Seeking suggestions ... starting an Online Community

[pmhoran]

Hi ...

I am attempting to start up an Online Community for the municipality in which I live. I have a number of "freelance contributors" lined up ... but am trying to find out which free open source software would be the best to use.

I have installed Post-Nuke, PHP-Nuke, Xoops, phpWebsite, Xaraya and a few others ... but each has their own little drawbacks.

Have been testing various CMS's available for over a year ... and haven't come across "The One" that will satisfy all the needs I have to construct and run the online community. Or maybe I have tried out the best option and just haven't tested it right. Who knows?

Does anyone here have any suggestions on what other free software I might try??? I have run out of ideas

Thanks for any and all suggestions
Peter

P.S. I have set up friends with some of these CMS's ... the ones I felt would best suit their own specific needs. Just cannot find the one that meets my own needs

[pmhoran]

Guess I should give an outline of what I feel the online community needs to include

Sections for History, Genealogy, Police News, Town Council Meetings, Community Events Calendar, etc etc etc.

As part of the Genealogy section ... it will have histories of the founding families in the area, listings of the area cemetaries and a searchable database of persons in the cemetaries with pics of the headstones. A place where members can post anecdotal stories about their ancestors in the area etc.

I want a discussion forum ... and it would be nice to have a Chat Room.

Software must be extremely secure ... secure from hacking, or jerks trying to get member info.

Themes must be easily customizable. Every theme I have encountered in the CMS's I have tried are "too gamer oriented", too businesslike, too drab, too something that is not conducive to what I feel an online community I envision should look like.

A Yellow Pages section - for area businesses to advertise in ... and a Classified Ads section.

A Links section ...

And probably some other stuff I have forgotten to mention.

If anyone knows of a CMS or other free software that might suit my needs ... please suggest it. I will try out anything & everything.

Thanks
Peter

[Grafiti ONLINE]

Maybe you could give it a try to Mambo Open Source CMS. It is very nice, open, extendable and, after all, can look very professional.

If you are skillfull with Dreamveawer, you can build your own template with extensions you can download from Mambo community websites.

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[Exon]

I've used Xoops before, liked it a lot. If you want to be able to demo it Peter shoot me a PM and I"ll give you a link to the site.

[ANMMark]

Peter, is it possible, that they may not suit your needs, because you need more than what they offer?

I know that sounds silly, but it's possible that you want your site to look different, than a standard CMS/portal. You may consider a news application for news and articles, and then simply creating the rest of your site from scratch. While I know you're looking for a CMS, I have found that CMS software typically all looks the same, and building from scratch will get you the custom look, and functionality you're looking for.

• Drupal
• Geeklog
• PHP-Nuke
• phpWebSite
• Post-Nuke
• Xoops

These are some of the better known ones, and are available from Fantastico, in CPanel.

[Grafiti ONLINE]

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Sorry for marketing

[ANMMark]

Sorry for marketing

As long as you've seen the error of your ways, and promise to follow the rules from now on, we won't have to send out the Soprano's on ya.

[pmhoran]

Thanks for the offer John ... but I am currently testing out Xoops

Mark ... you are sort of right ... in a way. It IS the look that "turns me off" most of them. But not necessarily the layouts ... which are all pretty much the same. Most of the CMS's you listed ... I have tried or am trying them now. Drupal & Geeklog ... definitely wrote them off. Both are good programs but not what I am looking for.

I have tried to understand the site design in the other CMS's and the only one I seem to get anywhere with (with any success) is phpWebsite.

Like I said ... each has its benefits and drawbacks. Like ... I have started to develop a site on my domain www.FibroSurvey.com and I will be using PostNuke on it. This one ... I can "make do" with a ready made theme from PostNuke.

I am going to be changing my personal website at www.Merlinean.com and will likely be using phpWebsite for it ... which I am currently testing on www.905Host.org I am fiddling around with the style sheets & templates ... I am having some success but its a steep learning curve for me

The site I am setting up the Online Community on and where I am currently trying to figure out Xoops is www.BWG Online.com. And this is the site I am looking for suggestions for. I have tried making up my own theme for it ... but the brain just doesn't seem to want to grasp what I need to know in order to do it ... successfully. But ... after I posted the original post ... I stumbled across one Xoops theme that I "just might" finally be able to figure out how to modify it

Wish me luck. And again ... thanks for the input
Peter