Part A:

I "bought" (well I had to pay $20 to be able to login and download) the Community Builder because I read about it before, and some members of one group that I am helping wanted a more secure "registration" process, and a more careful access and permissions privileges in relation to the contents.

The main Joomla team does not seem to consider the aformentioned issues as important. Joomla has one of the most primitive "permissions" process I have ever seen -- starting from the registration.

That is one feature that is partly addressed by CB1.1 through the option allowing Admin approval and the captcha.

More detailed information during the registration

While CB1.1 provided some fix, the information requested -- name, username, valid email address -- was not enough to really know anything about the person. So, what then would be the basis for approval of the registration by the Admin, if the latter does not know the registrant?

For many commercial websites that would want as many registered users as possible, that is not an issue. However, for many websites, especially those one-person operations, the information requested by the CB1.1 is almost virtually useless -- except of course that you have eliminated the bots, intruders, etc. (and that is good).

Clearly, there is a need to get more pertinent information from the registrants.

I was given these links by someone else who is a webpage developer:

joomlaequipment.com/content/view/48/79/
www.byostech.com/

I browsed at the links briefly and tested their demo pages, and some of them would be helpful. It is clear however that these softwares are more geared for sites that gather and mine information about their registered users.

I like the ability to expand the information, in a more flexible way, requested of the registrants. And, for $28, that was not so bad.

There are more specific information that I want though that could not be provided by the "impersonal and intrussive" survey done by the some of the aforementioned softwares.

In the blanks provided for the registration form provided by Joomla, I included the long note below.

One simple improvement in the registration form would be the addition of "Additional information" box in the registration form so that the registrant could provide the information requested.

It is imperative also that the information provided by the registrant in the "Additional Information" window be included in the email sent to the Admin.

Right now, if I do not have that option to have the information included in the registration form, I have to ask the registrant to send me a separate email.

A very cumbersome procedure.

To a trained programmer, the script needed actually is very simple to include the aformentioned suggestions, in the registration module, and in the correspondence scripts.

So, I hope someone would provide the interim scripts, that once improved would be integrated in the succeeding upgrades of CB

Thanks.

Cornelio

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Below is the note I included in the registration module for our family website (obviously. the note will be tailored for the other sites I am developing). I should point out that I would prefer a box for the registrant to provide the information, rather than the survey forms (although some of the information would be OK to be included in a survey format for easier reading and evaluation.

However, by allowing the registrant to have more independence in stating what additional information should be provided would be critical for me whether I will approve a registration or not.

By the way, can I use simple html to layout the note below?

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Please Note: Your registration will not be approved unless you provide the information requested below, especially if the Host does not know you personally. Please be sure to send an email to Cornelio, the "Host of Pamana: A Family Album". Introduce who you are, share a bit about yourself -- where you are now, what you are doing, why you are interested to participate in this webpage and any other information that you wanted to share. If you know a member of the family, please include in your email message the name, current address, email address, and most recent phone number. Please write to the person also to vouch for you. If you have any website or some other internet site that will help us know more about you, please share the information too. [MySpace, and all those commercial sites that require the webmaster to register before the contents may be viewed are not acceptable.]