Creating your website

[Darrcon]

So just curious I see a lot of hype these days for the Word Press or Joomla web page scripts. I have not personally ever used either although I see on the site that word press gets more praise. Back in the day I did try out PHP NUKE and well it was interesting to have a site that was more interactive then just a flat out HTML based site. I also know that there are still people out there building from scratch. So to site i want to build is well not easy I want to get my name out there as a graphic and web designer although I know I need to expand my knowledge base in wed design some to be more successful. I also love forum communities and want to have one. I know that is a lot more work placed on myself but the forums are what really got me hooked on the internet when I was younger and are special to me, So the issue that I have now is the community I want to make is on based on the "post-to-play" style because I have always been very into the MMORPGs and I have a large imagination. I have seen many of these boards become successful and die.

Okay now to my point combining the two i want to have a website that I can promote both the site I would probably focus more on the design area of the work but I still need area to promote the community and I want them to work in conjunction. The Forum platform I am most familiar with is SMF although I am not going to bind myself to it. So I would like your input as towards what website platform you would use in conjunction with what forum platform.

 

[yusha]

The best option is to serve yourself, The more you code the more you learn. No matter if it takes time. One day you can feel proud about what you coded because you can say, Yes it's my thing. I have created this. And the feeling of satisfaction and happiness will come when you'll see that your thing is using by many peoples around the globe. So don't waste your time on other's works. Stand on your feet, Learn to walk. Believe me one day you will run.

Yusha
Bangladesh

 

[Darrcon]

The best option is to serve yourself, The more you code the more you learn. No matter if it takes time. One day you can feel proud about what you coded because you can say, Yes it's my thing. I have created this.

Yusha
Bangladesh

I don't disagree with you at all that is a goal I have to code my own but I would like to get a site up and running that will at least serve my needs until I get my own works at least to a point that they are not going to be a hindrance on myself and members/guests.

 

[yusha]

Well in that case, you can use Wordpress as you told you care for design. And there are lot of mind blowing templates now a days. And with besides for a forum you can use bbPress which is one of the widely used open source forum scripts by the makers of WordPress.

 

[dxverm]

I'm just trying to understand what it is you are wanting to do with your site. Are you wanting to build a forum that has a bad @ss design that will be used for a discussion based MMORPG? Please let me know I'd like to see if I can help you out with what your looking for.

 

[yusha]

I guess he was looking for some good framework for both Forum and CMS.

 

[Genesis]

I guess he was looking for some good framework for both Forum and CMS.

Agreed. But he is also looking for an alternative to WordPress. My advice would be to go with WordPress because there is so much literature available to support it, however to check up on other experiences so that he can improvise to be a high end user of WP.

I particularly fancy this Website for some really great tutorials on the subject. Beauty of WP is that one can kick off immediately with very little knowledge, and improvise as one moves along.

http://wpapprentice.com/

 

[GigaGreg]

There are lots of framework both php and html, but choice of them is really hard, because some of them are better than the other.

For example Bootstrap is easy to understand and you can implement everywhere.

Also you could use the Joomla Framework if you are into Joomla.

 

[yusha]

Bootstrap is doing a great job, though I'm gonna launch a framework soon. It's in the final stage of the BETA release. You guys can join me into this project if you want. Will post a thread soon after launch.

 

[dxverm]

I was hesitant to go with wordpress because of the experience I had just making a bare php/html website as I did with most the anime websites I developed about 5-6 years ago. I have to say though, once you get the hang of understanding how to theme Wordpress from scratch, it grows on you. Getting your website live is a very quick process, then you can move on to customizing quickly and adding content. I will be using Wordpress for my clients, unless they have specific requests, in the future.

 

[yusha]

Well, most of my clients has specific requests like the last one needed a members panel where members can Register and Login and checkout their account balance which they are depositing every month with an admin panel included to manage all the accounts and that has many form fields like father's name, mother's name, nationality, identity, nominee picture etc. so in that case I needed to build a custom one.

 

[Darrcon]

It is not that i dont want to use word press it is that i dont know.enough about it will it intargrate with a forum platform. I was more wondering what platforms fit well together and intergrgate easily. Like if i went with word press will it integrate with SMF or phpbb or what? I guess when the wife gets off the computer i will do some more research.

 

[Darrcon]

Well in that case, you can use Wordpress as you told you care for design. And there are lot of mind blowing templates now a days. And with besides for a forum you can use bbPress which is one of the widely used open source forum scripts by the makers of WordPress.

Sorry I missed this post when I first read through on my phone. thank you Biobeo sounds like those to being made by the same people should integrate well with each other. I will check it out at least until I get back into coding and build my own.

Are you wanting to build a forum that has a bad @ss design that will be used for a discussion based MMORPG?

More then just that I want to have a website that is going to pull some information, what I deem important, to a main page that I will also be using to showcase my graphic and web designs. Also possibly put up packages for orders in the future. Similar to your website but with a little extra due to the community.

I particularly fancy this Website for some really great tutorials on the subject. Beauty of WP is that one can kick off immediately with very little knowledge, and improvise as one moves along.

http://wpapprentice.com/

Thank you I am going to check that out.

 

[Genesis]

It is not that i dont want to use word press it is that i dont know.enough about it will it intargrate with a forum platform. I was more wondering what platforms fit well together and intergrgate easily. Like if i went with word press will it integrate with SMF or phpbb or what? I guess when the wife gets off the computer i will do some more research.

It sounds a bit strange that you would want to integrate a blog with a forum. It probably can work, but I'd keep it simple by having the blog and forum separate with a home page that would link up with both. I.e. I'd make the forum a sub-domain from a Home Page .... forum.name.com and the blog blog.name.com. I'd then run feeds of both on the Home Page. The Home Page would give you a chance to create a theme for both.

 

[dxverm]

I have found that Wordpress can act as a CMS and can be integrated with some forum scripts through plugins. If you are knowledgeable enough with php you can write your own plugins for wordpress that will do what you need it to. I can say that for wordpress you can modify it for selling products and I can help you with that when the time comes. I have used SMF before as well and believe you can integrate with forums using plugins as well if I do remember correctly.

 

[Genesis]

That I understand completely. What I can't understand is why you would want to integrate the two?

 

[dxverm]

That I understand completely. What I can't understand is why you would want to integrate the two?

Possibly to allow users to sign up for the forum and be able to manipulate a user cp from the main website as well apart from the forum. A lot of old anime websites used to have this certain "php script" that would integrate the front end website with either vbulletin or phpbb to allow a user to only have to sign up once on the front end website and be able to take advantage of services provided by the front end website as well as use that same login information to access the forums. As well as allow the webmaster to post news updates in the forum and have them displayed automatically on the front end portal of the websites news section.

 

[Darrcon]

That I understand completely. What I can't understand is why you would want to integrate the two?

Possibly to allow users to sign up for the forum and be able to manipulate a user cp from the main website as well apart from the forum. A lot of old anime websites used to have this certain "php script" that would integrate the front end website with either vbulletin or phpbb to allow a user to only have to sign up once on the front end website and be able to take advantage of services provided by the front end website as well as use that same login information to access the forums. As well as allow the webmaster to post news updates in the forum and have them displayed automatically on the front end portal of the websites news section.

Exactly. More for the ease of the users, and for a fact that I want it to feel like one site that flows together and not two separate sites by me.

 

[Genesis]

OK that makes sense, I understood it different in that the blog would be part of the discussion forum. It's probably something like Hotmail and Google with their many platforms. If one signs in for one, they all are integrated in a way.

 

[dxverm]

What your looking for specifically Darrcon is not attainable. I have tried so many times to get the webmasters of those anime sites to sell or give me that script that would do all that and none have ever caved because they spent so much money for the script to be developed. I too have looked for something similar to this with the newer scripts today like wordpress/smf/joomla. The best I have found is a bridge plugin for Wordpress and MyBB that allows the webmaster to make blog posts and have them posted at the same time in the News and Updates section of the forum, but no cross-user database integration. Your best bet would be to either pay someone to develop a CMS with forum integration or learn to develop in php/mysql and write the script yourself or design a plug-in for Wordpress that does what you need.