An SMF CMS?

[Mark_Breznay]

Amen!

[bloc]

Amen!

I really don't want the portal as part of SMF either... I mean, SMF is a forum, it should be just that( and excel at it ) . But as a mod its another matter of course....

[roxpace]

I keep my statement that Mambo is garbage, but I have complete understanding with those who likes it. They have small demands of a information resource for example WWW with HTML. If you have long experience of better professional systems and self developed numerous of those you know often how good and bad structures for the user is. But like I said Mambo is like VHS, cheap and doing what it is made for and not much else even with the plugins it's still a pretty static produc for the future.

About the comment to not let SMF be a SMF / Portal or whatever in the future I think I have to agree, but SMF could get developed into a direction where some parts are lifted little outside to be more like an external product, like the login- and usersystem. This could be external and then it would be much more easy for external products to use this also, they would not need any own loginsystem and can share the same which is not very good today, its possible to some limits but not very wise for the future.

[Mark_Breznay]

And Subdreamer is a horror show!
Mark

[fugiFox]

How close r u to a release?
Cos I want to set up a new site and I'm thinking of using the CMSMF.
The only problem is that I have to b finished till end of current month +10days more or less

[Miraenda]

fugi, it is easy to get a copy of TP if you wanted one.  Just go to Bloc's site at http://tinyportal.net/ to ask to be added to the TP beta testers list in the thread at http://www.tinyportal.net/smf/index.php?topic=152.0

I did this about 4 days ago and already have a simple testing site up using it without having spent much time tweaking it to look great:

http://skewed3.com/

[TwinsX2Dad]

Any updates on some form of CMS for SMF?

MKPortal is cheesy. Mambo is nice, but very complicated and the end result does not justify the work to get it there - and the forum support is seriously lacking.

Overall, I do have to agree that Mambo is basically garbage. I've tried to give it many tries, but it ends up being an app which tells the owner what to do and not the other way around.

I don't buy the argument about its popularity - if popularity were a factor, then vBulletin would be considered the best forum package out there (more junk) and Chevrolet would be considered better than Mercedes Benz. Just because there's a million dummies out there doesn't mean I have to be a dummy, too.

SMF is a stout forum offering. If we were to see a good CMS to go along with it, there would be many more takers.

[fugiFox]

TO tell u the truth I'm also disappointed with mambo. I don't think it's garbage but surely many was the time I wanted to throw my PC away (in garbage). Why?
If u ever have u dealed with a mambo problem and  tried to figure out what is going wrong then u know the answer.
Once I had to reinstall it!
Integration of other packages with mambo is really a headache.
On the other hand upgrading or adding a mod in SMF, it's really a pleasure...

[NoRad]

Awe, Mambo isn't that bad. It just has a steep learning curve. I think you guys just don't have the balls to make it work. 

(That is a Joke) I too would like to see an SMF CMS. I'd use it in place of Mambo for sure.

[Mark_Breznay]

Why not make Bloczone's portal the official one?
Mark

[fugiFox]

Awe, Mambo isn't that bad. It just has a steep learning curve. I think you guys just don't have the balls to make it work. 

(That is a Joke) I too would like to see an SMF CMS. I'd use it in place of Mambo for sure.

I'm using it 1 year now and I still have to experiment some times.

@Miraenda: How did u add this nice clock u have on
http://skewed3.com/
Is it HTML,php based? Any links?

[Miraenda]

fugi, I added it in an html block, it is a Flash clock and pretty darn quick for one of those

It is from http://www.adamdorman.com/gallery.php?TableName=flash_clocks site.  He lets you use them on your site for free, although he does want people to email him if they could if they use a clock.  This guy is really talented in designing them.  I did scale it down to 110 x 110 rather than 300 x 300.  You would just upload the clock onto your site and have the path to it in the html block using code like this:

Code Select Expand

<div style="position:relative; top:-25px; text-align:center"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0" width="110" height="110">
  <param name="movie" value="flash/amber_eye.swf" />
  <param name="quality" value="high" />
  <embed src="flash/amber_eye.swf" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="110" height="110"></embed>
</object></div>

I was too lazy to get it to display better by tweaking the size and such, so this is not the best way to do it for sure but a quick and dirty way to get the clock on the site and looking okay there.

[TwinsX2Dad]

Well, okay - it really isn't garbage - just a wee bit of trash. 

Yes, Mambo has a steep learning curve, yet I had it figured out. The add-ons are a headache and too many of them conflict with others.

Many of the templates are unforgiving - unless you use exactly the size image they want you to use, the look is hosed. I know the templates are mostly third party, but still......

We see some really good opensource CMS scripts and we see some really good forum packages - but none together. I want a single look, using a single template/skin/theme without the cheesy feel, operation and look of something like MKPortal. It would be nice to have it all from one developer, so we don't have the feuds like the one currently splitting up Mambo or the tiffs like the one Meo & Co. evidently have against SMF. I guess feuds are the way of the development world, though. They've destroyed many a nice offering in the past.

Oh, one last wish - it should be a CMS and not a portal. While you can make a portal look like a CMS, you can't make it act like a full CMS. Yet you can make a CMS look and act like a portal. Therefore, a CMS would make most happy, except for those screaming for the lower overhead found in a well written portal.

Don't mind me........ I am simply blowing wishes in the wind.   

[gerrymore]

Tiny Portal Rocks, it will be the best for SMF users, it it is not already.

[JayBachatero]

Tiny Portal Rocks, it will be the best for SMF users, it it is not already.

That is very true.  I'm a beta tester and so far im loving it.  its great.

[1MileCrash]

meh, i like using ssi to build my own portal. it's easy and fun, and you can make it look however you wnat.

[Gwydion Frost]

OK, 16 pages of reading later, and now...a guy who only knows the visual design side.

Artistically speaking, I know what I want. Like many others here, it is not to create a carbon copy of what every other website that has forums/portals/CMS's out there.

Kinda why I am partial to FLASH and PHOTOSHOP, and grateful that the two entities managed to get mangled. I only pray that it will bring a better synthesis of the two, versus simply owning your own competition.

I believe in strong, dynamic, stimulating user interfaces for the visitors to my websites.

So, am I seeking a CMS, or a portal, to blend into my forums (which I also want to tweak into their own unique and dynamic visual)?

Recently, learning I can imbed my fonts into css files was illuminating, to say the least. Can't wait to play with that.

I've seen a lot of interesting approaches, and various perspectives on each one.

I'm a huge advocate of open source. What good is a language if no one knows how to "speak" it?

I have found (and am excited by) the simplicity of SMF, the ability to tweak it being easy, the concept of a strong simple skeleton at it's heart making a great foundation upon which to build the meat of the user's needs.

What I would enjoy seeing, is a continuation of this idea...build the strong skeleton which can handle the random assortment of programming that each individual would like to incorporate into their own personal site.

I would suggest a unique and different approach in downloading SMF. (Y'all are gonna love me for this one...)

For those who've had the joy of Windows Update, I point out HOW they have the Update site structured.

You pick your components, checking them off a list, and then download them.

I would propose, to begin, that SMF be offered in the same manner.

Base structure, stripped of all extra parts, and then a checklist of the MODS, PACKAGES, THEMES, etc, that you would want to include.

Pick and choose components to your heart's content, then...

Hit the button that says "DOWNLOAD NOW".

Into your hands, a personalized customized SMF, already set to install.

Using the package manager, one could then update in a similar manner...picking the new features, or patches that you need to impliment. You could even program into the package manager to bring you to an Update/Install page (SMFTP? LOL) to remotely do all this.

In this manner, offering a synthesis of the Portal/CMS/SMF can be a matter of choice, and people who want a fully integrated solution can have one.

I personally, would love to see something akin to the "free form" object-oriented suggestions, as I would love to have the forums, particularly the RPG forums, attach the posts in a cluster style (a lack of "geek-speak", here...trying to describe it in layman's terms), to the POSTER, so that what they see is THEIR story, not their story amongst a hundred other posts...(make sense? One more try: The "character/profile" is the "thread" that they see, not the omnivision that forums give you now, where they can see everything, even if they aren't there...posting within that thread..).

Wow. Ok, so I tracked off course here.

Yeah, I'd like to see a very flexible CMS (at the very least a Portal) that has the strengths of SMF, with the ability to be absolutely freeform for the individual to structure as they see fit.

[Leipe Po]

well im now in the prosess of adding my whole site to smf, so instead of intergrading with my site, i have my site intergrading with smf, been doing php for some time now, and it seems not that hard to make modules for smf cms, ill give you the link when finnished so you can judge for yourself,

Greetz Leipe_Po

[Dannii]

I dislike very much portals that for their 'blocks' and stuff make a box with it's own title and borders. It looks very ugly. I therefore suggest to everyone, regardless of which CMS they want to use, that only themes build from the beginning with a sidebar be used. A theme without a sidebar normally will suck when converted for a portal/CMS.

Now for myself, I love Bloc's themes, and I like his TP. It's the perfect match! But again.. only with his themes that already have a sidebar.

[borgBOB]

I believe now that downloading Bloc's TinyPortal is open to all who wish to use it, that is the future CMS for SMF. I have been a beta tester since near the beginning, and it's good code. Very flexible, and if you know a little about themes, and PHP, offers the best flexibility around. All built to work around SMF, without getting in the way.