1 Topic by poncho1234 (edited by poncho1234 05/06/2018 06:35:40 pm)

  • From: Colombia
  • Registered: 12/29/2014
  • Posts: 627

Topic: We feel that a lot more people should know about FrontAccounting.

joe wrote:

We feel that a lot more people should know about FrontAccounting.

Everyday tens if not hundreds of documents are produced/printed sent to suppliers, customers, accountants, banks, etc using a FA installation – this is an opportunity to directly target potential FA users.
Currently in the default legal text it states www.frontaccounting.com, but this can easily be deleted/changed and the legal text does not appear in all documents
The vast majority of pre-printed invoices etc have the name of the printer/program used on them; so why not FA?
So if we hardcode the following:- 

$this->SetX(15);
$this->SetY(150);
$this->SetFont('helvetica', 'B', 8);
$this->SetTextColor(153, 211, 245);//That’s the blue from FA icon
$this->StartTransform();
$this->Rotate(270);
$this->Cell(0,10,'Generated & Printed by  www.frontaccounting.com Open Source Accounting, Inventory management and ERP for your business', 0, 0, 'C', 0, 'http://www.frontaccounting.com/');
$this->StopTransform();
$this->SetTextColor(0, 0, 0);

Note on script: ‘$link’ in tcpdf seems to be for internal document links, not urls; but most pdf readers will pick www.etc as a link (firefox pdf will not, chrome pdf does). Even if it is not picked up as a clickable link the words are there to be seen.
Also I had to include it in Header, Header2 and Header3 for it to be visible in all documents, is there a way for it to be included in all documents without repeating the code 3 times?

This will print in the left hand margin, this can easily be changed to the right hand margin if required.

If it is used at the bottom it will be viewed as “small print” and most people (yes wrongly) do not read the small print. Also there may be paper feed issues.

On either left or right margin it will stand out as different – font, print direction, size, decoration, and font colour. Which should draw a readers eyes to it.


Developers or code savvy users will debrand, but they will do that anyway: But the majority of users will not.

Users may have custom margins for their documents, so the script results may not appear: But again the majority of users will not.

Edit:-
Also this needs to be translated:-

$txt = '_("Generated & Printed by  www.frontaccounting.com Open Source Accounting, Inventory management and ERP for your business")';
$this->Cell(0, 10, $txt, 0, 0, 'C', 0, 'http://www.frontaccounting.com/');

To be tested

The FrontAccounting Wiki(Manual, examples, tips, setup info, links to accounting sites, etc) https://frontaccounting.com/fawiki/
  • From: Singapore, India, Chennai
  • Registered: 05/02/2009
  • Posts: 6,089

Re: We feel that a lot more people should know about FrontAccounting.

Looking at this from the security point of view, a complete de-branding / re-branding is essential.

Do a Google search for "FrontAccounting 2.4.4 - Login" and it will ferret out all the native FA code based installs. Do that for older (known vulnerable) versions and it might be a security nightmare.

Even if you do what you want to do, make sure there is a flag in the Company Preferences (sys_prefs table) to turn them off without having to wade through the code base. If most will then hide it, the exercise would prove useless.

Popularising FA is best done by word of mouth and through articles / reviews / courses across nations in all languages.

To be truly effective, the Chart of Accounts and Language extensions should be up-to-date and all schemas in synch. Transifex is where I hammer it out.

Also the FA pkg repo should be up-to-date so that the extensions will install correctly and work as desired. In fact, the extension packages were signed for that very purpose.  For now, users are left to manually install from the FA24extensions repo.

apmuthu's Website

  • From: Colombia
  • Registered: 12/29/2014
  • Posts: 627

Re: We feel that a lot more people should know about FrontAccounting.

@apmuthu - This proposal is for pdf docs only

The FrontAccounting Wiki(Manual, examples, tips, setup info, links to accounting sites, etc) https://frontaccounting.com/fawiki/
  • From: USA
  • Registered: 03/26/2013
  • Posts: 93

Re: We feel that a lot more people should know about FrontAccounting.

@apmuthu is right, you open a can of worms if you try to push FA info on documents.

I believe there are several reasons, FA is not the most popular open source accounting script out there, but that's a big/long topic for another post...

  • From: Singapore, India, Chennai
  • Registered: 05/02/2009
  • Posts: 6,089

Re: We feel that a lot more people should know about FrontAccounting.

PDF docs may look unprofessional if they have others branding on it much like a "Trial" watermark on them or "Printed by Big Printers, Timbuktoo" on your visiting cards.

FA is one of the popular accounting packages for simple usage and the need for sufficient familiarity gained through searching forums / wikis etc before one can use it in an advanced manner and best self-supported. The latter is not for everyone though. It is slowly becoming the ERP of choice for the "poor" company and for those dissatisfied with proprietary expensive ones with enormous data lock-ins and recurring charges.

apmuthu's Website