Looking for a CMS [Archive]

timryberg

11-30-2004, 07:12 PM

I'm looking for a CMS to run website:

REQUIREMENTS:

* Must be php/mysql based

* For a site driven by the content I will add (as opposed to user diven with the ability to add content)

* Standard users do not need to have the ability to add new content.

* Left side main menu (tree style) site menue with unlimited "levels" and "sub-levels," Must be able to customize this and add MY CONTENT to them as opposed to adding my content to a subsection such as new or reviews) Ideally I could specify my own sections and subsections.

* Customizable templates (minimum must be able to specify colors and add/edit header/footer)

* Main page with updates section (possibly but does not need to be 'blog style).

* Free (prefer GPL or similar)

SHOULD HAVE:

* Ingegration with phpbb (and copermine)

* The users should be able to rate/add comments to content.

* Should be able to link to external content in main menue

WOULD LIKE:

* Quiz, poll,
* guestbook, petition, faq
* fanfic, downloads modules
* "newest content" for general content and/or forum a plus

Please throw out any and all suggestions that meet or come close to meeting thsee requirements.

I've looked at a number of them and typo3 is the closest to what I want but I have been unable to get it running. The intricacies of Typoscript seem to be beyod me, and even if I get it working I am worried that I will accidently break something.

I'm also playing with storyteller.

Thanks

CMI

11-30-2004, 09:46 PM

I'd say roll you're own. Mine is available at http://lightphpcms.sourceforge.net. IT doesn't have those features, but if you wind up doing heavy modding of something, you might as well use it as a jumpstart to developing your own. I have it authenticating against phpBB as well, but nothing official untill the next release or two.

timryberg

11-30-2004, 09:53 PM

lineman

11-30-2004, 11:03 PM

I'm the drupal pimp so I guess I'll give my 10 cents. ;)

Drupal won't do *all* of that out of the box. But it will handle most of that with a few tweaks.

Here's a bunch of related articles some idiot wrote.
http://lineman.net/drupal_uses_part_1.php
http://lineman.net/drupal_uses_part_2.php
http://lineman.net/drupal_uses_part_3.php
http://lineman.net/drupal_uses_part_4.php

CMI

11-30-2004, 11:48 PM

Sadly I am not tech savvy enough to make my own yet, nor likely to be able to mod an existing one yet but I will take a look.

Thanks,

Tim

If that's the case, and Drupal doesn't work for you (I'd reccomend Drupal, too) then you should probably go with PhpNuke, as horrible as it is. Just know that if you use phpBB and/or Php Nuke you are going to have quite a bit of maintianance issues.

lineman

12-01-2004, 05:53 AM

If that's the case, and Drupal doesn't work for you (I'd reccomend Drupal, too) then you should probably go with PhpNuke, as horrible as it is. Just know that if you use phpBB and/or Php Nuke you are going to have quite a bit of maintianance issues.

That does have most of the desired features. I just wasn't going to bring it up. Never expected CMI to do it instead. :)

CMI

12-01-2004, 04:14 PM

That does have most of the desired features. I just wasn't going to bring it up. Never expected CMI to do it instead. :)

I really hate reccomending it but even though its a horrible piece of software, its still the best suited for certian tasks. Its like if you asked "How should I punish my child for talking back?", me anwsering "Should I punsh my child for talking back?", while relevant, isn't what was asked. Besides, if someone wants me to tell them if its a good idea or not, they can pay me :)

timryberg

12-01-2004, 05:44 PM

I really hate reccomending it but even though its a horrible piece of software, its still the best suited for certian tasks. Its like if you asked "How should I punish my child for talking back?", me anwsering "Should I punsh my child for talking back?", while relevant, isn't what was asked. Besides, if someone wants me to tell them if its a good idea or not, they can pay me :)

I've tried PHPNuke and PostNuke in the past and don't like them for one simplke reason: all of my articles are burried under a menu instead of on the main menu. I don't want that. I want a trree style meft menu interface.

Perhaps it would make things easier if I showed you the site O am referring to

http://www.awalktorememberonline.org/

As you can see I have it sort of scattered but have redone the menu in a tree style interface.

Currently this was designed and maintained with DraamWeaver (and some FrontPage for text intensive pages) templates. But that is akward and I keep finding broken links to the buttons and such and have to create a new one in firewiorx every time I need one. I would like to automate much of that and integrate it into a common interface. I have a small group of acticve forum members in the attatched phpBB installation and would like to be able to give them the ability to respond to artickes I have written and use any other modules (e.g a survey, guestbook, whatever) without havint to re-register.

Users do not need to be able to write content at all, nor does it NEED a 'blog.. Ideally I would have three classes of user

standard user (can respond to artciles but can't create)
authors (can write articles but must be approved by admin/editor)
Admin/Editor/Superuser (can configure the site, generatte, edit, and approve content).

Understand now? Also, Nuke is so disorganized (PN slightly less so but still not quite what I'mk lookinng for.

WordPress would work for me except it lacks a lot of features (phpBB integration chiefly among them) and is HTML based as opposed to php/mysql based.

Thanks for all of the input.

Tim

timryberg

12-01-2004, 06:56 PM

WordPress would work for me except it lacks a lot of features (phpBB integration chiefly among them) and is HTML based as opposed to php/mysql based.

Okay I misspoke here let me clairify.

Yes it uses a database but it is still based upon html templates generated when I add content (or so it appears, I'm installing it for a test now) but it's not the same as typo3 and some of the others which the whole thing is stored in a database.

Tim

CMI

12-01-2004, 11:05 PM

You're best bet then would still be Drupal or a Nuke. Either way you would have to customize, but PhpNuke is closest to what you want. It would be slightly harder to customize Drupal to integrate with phpBB, but better end result.

Sorry, but I just don't think you're going to get away without some form of customization. Even then, you're probably looking at $400 worth of work you'd need done.

What features can you make consessions on? (I'd say do a test install of Drupal and see how you like it for comparasin at this point).

By the way, I get a 403 when trying that URL.

timryberg

12-01-2004, 11:42 PM

You're best bet then would still be Drupal or a Nuke. Either way you would have to customize, but PhpNuke is closest to what you want. It would be slightly harder to customize Drupal to integrate with phpBB, but better end result.

None of those allow me to do the one thing that is an absoulyte MUST and that's to put my content onthe main menue not on a submeue. I do not want my articles on a submenue called Articles or whatever

here's an outline of the revised site outline. take a look

http://www.awalktorememberonline.org/new-layout.htm

I just tested it and it views viewable.

Sorry, but I just don't think you're going to get away without some form of customization. Even then, you're probably looking at $400 worth of work you'd need done.

What features can you make consessions on? (I'd say do a test install of Drupal and see how you like it for comparasin at this point).

Not worried about some modding down the road to add some of the extra features but the core must meet my needs.

Take a look at my first post:

MYST HAVE -- these are a must

SHOULD HAVE -- really want but may be negotiable (e.g. copermine)

WOULD LIKE - optional (fanfic module petition module, etc.)

I will probably take a closer look at durpal (I've been playing with storyline and mombo as well as a couple others) but unless I see something in the backend that lets me completely redo the main menu then it won't work for me.

By the way, I get a 403 when trying that URL.

I accidently deleted some files from the old site (I have local copies so no biggie.

Tim

lineman

12-02-2004, 05:36 AM

sonicgroup

12-02-2004, 09:54 AM

None of those allow me to do the one thing that is an absoulyte MUST and that's to put my content onthe main menue not on a submeue. I do not want my articles on a submenue called Articles or whatever

...

Tim

Actually Drupal allows you to post 2 types of content - pages and stories. I'm a relatively new Drupal user, so somebody can correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand, pages can be posted as direct menu links, while stories are posted under categories or under pages.

CMI

12-02-2004, 11:57 AM

You might not be able to get the menu you want automatically generated, but with both Nuke and Drupal you can stick up a menu block that is pure HTML. You'd just have to do the menu part by hand.

eDixon

12-02-2004, 02:40 PM

The beuty of Drupal is that you can just add a 'block' w/ static html, making the menu for you.

Drupal is really the only CMS I use anymore.

lineman

12-02-2004, 04:40 PM

The beuty of Drupal is that you can just add a 'block' w/ static html, making the menu for you.

Drupal is really the only CMS I use anymore.

If what he wants is a dynamic content menu at the top (I'm still lost), that could easily be accomplished in drupal with a little theme editing. Editing the theme's .xhtml file, you could put all the "right" or "left" blocks at the top. Then, you create a block either aggregating your own syndication feed or using something like the articles block (to get it sorted by category).

eDixon

12-03-2004, 02:37 PM

editing the .xhtml can be a little daunting to someone not 'confortable' w/ it. making a new block is fairly simple though, and will usually suffice until someone is ready to edit a .xhtml file.

timryberg

12-05-2004, 07:59 PM

The beuty of Drupal is that you can just add a 'block' w/ static html, making the menu for you.

Drupal is really the only CMS I use anymore.

If I wanted to edit a html/xml file every time I added a page I wouldn't be looking for a CMS to do it for me. I've run unto a number of CMS's that let me edit the menu by hand or create your own but I don't want that :-)

Thanks for the input anyway (FYI this thread is going on three forums so don't feel like you are my only source of advice for this).

CMI

12-05-2004, 09:28 PM

If I wanted to edit a html/xml file every time I added a page I wouldn't be looking for a CMS to do it for me. I've run unto a number of CMS's that let me edit the menu by hand or create your own but I don't want that :-)

Thanks for the input anyway (FYI this thread is going on three forums so don't feel like you are my only source of advice for this).

I think LM's suggestion would work best here. If you put content into different categories based on the menu item you want them to appear under, and create feeds for each that update every few minutes, you'll be able to create the tree-like menus. The only problem with this is things get really complicated if you want more than 2 levels, and you'd have to set things up for each top-level should you ever create more.

The other thing to do is to mix CMS, which is partialy what my CMS was designed for... You can get most of what you want from Drupal, then you can use my CMS's templating to access Drupal's tables and create menus from it. You *might* have more control over the order as compared to the self-syndactaion method, but I can't say for sure as I'm not as familar with Drupal as others are.

eDixon

12-06-2004, 01:40 PM

If I wanted to edit a html/xml file every time I added a page I wouldn't be looking for a CMS to do it for me. I've run unto a number of CMS's that let me edit the menu by hand or create your own but I don't want that :-)

Ah, think my lack of wording may have given the wrong impression. You can make dynamic menus in blocks. I use the simple menu (taxonomy_menu), but there are other modules to let you and pick and choose / customize more.

timryberg

12-14-2004, 01:58 AM

Still looking, so far the best I've found is Drupal (you guys were right, I can do the menu thing with some editing. It's a pain but I can do it).

It suits my needs other than:

* having to manually add pages to the menu system (enough said above so I won't rant)
* no integration (or even import of content) for phpBB, and the developers seem to have no intereste, from what I read on their forums. They have this thing about all new only their own code. phpBB has been successfully integrated into other CMS's (e.g. phpNuke and IntegraMod). Why would it be so hard? (yeah, I'm sure it's harder than it sounds but . . . anyway I could rant forever.)

[Can you believe that they actually suggested that a user just leave the old forum there, make it searchable, and then just use the new forums (deleteing the buttons on the phpbb forum so the users could not post anymore). ]

If that's the attitude of the developers I'm not sure I'm not sure I want to use them anyway?

Anybody have any other ideas? Any I completely mad? I have a "test" install of Drupal on my server

http://drupal.transwarphosting.net/ to play with now.

I was also impressed with Mambo but it does not do what I want.

Tim

CMI

12-14-2004, 02:42 PM

* no integration (or even import of content) for phpBB, and the developers seem to have no intereste, from what I read on their forums. They have this thing about all new only their own code. phpBB has been successfully integrated into other CMS's (e.g. phpNuke and IntegraMod). Why would it be so hard? (yeah, I'm sure it's harder than it sounds but . . . anyway I could rant forever.)
The only reason I've integrated my CMS with phpBB (and *might* be officialy relasing something next release) was because I'm doing a site for someone that requested it. Otherwise, I'd really like to avoid it.

The thing is, phpBB is very buggy. The vast majority of security issues with forum software that I see are phpBB. That doesn't mean it gets the most issues, but it seems like it to me.

Not to sound elitist, but phpBB would "taint" Drupal, as its done for Nuke.

Anyway, it shouldn't be too hard, depending on the level you want. If you want them seperate, but user data and possibly permissions are synced, that shouldn't be too bad.

If that's the attitude of the developers I'm not sure I'm not sure I want to use them anyway?
I can completly understand them not wanting to touch phpBB. There are a lot if issues with mixed code. PhpNuke has issues, phpBB has issues, and the combination of the two has even more issues than they to seperatly.

Anyway, I'd suggest you carefuly look at the minimun level of integration you can live with, and see how much work it would be. I"m sure you could find someone who would do it for cash, but I'm not sure about free.

pascal

12-16-2004, 11:03 PM

Hello,

Few months ago I've created a website ( http://emule-zenzone.com ) for one of my customer and I've used e-xoops, not Xoops but e-xoops. I've made change to both e-xoops and phpBB for they both use the same database (users table).

I'd really like it.

Apparently now it's name is runcms (http://www.runcms.org/public/modules/news/index.php?storytopic=1&storynum=1&start=9)

Maybe it could fit your need.

http://e-xoops.com (or http://e-xoops-fr.com/)

Good luck
pascal

timryberg

12-17-2004, 09:44 PM

Thanks, I'll take alook.

Tim

ximian

12-18-2004, 04:57 PM

Hi timryberg!

I'm developping a cms ;)
It's is a earlly state.. take a look (http://ximian.superihost.com/)! :)

regards
Francisco

timryberg

12-18-2004, 10:14 PM

Hi timryberg!

I'm developping a cms ;)
It's is a earlly state.. take a look (http://ximian.superihost.com/)! :)

regards
Francisco

Thanks, Francisco, this is very impressive looking so far. The menu system appears to be just like Typo3's, and what I was looking for. Keep me updated on your status.

Tim

timryberg

12-18-2004, 10:37 PM

The only reason I've integrated my CMS with phpBB (and *might* be officialy relasing something next release) was because I'm doing a site for someone that requested it. Otherwise, I'd really like to avoid it.

The thing is, phpBB is very buggy. The vast majority of security issues with forum software that I see are phpBB. That doesn't mean it gets the most issues, but it seems like it to me.

phpBB also seems to set the standard for forums (Free ones anyway). I have yet to frind a free one that rivals it in features and performance. vBulleten and Invision Power Board are the only two I have found that come close or beat it and they both cost money.

Not to sound elitist, but phpBB would "taint" Drupal, as its done for Nuke.

Nuke's problems are a lot deeper than phpBB being part of it. For starters the "stock" version was done by ONE person not a team. I don't care how many beta testers you have but on something like and as comples as it is that having a single developer is not a good idea. The clones (PostNukem et al a) all depend on the same legacy code, no matter how much they say they rewrite it. It's not the same as coding from scratch.

[Note: I'm not saying one person should not design a CMS.I'm just saying when one gets as big as Nuke, it's a good idea to add another developer or two. I alsi unserstand that others have written things that he has added, but he's still the one responsible for the core distro.]

Anyway, it shouldn't be too hard, depending on the level you want. If you want them seperate, but user data and possibly permissions are synced, that shouldn't be too bad.

That's exactly what I want: It should run as a module sharing a user table in the database, adding things as needed but having the forum ignore anything it does not need.

I can completly understand them not wanting to touch phpBB. There are a lot if issues with mixed code. PhpNuke has issues, phpBB has issues, and the combination of the two has even more issues than they to seperatly

Perhaps it's because I lack a programming background but I don't understand why this is an issue. We are talking about bridging the two together, not writing phpBB into it to replace it's exisitng features (other than the forum module that is). Durpal lacks many things like email notifications, subscriptions, and a few other things that are available as modules but those modules are NOT part of the distribution.

Anyway, I'd suggest you carefuly look at the minimun level of integration you can live with, and see how much work it would be. I"m sure you could find someone who would do it for cash, but I'm not sure about free.

The thing about open source is that when there is a need, eventually someone will do it. I'm keeping my eyes open. I haven't posted anything on the Durpal boards about this (yet), I just found posts in the forum from other people who want the same thing.

Thank you for the information, though. Goood luck with your CMS.

Tim

CMI

12-18-2004, 11:49 PM

phpBB also seems to set the standard for forums (Free ones anyway). I have yet to frind a free one that rivals it in features and performance. vBulleten and Invision Power Board are the only two I have found that come close or beat it and they both cost money.
Yeah. IPB is very good, and was free if you didn't get support. Recently they started charging for all installs which is a shame.

Nuke's problems are a lot deeper than phpBB being part of it. For starters the "stock" version was done by ONE person not a team. I don't care how many beta testers you have but on something like and as comples as it is that having a single developer is not a good idea. The clones (PostNukem et al a) all depend on the same legacy code, no matter how much they say they rewrite it. It's not the same as coding from scratch.
Yeah, I agree here. But 10 problems in one program + 10 problems in another program often mean 30 problems when they are joined together.

That's exactly what I want: It should run as a module sharing a user table in the database, adding things as needed but having the forum ignore anything it does not need.

This really should be cake. I don't know exactly where phpBB defines this kind of stuff, but it should probably be fairly easy to make it point to a CMS's users table instead. If you go this way I'll dig around a bit and see if I can be of any help.

Perhaps it's because I lack a programming background but I don't understand why this is an issue. We are talking about bridging the two together, not writing phpBB into it to replace it's exisitng features (other than the forum module that is). Durpal lacks many things like email notifications, subscriptions, and a few other things that are available as modules but those modules are NOT part of the distribution.
Office suites, graphics software, etc... isn't part of the distribution of most operating systems ;)

In this case, just having shared users and nothing else, the only relal problem is hoq the different applications perform their queries. You may have to rewrite every query to the user table toaccount for additional fields (Drupal's fields + phpBB's fields)

sonicgroup

12-19-2004, 12:29 PM

timryberg

12-19-2004, 06:18 PM

http://www.simplemachines.org

Thanks Dave. I'm doing a test install now.

smf.transwarphosting.net

Anybody who wants feel free to registr and try it out.

Tim

timryberg

12-19-2004, 06:52 PM

Yeah. IPB is very good, and was free if you didn't get support. Recently they started charging for all installs which is a shame.

That would explain why so many sites still list it as free when its own site says it isnt.

Yeah, I agree here. But 10 problems in one program + 10 problems in another program often mean 30 problems when they are joined together.

True

This really should be cake. I don't know exactly where phpBB defines this kind of stuff, but it should probably be fairly easy to make it point to a CMS's users table instead. If you go this way I'll dig around a bit and see if I can be of any help.

Well if you have the time, I'd appreciate it. I've installed Drupal on the site in question http://www.awalktormemberonline.org and for now have disabled user registration for the CMS and am just allowing registration for the forums. I hate doing this since I am loosing a lot of functionality or being forced to set some things so unauthenticates users have access (not a good idea I know).

Part of the reason I would rather use it as a module is that I am concerned with being able to update phpBB when there are regular updates. Part of the problem with Nuke is that he doesn't update it every time phpBB has an update.

Office suites, graphics software, etc... isn't part of the distribution of most operating systems ;)

:-P

In this case, just having shared users and nothing else, the only relal problem is hoq the different applications perform their queries. You may have to rewrite every query to the user table to account for additional fields (Drupal's fields + phpBB's fields)

huh?
:confused:

LOL

Thanks again,

Tim

timryberg

12-19-2004, 06:58 PM

Thanks Dave. I'm doing a test install now.

smf.transwarphosting.net

Anybody who wants feel free to registr and try it out.

Tim

Holy cow folks, I'm stull exploring the features but from what I can see this has the potential to give phpBB AND vBulletin a run for their money. Check it out.

Tim

sonicgroup

12-20-2004, 08:18 AM

No problem Tim. I've been using it on several production sites and it runs great. Like you said, it's definitely got potential. It has every bit of functionality that phpBB has, and most of what IPB and vB have.

timryberg

12-26-2004, 05:03 PM

Hello,

just to update anybody who is wondering. I am now using Drupal on several sites and overall am very impressed. Thanks to everybody who sent me ideas and opinions. I was also quite impressed with mambo.

For me the biggest things with Drupal are the lack of functionality in the forum (something I can work with for some projects) but I am still looking. It's also frustrating that so many features that I consider standard (notify, htmlarea, etc) must be manually installed.

If anybody finds something better please feel free to let me know. Thanks.

Tim

lineman

12-26-2004, 07:50 PM

Trust me, ALL drupal users are fristrated with the forums. ;)

timryberg

12-26-2004, 10:22 PM

Trust me, ALL drupal users are fristrated with the forums. ;)

Then I'd think they'd be in more of a hurry to update them. I've noticed a LOT of people wanting phpBB/vBulletin integration (because the forums are inadiquate), but nobody actually willing to work on it. :-)

I suppose there always has to be something *sigh*

Thanks again.

Tim

lineman

12-27-2004, 05:32 AM

Yeah, there are a ton of threads on that at drupal's forums. It's probably their #1 flame war. :)

They are working on it, and I think it is a priority in the next few versions. It's still fairly new in that area, though. It wasn't that long ago they didn't even have forums available.

timryberg

12-27-2004, 04:21 PM

Yeah, there are a ton of threads on that at drupal's forums. It's probably their #1 flame war. :)

I've noticed :-)

They are working on it, and I think it is a priority in the next few versions. It's still fairly new in that area, though.

import, yes. but thus far no one wants to integrate. From what I'm seeing anyway. They dont' have the notify module installed on their site so I don't get email responses to their threads I've written in.

On the positive side, I've figured out how to create forums and sup forums and get them working on my test install:

http://drupal.transwarphosting.net/?q=forum

A lot more complicated than it needs to be if youi ask me.

It wasn't that long ago they didn't even have forums available.

That explains a lot.

Thanks again,

Tim

timryberg

01-17-2005, 11:12 PM

The more I explore this software the more impressed I am with the Drupal software, I can see why users use it.

I'm crossing my fingers that they will imporeve the forums in 4.6. 4.5.2 is just a maintinance release.

Tim