Other Collaborative/Discussion Board Packages??

mbressman

Hi,

I currently have been using phpBB for quite some time, and have highly modified it to suit the purposes of the Organizations I've set it up for. I, along with most other people (probably) have been eagerly awaiting the release of phpBB 2.2. However, seeing as there is no timeline for the release and I can't wait any longer, I wanted to ask if others had suggestions for similar free collaborative/discussion board packages. Basically, I'd like to find a package thats a mix between phpBB and Microsoft SharePoint, with not only the ability to have discussions, but also the ability to use this package as the backend for an entire dynamic content website. Some features I'd love to have would include a calendar/event system, photo album, portal page, file uploading capabilities, security and permissions, user registration and account system, and searching capabilities (though hopefully somewhat better than phpBB's). Feel free to take a look at my flagship website to see the kind of functionality I'm looking for: University of Rochester Mock Trial Organization (please note that I go more for functionality than I do for appearance, so the aesthetics of this site aren't perhaps as good as they can be).

I've already looked at phpNuke...but it doesn't appear to have a lot of the functionality I want (although I could be wrong about this...so feel free to correct me...I only briefly looked at it), so I figured I'd ask about other software packages. I'd definitely like it to be free, but if you happen to know of a really good one that isn't, I'd definitely like to hear about that too!

Thanks!

planetsim

I dont know of many that offer what you want and any that are free. Ive never used nor seen Mambo but you could take a look at that. Other than that you may have to look at either getting someone to do it for you or finding an existing package you need to pay for.

vaaaska

I was in a similar situation years ago. So I taught myself how to do it. No single package is a do-all - you need to tell the code what you want it to do first.

move3rd

Originally posted by vaaaska
I was in a similar situation years ago. So I taught myself how to do it. No single package is a do-all - you need to tell the code what you want it to do first.

The problem is that if you want detailed applications you can end up spending years developing them. I'm working on an independant music promotion site. Since the most compicated part of the site is the shopping cart I decided to build it round cubecart. It's been 9 months since I started modding and there's still allot more work to be done.

Your not going to find anthing that does everthing you want. Your best bet is to find all the individual applications you need and get them working together.

I dont think it's possible to totaly code what you want from scratch. Well not if you want it up and running within the next few years and to any kind of standard.

planetsim

If someone was asked to make this for just one person this could be done within 6-8months maybe a little longer however it would be a costly thing to produce.

Most of the time would be debugging and fine tuning. Im sure a buggy application could be done withing 3-4months. Then again ive done something not like this but to the scale in 3months which was buggy but usable.

However I do not agree on the fact that getting individual packages to work together is such a wise idea. Especially the amount required in this. There will need to be some sort of frame work or something there that will link things together. And before such can be even thought of you need to go through the code and optimize it (although not required would be a good thing most build for all applications have a lot of crap so it works on many configurations take PHPMyAdmin for example), and understand it. In the end your better off just building it yourself or consulting a programmer to do it for you.

move3rd

Thats 6-8 months for a master like planetsim or a couple of years for a newb like me. (I'm getting better everyday, I'm getting better everyday, I'm getting better everyday 😃 )

planetsim

[apologetic]Sorry didnt mean to put you down I was just saying it is possible. [/apologetic]

Im no way a master at PHP just to get that straight, I doubt there is any here weedpacket would be close, BuzzLy too but i just consider them better then me not masters i dont think anyone can master PHP with it evolving.