July 14, 201115 yr Hi. I currently run a small web site, based around a forum (phpbb). But, its just big enough to require a lot of work and time, but not big enough to be 'successful', so I am looking to expand it. I want to progress onto a CMS. I looked at a few sites for inspiration, and they all came back to the same CMS system - vBulletin. Then, I looked at the price! So, I am looking now at the free CMS systems. The features that I really want are: - a strong, fully functional forum (mods, moving threads, customisable, attachments, polls, subcategories, etc) - front page news, including publishing articles simply to front page, and publishing forum threads as news - customisable resources, so that I can decide how many sections/headings, and subsections, etc I would also really like to have: - blogs - rss feed - image galleries and document upload/download And, if possible, a wiki and chat function. I know that this is asking a lot and not wanting to pay for it, so I know that I will need to compromise. Right now, I am not so interested in WordPress or Joomla, and Frog looks too simplistic, but I am looking at PHP Fusion, MODx, Drugal or SilverStripe. Can anyone recommend either a freeware CMS system (which is secure and stable) that ticks most of the boxes above, or comment on any of the systems that I am looking at in terms of whether they are a good or bad fit? Thanks.
July 14, 201115 yr Why are you not interested in WP or Joomla? They're arguably by far and away the best free CMS out there.
July 14, 201115 yr Author I have heard negative things about these two. For Joomla it was that it needed a lot of plugins to get anything done, and while the basic system was free this wasnt so for the additions. I have also heard that the admin interface for Joomla is irritating. Are these things not true? Thanks in advance.
July 14, 201115 yr Any CMS requires plugins or the user requires some good development skills, all the plugins on the site I mentioned above were all free. I wouldn't use WP for anything bigger than a blog because of the way it is designed around one stream of content.
July 14, 201115 yr Author Many thanks. I am fine working with plugins, I just read a negative couple of comments on Joomla online (I have been digging around to try to find them, but they are lost to me now). Are there any CMS that stand out as having the best forum functionality, or are they all pretty much standard these days? Thanks.
July 14, 201115 yr I expect with most CMS (I know this is true about Joomla) you can bridge to a normal forum. So you can still use a good forum like phpbb and just have the CMS match all the usernames.
July 14, 201115 yr I wouldn't use WP for anything bigger than a blog because of the way it is designed around one stream of content. That may be your opinion...but I find it misinformed. There is not just one stream of content, Wordpress gives you the ability to create as many "streams" as you like, with as many Taxonomy's as you like. You can then style them as you like, and have them function however you want. In fact, I can add a new "stream" to Wordpress in about 5 seconds flat. Wordpress powers some of the biggest and most complex websites in the world - it couldn't do that if it was only suitable for blogs.
July 14, 201115 yr Author I expect with most CMS (I know this is true about Joomla) you can bridge to a normal forum. So you can still use a good forum like phpbb and just have the CMS match all the usernames. Thanks for your patience. Do any CMS include the ability to publish news to the front page from a forum thread? If so, I assume that this wont integrate with the third party forum if used? Thanks.
July 14, 201115 yr Try Joomla with K2 - http://getk2.org/ There are various forum bridging components for Joomla listed on the Joomla extensions site. Worth pointing out that unless you build your own custom CMS or (hire someone to build it), you're never going to get the 100% functionality that you desire. You just have to settle for almost what you want.
July 14, 201115 yr That may be your opinion...but I find it misinformed. There is not just one stream of content, Wordpress gives you the ability to create as many "streams" as you like, with as many Taxonomy's as you like. You can then style them as you like, and have them function however you want. In fact, I can add a new "stream" to Wordpress in about 5 seconds flat. Wordpress powers some of the biggest and most complex websites in the world - it couldn't do that if it was only suitable for blogs. And how are you doing that, by editing the php? If you are not then please share.
July 15, 201115 yr Author Try Joomla with K2 - http://getk2.org/ There are various forum bridging components for Joomla listed on the Joomla extensions site. Worth pointing out that unless you build your own custom CMS or (hire someone to build it), you're never going to get the 100% functionality that you desire. You just have to settle for almost what you want. Thanks. If I go with Joomla and K2, how many of these would I get: - blogs - rss - posting news from a forum thread - wiki - image storage - document sharing Looking through the Joomla site, most of the blog plugins seem to cost about $60. That pretty much removes it from my short list. So, I am looking now at: - PHP Fusion - Drugal - MODx - TikiWiki - liveSite Unfortunately, the one of these five that has a professional forum is PHP Fusion. liveSite seems to have a lot of high-end functionality, but I dont know anything about it and my gut feeling is that there must be a catch. TikiWiki has a range of functions which are really good, but I have used this in the past and the admin section is complex and difficult to use. Any comments on these five? Thanks.
July 16, 201115 yr And how are you doing that, by editing the php? If you are not then please share. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/custom-post-type-ui/ http://plugins.elliotcondon.com/advanced-custom-fields/
July 16, 201115 yr They are nice plugins and the first one will be very useful on a current project. My main gripe with WP is that it needs a plugin or hacking to have things I feel are fundamental to a CMS. So for a big project I'd much rather use a CMS that works with sections and customisable category pages right off the bat. I feel i'd rather use Joomla then turn WP into Joomla, I may well change my tune in the future but for now i'm far more comfortable using a car on the road and a boat in the water.
July 17, 201115 yr So, I am looking now at: - PHP Fusion - Drupal - MODx - TikiWiki - liveSite Any comments on these five? I can't speak for the other cms, but Drupal has a FORUM built in. To see it in action, go to the Drupal.org forum itself: http://drupal.org/forum As for the other features mentioned, Drupal has them all for free: - Blog: built-in, http://drupal.org/project/wp_blog , etc... - RSS: built-in, http://drupal.org/project/feeder, http://drupal.org/project/rss_feeds_block , etc... - Image gallery: http://drupal.org/project/gallery, http://drupal.org/project/media_gallery , etc... - Image storage: built-in, http://drupal.org/project/storage_api , etc... - Document and file upload/download: built-in, http://drupal.org/project/uploadedfilesmover , etc.. - Document management: http://drupal.org/project/document , etc... - Wiki: http://drupal.org/project/wikitools , etc... - Chat: http://drupal.org/project/chatroom , http://drupal.org/project/envolve_chat , etc... - Posting news from a forum thread: built-in - Creating custom theme or porting a design to theme: http://drupal.org/project/adaptivetheme , etc... Drupal has more than 10,000 modules and 1,000 themes to use for just about anything.
July 17, 201115 yr Author I can't speak for the other cms, but Drupal has a FORUM built in. To see it in action, go to the Drupal.org forum itself: http://drupal.org/forum As for the other features mentioned, Drupal has them all for free Many thanks. You have just confirmed my last 24 hours searching. It turned up Drupal, but the list of specific module is fantastic. Thanks again. And, I know that Drupal is supposed to be difficult to get into but worth the effort. Edited July 17, 201115 yr by CyberShadow
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