Content management systems - UK Business Forums

I'm really getting into this forum. UK Business Forums Free Member ? Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Manchester Posts: 260 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts

Content management systems What is the best content management system out there? I have used wordpress since the launch of my site 18 months ago, and although I really like the ease of wordpress I have never been 100% happy with the functionality of my website as a whole. I have tried for ages to bridge the site with all the different forum software's & shopping carts & never found anything I am truly happy with. All 3 components work brilliantly individually but what I really want is 1 website that offers everything under 1 login. Our website is now becoming really popular, so want to invest in a long term website option. My requirements are... 1, blogging system 2, chat forum 3, shopping cart 4, Facebook connect (1 of my main traffic sources) 5, WHMCS / membership module - we run a magazine so something that could handle magazine subscriptions as well as website membership. Anyone have any experience or advice to offer on upgrading from wordpress ?? __________________ UK's biggest Manchester United magazine

I am part of the furniture here. ...UK Business Forums Full Member... ? Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Woking Posts: 874 Thanked 213 Times in 184 Posts

I think that you are really talking about a custom build. You will find similar 'components' in Joomla & Drupal, but you probably will have the same concerns as you do today in Wordpress. However the custom build costs could be frighteningly large for everything you need compared to the free opensource / low cost components you get with Wordpress etc. Another approach is to identify the specific concerns you have and get a developer to fix them.

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I'm really getting into this forum. UK Business Forums Free Member ? Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Manchester Posts: 260 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts

Thanks roibot, Out of interest, what ball park figure do you estimate for a custom build? Instead of having the whole site custom built would it be better to take existing software which matches most my requirements then custom build the rest? Has anyone used expression engine? http://ellislab.com/expressionengine would this have all the functionality I require? __________________ UK's biggest Manchester United magazine

I say quite a bit around here. ...UK Business Forums Full Member... ? Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Belfast Posts: 586 Thanked 70 Times in 70 Posts

Wordpress/Buddypress/Zencart would sort this out. Quite a lot of recoding needed but can be done and should be a lot cheaper than a custom build.

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Super Moderator UKBF Voluntary Moderator ? Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Gloucestershire Posts: 4,097 Thanked 1,491 Times in 1,250 Posts

I have used EE and it's blooming brilliant but like Joomla and Drupal, it has a large learning curve as it's ultimately a custom built system. It can also get very expensive as modules are chargeable and can be upto $500 for the forum module. A lot of large websites use EE including Vidahost, but they don't use the EE forum module, instead running on Xenforo (which is built by the guys who built Vbulletin) You're never going to find a 100% fit without a custom build, as every websites needs are different and what works for one website, won't work for another. Custom build, estimate would be ?15k + but will depend on so many variables including features, coding language used etc.

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I'm just testing the water here. UK Business Forums Free Member ? Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 5 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post

Quote: Out of interest, what ball park figure do you estimate for a custom build? Instead of having the whole site custom built would it be better to take existing software which matches most my requirements then custom build the rest? For your requirements a custom build would be really quite expensive, it's a lot of work. Hiring someone to link pieces together would be a bit cheaper but it's not going to be without it's issues. With each part being separate and developed elsewhere the updates might be pulling in different directions and you might have to do a lot to keep it maintained. Consider that it's not a completely terrible crime to have separate unlinked systems though. It's not at-all outside the realm of a users typical experience to have to sign up to a website and then separately to it's forum. __________________ That's Brill - Fantastic products curated. For retail therapy or gift ideas. thatsbrill.co.uk

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I'm really getting into this forum. UK Business Forums Free Member ? Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Manchester Posts: 260 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts

Cheers Faevilangel, Why don't vidahost use the EE forum? is it not that good? does the Xenforo forum integrate fully? I'm aware that I still won't get 100% of my requirements but if I could get 90% + I would be really happy. as my site continues to grow I think wordpress is going to be less suitable, so would like to design for the future now. I have my own graphic designer so would only really need to pay for the modules and then maybe someone experienced to do little bits of coding I reckon I could pick up a lot myself. I have a decent sized budget but not enough for a custom build. As a rough guess what would it cost to set up a site with my requirements with EE? and would this meet most of my requirements? Also anyone recommend any other CMS's not yet mentioned? __________________ UK's biggest Manchester United magazine

Super Moderator UKBF Voluntary Moderator ? Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Gloucestershire Posts: 4,097 Thanked 1,491 Times in 1,250 Posts

The EE forum module is kind of limited, it's not developed very much while Xenforo is and is just a better forum out of the box. It's the same for all forum packages, using modules for existing systems, normally means a more limited system while an external script gives you a better system. I haven't used EE in at least 2 years so wouldn't be able to quote as not looked at it for ages, but can put you in touch with someone I know who develops with EE. Cost wise, including buying the system, ?1500-?4k depending again on how many features you want (EE has a lot out of the box).

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I'm really getting into this forum. UK Business Forums Free Member ? Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Manchester Posts: 260 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts

Quote: For your requirements a custom build would be really quite expensive, it's a lot of work. Hiring someone to link pieces together would be a bit cheaper but it's not going to be without it's issues. With each part being separate and developed elsewhere the updates might be pulling in different directions and you might have to do a lot to keep it maintained. Consider that it's not a completely terrible crime to have separate unlinked systems though. It's not at-all outside the realm of a users typical experience to have to sign up to a website and then separately to it's forum. Cheers that's brill, yeah I have seen a lot of decent websites that run a different forum. As I would eventually like to make my website a membership service, I would prefer to have it all the same if poss? that way I can restrict parts of the site & forum for paid members. __________________ UK's biggest Manchester United magazine

I'm really getting into this forum. UK Business Forums Free Member ? Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Manchester Posts: 260 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts

Quote: The EE forum module is kind of limited, it's not developed very much while Xenforo is and is just a better forum out of the box. It's the same for all forum packages, using modules for existing systems, normally means a more limited system while an external script gives you a better system. I haven't used EE in at least 2 years so wouldn't be able to quote as not looked at it for ages, but can put you in touch with someone I know who develops with EE. Cost wise, including buying the system, ?1500-?4k depending again on how many features you want (EE has a lot out of the box). This sounds more in the ballpark I was looking at, yeah would be great if you could put me in touch. __________________ UK's biggest Manchester United magazine

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