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Feature: Welcome to Squishdot!

Squishdot Features

Squishdot is a Zope Product, i.e. it works as a plug-in module for the Zope Application Server. It provides you with a news publishing and discussion site with a minimal amount of configuration and day-to-day administration. It is also easy to customize and can satisfy a wide range of news publishing needs.

Like Zope, it is being released under an OpenSource license. You can use, modify, and redistribute the source code for both commercial and non-commercial purposes following the terms imposed by the license.

Squishdot was inspired by Slashdot, a news publishing and discussion website (i.e. a weblog website) focusing on technology and the open source movement. While we credit Slashdot with many of the ideas we have used regarding the web page and navigational structure, mode of interaction and the default look-and-feel of Squishdot, we must make it clear that Slashdot is NOT in any way affiliated with, nor does it endorse or support Squishdot. DO NOT request any support or submit bugs, enhancement requests, questions etc. to Slashdot regarding Squishdot. Instead, send all email regarding Squishdot to .

We have used the look and feel of Slashdot to serve as a starting point, a showcase example, of what can be done with Squishdot. As we hope to get more suggestions and ideas for improving the application, we hope to develop its own unique look and feel, structure and mode of interaction to make it more effective in its goal of disseminating information and fostering discussion.

In terms of the actual source code, Squishdot has been derived from Confera, a threaded discussion Zope Product and it retains or extends many of the features included in Confera. These include :

• moderation options
• text search
• automatic article expiration
• file attachments

• subject topics -- you can create subject categories to group together related articles
• subject topic images -- you can optionally associate subject topics to images
• additional fields have also been added : a department field and a summary text field

Squishdot versions

Squishdot version numbers have a three part numeric format separated by a dot (x.y.z) where x is the major release number, y is the minor release number and z is a maintenance release number. This current release is currently 0.1.4. As bugs are found and fixed we will be releasing versions 0.1.5, 0.1.6 and so forth. The second number is reserved for minor additional features or architectural revisions.

Because Squishdot is currently pre-alpha software, we do not suggest using this product for high volume, high performance, or mission-critical applications. As of this time, we have not tested it for stability nor optimized it for performance. We cannot even promise, at this point, interface stability (i.e. in terms of the interface methods). While in time this will change and become more stable and scalable, don't come crying to us if you use it for something on which your job or career depends on, and it suddenly borks on you. You will only have yourself to blame if you do this <*grin*>.

Miscellaneous items

We welcome product improvement suggestions, code, questions, praise, money, bug reports as well as criticism. You can send all of them to . Please prefix the subject line with a bracketed category name, for example [BUG REPORT] so that we can easily classify the messages. You can also sign up for a couple of mailing lists that have been setup if you want to get the latest news on Squishdot.

If you wish to find out more, the other articles provide information on the configuration, future direction and other stuff regarding Squishdot and Zope.

Also a comment about the default topics and images we used: we hope Digital Creations and Zope.org can pardon the liberties we have taken with their logos. Feel free to throw them out the moment you see them (except that one image used for Zope Dopes).

Lastly, we wish to thank the guinea pigs who tried using the earliest versions of the application -- they know who they are -- thanks for your patience.

-- , , and

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