Why another DMS?
My favorite web space provider - DreamHost - offers Unlimited Policy. Well, having a lot of files out there, on a remote machine running a web server, requires a good tool for sorting and finding the right piece at the right moment.
I took a look at the most OpenSource Document Management Systems and had to acknowledge that most of them have a *SQL back-end for storing the "meta" information about the documents/files. None of them had everything I wanted. So, as you can imagine, the decision was made to write an own one.
What I wanted was a "Simple and Stupid" system, storing the information in plain text or similar files ("XODA" uses plain php-files). It should be not so difficult to have a "file manager", which shows a description of a file/directory and allows applying additional filters on these items (some people prefer to call these filters "categories", "tags"...) for easier sorting. The features of a good file manager (moving, deleting, renaming, up- and downloading, creation of files/directories and editing of allowed files) should not be missed. All of this should be possible using fast solutions (AJAX) and possibly be available in few or even just one file. It should be easy to hack for the purpose of allowing more users to improve it and make good suggestions.
Here you have it - "XODA".
I took a look at the most OpenSource Document Management Systems and had to acknowledge that most of them have a *SQL back-end for storing the "meta" information about the documents/files. None of them had everything I wanted. So, as you can imagine, the decision was made to write an own one.
What I wanted was a "Simple and Stupid" system, storing the information in plain text or similar files ("XODA" uses plain php-files). It should be not so difficult to have a "file manager", which shows a description of a file/directory and allows applying additional filters on these items (some people prefer to call these filters "categories", "tags"...) for easier sorting. The features of a good file manager (moving, deleting, renaming, up- and downloading, creation of files/directories and editing of allowed files) should not be missed. All of this should be possible using fast solutions (AJAX) and possibly be available in few or even just one file. It should be easy to hack for the purpose of allowing more users to improve it and make good suggestions.
Here you have it - "XODA".
Why XODA?
XODA is lightweight and fast.
Having said that, this is not enterprise level software. You should consider using it just for personal perposes (even though a guy contacted me saying that he successfully implemented it for 700 employees of his company in Florida).
In the middle of the 2000s I needed a simple online file manager and I wanted it to have the ability to assign descriptions to the files and directories. Then (and now?) there was nothing simple out there matching just these two criteria. There were corporate size Document Management Systems that looked so ugly (besides most being also expensive) that I thought it would take longer to make any of them look better than to write an own system. This is how I started developing XODA. AJAX was big at that time and this is the "A" in XODA. Meanwhile the AJAX hype calmed down and currently there are probably only few AJAX functions used in XODA.
Even now, Google Drive allows writing a description to a file or directory but it is so well hidden that it is of only relative use.
OwnCloud implemented "comments" which is something different.
Nobody of the "very creative" crowd of *BOXes (BOX, Dropbox etc.) has implemented anything like this. I guess they are above those things. There is also no system known to me that has anything like XODA's Filters which I consider to be an extremely powerful tool for file organization.
Having said that, this is not enterprise level software. You should consider using it just for personal perposes (even though a guy contacted me saying that he successfully implemented it for 700 employees of his company in Florida).
In the middle of the 2000s I needed a simple online file manager and I wanted it to have the ability to assign descriptions to the files and directories. Then (and now?) there was nothing simple out there matching just these two criteria. There were corporate size Document Management Systems that looked so ugly (besides most being also expensive) that I thought it would take longer to make any of them look better than to write an own system. This is how I started developing XODA. AJAX was big at that time and this is the "A" in XODA. Meanwhile the AJAX hype calmed down and currently there are probably only few AJAX functions used in XODA.
Even now, Google Drive allows writing a description to a file or directory but it is so well hidden that it is of only relative use.
OwnCloud implemented "comments" which is something different.
Nobody of the "very creative" crowd of *BOXes (BOX, Dropbox etc.) has implemented anything like this. I guess they are above those things. There is also no system known to me that has anything like XODA's Filters which I consider to be an extremely powerful tool for file organization.
What does "XODA" mean?
"XODA" is the abreviation of:
- X:
- K: KISS(ed)
- S: System
- O: Organizing
- D: Documents using
- A: AJAX
I have downloaded it. Now what?
You can take a look at the Manual how to install it and how the first steps could look like.
Are you trying to compete with ownCloud?
Short answer: No!
ownCloud is a very powerful tool. Have you seen their list of developers (91 at the time I am writing this)? Or customers?
Now consider the fact that XODA is a one-man project. It's me only.
ownCloud is an enterprise project. They have written heavy, solid code. ownCloud does much more than XODA and should be considered by anyone who needs a solution of problems at that level.
XODA is not there and will hopefully never get there. It is a different project with a different focus.
ownCloud is a very powerful tool. Have you seen their list of developers (91 at the time I am writing this)? Or customers?
Now consider the fact that XODA is a one-man project. It's me only.
ownCloud is an enterprise project. They have written heavy, solid code. ownCloud does much more than XODA and should be considered by anyone who needs a solution of problems at that level.
XODA is not there and will hopefully never get there. It is a different project with a different focus.
Can I see a screenshot?
Did you see the one at the front door?
You can also take a look at the Manual. There are several screenshots of different options.
You can also take a look at the Manual. There are several screenshots of different options.
Why is there no demo?
Because I didn't find the time to implement it yet.