.2 forks. menus can be displayed in a wide variety of formats, for example you can create menus with dynamic sublinks, scrolling displays and many other features. protector v 3.02 protector is a module that defends xoops from various malicious attacks and records malicious activity in a log. it also provides advisories on several aspects of xoops sites where minor modifications can improve security. protector is widely regarded as a ‘must have’ module for any serious site. the kinds of attacks protector guards against include: 16 sql injection 17 brute force 18 some kinds of cross-site scripting (xss) 19 denial of service (dos) 20 bad / high loading crawlers 21 system globals pollution 22 session hijacking 23 null-bytes 24 directory traversal 25 some kind of csrf (fatal in xoops <= 2.0.9.2) 26 camouflaged image file uploading (eg. ie content-type xss) 27 executable file uploading attack 28 comment and trackback spam 29 xmlrpc eval() and sql injection attacks phpmyadmin v 2.51 this is a modularized version of the popular standalone script phpmyadmin. it allows easy manipulation of mysql databases through a graphic user interface, so it is useful for people who don’t know how to interact with mysql through the command line (or who don’t have access to it). installing this module does create an additional security risk in the event that an admin account is compromised. only system administrators should be allowed to access this module. note that phpmyadmin is often offered as part of web

hosting packages and it is definitely better to access it that way if you can as the standalone script can an invaluable tool for rescuing a ‘downed’ site. ---------* there are no ‘official’ xoops modules anymore.summary

of essential

modules function news downloads forums

suggested module news wf-downloads cbb

version 1.53 3.1 3.08

official support site http://xoops.instant-zero.com http://www.smartfactory.ca http://dev.xoops.org

polls/voting

polls

1

http://www.xoops.org

faq

smart faq

1.08

http://www.smartfactory.ca

links partners

my links smart partner

1 1.02

http://www.xoops.org http://www.smartfactory.ca

static html pages

tinyd

2.25

http://xoops.peak.ne.jp

calendar photo gallery

extcal extgal

2.04 1.01

http://www.zoullou.net/ http://www.zoullou.net/

membership contact form

xoops members contact us

1 1

http://www.xoops.org http://www.xoops.org

custom menus security

multimenu protector

1.82 3.02

http://xoops.org http://xoops.peak.ne.jp

database management other stuff

phpmyadmin

2.51

http://www.xoops.org

frameworks

1.10

http://dev.xoops.org (usage questions better asked on www.xoops.org).

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