MonoTalk

A modern, framework-free PHP forum with a Reddit-inspired interface. Lightweight, easy to deploy, and ready for free hosting (e.g. InfinityFree).

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Table of Contents

• Features
• Tech Stack
• Requirements
• Installation
• Configuration
• Project Structure
• Usage Guide
• API Endpoints
• Adding News
• Contributing
• License

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Features

Core

• User system — Registration, login, sessions (password hashing with password_hash)
• Posts — Create, view, edit; title, content, category
• Comments — Threaded under posts
• Likes — For posts and comments
• Categories — Games, Programming, Memes, Discussion, News (configurable via JSON)
• Anonymous posting — Option to post or comment without showing username

Discovery

• Search — Full-text search across post titles and content
• Sorting — Hot, New, Popular, Discussed
• Category filters — Browse by topic

User Experience

• Profiles — View own and other users' profiles; avatar (URL or upload)
• Reddit-style layout — Feed with sidebar, vote buttons, metadata
• Responsive design — Works on desktop and mobile
• i18n — Russian and English
• News page — Forum announcements and updates

Other

• Rules page — Community guidelines
• Settings — Language, About section with GitHub link
• Security — XSS protection (htmlspecialchars), basic spam protection, validation

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Backend	PHP 7.4+ (no framework)
Storage	JSON files
Frontend	Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS
Font	Montserrat (Google Fonts)

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Requirements

• PHP 7.4 or higher
• JSON extension (enabled by default)
• Session support
• Writable data/ and uploads/ directories

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Installation

Option 1: Local development (XAMPP, WAMP, PHP built-in server)

1. Clone or download the repository:

git clone https://github.com/your-username/MonoTalk.git
cd MonoTalk

2. Start PHP built-in server (if needed):

php -S localhost:8000

3. Open http://localhost:8000 in your browser.

Option 2: Web hosting (InfinityFree, 000webhost, etc.)

1. Upload all files to your hosting htdocs or public_html folder.
2. Set permissions 755 (or 775) for data/ and uploads/.
3. Create empty uploads/avatars/ folder.
4. Open your site URL in a browser.

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Configuration

Edit includes/config.php:

// Base URL — use '/' for root, '/MonoTalk/' for subfolder
define('BASE_URL', '/');

// Upload directory (usually no need to change)
define('UPLOAD_DIR', __DIR__ . '/../uploads/');

// GitHub repo URL (shown in Settings → About)
define('GITHUB_URL', 'https://github.com/your-username/MonoTalk');

Subfolder installation

If the forum runs in a subfolder (e.g. yoursite.com/forum/):

define('BASE_URL', '/forum/');

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Project Structure

MonoTalk/
├── index.php           # Main feed
├── post.php            # Single post view
├── create.php          # Create post
├── login.php
├── register.php
├── welcome.php         # Post-registration welcome
├── profile.php         # User profile (own or other)
├── search.php          # Topic search
├── news.php            # Forum news
├── settings.php        # Settings (General, About)
├── rules.php           # Community rules
│
├── api/                # API handlers (JSON responses)
│   ├── login.php
│   ├── register.php
│   ├── logout.php
│   ├── create_post.php
│   ├── add_comment.php
│   ├── like.php
│   ├── update_profile.php
│   ├── set_language.php
│   └── seen_welcome.php
│
├── includes/
│   ├── config.php      # Configuration
│   ├── db.php          # JSON storage helpers
│   ├── auth.php        # Sessions, user helpers
│   ├── functions.php   # Common functions
│   ├── lang.php        # Translations (RU/EN)
│   ├── header.php
│   └── footer.php
│
├── data/               # JSON storage (must be writable)
│   ├── users.json
│   ├── posts.json
│   ├── comments.json
│   ├── likes.json
│   ├── categories.json
│   └── news.json
│
├── assets/
│   ├── style.css
│   └── script.js
│
└── uploads/            # User uploads (must be writable)
    └── avatars/

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Usage Guide

First run

1. Open the site and click Register.
2. Create an account (username, password, optional email).
3. You are logged in and redirected to the welcome page.
4. Use Create post to add your first topic.

Categories

• Games — Gaming discussions
• Programming — Code, tech, dev
• Memes — Humor
• Discussion — General chat
• News — Announcements

Categories are defined in data/categories.json and can be edited.

Profiles

• Own profile — Via navbar dropdown or direct link; edit avatar here.
• Other profiles — Click any u/username link in posts or comments.

Search

Use the search bar in the header. Minimum 2 characters. Searches titles and post content.

Language

• Click the RU/EN button in the header.
• Or change it in Settings → General.
• Preference is stored in a cookie.

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API Endpoints

All API endpoints expect POST (unless noted) and return JSON.

Endpoint	Purpose
api/login.php	User login
api/register.php	User registration
api/logout.php	Logout (GET)
api/create_post.php	Create post
api/add_comment.php	Add comment
api/like.php	Toggle like (post/comment)
api/update_profile.php	Update avatar
api/set_language.php	Set language (GET)

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Adding News

Edit data/news.json and add a new object to the array:

{
  "id": 4,
  "date": "2025-03-21",
  "title_ru": "Заголовок на русском",
  "title_en": "Title in English",
  "content_ru": "Текст новости на русском.",
  "content_en": "News content in English."
}

Use a unique id and valid date (YYYY-MM-DD). News is displayed in reverse order (newest first).

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Security Notes

• Passwords are hashed with password_hash() (bcrypt).
• Output is escaped with htmlspecialchars() to reduce XSS risk.
• Basic rate limiting for create post and add comment.
• data/.htaccess blocks direct access to JSON files.
• Avoid exposing data/ and uploads/ directly.

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome.

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature).
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature').
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature).
5. Open a Pull Request.

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License

This project is open source. Feel free to use, modify, and distribute it.

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Acknowledgments

• Google Fonts — Montserrat
• Inspired by Reddit's layout and feed design