phpBB Weekly

Session: Titania: The Customization Database by Nathan Guse and Tom Catullo
Date/Time: Saturday 8/21 at 4:30-4:55 PM

This post contains my rough crib-notes from this presentation at Libertyvasion 2010. The post has not been proof-read for spelling, grammar, or accuracy.

The Customization Database is an application that has been in use since the retirement of Ariel (the previous MODs/Styles Database), and Titania now handles more than just MODs and Styles and has many more features.

Titania improved searching contributions greatly over Ariel, makes category listings more prominent, easier to access and navigate. Now offers screenshots and demo links more prominently, and for non-styles as well. Titania also makes previous revisions available to the public for download. Much more prominent Download button.

For authors, contributions can now contain more information (screenshots, co-authors, demo URL, etc.) and allows for updating/editing this information for the contributions. Each contribution now has its own Support and FAQ sections, and support topics are propagated to a single location for authors. No longer necessary to cram all support into a single topic within the MODs or Styles Releases forum.

Titania also brings automation to the MOD revision process, including automatic checks by the MPV (MOD pre-validator) and AutoMOD. Author can immediately see the result and make fixes immediately without waiting for validation.

Titania is very maintainable. The code is object-oriented and generally contained in classes, and is built to integrate seamlessly with a phpBB installation. Titania makes use of a similar hooks system that phpBB has. Requires no edits in phpBB to install it, despite its size.

Unlike Ariel, Titania’s code is not directly integrated with phpBB.com but is its own application. It has been released on Code Forge so that International Support Teams can use it on their own websites rather than having to build their own.

Q&A
Titania uses its own system to provide the individual support forums for contributions, and is completely standalone, although it does take advantage of phpBB APIs where necessary.