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Category: News

Published: 03 February 2015

Last Updated: 03 February 2015

Hits: 4479

The Next Generation Community Builder 2.0.0 was released 4 months ago. Since then we have been working on many fronts to reaffirm operational robustness and security, to increase our add-ons compatibility level and to help our worldwide users discover and take advantage of the tremendous flexibility offered in this new social networking platform. So we can with confidence state that:

It is time for everyone to fully embrace the Next Generation Community Builder 2.0.

During these past months we have made:

• 5 point releases of CB - we are now at Community Builder 2.0.5 (CB 2.0.6 is in progress)
• 11 previously commercial add-ons were rewritten and released as part of the Free Community Builder
• 21 add-ons have been completely rewritten/updated for CB 2.0 compatibility and over 30 maintenance releases for these have been issued
• our 4 Joomla templates have been upgraded for CB 2.0 compatibility and now use bootstrap
• CBSubs 4.0 RC1 is available for CB 2.0 (and CBSubs 4.0 stable is almost ready)
• A new awesome CB Gallery is in progress and is almost ready for release

In addition to the above we have:

• been releasing nightly builds with work in progress fixes for our major projects (CB, CBSubs, CB Auto Actions)
• established a new Language area on Joomlapolis and Transifex for CB and our add-ons and we are pushing new language plugins every week
• compiled over 50 video tutorials with hands-on simple explanations to help users quickly take advantage of CB 2.0 and key add-ons.

What's left is:

• the new CB 2.0 Primer documentation in the form of a PDF document (50% done)
• new CB Gallery 2.0 (in progress)
• new CB Activity 3.0 (to start right after CB Gallery release)
• new CB GroupJive 3.0 (complete rewrite in progress)
• CBSubs GPL 4.0 stable release (in progress)

You can get started with the existing versions that continue to function just fine on CB 2.0 and just easily upgrade to the latest releases when they are available.

There is no reason to wait for these last in progress releases. Community Builder 2.0.5 is very stable and fully compatible with the latest Joomla 3.3.6 (and upcoming Joomla 3.4) and very easy to upgrade from previous CB 1.9.1 installations. Therefore, all our maintenance efforts will be focused entirely on the CB 2.0 series.

Discuss this on our forums.

Details

Category: News

Published: 26 January 2015

Last Updated: 28 January 2015

Hits: 6482

MyCommunity - Coolness - Funlite - Flexistrap
Our 4 Joomlapolis Templates are now CB 2.0 Compatible

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Our 4 super-fast and light-weight Joomla 2.5/3.x templates have been bootstrapped and updated for CB 2.0 compatibility.

The new versions of MyCommunity, Coolness, Funlite and Flexistrap include the following two major improvements:

• Templates will make your Joomla website look awesome on all viewing devices (desktop, tablet and mobile) as they been bootstrapped
• Now fully CB 2.0.5+ compatible without the need for extra CB template plugin since the Joomla template now has CB specific markup code included

These templates are available for download by all template subscribers and Developer members and they are GPL licensed so you can use them on all your Joomla websites!

Our templates can be purchased here and then downloaded from our templates download area or the Developers download area.

Discuss these new template releases on our forums.

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Category: News

Published: 12 January 2015

Last Updated: 13 January 2015

Hits: 7413

CB Auto Actions 6 is now CB 2.0 Compatible and supports 23 action types ready to help you implement your use cases without the need to code.

CB Auto Auto Actions lets you and your members save valuable time, by automating specific repetitive processes on your site.

It executes specific actions depending on specific events if specific conditions are met.

E.g. When a new user signs-up, you can automatically send an email to a specified manager depending on registration details. Or when a user updates profile data or logs-in, an activity counter can be incremented.

The 23 action types are: CB Activity, AcyMailing, CB Antispam, CB Blogs, CB Paid Subscriptions, Code (11 different methods), Connection, Content, Email, Field, CB GroupJive, CB Invites, K2, Kunena, Login/Logout, CB Menu, Private Message, CB Privacy, Query, Redirect, Registration, Request, Usergroup.

Configuring an auto action involves the following steps:

1. Select one of the 23 available action types
2. Decide the user events and environment that will trigger the execution of your action
3. Optionally set extra conditions that need to be present
4. Configure your action (based on type selected)
5. Enable your auto action

There are virtually infinite possibilities and combinations available with this awesome Professional membership tool.

To help and inspire you, we have prepared a CB Auto Actions video tutorial playlist that currently has 5 short and sweet videos but many more are in the pipeline - so subscribe to our video channel now.

Discuss this on our forums.

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Category: News

Published: 07 January 2015

Last Updated: 08 January 2015

Hits: 8220

The Community Builder extension has been around even before the birth of Joomla and it's being used on millions of websites worldwide. And most of all it is both free as in beer (no cost to download) and free as in freedom (GPL).

This free status is not easy to maintain as there are many cost elements involved and many moving targets to track. So, no matter how free spirited we are there will always be the reality of expenses and the need for a commecrial aspect that funds and keeps the project going.

The CB Team and the entire Joomlapolis community -THANK YOU- have been doing a great job of keeping Community Builder powerful and free and very secure.

The next generation Community Builder 2.0 series has incorporated 11 previously commercial add-ons into its core - yes these add-ons are now included in the free CB 2.0+ releases.

The previously commercial add-ons now in CB 2.0 are:

1. CB Ajax File field
2. CB Rating field
3. CB Admin Navigation module
4. CB Forums
5. CB Blogs
6. CB Articles
7. CB Ajax Points
8. CB Bootstrap template
9. CB Video Field
10. CB Password Strength
11. CB Verify Email

Community Builder 2.0 with these extended features and its new mobile ready user interface is just plain awesome!

See for yourself watching our 40+ short and sweet CB 2.0 Video tutorials and then consider upgrading to any one of our 12 month paid membership levels to get even more add-ons and great support and of course contribute to keep Community Builder free and powerful.

Details

Category: News

Published: 21 December 2014

Last Updated: 22 December 2014

Hits: 16861

First of all we would like to appologize for having to communicate this news with you during the holidays - it was not our intention.

The new EU-VAT regulations will affect on 1.1.2015 not only all EU consumers but also everyone - worldwide - selling to EU, so it will affect everyone directly or indirectly.

This new - as of Jan 1st, 2015 - regulations completely changes the way in which VAT (consumer sales tax) is charged on digital services.

Instead of the tax rate being applied according to where the supplier is located, the seller must determine by 2-3 independent methods where the buyer is located and apply the relevant local rate of tax to the purchaser. So that means if you (as seller) live in Italy and someone in Germany purchases your digital file, you need to pay VAT at the German rate to the German authorities. Just to be clear, that's a total of 75 different tax rates across 28 different markets!

The intention of this new legislation, is to put a stop to billions of euros of the consumer tax being lost due to multi-nationals locating in low tax jurisdictions.

However, the implementation of these rules will cripple, and potentially force into closure, hundreds of thousands of micro-businesses including Joomla Extension providers across the EU and also worldwide.  The costs in paperwork, bureaucracy, and amendments to websites and payment processing will simply mean that many businesses are no longer viable.

And this is just the first step, as there are plans to extend this concept to physical goods selling in 2016!

More references about new law:

• European Union notes on VAT tax rule on E-services and telecommunications
• EU VAT Action Site
• Take action on EU VAT Action Site
• Commission Blog on EUVAT (also see comments to the blog)
• Telegraph UK article impact analysis on EUVAT
• Facebook #EUVAT pages
• #EUVAT Tweets

What does this mean to you ?

The new law will influence you in one of the following ways:

• If you make a purchase from an EU location, you will be charged VAT accordingly based on your purchasing location (and your invoicing address will have to match, unless there is a third proof of your real location)
  
  
• If you sell digital products (no matter where you are located) to EU located purchasers, you need to charge them appropriate VAT and keep digital records for 10 years of all these transactions and of course quarterly funnel collected VAT to each EU state

So as a purchaser, you will most likely experience price increases when purchasing from a EU location (regardless of the seller's location).

As a seller, you will most likely need to suffer extra costs to setup compliance with this new EU law and to be able to handle the extra book-keeping and accounting and digital record-keeping. Increasing your prices to offset these extra costs is an option, but it will still affect your business.

If you use CBSubs for your digital goods sales, it is useful to know that its Tax integration functionality already supports the new tax calculations. However, as there is no reliable technical way yet to get 2-3 proofs of EU-country of the customer, that part is not yet solved - in no cart yet - as that new regulations' requirement is not implementable yet.

How can you help ?

This law is just plain wrong. It will not accomplish it's main objective, but it will cripple small and mid-size digital businesses and surely increase consumer prices for EU located purchasers.

Here are some ways you can help and voice your objections now:

• Read and sign the Petitioning Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs PIERRE MOSCOVICI
  Once you sign the petition share it with your friends on all social networking platforms and email
  
  
• Send a message to all your Members of European Parliament (MEPs).
  Just click your country on this map to find your MEPs and send each one your objections about this law.
  
  
• Comment directly on the EU Commissioners blog stating your objection / opinion.

Purchase now instead of later

It is not our intention to turn this into a purchasing call. However, if your Joomla livelihood depends on Joomlapolis digital goods and services, then you can avoid price increases that will most likely happen (if this law is not reverted) on January 1st, 2015. So purchase now and even stock up your subscriptions by purchasing back to back yearly subscriptions (you can purchase this way 2 years worth).

The same of course advise can be used with all your Joomla third-party purchases.

Discuss this on our forums.