The latest version of FuseTalk 2.0 (Basic, Standard, Educational, and Enterprise), created on the FuseTalk Enterprise 1.0 code base, was released just a few weeks ago. The product has been well received by the FuseTalk community, and a number of FuseTalk's clients have already upgraded. However, the one question that seems to keep in the minds of those undecided customers is, "Why should I upgrade?" The benefits of the latest version should make the decision to upgrade an easy one.
Not all of the new features are available in each FuseTalk product. The following is a brief description of some of these new features, and its availability within the FuseTalk product line:
Private Topics
Previously available only in FuseTalk Professional 4.0, and in FuseTalk Enterprise 1.0, Private Topics is now available within the complete FuseTalk product line. This feature allows users of the forum to create topics and invite only those users with whom they wish to have a conversation. Each invited user, including the originator, will see the new topic in their "private topics" category. The general forum community will not know that it exists, and thus, will not be able to participate in any discussion pertaining to that particular topic.
Sub-Categories
Again, this feature was introduced in FuseTalk Professional 4.0, and is offered in the FuseTalk product line. Sub-Categories adds a second layer of organization within the forum. Sub-categories are categories within a category. For example, a category called "cars" could contain sub-categories titled, "Ford", "Buick", "VW", and "Honda".
HTML E-Mails
HTML e-mails, which is also available in the FuseTalk product line, permits administrators to personalize the e-mails that are sent from their FuseTalk forum. Each e-mail, from subscriptions to user approval, can be personalized. These e-mails now can be sent in HTML format, and be modified from the administration module.
Digest Subscriptions
Digest subscription has been a suggested feature by many, and in version 2.0, it makes its debut in each FuseTalk product. Digest subscription enables the forum to send an e-mail detailing new messages and topics (created the day prior) to the subscriber. To subscribe to a digest, a user selects within the personal options menu the categories in which he/she is interested. At midnight the following day, a scheduled task, which has been inserted in the administrator, will prompt for the digest to be sent to each subscriber.
Password Security
Security is always an issue of importance, and it becomes increasingly more so in corporations. FuseTalk Inc. continues to keep this matter of security on its priority list. In doing so, FuseTalk products offer added security for users in the form of secure passwords. During a fresh installation, this feature is enabled by default, but is disabled (by default) when upgrading from an earlier version. Password security encrypts all passwords in the database using a method that cannot be defeated. In other words, when a password is encrypted, it cannot be decrypted. How is it possible to know if a user has entered the correct password? A comparison is made between the password (which is encrypted) at the time when the user enters it in the login form and the version stored in the database. If there is a match, the user will be logged in. There is one drawback, however, to this feature: the global administrator password cannot be recovered if forgotten. Nevertheless, the advantages of enabling this feature outweigh the disadvantages.
When Password Security has been enabled, an administrator must be cautious if he considers disabling it. Since FuseTalk cannot recover any passwords, the system will not be able to reset the passwords to their original values. It is for this reason that all passwords will be set to "password" if the feature is disabled.
NOTE: The password security feature is intended to work in conjunction with the organization's own security system. Because FuseTalk is a web software application that works on an organization's servers, it can only be as secure as the organization makes it. It is recommended that FuseTalk operates over an 128bit SSL connection for increased security.
RSS Integration
Also introduced in FuseTalk Professional 4.0, RSS Integration is now available in the complete FuseTalk product line, and the feature has been enhanced considerably. RSS is a XML standard used to transfer news headlines. It has evolved from only transferring news to being the standard for users to share their ideas via weblogs. RSS feeds can then be read using RSS readers, which are attainable on the internet (http://www.google.ca/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=RSS+Readers). By using a RSS reader, forum users will be able to read excerpts of topics.
Side Menu
FuseTalk Inc. takes pride in knowing that it has offered an appealing user interface in its products. In continuing with that theme, FuseTalk has created a side menu as a notable addition to the user interface in all its products. The side menu enhances the usability of the forum by making navigation even easier. When logging in, enter user credentials in the simple login form. After logging in, the side menu is personalized, displaying the user's favorites, buddies and private messages.
Compliant with Disability Standards
FuseTalk 2.0 is compliant with the disability standards. This connotes that FuseTalk forums can be read by users who have visual disabilities (provided that they have the proper reader). In this version, only the forum section has the compliancy. Disability compliance for the administration and global administration module may be offered in a future version.
International Support
Currently, organizations are faced with the issue of international support in web applications. FuseTalk Inc. has responded to this concern by developing the current version of its products to receive Unicode characters. This means that within the same forum, a user can post in English, French, Japanese, Russian or any other language supported by Unicode. In addition, FuseTalk has recognized that not all countries use the same date format as North America (mm/dd/yyyy). The default date format can be changed by editing an INI template, called forum.cfm, located in the com/ini directory. Below are the default values:
<cfset FTVAR_QUERYTIMEFORMAT = "HH:mm:ss">
<cfset FTVAR_QUERYDATEFORMAT = "mm/dd/yyyy">
Off-Line Reader
The Off-Line Reader is one of the most anticipated features of FuseTalk. Not available in FuseTalk Basic only, the off-line reader is a Flash Application that can be downloaded to the desktop. Once on the desktop, a user can synchronize FuseTalk topics from any forum that has off-line reading support. Furthermore, content can be taken off-line and users can reply to a message or create a new topic. FuseTalk stores these messages on the local machine until reconnection to the internet has been made, at which time, the user may decide to synchronize them to the FuseTalk forum.
Cross-Browser WYSIWYG editor with spell-check
Other features have been requested for inclusion into the FuseTalk product. The first is a cross-browser WYSIWYG editor. The second feature is spell-checking. After some investigation, EditLive from Ephox (http://www.ephox.com/) was the chosen editor for FuseTalk. The WYSIWYG editor with spell checking, which is compatible with all browsers running on a PC and Macintosh, is included in both the Educational and Enterprise versions. For FuseTalk Basic and Standard, the editor is available for purchase as a separate module for $349 (only from the FuseTalk website).
Category Survey
Available in the FuseTalk product line, excluding FuseTalk Basic, Category Survey permits certain authorized users to ask detailed questions to a user when he/she creates a new topic or posts a reply. This feature is useful if you need to know specific information from a user. Within a support forum, for example, questions pertaining to the version of platform, database platform, and web server that a user is using can be posed. Before a user can post a new topic, the questions must be answered. The support engineer who is responsible for replying to the issue will now have more information on the problem and will be able to resolve the issue more quickly.
Reporting
Available in the Standard, Educational, and Enterprise editions, the reporting feature in FuseTalk 2.0 tracks the activities of a user. This includes information on where a user has been, what topics he has posted, what topics to which he had replied, what searches were performed, the dates of login, and more. Date ranges can be specified to retrieve that information. Only information that existed during the time when the feature is enabled will appear in the reports.
The reporting modules also allow for data on topics and messages to be collected, using criteria such as users, groups, dates, answered messages, and others. All reports are available in HTML, comma-delimited and XML format.
This feature is especially ideal for educational institutes that need to account for its students and their activity.
Product Development
FuseTalk Inc. has decided to incorporate its "single, low cost" forum (i.e. Basic Edition) into the FuseTalk Enterprise code base. This integration enables maintenance of one code base rather than multiple code bases, which will result in an all-around better product for FuseTalk customers. With this decision brought concern over the future of the Professional edition, and the subsequent determination to shelve FuseTalk Professional in January 2005. Although the code base for this product will not be developed further, bug fixes will continue for existing Professional edition customers.
What does this mean to FuseTalk Professional customers who don't wish to upgrade? These customers can continue to use the product, but as mentioned earlier, no new features will be added. To support its Professional clients' need to remain up-to-date with the current code base, FuseTalk Inc. will provide a free FuseTalk Basic upgrade to all FuseTalk Professional single forum users (for a limited time). An import module is available that will make the upgrade process seamless.
If the list of features mentioned above is not convincing enough to upgrade, consider the other new features that are in the current version of FuseTalk. Visit FuseTalk's website at
