1. What is W-Agora?
2. Is W-Agora a web based bulletin board system?
3. How much does W-AGORA cost?
4. What can you do with W-AGORA?
5. Who use W-Agora?
6. What's a W-Agora "theme"?
7. In what language is W-Agora writtten ?
8. Where can I find full documentation on W-Agora?
9. Can I help develop W-Agora?
10. What's an "AGORA" anyway?
11. What's planned for the next release of W-Agora ?
12. What's changed since the last version of W-Agora ?
13. Who contributed to W-Agora?
14. Can I get professional support for w-Agora

 WHAT IS W-AGORA?

W-Agora (Web-Agora) is a powerful database-driven communications system which allows you and your visitors to store and display messages, files, and other information on your web site.

 IS W-AGORA A WEB-BASED BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEM?

· Threaded messages

· Multiple database system support (mySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, MS-SQL-server and DBM*)

This means is that you can install W-Agora to use various types of database systems to store your messages -- mySQL, mSQL and PostgreSQL are all free database packages which you can download and install on your system for advanced message-base manipulation.
A database server is great for sorting through messages and also can be used to create new "looks" to your messages on-the-fly. Unlike some older, less sophisticated message boards, W-Agora allows you to use the latest state-of-the-art FREE open source database technology to search, index, sort, delete, filter and manipulate your messages.
If you choose not to use a database server, the file-based "DBM"* file format works just as well, although you'll have to keep the messages stored on your webserver itself.

* Only supported in w-agora version 3 (no longer supported in v4.x)

· Multiple search engine support.

· Multiple forums (all forums can be managed via your web browser)

As the webmaster, you can easily add and subtract forums, or specialized topics, via the administration web page. Each forum has its own messages and you can have different moderators control and monitor each forum through a unique password which you assign to that forum.
Now with version 3.0, each forum can also have its own "theme" or graphical look. Change the sizing, colors, positions, and displayed content. And you can have different forums using different configuration sets. They don't even need to be using the same type of database!

· Centralized, web-based administration (to create/ configure forums, customize look-and-feel, delete notes, etc.)

Setting up W-Agora is REALLY easy. Once you install the system, you can configure your forums through an easy-to-use administration page. It's all point-and-click!

· All message elements (including buttons, frames, forms, headers, footers, etc.) are customizable

Say no more! As W-Agora grows, we hope to add different "theme sets" so you can choose from different looks at the touch of a button. For now, you're on your own to create some great looks. And if you wanna send them to us to add, we'd appreciate it!
Theme-support is built into W-Agora, so now we're just waiting for you great people to send us some new "looks" and we'll add them to our Theme Library.

· Posted messages can be stored either in a HTML file or generated on-the-fly.

In both cases, the notes are generated from a customizable template.
This is a big deal. Say you've got a forum about "the wild west." You want your forum to have a particular look-- say a western theme. Through the Administration pages, you can customize each forum so that it has a distinct look and feel-- use western icons or graphics, change the messages to say stuff like "Thanks for postin' partner!" -- add a western-ish sunset background or a picture of a horse after each message-- the entire user experience is totally changable.
And you don't have to do any real programming-- all you need to know is very basic HTML and you can customize your forum without affecting any other forum you may want to install.

· Frames or no frames option

Although we recommend using the frames option, you can turn it off and the system will still work great!

· File upload support

W-Agora allows users to UPLOAD files as "attachments" to their messages (MIME is fully supported). In this way W-Agora can also be used as a file maintanance system. Webmasters can provide software upgrades from W-Agora and users can use W-Agora to post bug reports or notes about a particular file.
File attachments could come in real handy for many forums-- People can upload .GIFs, executable files, business cards, etc.
To use the file upload feature, both your WEB server (ask your ISP) and your user's browser must support it (that is, you should use Netscape Navigator > 2.0 or Internet Explorer > 4.0)
Of course, if you don't want this feature turned on, it's really easy to configure the forum not to use it.

· E-mail integration: Automatic notification on reply/posting

In order to be notified of activity on the board, both the administrator and users who post to the message base can request that they be emailed with new posts or replies to their messages.
This option can be turned off by the administrator.

· Users can edit/delete their own notes

How many times have you posted something to a forum and then realized that you spelled a word wrong and wished you could correct it? This feature (which can be turned off by the webmaster) allows you to go back and re-edit a message using the password you supplied when you originally posted it.

· Remote Web Publishing

That's right! As an extra bonus, W-Agora gives you the option to allow certain remote users to browse the file system on which the HTTP server runs to publish on the WEB.
Mostly used in trusted Intranets, this feature actually lets visitors access the web server machine's file system and upload files! This feature is turned off by default, but many people like it so it's included.

· Multiple-language support

Because all the messages to the user are stored seperate from the main program, it is easy to configure them to say whatever you like in whatever language you choose.
Currently, W-Agora supports several languages (English, French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, German, dutch, Japanese, and Portugese). Additional languages are coming. If you'd like to help us by translating some 200 one-line messages into your language, please let us know!
For a complete list of features, take a look at : http://www.w-agora.net/features.php

 WOW. THIS SOUNDS GREAT! HOW MUCH DOES W-AGORA COST?

It's free. That's right. Free.

Furthermore, W-Agora is distributed under the "artistic license," which means you have full access to the source code. You are free to make additions, bug-fixes, and alterations. We hope that you forward a copy of any improvements you make back so that we can use them for the next distribution of W-Agora!
For more information about the artistic license, read license.php.

 WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO WITH W-AGORA?

W-Agora is WAAY more than just a message base, although that's it's "default" configuration. W-Agora is very easily extendable in functionality. Here are some ideas for how you can use W-Agora:

· As a "deluxe" message base.
The features built into W-Agora are advanced, but pretty basic. You can add custom fields to extend the information stored about each message. For example, if you want to add a field that stores the number of times a message has been read, it's easy to do. If you want to add a field storing, say, the location of the poster, you can do that too.
The message-base functionality is basic, but it's been designed with portability in mind. As more people use the system and add to it, it will grow quickly!

· To offer files to your users or send software updates to an intranet
Because W-Agora allows you to use attachments, you can use W-Agora to offer updates and patches of software and provide an easy way for users to add comments or request new features.

· To distribute informations, news, announcements
W-Agora makes for a great news system. You can easily set up W-Agora so that original topics can only be posted by the webmaster and allow users to respond to them. Or keep the posting rights to yourself and use W-Agora as your personal soapbox!

· As a voting system.
Add "fields" to your database and you can track not only the user's name and their message, but their opinion on a particular topic.

 ALRIGHT, IS ANYBODY REALLY USING IT?

There are a number of sites using it. See our links page for some sites using w-Agora.

 WHAT'S A W-AGORA "THEME"?

W-Agora now supports multiple "looks" for each forum, including custom colors, graphics, layout, backgrounds, icons and style sheets.
Once users begin to customize the look of the W-Agora forums, we'll be grouping these modifications and releasing them as themes which you can use to replace many different aspects of your forum.
What needs to happen for the Theme Library to be created? All it takes is a nice creative person out there to customize their forum (via the easy web-based interface) and send them to us! Just post your specs to the W-Agora sample forum.

 IN WHAT LANGUAGE IS W-AGORA WRITTEN?

PHP- an AWESOME (and FREE!) embedded, open-source scripting language which is similar in syntax to Perl. The difference is, PHP code is added directly into HTML code, and for web-programming it's much simpler to use.
PHP is easy to learn and is very powerful. There's so much to say about PHP but your best bet is to read about it from the PHP page: http://www.php.net

 WHERE CAN I FIND FULL DOCUMENTATION ON USING W-AGORA?

Right here, baby: http://www.w-agora.net/doc.php

 CAN I HELP DEVELOP W-AGORA?

Hell yes! W-Agora is always in development. If you have a request for a feature, or you've found a bug or added a feature or you just wanna say "hi", please let us know by posting to the development forum at:

http://www.w-agora.net/support.php

There's plenty of work to be done and we definately want your suggestions and input!
We're especially looking for:
· Beta testers who can run/test the system and donate some bug reports and/or fixes
· A graphic designer who can help come up with a great W-Agora logo & redesign the default message theme
· Someone to port the database to other systems such as Sybase, Informix, ODBC. (It's really easy, we just need someone who has a system that supports it)
· People to help develop "themes" and alternate incarnations of W-Agora
· new languages supports (w-agora has been downloaded in many countries, notably in norway, russia, korea, etc ...), The translations consists in about 10 files located under the 'templates/default/xx' directory. The main files that need translations are:
· form.php : the form displayed when the user post (reply to) a message
· msgs.php : all texts displayed (currently 65 messages)
· template.php : contains the look of the generated messages
The translation is really easy to do, all can be done throw your web browser or with your favorite editor. If you have already done for your site, please let us know

 WHAT'S AN "AGORA" ANYWAY?

For the ancient Greeks, the Agora was a public place where people came to buy and sell goods and to meet to exchange news and ideas.

 WHAT'S PLANNED FOR THE NEXT RELEASE OF W-AGORA?

Here's what's on the list. Wanna help add some of this?
· Bug-fixes!!
· User Preferences support using cookies
· More databases
· Even better administration tools
· Improved documentation
· New search interfaces (Netscape, glimpse, ...)
· Export/import base
· Possibility to archive notes
· Sort messages by date/users
· ....
You can take a look at the "growing" TODO list

 what's changed since the last version of w-agora?

You will find a full list of changes since the first release in the ChangeLog file (included in the distribution)

 Who Has Contributed To W-agora?

A lot of people have contributed to w-agora. If you've been omitted and you think your name belong to this list, please let us know!

 PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT AND ASSISTANCE ?