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Anonymous
06-13-2005, 08:44 PM
Hello!

I am reposting this here, from the site5.com forum.

I have not used the product before, but it may help me for a lot of functions.

A. Preliminaries:

(1) How stable is the version 2? I am tired of using betas.

(2) What securities were taken so that this software does not become a port of attack?

(3) As a way to improve security, is there a way to require registration (and subsequent log-in), validation of emails, location of registered users (correlated with IP address), short description of interest and directories they want to help develop, etc.? And, is there a way to block the IPs of violators? The purpose here is to allow certain people (regular contributors or community leaders) to input desirable links, rather than a free for all input of links. Sort of a special class of users, to help monitor and develop the site. There will still be a general link addition, but any link added to the latter will need approval before they get into the directory.

(4) How does the link validation work? An automated process, or manually? Sometimes, sites just change their URL rather than a truly dead site. [These sites usually give the latest URL address.] Is this considered in the validation of links?

(5) Can this become some sort of a module so that it be included as an add-on feature of a content management system?

(6) If I wish to link only those sites that are without spywares, pop ads, and ads in general, is there a way to do this? In fact, a means to delete any violator of this policy?

B. Database issues
(1) How is the database configured?
(2) Is there a way to configure the database so that a link directory, say as large as the DMOZ directory, can be fragmented into sub-databases so that it will not be too bulky nor slow to access?

C. Directory Presentation

(1) Priority listing
Is there a way to include a "priority" listing type of presentation? The program currently has either alphabetical or popularity ranking, as a basis of presentation. In some cases, it would be good to present a set of say links based on how useful they are, so that they are ranked based on a set of criteria, e.g., stability, years online, accuracy and up-to-date information, quality of staff behind the internet site, no ads, etc.

(2) Flexible aphabetical listing:
I do a lot of A-Z navigation links for my site index, with a page for each letter in each category. Another would be in tabular form (either with or without borders) -- where the table width would be fixed so that the number of rows and columns would depend on the text length of the link and the total number of links. Are these doable, and how do you automate the process?

(3) Introductory and details of linked site
Instead of just linking URLs, is there a way to include a survey form to obtain information that will be included in a more detailed information about a linked organization, institution or company
For example:
Introductory information
Company name (linked to UR), address, phone, email, brief description
Detailed company information (this will appear as a pop-out page):
Include all of the introductory information, plus products (or services) target groups, etc.

Also, the user of this link software must be given flexibility to decide what are included in the introductory and detailed info pages.

(4) Can you tag each link so that it will be included in as many categories, as needed? This will be a very powerful feature because it will eliminate multiple entries for the same entity. For example, a company link may be tagged based on the information indicated in the previous section, so that it will be automatically included in the categories relevant to the above information.

(5) Is there a search option, and a master alphabetical list?

Perhaps many of these were already answered in the other sections of the forum. I have just schemed through the various topics but not had the time to visit that section of your website, yet.

Thanks.

cgc0202

David
06-13-2005, 09:41 PM
Hi there! :)
I believe I saw you over on site5. Have you had a chance to look at the demo?
www.phplinkdirectory.com/demo/ (http://www.phplinkdirectory.com/demo/)


Play around there a little, and let me know what you think. It is quite stable now, and one thing you will find with us is we will support you continuously until you are happy, though we certainly appreciate donations to help us with the time we put in.

Thanks for all of you suggestions/comments. We will try to read over them carefully, and may indeed include some of these ideas in the next release. If you want us to get started right away with some custom work, let us know and we can start making arrangements.

Thanks for interest! :)
Regards,
David

dcb
06-13-2005, 10:38 PM
That is quite a lot you are asking from a piece of software that was coded in just 2 weeks :). The development can be considered still in early stages, but the product will surely evolve as the needs of the users evolve.

A.
1) Considering it's size I would say that is pretty stable. Also RC2 and RC3 corrected mostly installer problems;
2) PHP security guidlines were followed during development and also the libraries used are the best available as opensource (Smarty and ADOdb);

3) None of the mentioned features are implemented presently; The link is submited and an admin has to approve it before going into the directory, but that's all for the moment;

4) For now the validation process must be started manually, but it is executed for all links, with one click. Yes, redirects are followed, but the links are not updated in case of 301s.

5) Why not?

6) You mean check the linked sites automatically for such things? I have not considered it yet, but something like this would probably require an interaction with an antispyware app. As for the ads I don't know yet of the existence of any ad blocking app that works perfectly without a black list.

B.
1) What do you mean?
2) No... and I don't see any reason to do this anyway. Even if you have billions of links (hard to believe) a good DBMS has other ways of dealing with this (clustering, table fragmentation, etc). And for milions of records Postgres with decent hardware can handle it without a problem, not to mention the Smarty caching mechanism that reduces the DB stress a lot. And for text search on so many records you would not use the DBMS anyway.

C
1) Not for the moment, but this is on the to do list.
2) Same.
3) Not for the moment, but a similar, yet simpler, form is considered for the next version.
4) Not implemented this way. the link has to be submited multiple times to be displayed in more categories.
5) Yes, no

Anyway, give it a try, or see the demo here:
http://www.phplinkdirectory.com/demo/

If there is something that you really need to make this work for you we accept donations for developing new functionality that goes back to the comunity also.

Anonymous
06-14-2005, 04:08 AM
Thanks David and dcb

Good work, if it is just two weeks old. I had to deal with so many problems with my Control panel today, so I did not get a chance to play with your Admin panel.

Forgive my ignorance: What are RC2 and RC3, as well as 301's and 302's? I have no background with programming.

In regard registration, if this can be ported with a CMS, then the centralized registration of through the CMS will solve the issue

To my question:
***********
(4) Can you tag each link so that it will be included in as many categories, as needed? This will be a very powerful feature because it will eliminate multiple entries for the same entity. For example, a company link may be tagged based on the information indicated in the previous section, so that it will be automatically included in the categories relevant to the above information.
************
Content visible to registered users only.

Does this mean, my suggestion is not doable, or it is not just done as suggested at the moment? In my current static website, I have links that are cited quite often in different directories, and it would simplify editing if this feature is included. It also would significantly reduce the diskspace usage.

In regard sub-database, you replied:

Content visible to registered users only.

Yeah, the table fragmentation will do it, but my current webhosting service has a database size limit.


The link directory would be useful for my website in the long run. However, I have been spending too much money lately to set up my website. Right now, I have to invest money in further developing a multi-calendar that I bought recently, but no technical support was forthcoming from the developer. It has too many security flaws and other bugs. Fortunately, someone has offered some scripting help pro bono; but I am thinking of paying him some to speed up the work.

Definitely, when I can get sponsors to help with defraying my own expenses, I will remember you guys. One of my interests actually in creating the website is how to help you guys who are doing all this work, for free.

I would want to include this feature eventually, so I will follow the development.

cgc0202

dcb
06-14-2005, 09:25 PM
RC stands for Release Candidate.
301 and 302 are HTTP response codes from the redirect class. 301 means that the page has permanently moved, 302 means a temporary move.

(4) Well, that would require some database restructuring, but it is possible to implement it. I have to admit that this is not a priority for us at the moment.

(2) I wouldn't host a directory that big that requires table fragmentation on a shared server anyway. I mean the prices for dedicated servers are so low in our days that would not represent a problem for the budget of a big project.

Anonymous
06-14-2005, 11:37 PM
dcb:

Thanks for clarifying the terms.

Content visible to registered users only.

I understand, if it is not a priority for you. I have seen it done though.

In case of images, for example, flkr.com, allows tagging -- essentially to link images to unlimited topics. Otherwise, to repeat images even just twice would bite a big chunk on disk space. Diskspace may not be as critical for links directory, but, from the point of view of the administrator.

I think it is very critical feature. Without this feature, it multiplies the work in terms of approval and subsequent editing. Thus, if I have a free program and a program that I have to pay for, with this feature, I would choose the latter. Because, in the long run, it will require more manhours; and, thus, costs more to run a program without this feature.

It is good you told me. I have to keep that in mind.

Content visible to registered users only.

Yeah, I was surprised they have that limitation. First time I heard of it, but it turned out some hosting services even had lower limits. I hope that before I reach the limits, I could afford a dedicated server, already.

Thanks again.

cgc0202