Community website: CMS and Forums

bigmack83 · 03-07-2008, 02:51 AM

I have been talking to a few people (here and other sites) and have come to the conclusion that i want to use a CMS for a community based website I am creating. Users will be able to use the forum, get access to pages based on memberships, and be able to give back to the community by creating content and having it published.

I am debating whether i Should use Drupal or Joomla. Drupal seems to be more geared towards community based websites but has a steep learning curve. Where as joomla is easier to use, has more mods but doesnt seem to be as extensible as Drupal. I dont mind learning what i am going to use so even if one is harder to use i am willing to learn it.

Another issue with my website is a forum. I have mostly narrowed it down to using either vBulletin or phpBB. based on either CMS has anyone had any experience on those forums and how they integrate into the CMS's? I have looked into vbDrupal but the versioning is kinda far behind the actual Drupal version (drupal is on 6.1 and vbDrupal is on i believe 5.7) so there are security issues.

Which brings me to another point. Since many people will be posting up things like profiles ther will be a limited amount of personal info on the site so i am also taking site security into account

Since many of the things on my page are membership based I also have to keep in mind the ability to do memberships do grant access to ares of the forums and a given page so even if i do use a CMS and a forum is it possible to intergrate the database (using MySQL/PHP) so if you sign up you have an account in the forum, a profile of some sort and be able to view pages based on your membership/group type. I have looked into these a decent amount somewhat already and want your guys's opinions.

And so Far i am leaning towards Using drupal. Thingking maybe vBulletin but not sure. Either vBulletin or phpbb would be fine. I just want whats going to work best for functionalities sake and security also.

corneo · 03-07-2008, 04:19 AM

I use vbulletin, but it more or less, by itself. Sorry

ryukenden · 03-07-2008, 07:42 AM

I would like to advise vbulletin which looks more professional and good for SEO. e.g famous forums like this forum, DNforum, sitepoint etc... all use vbulletin.

Bernard · 03-07-2008, 08:08 AM

vBulletin version 3.7 is coming soon and is looking to be more and more like a MySpace back end. You may not need much more than vB v3.7. My

bigmack83 · 03-07-2008, 09:42 AM

The only problem i have with vBulletin is that i want to incorporate it with a cms or the rest of my website and the vbDrupal project is far behind on that so it isnt up to date. that is the big breaker for me because i like the power of both vBulletin and Drupal and what can be done with them. But i only want a person to have to sign up one for the forum and the rest of the site. not for each one. but i looked at what 3.7 is going to have, i say very nice.

Bernard · 03-07-2008, 10:28 AM

What functions/features are you wanting from a CMS that is/are missing from vB v3.7?

bigmack83 · 03-07-2008, 02:38 PM

i will have standard web pages along with the forum. I plan to have a shopping cart (well i think vb can do that with mods), i want the users to be able to have thier own profile pages (www.mydomain.com/my_profile), ability to put up content pages based on a given topic, having community based content pages so that others can edit and contribute to that page (think wikipedia how people can edit a page that anyone can create). I am also going to have training based pages in a given area of expertise. theres more but i cant think of them off the top of my head. I want a community driven sight where others can collaborate and work together on a page or discuss topics. The profiles i want them to be able to customise them to an extent. Im starting to think i should make 2 seperate sites and have them "affiliated" with each other but i would still like them to share the same member base (if you sign up with us you will also get an account on our partnership site). that might work better. getting an extra domain is no problem. do you think that would be easier? i mean just to share the customer database between the two sites? vbDrupal isnt as up to date as i would like to be (keeping hackers and spammers in mind and also features in a newer version)

Bernard · 03-07-2008, 03:28 PM

I think vB 3.7 + vBBlog + vBadvanced (and/or Zoints) probably will handle everything you are looking for.

bigmack83 · 03-07-2008, 03:55 PM

yea even tho i really like vBulletin it doesnt offer the community use and customisability that drupal offers. other than the forum it self Drupal can do almost anthing that im going to need. I looked those up and they dont really encompass what im looking for. maybe i should just make them 2 seperate sites...