I have emailed JCL. I will post his answer as soon as I receive it.

OK, I've got news from JCL. He will sponsor the project with an A8 Pro upgrade.

A WordPress based project is fine and the AUM page should also be integrated into the new design. Please use as fewer plugins as possible; as you probably know, they increase the risk of sites being hacked.

I'll probably be the site admin, uploading stuff and so on. No other user roles are required, but they'll be easy to add (if needed) since they're built into WordPress.

Let me know if you have any questions. My suggestion is to set the 1st of June as a deadline. What do you guys think about this?

Even though I won't participate in that "contest" it's good news and I appreciate the effort of all people involved!

@George: Btw. how is the new AUM getting along, will it get released soon?

Hi, George. I would like to ask a few questions to make sure I am clear about this contest. This will help me get everything organized for my final design of AU.

1. If you will be the site admin, what requirements are you looking for? My AU version is custom built and I do not use WordPress. Any details on important features that you feel you would need? (Or perhaps a feature you hope to see?)

2. Are we going all out with this design with everything finished and linked to all older downloads? Or are we starting anew with an easy to use prototype for you to update and complete?

3. This contest is different so I assume there will be only 1 winner this time, is that correct?

June 1st seems like a long time. But I guess it will give me plenty of time to fully optimize the site before the contest ends. I wish everyone the best of luck and hopefully we'll see a lot of great submissions.

depending on the answers to the @EVO's questions i may also participate.

also is there a limitation in the tech used? does it have to be PHP?

also what kind of environment will it work in? (Linux/win is it possible to install additional stuff?)

Hey Guys,

I am actually a tier two technician for a webhosting company called Nexcess.net.

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but I can't stress this enough.

DO NOT USE WORDPRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I deal with a ton of "hacked site" issues every day and nine times out of ten its a Wordpress site that has been hacked. The issue is that people forget to take security seriously and will forget to do things like updating their CMS or their updating their plugins. When hackers find these vulnerabilities Wordpress usually releases an update to deal with the issue, however many times their updates will just make new vulnerabilities. If you guys have any questions let me know, I love 3DGS and will contribute to this idea in any way I can! BTW, I have my own dedicated server so if you would like I could create a public VPS sandbox for you guys to test stuff in.

EDIT2: We could even redo the site using a platform like Magento if JCL allowed it. He could have direct integration of his payment platform in his site.

I agree with exile on the WordPress issue, but I also trust George's qualified experience as admin. Those vulnerabilities can be overcome with proper management. However, if you are building a WordPress AU site, take George and exile's advice and optimize it's design to help avoid these issues. (Fewer WordPress plugins if possible)

As for magento : There are many options available that allow the same shop integration. Conitec currently uses shareit to sell their products. I personally use fastspring. These companies and many others give the same features of using their api to create custom shop pages and checkout systems that will be just as effective in selling commercial products as magneto.

@EVO, I agree. I just mentioned Magento to be used as an example as there are truly a lot of different ecommerce platforms and plugins to consider. And I do think that the best idea would be to not try and re-invent the wheel so to speak.

As previously mentioned, if you or anyone else needs any help with anything please feel free to contact me. I truly love this community and i want to do anything I can to help us grow together Who knows, maybe one day A8 will go open source and be a community driven engine.

As Quad mentioned, what kind of environment is the site hosted on? Should we adhere to any specific coding standards? What other languages are we allowed to use? Are we going to be sticking to Wordpress or are we allowed to use other CMS platforms?

This has me really excited guys! lol, sorry for sounding like a pest

This is great news! It seems that the new Acknex Unlimited page certainly be born
Please guys do not forget to create more subgroups like:
That is the biggest problem current AU page, because we should list and serach and list until our eyes do not turn into red.
@txsemi: Your page works perfect but it still needs more work on the design. Also I think we do not need frame with Archives. It would be better that there are links for subgroups.
@EVO: Show us what you've got so far to see did you are on the right track

@jcl2 Yes, I know. That's why it will not be a candidate.