Tagged: gantry RSS

  • Rastin Mehr 4:25 pm on May 13, 2011 Permalink
    Tags: , , gantry, ,   

    The Dark Side of the Anahita 

    Group Profile

    Until now the Anahita Shiraz template only came with a light theme. This month I had some time to develop the dark theme for the Shiraz template as well. Use the dark theme for your gaming, fashion, artistic, or that none-vanilla subculture lifestyle social networking project that you are about to launch and let your members experience the dark side of Anahita.

    Person Profile

    Photos - Album

    Change Log

    The following is the change log for the Anahita Shiraz template 1.2 Birth Release:


    Legend:

    * -> Security Fix
    # -> Bug Fix
    $ -> Language fix or change
    + -> Addition
    ^ -> Change
    - -> Removed
    ! -> Note?>

     

    ===Version 1.1===
    ^ hardcoded url for the favicon has been removed
    ^ manifest date, author, and desicription have been updated.
    + style2.css has been added
    ^ color codes have been moved to the anahita social networking engine and apps to the style1.css file
    + preset2.png icon in the admin/presets has been added
    ^ The preset2 info has been added to the gantry.config.php as the Dark theme

    Do Update Your Shiraz Template

    If you are using the default Shiraz template on your Anahita installation do update your Shiraz template. A lot of improvements and changes have been done in the new release that are necessary for the next releases of Anahita ™, Groups, Discussions, Photos, and Connect to render properly. For example all the css color codes have been removed from the Anahita™ and applications and instead they have been added to the Shiraz template. If you don’t upgrade your Shiraz template, the next time that you will be upgrading the Anahita™ and apps a lot of the colors will be missing until you upgrade your template.

    To upgrade the Shiraz template, download the most recent copy of Anahita package from here and then go to the administration back-end of your Anahita Installation. Under Extend > Install/Uninstall select and upload your template zip file package.

    Do Update Your Anahita Templates

    If you have developed you own custom Anahita templates that are perhaps a derivative of Shiraz template, you very likely need to upgrade your css files so the next updates of Anahita social networking engine, Groups, Discussions, Photos, and Connect won’t won’t distort how your pages are rendered.

    That is because all the css color codes from the Anahita™ and the existing applications have been moved to the new Shiraz template. To get a list of CSS tags that contained color codes (or styling images) checkout the style1.css and style2.css files in the css directory of the new Shiraz template.

    What’s next?

    In the upcoming releases of Anahita Shiraz template we would like to experiment with the iPhone friendly features of the Gantry framework so we can have pages that are more user friendly for the iPhone devices.

     

    • James 11:19 pm on May 13, 2011 Permalink

      Well done guys, Shiraz is a super customizable template and im only starting to see the massive array of things that can be done with – cant wait for the mobile friendly version and more

    • Dominic 2:11 pm on May 18, 2011 Permalink

      Hmm… no mobile support yet thats a shame :( as thats a crititical MUST have before I consider Anahita…
      when you say in the upcoming release whats your eta on mobile friendly? IE my users must be able to view their profiles, post etc from their phones…
      thanks

    • Rastin Mehr 1:30 pm on May 20, 2011 Permalink

      @Dominic there will be iphone and later Android support too. Anahita Shiraz template is an ongoing project with more features and improvements with every new release. There is nothing shameful about building in stages, in fact that is something to be proud of.

      We don’t post ETAs publicly. We only announce new releases when they are ready.

  • Rastin Mehr 8:17 pm on February 1, 2011 Permalink
    Tags: , , gantry, ,   

    Anahita is not a Joomla extension 

     

    Some of our good members specially those who are coming from the Joomla community are under the impression that Anahita is a Joomla extension or an extension developed for Joomla. We even had a couple of people who paid a membership fee expecting to download an installable Joomla extension from Anahitapolis. That is despite that fact that nowhere on our website is presented in that context. Look on this page for instance. In fact you have found any, please let us know and we will remove it. So if we haven’t been clear enough here is another announcement:

    The Anahita™ social networking engine is not a Joomla extension! nor distributed as a Joomla extension.

    What are the building blocks of Anahita™?

    The truth is that 2 years ago, we did build the early releases of Anahita as a Joomla extension. We even released the alpha1 as an installable extension. It was only over time that we have developed a through framework specialized for developing social apps (over 7000 code commits) and Anahita evolved to become a stand alone platform and framework as a social networking solution.

    Today Anahita™ is the collection of 3 powerful frameworks (Anahita, Nooku, and Gantry) that are shipped in a container called Joomla!. In this context Joomla is only used as a web platform and stepping stone for developing the first releases of Anahita technology. In fact 99% of Anahita code is developed using the Anahita and Nooku Frameworks where:

    • Anahita™ Framework: provides the software framework and API specialized for developing Social Apps.
    • Nooku Framework: provides the basic MVC agile software development framework.
    • Gantry Framework: provides a superb themeing framework

    For the Anahita™ we are using a stripped down version of Joomla! 1.5, because the platform aspects of Joomla such as it’s extension management, menu management, and user authentication did the job quite nicely and there was no point for us to rebuild those from scratch. We have also made some upgrades to the Joomla so it can better accommodates Anahita social networking engine and Apps.

    For the later releases we have a keen interest to use the Nooku Server as a much lighter web platform for building Anahita which could provide some really neat features such as multisite-social networks!

    If you think this is odd, consider this: Joomla! itself has been developed using many other open source technologies. Same goes for technologies such as Mac OSX, Aptana, or Ubuntu.

    The fact that Joomla! is used as the web platform, it also provides some other perks too. For example it comes with a basic CMS that is shipped with Joomla. A lot of Joomla extensions can be installed on the Anahita™ as well. That is something that you need to test and find out. We are not married to the concept of making sure that all Joomla extensions should work on with Anahita. They certainly do not suddenly become social applications either!

    A CMS is a CMS

    A social network is 2 generations ahead of a Content Management System. Here is the evolution path:

    1. CMS: few people publish, many people read
    2. Read/Write Web (web2.0): many people publish and many people read.
    3. Social Web: all the aspects of read/write web, except that information is propagated and shared in small bits (stories, status updates, micro posts, tweets!) based on the directions and relationships defined by the social graph.

    Joomla is a great CMS! We love Joomla for that purpose. However our goal for the Anahita project is to build next generation technologies that help people connect and collaborate in highly effective and efficient ways. Our goal is not to build and nurture CMS technologies. That responsibility is left to projects such as Joomla, WordPress, or Drupal.

    We also do not think that attaching social networking to a CMS will work out quite well. It is like trying to attach wings to a car and make it fly. It will be a lot more sensible to help the passengers get out of the car and get on an airplane!

    Having said that Anahita is still a commercial GPL project. Which means you can always check out the Anahita™ libraries and extension from the svn http://svn.anahitapolis.com (only Anahitapolis paid members can do that) and try to install them on your Joomla installation. If you take that approach, that will be your codebase and you will be responsible to maintain it the Joomla way.

    We are going to develop automated tools that will help you easily update the Anahita social networking engine and apps right from your administration panel. Most likely these tools will not be functioning with your Joomla installation.

    So how about people who already have a Joomla! powered website?

    People who are using Joomla have 2 options available. We can invest some time in building Joomla to Anahita migration tools for you. Or you can also start building your social networking project from ground up using the Anahita framework and platform.

    Let’s clear up the miscommunication

    It is stated on our Terms of Services that  that all sales are final and no refunds will be made once you sign up as a member.

    However for all of you who have signed up and paid us only on January 31st and Feb. 1st 2011 under the impression that Anahita was a Joomla extension, we will gladly refund your fees and change your account to basic free account. And please make sure you read the TOS and website content before you sign up for a service to prevent these sort of misunderstandings. To get a refund please contact us with your name and information.

    If you are happy to use Anahita as it is, we will be glad to be working with you for the next 12 months. Let’s build the next generations of social web technologies together and make a difference.

     

    • User 9:22 pm on February 1, 2011 Permalink

      A lot of the confusion probably comes from the RocketTheme discount page that links here. That’s how I got here and was under the impression it was an extension for Joomla.

    • Rastin Mehr 11:36 pm on February 1, 2011 Permalink

      @User

      RocketTheme is now supporting several platforms other than Joomla especially those that utilize the Gantry framework.

      This page: http://demo.rockettheme.com/feb11/extensions/anahita

      Clearly states that “Anahita is not a Joomla component … “

    • Vic Drover 10:02 am on February 2, 2011 Permalink

      As I am sure you know, there is no such thing as having a “no refund policy”. Not only is it bad for business, the payment processors require you to have one. And of course folks can just reverse payments.

      Wouldn’t an easier solution be to but a big notice on the payment page making people aware that anahita is not an extension?

    • Rastin Mehr 3:30 pm on February 2, 2011 Permalink

      @Vic “As I am sure you know, there is no such thing as having a ‘no refund policy’”

      iPhone store, Facebook, and RocketTheme.com have a no refund policy as well. It is up to the vendor to set the terms, it is up to people to decide whether they want to commit or not. A lot of membership plans that you pay for online have a no refund policy.

      On Anahitapolis people aren’t buying software licenses. They buy membership and access to the Anahitapolis resources for a limited time.

      It is bad business if we don’t let people know ahead of time. People have to agree to the Terms of service before making a payment.

      @Vic “Wouldn’t an easier solution be to but a big notice on the payment page making people aware that anahita is not an extension?”

      We’ve only had that issue from some of the Joomla community members. Not all the people who join Anahitapolis are closely familiar with the Joomla. They are here to look for a social networking solution.

    • A 9:17 am on February 3, 2011 Permalink

      I guess you shoud remove the:

      “Powerful CMS Functionality – Anahita™ is using Joomla! CMS as the web platform and therefore provides the full functionality of this immensely popular content management system to your Anahita™ powered social network.”

      on http://www.anahitapolis.com/about/anahita-social-engine

      It could mislead people to think Anahita is a Joomla extension, and think that they can build a site with Anahita and Joomla (1.5, 1.6 and future builds) using all the other many extensions that Joomla already have.

      Anyway, awesome job on Anahita! :)

    • Cosmic Fantasia - Web development 6:51 pm on February 6, 2011 Permalink

      Totally understand your point and direction with Nooku server. But for what seems like not too much effort, why not opem up your customer base and reduce support and increase customer satisfaction, by support Joomla! 1.6 early?

      Love Anahita

    • Rastin Mehr 4:49 pm on February 16, 2011 Permalink

      @A we are indeed using Joomla as the platform in the Anahita so there is no reason to remove that statement. We are just not distributing Anahita as a joomla extension.

    • Rastin Mehr 4:52 pm on February 16, 2011 Permalink

      @Cosmic Fantasia Joomla 1.6 is not a suitable light weight platform for our purpose. Nooku framework is. There is a topic in this regard on the Anahitapolis Atrium and Johan Janssens himself has participated in it too. You will be finding more detailed information there on why we have decided to choose Nooku Framework over J1.6

  • Rastin Mehr 1:48 pm on February 1, 2011 Permalink
    Tags: , , gantry, , , , , ,   

    Tachyon – The first Anahita compatible template from RocketTheme 

    RocketTheme Tachyon Template and Anahita Groups

    The great folks at the RockeTheme have been working for us to make their new template – Tachyon - which is compatible with the Anahita™ Social Networking Engine. The template was released yesterday and now it is available to all the RocketTheme paid members.

    I must say it was such a pleasure working with the RT guys. They are just amazing and I really had fun during this collaboration. So thank you so much!

    • Andy Miller, the founder and CEO of RocketTheme.com for making this possible and providing last minute feature request support.
    • Brian Towles for the last minute feature implementation
    • James Spencer for putting together the updates in the last minute and being so patient with us.

    More On the Tachyon Template and Anahita

    The minimalist Tachyon template from RocketTheme provides styling for the Anahita™ main user interfaces as well as 4 of the existing Anahita social applications: Groups, Discussions, Projects, and Photos.

    The Tachyon template provides a custom layout with a 2,6,4 ratio by default which is required by the Anahita. This feature activates automatically when the Tachyon template detects the Anahita framework on the system.

    We have a promotion

    If you are a RocketTheme.com member we are giving away 100$ off on the first 100 people who sign up as Premium Tribe members with Anahitapolis.com

    That is an awesome 35% discount. Go to RocketTheme.com/promotions to obtain your discount coupon and sign up for one year Premium Tribe membership plan with Anahitapolis.com

     

    • William Wilkie 6:06 am on February 15, 2011 Permalink

      How do you use Rocket Launcher or at least include the database with Rocket Launcher when you are using Anahita?

    • Rastin Mehr 3:03 pm on February 16, 2011 Permalink

      @william Anahita is a stand alone solution available as a distro. The RT Rocket launcher does not include any Anahita technology.

  • Rastin Mehr 1:54 pm on January 18, 2011 Permalink
    Tags: , , gantry, , ,   

    Anahita™ Social Networking Engine 1.5 Birth release now available for download 

    We survived another sleepless week

    We survived another week of sleep deprivation. Thank goodness for the organic coffee!

    We are going to have many good news for you in 2011 and here is the first one. The Anahita™ social networking engine 1.5 Birth release codename Ambrosia is now available to the Anahitapolis™ paid members for download.  This is the package that is stable enough to be used for starting your social networking project and we will officially be supporting it from now on.

    Anahitapolis.com is currently powered using the latest release of Anahita™.

    (More …)

     

    • Falky 2:48 pm on January 18, 2011 Permalink

      Congrats! Great work.

      Your last statement makes me really curious. Which app do you intend to release within the next 7-10 days? Please let us know! This could be quite important for recent decisions.

      Thanks in advance.

    • John Coonen 3:20 pm on January 18, 2011 Permalink

      Congratulations on the release!

    • Sammy Sumer 3:47 pm on January 18, 2011 Permalink

      Hi Guys

      Congratulation.

      Will Anahita ever be released to public or not? If yes when (next year or in a few months)?

      If it will be released to public, will it be free or commercial and if it is going to be commercial how much will it cost?

    • Rastin Mehr 4:49 pm on January 18, 2011 Permalink

      @Falky Thank you! It is a good app. Just wait and see :)

      @John thank you very much!

      @Sammy Thank you! Eventually yes. I cannot tell you when though. Just follow the updates and you will know.

    • Edwin 1:18 pm on January 21, 2011 Permalink

      Hello Rastin, here -> http://blog.anahitapolis.com/2010/11/anahita-social-engine-alpha3-is-now-available-to-the-tribe-of-partners/#comment-2380 you said Anahita Alpha 3 will be released to public one beta/stable is released to members so the question is now that Anahita stable has been released to members when will Anahita alpha 3 be release to public?

    • Rastin Mehr 1:47 pm on January 21, 2011 Permalink

      @Edwin yes it will be released when we do the next product announcement.

    • Edwin 11:24 pm on January 21, 2011 Permalink

      @Rastin, but that is not what you said, $500 a year is a lot of money, I can not afford your product for that price and now have to wait God knows how long for another product announcement just to get access to Alpha 3, if from beginning you hadn’t mentioned public availability of the product I would have bought JomSocial but now that have played with alpha 1 I am eagerly waiting for next version but it never sees the light of day, maybe you could offer a $50 to $100 price range version for user who can’t afford $500.

    • Rastin Mehr 11:36 pm on January 21, 2011 Permalink

      @Edwin Anahita Social Networking Engine only provides the basics and doesn’t come with photos, discussions, groups, projects, and other apps. We are giving away the Alpha3 release because we are no longer supporting it. It is a good example for hobbyists who would like to see how a NGS architecture is implemented.

      The annual fee is not for the software. It is for access to the Anahitapolis resources. One year supply of Social Networking Engine code, all the apps, support groups, projects, etc.

    • pippo 1:30 am on January 23, 2011 Permalink

      HI, congratulation for your work, but I don’t understand, i read it should be released for free :(

    • Rastin Mehr 10:50 am on January 23, 2011 Permalink

      @pippo sorry mate. It is free as liberty not free as free beer!

    • John B 7:05 pm on January 23, 2011 Permalink

      Well you are getting a few kickbacks on the $500 a year pricing. Its a shame it is so expensive particularly when a lot of us having following the project since it started in the hope we could at last get a quality social network. I believe you would get more customers and more revenue if you provided a range of subscriptions for a range of periods rather than just one subscription model. Your finance person needs to have a rethink while we are still around and before we go off and put our cash into a lesser product like Jomsocial or similar.Good luck anyway.

    • Rastin Mehr 12:42 am on January 24, 2011 Permalink

      @John we haven’t officially started selling subscriptions yet, that is yet to come. The partner program was an option for companies and people who were genuinely interested in the project from early days and wanted to support it. Some of our clients and partners have contributed a lot more than the basic fee to make sure this project happens and we are very thankful to them.

    • John B 1:51 pm on January 24, 2011 Permalink

      Thanks for clarifying things Rastin. I hope your reply gets to a wider audience as there is no doubt that Anahita has been keenly anticipated since it first started and the news that you have yet to look at subscriptions will be well received. Regards.

  • Rastin Mehr 6:55 pm on January 2, 2011 Permalink
    Tags: gantry, , , , ,   

    Happy New Year 2011 from the Anahita™ team 

    Happy New Year 2011

    Another picture done by an iphone with a dirty lens that does no justice to our sleep deprived faces :)

    Happy New Year to all the people on Anahitapolis™ and all the people who will be joining us during the 2011. We are so thankful for all the great support that you’ve give us specially the group of 42 partners who have been working with us.

    It’s been quite productive year for the Anahita™ project:

    1. 6345 code commits to the Anahita™ repository until today
    2. Kept up with all the updates of Nooku Framework 0.7 ;)
    3. Released the Anahita™ Shiraz template using the wonderful Gantry Framework from RocketTheme LLC
    4. community.anahitapolis.com social network has been powered by the Anahita™ technology during the 2010 and soon it will become the main Anahitapolis™ website.
    5. Have started using Anahitapolis™ since november 2010 as our project management environment for about 10 Anahita™ related social apps and projects (Anahita™ Social Engine, Discussions, Photos, Groups, Projects, Connect, Subscriptions, and the Shiraz Template).
    6. Have started using Anahitapolis™ since october 2010 for delivering support and services to all the partners and using the Anahitapolis™ Atrium as an environment to educate people who are interested to learn more about this project.
    7. Have released Anahita™ Social Engine alpha1, alpha2, and alpha3 versions during the 2010. Our next release will be the public beta. In fact right now the Anahitapolis™ community is powered with the soon to be public beta code.

    We have a lot of good news coming up and a lot of good plans for the first 2011 quarter. Stay tuned.

    We would like to wish you a prosperous, productive, and creative year and perhaps this will be the year that you will be enjoying the fruits of your great business ideas.

    to you from the Anahita project team: Rastin and Ash

     

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