SMF and portal/gallery/downloads/links/etc ???

[Michelle]

I have a SMF forum on my site and now I wan't to make sections for Downloads, Links, Gallery and perhaps a portal in the home page that members can post articles. Do you know how can I make these use the same database as the SMF forum? I have heard about Mambo but I think it should be installed prior to the forum and that is very difficult to use for someone like me that lacks knowledge in how all these work from the inside... Any ideas and suggestions?
Thanks in advance

[Trekkie101]

Portal - http://mods.simplemachines.org/index.php?mod=131 or http://mods.simplemachines.org/index.php?mod=97
Gallery - Coppermine, Gallery, Album or this http://www.celerondude.com/index.php?a=s&id=3 (easiest to integrate)
Downloads - http://mods.simplemachines.org/index.php?mod=104
Link - Nothing I can think of.

And SSI will do you wonders.

[Michelle]

Thanks, are these only for SMF forums? Is it easy to make them use the same database? Please if you have time explain it better because I don't have experience in websites and I am quite confused...

[Thunderace]

I have a SMF forum on my site and now I wan't to make sections for Downloads, Links, Gallery and perhaps a portal in the home page that members can post articles. Do you know how can I make these use the same database as the SMF forum? I have heard about Mambo but I think it should be installed prior to the forum and that is very difficult to use for someone like me that lacks knowledge in how all these work from the inside... Any ideas and suggestions?
Thanks in advance

Code Select Expand

Gallery
Definately use coppermine as the gallery it's fully supported and simple to combine with SMF with little knowledge see my sportsbike site as an example.

perhaps a portal in the home page

Portals are fat and slow imo but if you have no other option due to inexperience then Mambo is probably the best supported with a "bridge" by Orstio a senior developer here.

Code Select Expand

Links
Mambo has a links mod or there are other free products out there, i can elaborate later if you need but going to bed soon.

[Michelle]

The portal is really good, exactly what we wanted!!!!
The downloads thingy looks nice but where will we add the comments?
the gallery is also good but will it work well with SMF? I mean, will it have the style of the theme we are using? It's not the default theme!

And somebody suggest something for the Links section?

[Michelle]

@Thunderace: I prefer to avoid Mambo. There should be another way, right?

[Thunderace]

Re: links as i mentioned Mambo has one or a simple free link script is  here

[Thunderace]

I'm not familiar with those mentioned by trekkie

[Thunderace]

I have a web builder which runs my baby clothes site it needs no skills other than basic keyboard and validates xhtml but it's in alpha atm.

[Trekkie101]

The portals are just things ive seen that people liked a lot, so I guessed thats what you wanted.

The Gallerys can be used, all integrate and all but the last one have a comment system you can use.

The download mod im afraid doesnt have comments, its just a file downloader.

[Michelle]

Then somebody who knows a download mod which has comments?
Damn, and it was close to perfect!

[Michelle]

I downloaded Coppermine but it's completely different from the theme I have. I searched and I can't find a proper theme in the net and I don't know how to create my own... I have the classic YaBB theme with changed icons & buttons. Damn, the portal worked perfectly, can't I find a gallery that does so? Is it so difficult to make Coppermine look like the rest of the site? Can I have the forum menu displayed while somebody is in the gallery?

PLEASE HELP!!!!

[rhizome]

I may be totally off the mark, but have you tried MKPortal?
Seems to have quite a few of the features you are wanting - though I've only played around with it and don't know how well the themes integrate with the forum

[Michelle]

thanks rhizome but now we have already configured Simpleportal and it works fine. Now our main "problem" is the gallery...

[Michelle]

Wait wait wait!!! I stumbled across this in the web: http://smf.mkportal.it/index.php

IS THIS THE DEAFULT MKPORTAL? because then it's the most fantastic thing I've ever seen with SMF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gothic]

We used mambo for over a year with our SMF installation, and I must admit it performed flawlessly. Installation simple, maitainance easy and far more powerful than something free should ever be.
We now use MKPortal, simply because the GUI of Mambo was, shall we say, a little boring, and my users/members wanted a little "flair".
MKPortal is good, easy to install and integrates with SMF totally, including the portal using the SMF theme etc.

My ONLY gripe about MKPortal (call me fussy if you wish) is that it is soooooo search engine unfriendly it makes the eyes water.......
In SMF there is the "Search engine friendly URL" option, which MKPortal kills stone dead.
So, to summarize, if you're not fussy about being spidered, then go for it!

[Michelle]

I already installed MKportal and it;s great in general! Thank you guys! the problem is that it has some bugs but in general it's good.
Also, the guy who made it has MK all over the place in the code! We changed the things that are visible (exept for the copyright line of course) but still it's annoying to see it everywhere even in the variables! Also the emoticons from the chat have italic shortcuts!!

[BruNo]

You can also choose ocportal which uses the base of data of smf for the members.
For the moment it is only the portal which uses diiferente bases of data of forum (smf, invision, phpbb, vbulletin etc).
Moreover more you have a system of points for your members, a gallery of images, the download, link, etc etc