phpfox vs dzoic handshakes

am planning to launch a social networking site very soon and have narrowed down my options to phpfox and dzoic handshakes. i am personnally inclined towards the later and would be really grateful if any of you could guide me to the right option based on your experiences as i am very new and got no computing background at all. which one is better in terms of customer support and after sale help and do not require regular input of serial once the site is up and running. cheers.

 

I use phpfox for my website and it's very good never had a problem with them and their hosting is very good aswell

 

one + for phpfox

 

my partner and i also plans to go for handshake. it looks like it has more features and it also uses smarties.

 

Handshakes charges $120/yr for annual upgrade fee. That's about $10/month.

 

hmm where does it tells that handshakes charges $120 per year ?

 

I have been using dzoic for a month now and it's great. However, I can't find any documentation. The support folks have been helpful in answering one-off questions and they tell me documentation is on the way. Plus there's supposed to be a user forum created within two weeks. Does anyone else have resources here? The code isn't well-commented, but for the most part isn't that hard to figure out.

If you are using dzoic handshakes, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Below is my extremely rough, high-level summary for folks who haven't seen the code.

Thanks,
Dennis

How DZOIC works

Some general points:

-The site layout uses GET variables off of one dynamic page (index.php).
-The page displayed is based of off two GET variables (page, section).
-User session data is stored in cookies and session variables.

Page construction process
1. Configuration files are loaded.
2. Form post data is checked for and handled.
3. An XML layout page is read in and parsed.
4. An Authentication function checks whether the user has permissions to view the current page
5. Javascript code is loaded for the current page.
6. Files that create any forms on the page are loaded.
7. Modules that deliver dynamic data to the page are loaded
8. XML files that create the menus on the page are loaded

Form post
If a form was posted to the page two GET variables are allocated, (handler, action). The handler variable specifies the module that does the backend processing of the form. The action species the function within the module.

Layout
Every page on the site has an XML layout page. The XML specifies the structure of the page through different smarty section templates. For example, each page has header and footer templates. Most of the layout pages are very similar for our site since our page layouts are mostly consistent.Via a drag-and-drop admin tool, you can create pages and modify how templates fit into a layout—this is something we may or may not use.

Authentication
The authentication rules for each page are held by the assoc_auth.inc.php file. The structure is similar to the assoc_form.inc.php described below. Each authentication rule found in the file for the current page called. The code for the rules lies in several classes.

Javascript
Javascript for each page is loaded from a single file under /themes/headedout/javascript.inc.php. The file contains an array which specifies the javascript functions that are included as well as which functions are called on the body onload tag.

Forms
The forms that exist on each page are determined by the contents of the assoc_form.inc.php file.
A sample line looks like:
$forms["profile_basic"]["0"] = "profile_basic";
This corresponds to...
$forms["form name"]["iteration"] = "page_section";
Every form name maps to a unique form file. This file contains all the information about the form. It determines the field labels, field names, and field types. It also determines which database table and columns map to each field. The form file also contains variables which create two hidden form fields called handler and action. When the form is posted these fields determine which module and module function is called.

Modules
The modules that need to be loaded for each page are determined by the assoc_task.inc.php file. A sample file line looks like:

$tasks["profile|profile_display"["0"] = "profile"
This corresponds to...
$tasks["module_name|module_function"]["iterator"] = "page"
Most module functions will fetch data from the database and insert it into a smarty variable.

Menus
The menus that are necessary for the page are determined by the assoc_menu.inc.php file
A sample file line looks like:

$menus["account"]["0"] = "account_business"
This corresponds to...
$menus["menu filename"]["iteration"] = "page_section"
For each menu found for a page a XML menu file is loaded into a smarty variable.

Classes
There are several classes which assist with some common functions. There is a class which processes post variables, as well as a class which acts as a database abstraction layer. Other classes encapsulate the session data around the current user that is logged in.

 

I have used phpfox and they have great support and they are always upgraded, I would recommend them!

 

I'm starting a community site as well and am looking to buy the DZOIC because they have a preset integration with vB which will be the main feature of my site. Will check out phpfox before I make my payment.

One of the trade-offs for choosing DZOIC over phpfox is the Fun option phpfox has but since I'll be using vBulletin for my videos, music and arcade section, DZOIC comes better off.

DZOIC has instant messenger and GEO-positioning system while phpfox doesn't and the Search option on DZOIC is definitely another extra point for DZOIC.

Therefore I conclude my decision, DZOIC will be my choice eventhough they're still new, I've emailed the pre-sales department and they have been super-responsive. Two thumbs up to that!

 

i would suggest you to use phpfox really great

 

what does 'uses smarties' mean???

I've used both demos...it looks like fox is more like myspace while handshake is more like friendster where you can see how people are connected...i could not leave a comment on handshakes demo site - because all the demo profiles i've tried to send comments to require verification...wondering if you can leave html comments on handshake or post images using like you can on fox.??? also wanted to find out if you can post bulletins on handshake - there is a space on mailbox for announcements but could not figure out how to send an announcement - or if this was for the webmaster only to send out...also on handshake's website it says that events calendar submissions will automatically be added to personal calendars but this is not what happened when I tried the demo

added features for battle, poll, quiz,music & fun on fox are not on handshake but handshake includes ecards & chat rooms not included on fox also handshakes can more easily send classifieds and blogs to a member on there profile

the search feature on handshakes is more customizable... actually the whole handshake site might be more easily customizable than fox

also the importing members feature on handshake is an advantage over fox - but I'm not sure if this means you import contacts to send a request to join or you can actually import members to already set up profiles for them - does anyone know??

I'm not sure which script I will go with... I tried dolphin as well but didn't seem to work as good as these two...it says you have to wait up to 24 hours to get your account set as an active member to test all the features so I'm still waiting on that

does anyone have an idea of how much traffic and bandwidth usage you will need if you get 5,000 to 10,000 active users of a site like this... and what is a good hosting company to use for a site like this and how much will it cost??

 

I purchased the previous release and upgraded to the curent. aaawhen I changed to the new app I had to start all over from the beginning and had to ask all my users to recreate accounts and set every thing back up. The application is a great and sophisticated app and can do allot.
But the support some times takes days to get a response from.
There is absolutely no documentation to help you expand the site. You have to email all questions on how every little part works.

I don't recommend purchasing it until there is documentation available, and better support.

Billy Dial

 

I purchased phpfox too
and seems ok

http://www.myowngalaxy.com/

Works similar like myspace and seems soon more nice
Admin panel is good

 

i too use phpfox.. i really can recommend it..

 

do you want to buy phpfox license? I sellinng it, I dont have time to develop new site

 

Both DZoic and PHPFox have updated their scripts quite a bit since this thread... DZOIC is alot better than it was a few months ago and PHPFox continues to grow rapidly and carefully at the same time.

 

what is the traffic like on these mini myspaces ?

 

I do not know if you have looked at Buddy Zone, you mentioned only the two choices... BZ really has a myspace feel that the others lack, I am running it now with almost 25,000 members and I am very satisfied.

 

this thread is almost a year don't reply to this.

 

It is still relevant to someone else who might be interested in a script. Who do you work for, phpfox or handshakes? Ill respond to what I like, thank you very much