Planet CakePHP

Tooum Switchboard has been delayed by a few days while we polish of the new Tooum site and the admin interface for Switchboard. We were hoping to go live with it this Friday, but realistically it may well be next week now.

Anyway, let me give you a quick overview of what will go live for the beta.

• It will be a full release with all basic features of all good forum and blog applications.
• It will be free to use now and forever and fully hosted by HPU.
• Customisations and styles will be basic for the beta, but we have some pretty cool customisation ideas for future and final releases.
• Ajax is in heavy use, not because everyone is doing it, but because it makes the user experience much easier and friendly.
• Comments can be made anonymously
• RSS, Atom and other formats will be fully supported. Initially just for new blog and forum posts, but further releases will include feeds for any page.
• Searching across all posts and comments is fully implemented.
• Easy formatting of posts and comments is easily acheived without the need for HTML knowledge. The Markdown format is used and help is provided on how to use it.
• PLUS LOADS MORE…

What will be presented in the public beta is a back to basics approach to forum and blog applications. Everything you need to build a highly effective blogging and forum community will be at your fingertips and that is the basis of the service.

However, plenty more is on the horizon. We will also be releasing some unique and never before seen components for Switchboard, allowing you to extend the functionality of your community beyond the forum and blog. For example, the first component in development that will be ready sometime during the beta, will tie your site directly into your Switchboard. Your visitors will be able to comment and rate any page on your site, and those comments and ratings will be displayed on that page and also within your Switchboard. When you see it, you’ll love it.

So its all go! Expect to see a copy of this post with a few more teasers on the new Tooum.com Switchboard that will go live when the beta launches.