[pmwiki-users] Meetup? Drupal?
Henrik Bechmann
henrik.bechmann at sympatico.ca
Thu Sep 28 11:41:55 CDT 2006
Crisses,
Thanks for the overview!!
Crisses wrote:
> On Sep 28, 2006, at 9:08 AM, Stirling Westrup wrote:
>
>
>> Yesterday I was at a local club meeting and some folks were talking
>> about setting up a CMS to manage a website for the club. It would have
>> the usual features of news and articles, but they were also hoping to
>> use it to replace meetup.com which they are currently using to inform
>> folks of venue and time changes (of which there have been many).
>>
>> I'm not exactly sure how that would be done in PmWiki, but I suggested
>> that we use it anyway because
>>
>> a) I like it, and
>> b) I figured it couldn't be too hard.
>>
>> I'm thinking that a good solution would use something like FASTData so
>> that folks could register for the newsletter and/or meeting updates
>> (with double opt-in) and use PmCal or similar to display event
>> dates on
>> the site. Like meetup we'd also want user profiles and RSVP
>> feedback for
>> meeting attendance. There was also talk about using the site to
>> manage a
>> discussion list. Does anyone have any suggestions about best ways of
>> doing all this?
>>
>> Secondly, someone else suggested that we use Drupal instead, not
>> because
>> of any particular familiarity with it (as far as I could tell) but
>> because its well known and has a large user base. I've never used
>> it but
>> I've heard its hard to install and set-up and would like to hear the
>> opinions of anyone here who's used it. I'm not really interested in
>> trashing it, but I would like to have some (reasonably) objective pros
>> and cons to put forward before a decision is made.
>>
>> I've agreed to put together a simple demonstration site to show how it
>> might work under PmWiki and I'm interested in any advice folks have.
>>
>
> My primary business is application installation, customization and
> configuration.
>
> I've looked at a bunch of CMS systems. Weighed their pros & cons.
>
> I rejected Drupal because I wanted a business directory once and
> couldn't find a good module for it. That really frustrated me.
>
> I rejected Joomla! (and hence Mambo) because, while their best
> business directory ($99) was ok they have a set number of user groups
> out of the box. Extending to customizable user groups requires
> breaking the package and comes with NO guarantees that other modules
> (purchased or not) would continue to work after. That went right
> into the trash. If ANYONE wants a license for a Joomla business
> directory package I'd be glad to pass on the license at a
> considerable discount and recoup my loss, since I never used it....
>
> I then went to Xoops. I like Xoops. It's not as pretty out-of-the-
> box (Joomla is pretty!), but it's extensible, has multiple groups out-
> of-the-box, tons of plug-ins, and I feel like it's a true free-OSS
> package with the same type of giving community I experience with
> PmWiki. Their package is built with a basic core and EVERY feature
> is a plug-in. You opt to install the features you want. All the
> plug-ins are independent. You don't have to break the core package
> to add an extension (Joomla & oscommerce are guilty as charged!).
>
> I come back after that to PmWiki. I love PmWiki and greatly look
> forward to the day I can give out PmWiki instead of even Xoops to
> paying clients, as a CMS, shopping cart, and otherwise.
>
> I think that FASTData is young, and in spite of how Caveman gushes
> about how easy it is you're looking at more work than you think to
> create the features you want at this particular moment. I've been
> working on http://www.similepedia.com for weeks now -- far outside of
> my deadline -- because PmWiki is changing so rapidly right now and
> I'm waiting on upcoming features to finish the package for my client.
>
> However, you may want to fall back on the stable version of PmWiki
> and features that PmWiki does already have. One forum package is
> broken in the latest releases, but if you fall back to the latest
> 2.1.x stable, you have forums there. Other plug-ins you mentioned
> are stable. If you feel confident about doing user logins with
> PmWiki, go for it, but if not I suggest hooking a tiny external
> newsletter package manager in with something that manages using the
> same data to log in with PmWiki. Or have user logins separate from
> their newsletter subscriptions. A package I evaluated that looks
> good for newsletter management is Koops mailing list -- looks clean,
> small, just does exactly what it needs to to manage a mailing list
> and opt-outs, and nothing more. Simple to plug-in to a PmWiki
> template. That's all you need. Heck, I'll probably hook it in to my
> MySQL sign-on app (which works on the stable PmWiki) eventually so
> that the mailing list & opt out ties directly in with user account
> management.
>
> So, that's my professional recommendation(s) for you. Check out
> Xoops if you're not using PmWiki. If you go with PmWiki, build your
> PmWiki install around stable packages, and upgrade to something
> fancier and with more features when the dust settles and Caveman has
> time to put up some terrific code samples and document things better
> for those of us still scratching our heads.
>
> Crisses
>
> _______________________________________________
> pmwiki-users mailing list
> pmwiki-users at pmichaud.com
> http://www.pmichaud.com/mailman/listinfo/pmwiki-users
>
>
--
Henrik Bechmann
www.osscommons.ca
www.bechmannsoftware.com
Webmaster, www.dufferinpark.ca
More information about the pmwiki-users
mailing list