ZapX Engine Features
Let's go over some of the basic and more advanced features of the ZapX application.
Twitter Integration
Yes, we have Twitter support! The application will tie into a given Twitter account, and then before we start overloading people with messages, we ask them to follow us. This shows that they're actually in control of the account. Neat huh?
For Members who do not have Twitter accounts, we simply display their name in the status update.
When it's an anonymous submission, we note it as such.
Twitter support can be enabled or disabled system-wide through the control panel.
Vanity URLs
If enabled (this can be set for both registered and unregistered users) users can specify a vanity url to get. Unlike some other systems, when there is a collision, we simply add an incremental to the url and give the user that. Easy as pie!
Password Protected URLs
Configurable in the same way as Vanity URLs, you can give your users the option to password protect their shortened urls.
Feeds - RSS
An RSS format feed is provided. It can be enabled or disabled through the control panel.
User Accounts
User accounts provide a way for members to track their url statistics, remember what other urls they have generated, and much more.
reCAPTCHA Integration
We provide integrated reCAPTCHA support. It can be enabled or disabled system wide, and has a number of points where you can require it:
- User Registration
- Anonymous URL Submission
- Member URL Submission
- Anonymous Contact Form Submission
- Member Contact Form Submission
As we expand our features, we will also keep in mind other areas to add reCAPTCHA options.
URL Format
We use a special set of code to generate our urls. In the way we generate them, most urls will be between 4 and 6 letters and numbers. In fact, you would need to have over 200,000 url submissions (a day!) to go into 7 character combinations!
We also included an allowed protocol list. This lets you tailor your installation to accept only the urls you want accepted.
End-User Tools
You can see on the side, our templates include the code needed to set up some Bookmarklets to let your website users easily use your service.
Contact Form
Part of maintaining an effective website is to get feedback from your users. With our built in contact form, this has never been easier.
You can enable or disable the form, enable an auto-response email to be sent back, and set your own custom text for that email, along with defining the email address that the message comes from.
Preview Management
We have built in support for preview overrides. A visitor can come to the site, go to Preview Management, and opt-in to always preview a url on your site before continuing on to the destination. This helps those paranoid types who don't like being flung about the Internet all willy-nilly like.
Posting Assistance
The URL Submission Confirmation page offers several different links, ready made:
- Just the short URL
- Short URL with long preview option (/preview at the end)
- Short URL with short preview option (/p at the end)
- BBCode short URL
- BBCode short preview URL
- HTML short URL
- HTML short preview URL
Intelegent UI
Part of the framework includes passing along hints as to which text box should have focus. It's not always perfect, but for the most part your users will end up ready to type in what they need to, right away!
Easy and extensivle templates
Our template system was a careful development to ensure maximum simplicity when integrating your design into our system. With simple wrappers, and the easy ability to override default content templates, maintaining and upgrading has never been easier.
The Usual Features
We also provide password and username recovery, as well as a remember me option to make it even easier for Members to use your site.