As you know one of the biggest problems with CB sites is that many users don't fill out their profile... especially for social networking type sites... which CB so easily lends itself to.
Is there any way to create a progressive registration plugin the way so many commercial sites do? Meaning that on the first page you just put in your name, email address, and password, then on the next page you're asked a few more questions... and then even more on the third page, so by the time you click Register you have filled out a lot of your profile. This would be VERY valuable. And people woudl be a lot more committed to the site by the type they finish.
How long do you think such a plugin would take to be written? Basically, a tool in admin that one can link which page # to ask so and so field to be filled... plus the registration end modifications.
Maybe this would be a good joint commercial venture funded by several users since it'd be so useful (there's pretty much no social network that doesn't have it, for good reasons).
PS: sorry, didn't know about the no cross-posting rule.
I do not see a way to code it as a plugin at all. It would have to be a feature for CB or standalone joomla component. To code this in a smart way would require more than a full week of work. I would not personally not code this under 2000€
If you have a budget, you can request beat to code this to the next version of CB.
Definitely exceedingly too rich for my student blood!
Yet I think this could be part of a very popular Joomla component for social network sites... like an indispensable one. Whether its included in next CB release or as a separate commercial Joomla component.
It could maybe be like a package deal of features to make users fill out their profiles, load up their avatars, etc. For instance, it could also include the ability to not allow messaging if someone doesn't have their avator loaded, or other permissions blockades if people haven't filled out their profiles, and a variety of other things for people to fill out their profiles. You know, this kind of thing drives people who run social networking sites insane, and ultimately the value of a social networking site is only dependent on how much info people have loaded. I'd be for instance (even as a student) willing to pay up to $60-$100 to buy a component such as this that included so mix of those features. You multiply that by 20 people and it's not too shabby.
How could I suggest something for Beat to perhaps consider for next CB? Just post it in the right forum? I want to make sure I don't cross-post this time around.
You can send him a private message. However, unless you are a paying customer I doubt that he can do much. (see all feature requests already at joomlaforge)
Making a commercial component like you describe is not feasible due to several reasons. Most notably, you cannot just take code that it developed by someone else and then make a derivative work from this. CB is licensed so that all modified versions need to be released as free software.
If you can get a bunch of people together, you can probably hire someone to do this.
