Market Terms

Please read the following for an understanding of what not to do when using the market as a vendor. Failure to follow these rules may result in a suspension. You may also be quizzed on this content at the end of the semester.


Submitting

You must fill in the following when submitting or editing a product:

  • Title
  • Description
  • Category
  • Tags
  • Support [topic]
  • File
  • Price
  • Version (under courtesy information)
  • Compatibility (under courtesy information)
  • License (under courtesy information)

You must make and enter a support topic for the product, unless it is a service or promotional item. This is mostly for Starter members, who can't contact developers directly for support due to the membership restrictions.

Don't upload a text file with instructions to acquire the actual product, unless absolutely necessary. The product itself should be included in the download. Contact information should also be included in all downloads for support purposes. For services and products with downloads too large for this site, include a text file with contact information and instructions on how to obtain the service/product download. Keep in mind that products using external sites for downloads will be checked for broken links and removed if needed. You will be notified of the removed product after the action has been taken.

Don't choose "Free" as the price when the product isn't actually free. This includes service advertisements. Choose the price that's most appropriate for the product. If none of the specific options seem to fit, choose "Other." You will be asked to change the price to something else if it is not appropriate. Failure to do this will result in removal of the product and a possible suspension.

Version information relates to the version of the actual product. For example, the first release of a product might be 1.0, while the first update might be 1.1. You are free to choose whatever version-numbering scheme that can be thought of.

Compatibility information must be specific to a certain product and version. Do not enter "Dolphin 7.x" or similar information. The following are considered appropriate ways to list compatible versions:

  • Dolphin 7.0.7, Dolphin 7.0.8, Dolphin 7.0.9
  • Dolphin 7.0.7-7.0.9

For version exemptions (no support for a specific version in between supported versions), use something like:

  • Dolphin 7.0.7-7.0.9, except 7.0.8

You can experiment with these listings, but make sure both the actual product name and versions are listed. Do not enter "7.0.0" and not "Dolphin." BoonEx has developed other products in the past, including Barracuda and Orca. It's unlikely that this will cause confusion, but correct information is still important.

Choosing a license is mostly a personal matter. You can enter an established license (e.g., MIT, BSD, etc.) or something else. Keep in mind that third-party code included in your product might be released under a license with restrictions on how the entire product can be licensed. Also be careful about selecting the wrong license. Don't choose the GPL unless you want people to be able to redistribute your product to others. Be sure to enter something and make sure it's correct.

For services and other advertisements, the above information must still be entered. For the courtesy information, enter "Not Applicable" or similar. For other areas where the information isn't applicable to the product, do the same as before.


Support

You need to specify when and how you are providing support.

It's preferable that you should be available to support your products at least every weekday. If you can also provide support on weekends, you win a cookie.

You should have a dedicated support topic for your products. It's also encouraged that you provide a support email address, and any other ways to contact you for support in your product description. If you can also accept support through telegram, you're amazing.

If you will be on vacation/unavailable for a certain period of time, you should make this known in all your support topics.

You should ensure your products are compatible with the latest version of Dolphin. It's recommended you take advantage of the beta releases and development previews to test your products. If your product is not compatible with the latest version of Dolphin, it's encouraged you either pull the product from sale temporarily, or make it clear at the top of the product description.


Requirements By Product Type

Common Requirements:

Description
You should provide a detailed description of your product, which includes a list of features, example screenshots, and a changelog between versions.
Code convention
All files should be written according to the Code Convention.
Demo
Each product should be represented by screenshots, or a demo site, or any other way you can (screenshots, slideshow, portfolio, demo site). You are also encouraged to provide a demo site with user and administrator logins.
Read Me File
Complete and structural Read Me file (file name, build, version compatibility, installation etc.).
Build-in modules installer wizard
Installation should be presented as build-in module installer. Dolphin build-in installer process the SQL queries, language files and other tasks automatically.
File naming
The software should contain the product name and version in its name(the build number, if necessary).
Version compatibility
A product marked as compatible with Dolphin 7.0, for example, should be fully compatible with the mentioned Dolphin version without any additional necessary software or procedures.
More than 1 file
Each product should have more than one file, and the package itself should be packaged properly according to Dolphin 7.0 modules structure.
Legal distribution
To be able to offer products (integration modules, Copy and Paste Scripts, etc. ) which have proprietary or other private licenses, you should have the right to distribute it. You will have to grant your resellers rights.
License
You are required to specify a license when submitting your product to the market. It's recommended you take advantage of a well-established license. If you are writing your own license, it should be written in detail for potential customers to read. It's also encouraged that you provide a license.txt with your product that includes the full text of the license.
Encryption
It's understandable that developers need to protect their products, and there is nothing wrong with encryption itself. There is something wrong with how the product is encrypted, though. You should encrypt only the portions of your product necessary to implement a license system. Encrypting your entire product is strongly discouraged, as this only punishes the customer and makes them unable to make any necessary changes to something they have purchased. You should list on your product if you encrypt your product or not, and if so, to what extent. You should also make known anything else, such as if your products are tied to a specific domain, and what the procedure would be to have such information changed.

Extensions:

Dolphin module
Each dolphin modification need to be presented as Dolphin module, with all required module structure. Event if it is small modification - it is required to present it as Dolphin 7 module.
Admin panel
Each product offered here should have admin panel which is accessible via Dolphin 7 admin menu.
Additional functionality
Any product offered here should provide additional functionality, Not bug fixes.
Do not over-write Dolphin files
You shouldn't over-write Dolphin files and then compose your installation manuals with something like: "take this file from my package and upload it to the Dolphin directory..." etc. Your over-written files could destroy another part of the Dolphin code.
Less Modifications
Try to implement your mod by making less modifications in Dolphin code, new Dolphin 7 structure allows you to responce to Dolphin alerts and make code injections without modifications at all - try to use these features as much as possible.

Language files:

100% translated original file
The offered language file should be completely translated, manually is preferred.
UTF-8 encoding
Dolphin is set up to work with UTF-8 encoding, and to avoid errors which may appear as different symbols the language file should be written in UTF-8 encoding.
International standard
The language should be marked with international standards marks. Language files should be named the following way: lang-country. Country and dash isn't mandatory. The language name must follow ISO 639-1 (2002) standards and country name must follow ISO 3166 standards.
Packaging
Translation must be packaged according to this manual.

Templates:

Changed UNI template
The offered template should be your own work with the structural code. The changed colors and pics of the Uni template (Dolphin default template) cannot be uploaded as a product.
Copyrighted pictures
The pictures used for the template design shouldn't be copyrighted. Be careful when choosing pictures for your products.
Dolphin original footers
BoonEx footers should be intact in your template.
File changes
The template package should be contained completely in the tmpl_templatename folder and consist of this folder only. It shouldn't change or be part of any other files.
Structure
Your template must not contain any copy paste code from base template, declare only pages, css styles and images which are different from base template.

Tutorials:

Accessible file format
The offered file should be presented in a format that makes it possible to read it easily without the installation of any additional applications.
Completeness
The product must contain full information and should describe all the nuances of the process described. (should cover the entire installation process).
Detailed description
The tutorial description should contain complete information about its content, which product and product version this file is for, and which program can be used to view it.
No hack instructions
The offered products should provide no information on how to hack BoonEx software: licenses, links, etc.

Integrations:

This article describes an integration as a third-party product or service (e.g., MediaWiki, Disqus, etc.) which makes use of Dolphin's code and features. For example, a MediaWiki integration would not use its own login or registration, but link to Dolphin's database and pull the account information from there. You would not be able to login or create a new account on the integrated site; it must be treated as an extension of Dolphin.

Services:

Advertising services for Dolphin are allowed. You must enter the appropriate information when creating the product and make it clear in the description that customers are purchasing only the service and nothing else. For example, advertising a service to integrate software which costs money is allowed, but the description for the product must clearly state that the product is not included, and the service is only to integrate it into Dolphin.

Do not advertise a service here that is not for Dolphin. For example, advertising media server hosting for an unrelated product is not allowed. The market is for BoonEx products.


Readme File

Read me file is essential in any product type. The properly formatted read me file may reduce support requests and eliminate disputes against you, so make sure that at least the following requirements are met:

Product owner info:

  • Provider username (company name)
  • Provider contact data (username, full name, email address, address)

Product info:

  • Product version
  • Product compatibility with Dolphin versions
  • License type
  • Upgrade possibilities (provide information on how your customers can get an updated versions if/when they are released)

Installation manual:
Complete set of instructions on how to install/integrate the product.

User manual:
Description of how the product works and how to manage it.


Market Courtesy

Every vendor in BoonEx Market is required to declare information about their product on a number of parameters listed above

If you want to distinguish among others as good vendor you can take advantage by declaring EVERY courtesy item, and declare it POSITIVELY!

Then this info can be used by Moderators and SuperModerators to issue a Courtesy Seal.

Here is short list and preferable format of all Courtesy items:

Required:

Name
Unique module name which is used in update_url parameter in install/config.php file of a module. It's a good practice to use your own unique prefix in all your modules' names. For example, 'bx_' in 'bx_articles' name.
License
[license text]
Demo
URL to demo site
Demo Username
Sample account login username
Demo Password
Sample account login password

Optional (Etiquette):

Remote calls
YES(specify remote calls)|NO
All the code is legally distributed
YES|NO
Package has no executable files or viruses
YES|NO
Code encrypted
YES|NO
3rd-party integrations
YES(specify 3rd-party integrations)|NO
Readme file included and formatted according to BoonEx Requirements
YES|NO
Admin Manual
YES|NO
User Manual
YES|NO
Installation via Dolphin Installer
YES|NO|N/A(for templates/translations)
Installation requires manual steps
YES|NO
The following number of core files require manual modification
0|N
Product is packaged and named according to BoonEx Requirements
YES|NO
Default CSS styles are used
YES|NO
Standard Pages/DesignBoxes/Inputs/Buttons are not affected/copied
YES|NO (specify changed elements)
CSS/HTML code isn't hardcoded in PHP and separated in HTML/CSS files
YES|NO
Strings are translatable and English language file is included
YES(specify any additional language files)|NO
Support provided via
FORUM,PHONE,EMAIL,SKYPE
Response time
days in a week | hours in a day
Timezone
+/-N GMT
The mod going to be updated with every Dolphin release
YES|NO
Free upgrade with every major version
YES|NO(specify upgrade policy)
Free upgrade with every minor version
YES|NO(specify upgrade policy)
Last modified 11 years ago Last modified on Sep 10, 2013, 7:50:28 AM
 
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