UBB.Developers Forums UBB.threads 6 V6 Modifications V6 Mod Ideas intranet product

hi there,

I'm a very happy user of UBBT + IIP and life couldn't be better. except of course upgrading to the latest v6.2 when its ready.

however, I have recognized an absolutely huge need in the market that few are fulfilling and I believe that UBBT could be the base.

the product is an intranet aka groupware. the best example that I can point to that is affordable is Mimerdesk at www.mimerdesk.org.

I have implemented it for an organization that I belong, a music department, that needs to work groupware functionality.

this need has been created by the demise of the many free intranet portals on the internet like intranets.com that charge exorbitant fees for their ASP model.

I am wondering whether Infopop has considered introducing such a product and if any others of you have had this need in any of your internal or external consulting projects.

there are many similarities to the functionality that is now offered with UBBT + IIP but there are enough differences where it would need to be a separate product I believe.

I think it would involve more of a repackaging and redesign of the IIP perhaps with a few little bells and whistles and it could be a whole new product without a whole lot of development.

if you take a tour or mimerdesk you will see what I'm talking about.

Here's a link to a few screenshots of mimerdesk so you can see what I'm talking about. Mimerdesk screenshots

mimerdesk is an open source application written in perl that we're using but it has a much smaller user base and is much less functional than UBBT + IIP so I'm hoping that maybe we can convert to the type of product that I'm describing based on a derivative of UBBT.

the main need is for a groupware application environment where people can work together on projects. the basic elements are news, group calendar, file manager, instant messaging and threaded discussion.

in this scenario, unlike UBBT the base of the application is not threaded discussion. it is just one of the elements.

I think that perhaps with some deft work with JustDave's IIP and a few other goodies it could be done and sold as a new product.

I would certainly buy it. it would be nice to have more flexible design with ability to change themes and stylesheets as well as integrate new modules that are release more frequently than mimerdesk.

also running under php would be much faster than perl.

is there any interest in such a product out there?

I know that intranets are big business but the only good products cost thousands of dollars.

thanks,

Kurt

Just wanted to let you know that IIP 6.0 will include a calendar system. There is a "main" calendar for the entire site and each board can have a calendar assigned to it. I may also add in the ability for users to have personal calendars also. IIP's calendar is not related to the calendar mod available here though. It does not require changes to the .threads scripts either. (almost forgot, with some changes to the .threads user database and related scripts it will support the display of birthdays)

I do intend on expanding the "attachment list" section to include a dedicated download/upload area at some point.

IIP 6.0 has the begining of a pretty nice photo gallery too. I have yet to add in photo manipulation via ImageMagik but if your server supports the GD2 library you will be able to create thumbs of existing photo attachments.

The calendar is about 80% done. Probably would be further along but I have changed my plan of attack on it a few times... lol

After the calendar is finished I'll be working on the Link Directory based on what I have hacked together at my main site. As I mentioned before the link directory I am using allows for members to submit links and to rate other links. Links can be qued for approval and members can edit links they have submitted. Links can be rejected and an optional reason can be added to the email saying that the link was rejected. When links are submitted there is a flashing chain link displayed in the area that the PM flasher is displayed letting admins know a link has been submitted. There are a number of other features but I can't think of them... lol Putting the link directory together will be much faster than this calendar section was because I basicly have it done but just need to clean it up for anyone else to use. LoL

Ok then next I'll tackle the "Article/Reviews" section along with implimenting a way for users to add their own modules along with a demo module so there's a base to work from.





One thing to note though, there is no *real* instant messaging available via php/perl or any other server side scripting language as far as I know. Like any IM out there there needs to be an application that users have loaded on their computer that sits idle, connected to a stand alone server allowing other users that are connected in the same manor to pass information from one to another. The server simply relays the information and the users IM application "pops up" or "chimes" or what ever to let the person know they have a message. This sort of feature is simply not going to happen via a script on a web server. There are such clients/servers out there, well only one that I'm aware of, http://www.jabber.org ? or something like that that could be set up for your instant messaging needs.







I feel like I have just rambled on and on and on... lol sorry.

JustDave, you are a prince of princes.

answering me in 39 minutes. sorry I didn't get back to you sooner.

wow, sounds great what you're planning.

sounds like you will have all of the bells and whistles I'm looking for.

however, I would like to give one word of caution or rather, direction if you're trying to satisfy the "groupware/intranet" need.

that is, the basis of the intranet needs to be groups and not discussion boards.

that is the essential difference between groupware and UBBT.

in groupware a discussion board like UBBT is but one module, not the core itself. the core is the group, user rights and authentication module.

every other module is built on top of this. that way when you log in you will have access rights to certain modules, those being:

Desktop, a dashboard similar to IIP's "home" screen with a boxed summary of all of the key modules

Calendar, ability to schedule group meetings, events that everybody in that group can see. ability to "send" or notify group members when an event is scheduled.

File Manager, the ability to upload/download/stream and edit the properties of files. special attention should be paid to MP3 files since our group, a band, needs to be able to stream MP3's of songs from the site that we are learning.

Discussion board, UBBT

News, latest news

Who's Online

Private Messaging

do you share this same philosophy, JustDave?

I mean will groups be the core all of the modules built around it or are we still stuck with a discussion board-centric scenario?

I'm hoping that eventually UBBT will adopt this same philosophy because there is so much more that people need than just a discussion board and I think UBBT has the best positioning to accomplish this.

nobody, but nobody, is addressing the intranet need for the small business market.

[]One thing to note though, there is no *real* instant messaging available via php/perl or any other server side scripting language as far as I know. Like any IM out there there needs to be an application that users have loaded on their computer that sits idle, connected to a stand alone server allowing other users that are connected in the same manor to pass information from one to another. The server simply relays the information and the users IM application "pops up" or "chimes" or what ever to let the person know they have a message. This sort of feature is simply not going to happen via a script on a web server. There are such clients/servers out there, well only one that I'm aware of, http://www.jabber.org ? or something like that that could be set up for your instant messaging needs.
[/]

absolutely right.

in fact I have already set up a Jabber server and I'm loving it.

I've been meaning to ask Scream whether he would consider changing or expanding the use of the ICQ number field to accommodate Jabber Server and User Id fields.

since Jabber is open source it would make great sense to me to provide support for Jabber in UBBT.

thanks,