1
peterr
Will XOOPS suit my needs ?
  • 2004/8/5 9:36

  • peterr

  • Just can't stay away

  • Posts: 518

  • Since: 2004/8/5 9


Hi,

Having installed/used Drupal, Mambo, phpnuke, phpwebsite, and also looking at many other CMS's and what they do, I've now come to see if XOOPS will fill my needs. Hopefully it will.

Here is a brief overview of what I would like:

1. PHP/MySQL driven product

2. GNU/GPL

3. Various template and theme choices

4. Easy to configure and 'admin' (menu changes, content changes)

5. The product will NOT be for a community, although I would like to add a Forum and Help Desk

6. The product is for an 'internet business', as I do web hosting and domain name reselling, so the website will need to simply display the hosting plans, features in the plans, prices, and any domain name details. It's not essential that the product can do this initially, as I can add the necessary tables and PHP to pull the data from the db, for display purposes.

7. SEF (Search Engine Friendly) URL's, and any menu links to display, if possible, the (simple) link, like hosting.php, not some big, great long URL like I see in so many other CMS's.

8. I need to be able to manage the content easily, so that it fits within the framework (template/layout) of the product, and if possible add PHP content within the template (something a lot of the other products can't do).

9. Possibility of me designing my own templates, and also use CSS if I can ??

Hope I have covered everything. Even if XOOPS has loads of other features, and I can simply 'disable' them, or turn them off easily, that's okay.

Will XOOPS do the job ??

Thanks, :)

Peter

2
brash
Re: Will XOOPS suit my needs ?
  • 2004/8/5 10:17

  • brash

  • Friend of XOOPS

  • Posts: 2206

  • Since: 2003/4/10


I can't see XOOPS not being able to meet any of those needs. THe only one I'm not really 100% on is question number 7. There is a short URL's hack, but I have not given it a go myself yet. Even if all else fails you could simply use a URL rewrite tool to do this.

3
metropolis
Re: Will XOOPS suit my needs ?
  • 2004/8/5 11:07

  • metropolis

  • Not too shy to talk

  • Posts: 159

  • Since: 2004/7/15


I am not sure about point 8.

A content management module does not belong to Xoops' core modules. There may be 3rd-party-modules that can do this (I myself am relatively new to Xoops), but I was a bit disappointed when I found out, that XOOPS has (in this aspect) the same lacks as PostNuke or PHPNuke.

BTW: PHPNuke is *not* something you should consider. It is not published under the GPL and the code is chaotic and full of security holes!

4
peterr
Re: Will XOOPS suit my needs ?
  • 2004/8/5 12:02

  • peterr

  • Just can't stay away

  • Posts: 518

  • Since: 2004/8/5 9


Hi,

Quote:

brash wrote:
THe only one I'm not really 100% on is question number 7. There is a short URL's hack, but I have not given it a go myself yet. Even if all else fails you could simply use a URL rewrite tool to do this.


Yes, no doubt a mod_rewrite will do the trick. I see in the website mentioned in your post (sig) has the menu links just like I need, either just the path name or ..../submit.php

What I didn't like about Mambo, was how the links appear in the left nav menu, see here a test site:

http://jehoshua.net/index.php

as you can see, the big long URL's, and although you can make the links SEF in Mambo, then if I use a 'mambot' to wrap the template around PHP code, then I can't use the SEF part/module, apparently. :(

So, if the website mentioned in your sig (no doubt your site, looks good, ... a fellow Aussie I see), is all XOOPS, the way the links appear in the menu on that site is _just_ what I need in point 7.

Thanks, :)

Peter

5
peterr
Re: Will XOOPS suit my needs ?
  • 2004/8/5 12:13

  • peterr

  • Just can't stay away

  • Posts: 518

  • Since: 2004/8/5 9


Hi,

Quote:

metropolis wrote:
I am not sure about point 8.

A content management module does not belong to Xoops' core modules. There may be 3rd-party-modules that can do this (I myself am relatively new to Xoops), but I was a bit disappointed when I found out, that XOOPS has (in this aspect) the same lacks as PostNuke or PHPNuke.


Well, being able to do that would have been nice, but I don't mind changing content in PHP files, if that's the way that XOOPS does it. There will be, after the initial setting up, probably very little content change, in terms of 'text', only changes to hosting plans, prices,etc, which I would hope to maintain in the db. When I check out other XOOPS sites though, I do see content (text/images) in the form of what appears to be 'news' related content, on the front page. That type of thing would be good, I assume it's standard with XOOPS.

Quote:

metropolis wrote:
BTW: PHPNuke is *not* something you should consider. It is not published under the GPL and the code is chaotic and full of security holes!


I did also install/try PhpNuke, and found it harder to 'drive' than Mambo, and only today saw that the last version was sometime in 2002. Found a great site that does comparisons on CMS's at http://www.cmsmatrix.org

Security holes I don't need, simply because I'm still a novice at learning PHP and how to make it 'tight'.

Thanks, :)

Peter

6
theprof
Re: Will XOOPS suit my needs ?
  • 2004/8/5 13:51

  • theprof

  • Quite a regular

  • Posts: 225

  • Since: 2004/7/14


I think XOOPS can do everything you need...

Honestly though,....Mambo I have seen has WEB HOSTING templates/themes that are spectacular...for Free....
and also has a CSS Module, that makes designing your own template much more user friendly.....

I see it as ...Xoops is a better portal/community based CMS and Mambo May have the best feel for businesses...


7
theprof
Re: Will XOOPS suit my needs ?
  • 2004/8/5 14:11

  • theprof

  • Quite a regular

  • Posts: 225

  • Since: 2004/7/14


Another thought though..when it comes to picking a CMS..is the COMMUNITY itself...

I have been on PostNuke, Mambo, MaxDev, phpnuke

XOOPS is the BEST community! PERIOD!

The forums stay active, you can usually find an answer to something in less thna 10 minutes...

On Postnuke = Dont stay by your PC waiting for a reply...

MaxDev= Only 2 people that can really help out...considering the CMS is only a year old. and most of the developers DONT know english....

Mambo= Pretty much the same as PostNuke, but there are people who are willing to help and advise...

phpnuke....ummm

theprof

8
peterr
Re: Will XOOPS suit my needs ?
  • 2004/8/5 23:34

  • peterr

  • Just can't stay away

  • Posts: 518

  • Since: 2004/8/5 9


Hi,

Quote:

theprof wrote:
I think XOOPS can do everything you need...


Good, I'm going to uninstall the Mambo and hopefully install XOOPS today. However, I think Mambo may suit the needs of some other people, so whilst it won't totally suit me (hopefully XOOPS will), it may serve others needs.

Quote:

theprof wrote:
Honestly though,....Mambo I have seen has WEB HOSTING templates/themes that are spectacular...for Free....
and also has a CSS Module, that makes designing your own template much more user friendly.....


Yes, that was what attracted me to Mambo, because I'm lousy at web design and okay at cutting code. I needed something that had good/free templates, and at last count, I had found well over 30 free ones for mambo; I'm sure there is more.

Quote:

theprof wrote:
I see it as ...Xoops is a better portal/community based CMS and Mambo May have the best feel for businesses...


Okay, I've seen some 'neat' business websites done in XOOPS though, and I _really_ need more of a portal than a CMS or community based product, so hopefully XOOPS will do the job.

I notice from here:

http://wiki.xoops.org/wakka.php?wakka=WhatCanIUseXoopsFor

Quote:

1.3. What can I use XOOPS for?

XOOPS can be used as a reliable and user-friendly infrastructure for many types of small- to medium-sized content sites. For example you could use it for any of the following:

* A small business website
* A company Intranet portal
* A city government or library website (e.g., a city chamber of commerce)
* A local or community activity website (e.g., your local SCUBA divers' or auto enthusiasts' club)
* A site for allowing you and your family to interact and archive their media
* A Windows/Macintosh support site (like WinMac)
* Anything else you can think of.


and my needs are the first one mentioned, just a (very) small web business.

Thanks,

Peter

9
theprof
Re: Will XOOPS suit my needs ?
  • 2004/8/5 23:40

  • theprof

  • Quite a regular

  • Posts: 225

  • Since: 2004/7/14


Oh dont get me wrong, I have seen some GREAT BUSINESS ORIENTED websites done with xoops...what I meant to say..I would only see using Mambo for business only....Xoops can do both.....plus It MUCH easier to manage..and better in security....

I tried to install MAMBO...and I still couldnt...lol...

been trying for 2 days..I just gave up...

But yeah, XOOPS will do the job...The Object Orientation makes it easy for a beginer to modify a site...

if you need help with anything....that I can help with..Im happy to..


prof


10
peterr
Re: Will XOOPS suit my needs ?
  • 2004/8/5 23:56

  • peterr

  • Just can't stay away

  • Posts: 518

  • Since: 2004/8/5 9


Hi,

Quote:

theprof wrote:
..what I meant to say..I would only see using Mambo for business only....Xoops can do both.....plus It MUCH easier to manage..and better in security....


Well, that is good XOOPS can do both then it may suit many needs. For me, all I want to do is 'turn off' (disable ??) all the stuff I don;t need. I see in the ZIP file for XOOPS, there is already a forum (is it called 'newbb' ??), so that is one need addressed, and for the help Desk side of things, I did find this one for XOOPS:

http://www.guanxicrm.com/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?cid=4&lid=8

Some one has modularised ZenTrack, a Helpdesk system into XOOPS.

Quote:

theprof wrote:
I tried to install MAMBO...and I still couldnt...lol...


I can't remember if I had any install problems, I think I've installed so many different products of late, I just automatically create an empty db, upload all the files, a quick read of the 'install' guide, and it usually works. Let me know if you need a hand with that.

Quote:

theprof wrote:
But yeah, XOOPS will do the job...The Object Orientation makes it easy for a beginer to modify a site...

if you need help with anything....that I can help with..Im happy to..


Well, I'm sure a beginner, so hopefully it will be easy. I guess my main concern is for me to be able to add on my own 'bits and pieces', still use the XOOPS db and the connection,etc, but do have some needs to store/display various PHP pages, and hopefully, it will all fit nicely 'within' the XOOPS template.

Yes, I'll certainly ask for help.

Thanks,

Peter

PS The first time I heard of XOOPS was on the Swiftel (Australian ISP) forum.

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