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
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.
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).
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.
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.
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)
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
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
