I've been away since 2014 (release 2.0.7) I'm now fully vaccinated with release 2.0.18. I wanna do something but not even sure where to start looking in the forum. The first thing I want to do is have some sort of Home Page. Not really a portal (whatever that really is) Not really a content management system but something simple where I can explain to potential members what the forum is all about and how to use it. What my forum is all about is a Home Owners Association forum for home owners to communicate. Nothing earth shattering for sure (except the home owners speak three languages but that's something for another day.) I'd like it to be a very light weight integration with SMF, if at all. I like the look and feel of the home page here at SMF because it has the theme of the community forum but my guess is this isn't a light weight integration. Maybe what I'm looking for is something as simple as a web page builder that has an html link to my smf registration/login page. If there's something simple out there in that regard I'd appreciate pointers to that. I looked at Tiny Portal, EzPortal but they didn't look particularly tiny or easy. My guess is that this location for my question is wrong so I'd welcome the powers that be to move it to where I should have put it in the first place. TIA.
I would still recommend a Portal: integration with the forum is simple and very easy. I agree that the options can be a bit overwhelming at the start, but if you invest a little bit of time you will find that it is pretty easy to create the ' homepage' you are looking for.
And once you set it up there is seemless integration with the forum and no maintenance. But hey, if you think it is easier to build a page yourself, go ahead...
Yeah I'm sure you are right. Does anyone know if someone has done an comparison analysis of the different portal mods?
Quote from: wakewatcher on August 17, 2021, 06:39:06 PMYeah I'm sure you are right. Does anyone know if someone has done an comparison analysis of the different portal mods?
There about 3 that are great. I personally use LightPortal, very simple and reliable. TinyPortal is awesome, lots of features but a bit confusing for the noob. SimplePortal to me has the best user experience. In all they're all good front pages. Test them out and pick your winner.
I've never used DreamPortal and ezPortal tho.
My experience For what its worth.
TinyPortal - flexible and my choice. I don't think it's more difficult to use than any other.
EZPortal - more basic but still with plenty of options.
SimplePortal - certainly works but just doesn't float my boat.
Any of them will certainly do what you need or are likely to require in future.
Whichever you choose - and ultimately it doesn't really matter which - a portal is certainly the best means of achieving your objective.
i have to agree with landvlad
I didn't try simpleportal as it's not been updated since 2017
ezportal is nice and it has a lot of already built in blocks for smfhack mods, which I use a lot of
but overall I prefer tinyportal
it takes a bit of getting used to but it's not that difficult
lurkalot saw a post I made asking which portal to use and so pointed me to a demo they had that I could play around with, which really helped when setting it up on my site so I could see how they had their settings for their site
I have tried several and I really like simple portal the best! Too bad its not being supported anymore (but still useable on 2.0+)...I still use it on most of my live sites!
I've been using EhPortal (a remake of simple portal) on several SMF2.1RC3&4 forums but I'm having trouble accessing the webdev site to get updates if any.
And now I'm experimenting with the ezportal and I'm liking it more & more as I play around with it!
They all have some similar & different needs for different people...just gotta get in there and figure out what you like & need...and what you want to do!
That was my two cents! :P 8)
Thanks all. I just got email notifications about these replies. Those would have been helpful before I stepped in it elsewhere.
I use EZPortal Takes a bit to learn it but it have some fantastic features I currently have over 50 pages plus blocks settup to show with specific pages Etc
Quote from: mickjav on August 19, 2021, 12:41:25 PMI use EZPortal Takes a bit to learn it but it have some fantastic features I currently have over 50 pages plus blocks settup to show with specific pages Etc
Yeah EZPortal saved me from using a couple of mods once I figured it out! ;)
This is one reason I love it, The lists are not that big at the moment but are growing daily.
https://www.databasedreams.co.uk/charts/index.php?action=ezportal;sa=page;p=46