phpFoX Review

phpFoX is another open source social networking script that allows webmasters the ability to create a social networking website - and it also offers webmasters the ability to customize the site.  phpFoX provides a simple control panel where developers create content and design the site.

phpFox, unlike other social networking script providers, provides developers the ability to purchase custom phpFoX design, integration and mods made to their scripts for a specific price.  Developers simply submit request through the phpFoX development page to request special features.  Few other services are willing to tailor scripts to customers needs like this.

In addition to customization services, phpFoX support will also install the social networking script onto your web server for you if you are not confident doing it yourself. 

phpFoX Social Networking Script

When I first came across phpFoX I was somewhat concerned by the multitude of negative reviews that can be found online about it.  Open source scripts such as this can be quite "buggy" and full of holes - however that does not appear to be the case with phpFoX.  In fact, it appears that the scripts have gone through enough revisions over time that the phpFoX developers might have worked most of the original bugs out of the system.

phpFox is actually a very easy to use, and extremely easy to customize social networking software script that, in its current form, is full of advanced features found on most major social networking sites such as MySpace. 

Requirements

Most web applications such as these scripts that need to be installed on your web server have minimum web host and web server requirements.  In the case of phpFoX, the minimum requirements are as follows:

1. Support for Apache, CGI, FastCGI and ISAPI
2. Runs on Solaris, Linux, BSD, Windows IIS or Mac
3. Minimum PHP version 4.3.3
4. Minimum MySQL version 4.1
5. SendMail enabled
6. PHP safe mode off
7. PHP memory limit of 32M
8. Minimum web space of 15 mb

Before choosing to install phpFoX, it's best to make sure first that your web server supports these minimum requirements. 

Major Features

One of the first things that developers look for when they shop for a social networking platform is whether that platform offers enough features that will keep users interested and happy through multimedia and the ability to easily interact with other users.  This is basically the point of social networking, and should be at the heart of any social networking website.

With phpFoX, features are definitely plentiful.  One of the first things I noticed about this software was the multitude of modules that are available to developers to include in their social networking site. 

The major features that phpFoX offers includes the following modules.

Video Module

A video module provides users the ability to upload videos from their PC or from other websites.  Videos are converted to Flash format and this conversion creates a thumbnail for the video at the same time.  Videos utilize AJAX and the module includes an entire content management system for the site administrator to approve and manage videos.

Music Module

A music module allows users to create their own music albums and to upload and store MP3s to those albums.  The music module provides users the ability to organize and categorize music, and even offers the ability for administrators to feature songs or a musician that will show up on the index page.

Gallery Module

The gallery module provides members the ability to store and organize personal photos and images by a multitude of properties including time, top rated, most viewed, description, etc.  The social networking image gallery is a very large and popular area that members can use to get to know each other better, and to let others know more about themselves.  The Gallery module is very much a part of the social networking experience, and phpFoX certainly does this part of it very well.

phpFoX also includes a Blog Module where users can create and maintain personal blogs, a Forum Module where members can carry on discussions and have conversations together in a message board style format. 

Other modules include a Poll Module, Group Module, Classified Module, Quiz Module, Event Module, and other modules such as Chat Modules and a multitude of other features that make phpFoX rates at the top of the list in terms of features.

Performance

Installing phpFoX turned out to be a fairly simple experience and the original core download was installed in minutes.  Configuration is fairly straightforward for developers who are somewhat technically savvy; however beginners may need to use tech support at a few points during the install. 

Although we were unable to test the system under heavy load, with five users logged in simultaneously and using various features, the software performed smoothly and efficiently.  There were no bugs with the software during our brief test run, and all of modules are easy to install. 

Overview

Purcha sing a full License of phpFoX is somewhat expensive - being priced at $300 for 1 full year and includes free upgrades and customer support.  A monthly license is also available for $39.95 per month and includes the same upgrade downloads and support. 

phpFoX is famous for their stellar customer support - which should be expected for the price.  However the level of customer support surpasses most expectations in that they will actually customize scripts for customers.  Additionally, phpFoX social networking sites are automatically search engine optimized for their customers, which is a significant perk