XOOPS Certified Local Support Site Guidelines

The purpose of this document is to establish guidelines to standardized practices, and provide quality support to all users of the Certified Local Support Sites.

1. All Local Support Sites, to become Certified, should have the desire and means to provide quality, current news and information about the XOOPS CMS.

2. All Certified Support Sites will display an Certified support site badge, as specified by XOOPS.org, on their top page to signify their Certified status.

3. All Certified Support Sites must be placed on a paid hosting server as a free hosting services tend to be unreliable and often shows unwanted ads beyond the webmasters control.

4. No strict guidelines as far as themes go. The Local Support Sites are free to develop their own image as long as the following items are adhered to:
a) The top page should include current news, information and recent forum post accessible by anonymous users. Registration can be required for posting, but the information should remain registration free.
b) No excessive pop up, or pop under adds. These types of adds are very irritating to users and should not be used on a XOOPS Certified Support Site.
c) No more than a maximum of 3 commercial ads per page.
c) Site navigation should be clearly marked (legible fonts, easily understood link titles.)
d) A terms of use and privacy policy should be in place, and adhered to by the site administrators.
e) Graphics should be well optimized, to allow for quick loading of the site by dial up connections. And fall well within the bandwidth constraints of the hosting server.

5. Regular communication about local news, policies, events or issues should be communicated with the XOOPS International Team, or the Marketing Team for action and/or inclusion.

6. A local Ambassador (site representative) should be assigned to frequent the XOOPS.org website to keep abreast with current events, communicate with the International Team, and help transfer the information obtained to the Local Support Site for translation and posting. Additionally there Should be an alternate Ambassador for each Certified Support Site registered to handle the communication if the other is unavailable. XOOPS.org would need current contact information for both the Ambassador and alternate Ambassador from each Certified Support Site.

7. Any locally developed modules, modifications, themes, offered on the local support site, should be communicated to the XOOPS Module or Design Team and/or International Team for possible translation for usage by other nationalities. With the goal of making XOOPS.org a central repository for international distribution.

8. Certified Local Support Sites will not charge a fee for support (or extra support). Donations are fine, but the support is a community effort and should remain free to all users. There shall be no penalties or reduced access to information for non donating members.

9. XOOPS.org prides itself in offering the highest standards of applications and free support. Certified Support Sites should make allefforts to present XOOPS in a positive manner. At times there will be conflicts, or matters beyond anyones control. If an issue comes up that needs to be addressed, please immediately report it to the XOOPS International Team for action. XOOPS.org will address and rectify the issue with the utmost speed (with your help) so that all our users, administrators, and developers will be able to have an enjoyable experience using, learning, and developing XOOPS components.

10. If, for some reason the differences between XOOPS.org and the Certified Support Site cannot be resolved after exhausting all avenues of resolution, XOOPS.org reserves the right to revoke the Certified
status of the support site.

Revision 1: 05.02.2010