I am here to introduce to you again directory script - OpenLD. This open source directory script is a newly setup project. I believe that it has only been in development for less than a year or so, but it’s feature list is quite impressive. If you are looking for a free alternative to PhpLD or other paid directory script, you should take a good look at OpenLD.

Basically, it has all the important features for a web directory script - the ability to store, arrange and display links into categories, link validation, search function, a powerful administration console, numerous category options, template (theme) support, word censoring, IP banning, domain banning, paypal integration as well as support for different database backend. You can also create SEO friendly URLs, very useful for those looking to improve their Search Engine rankings. However, one of the most important feature is it’s ability to allow extensions (or plugins) without too much trouble or modification to your code. This would be a god sent for those webmasters who do a lot of modifications and are looking to upgrade their script. Usually this is a nightmare for upgraders, wondering whether their mod will break their script.

Although OpenLD is currently not that popular, I think it will gain popularity in time. From my brief trial of the script, it seems stable and relatively fast. I also didn’t face any issue with this script. Of course, the community support for this script is not huge, in fact, it’s pretty small. It’s support forum is rather bare. But everything starts small right? The latest version is now version 1.2. Go give it a try and join the community!