Simple Social Networking with Boonex Dolphin

For the many social media CMS available today, it's not that strange to see powerful libraries. Boonex is one of the lesser known companies that sponsors the creation of powerful open source scripts. Of their vast library, Boonex Dolphin is their biggest release.

Dolphin 7 is the latest version of their open source freeware suite. Inside you will find many demo files and plugins that help add functionality to your website. This process is very simple and a routine way to build your own social media community.

The results are amazing according to the many news and social media websites. Boonex has tons of demo links for curious web developers. A full example of your Dolphin script shows how many modules are set to download by default.

PRE-PACKAGED FEATURES

When downloading Dolphin, you will find many social networking features that are standard on other websites. MySpace and Facebook have excellent examples, although there are a number of businesses that continue to exist as Friendster and Hi5.

Among the many types of media, you will find images, articles, thematic forums, user profiles and video downloads. Perhaps one of the best features of Dolphin is the customization of each plugin. Your social networking site could be completely bare with just a user directory of profiles and links. Likewise, you can include images only, videos only, blogs only, or any combination!

The integration of the script includes more than 25 complementos únicos from cero. In particular, some of the newer additions are very eye-catching as they haven't been seen elsewhere. These include in-page messaging (like Facebook IM), shoutbox, file storage and mobile communication. The latter is a very powerful plugin that optimizes ringtones and text messages for your social network profile.

THE BACKEND

The entire script is run over a PHP/MySQL backend. This is a standard LAMP setup on any Linux server stack found in the most popular hosting companies. Although the installation process is fairly simple Boonex does offer self-install services for a nominal fee.

Aside from free downloads they also offer an Enterprise edition to the software. With this you’ll be awarded unlimited licences to install and customize your own social networks. Similarly the team is more than happy to answer your support tickets above the rest, hold the state of a premium member.

You’ll also be given access to the Boonex marketplace which is chalk-full of templates and unique plugins. These have been created by members of the Boonex staff or 3rd party developers looking to earn a small living. There are tons of new apps such as resume builder and SEO management. Truly the hottest sellers are templates which offer custom logos and page views.

CONSIDERING PAGE DESIGN

If you've seen their demo, you can tell how modular each aspect has become. This makes the design process much easier as editing model files becomes routine maintenance. Even an HTML and CSS newbie should be able to turn a very simple layout into a running layout.

Much of the admin panel has been redesigned with version 7, which means you have a lot more control over your user base. Administrators have full power to delete and create new users, as well as delete stale database storage.

It's also very easy to install social media badges on your pages. These include little buttons like the ones you see on Digg or Reddit to share your pages with the world. Google tends to recognize these types of websites better, so you'll be surprised how quickly your network can grow.

If you still have questions, the Boonex information page offers much more detail. They run a fairly small operation, so the coordinates are front and center. For curious minds, his personal YouTube channel has a demo video covering some of the best features. I have included it below for those who want to understand the system a little better.

If you have worked with Dolphin 7 I’d love to hear more opinions on the topic! Clearly this script has been ironed over and truly enhanced within a matter of just a few years.

All personal opinions and suggestions for new developers are welcome. Those of you with personal experience should certainly open up and help the community interested in running their own network! Incidentally if you manage or follow a Dolphin social network I encourage you to share links within the comments discussion below.