SMF/Mambo/?

[thegoodkelly]

All I have right now is a free (vibrant and quickly growing) message board. I have used SMF with great success in the past so that is why I am here now. I'm still organizing/planning things so I don't even have a host, yet. But, I want to be sure I am heading in the right direction.

This time my ambitions are much greater than a single forum. I would like a web site where members can start their own blogs, where I can post podcasts, set up rss feeds all centered around a message board.

Can this even be done by an absolute amateur like me?

The forum will be the heart of the site so I am focusing on that, but I suspect the web site needs to go up first for SMF to be embedded in the page. Is this correct?

I also assume that I'll need a photo gallery mod of some sort, but I'm not sure why.

I'm probably way over my head, but I have cancer and this gives me something to do and *knock wood* maybe a small income one day.

I'd greatly appreciate any advice, suggestions, and tips that those more experienced could provide. Even just pointing me in the right direction would be a help.

Thank you!
Kelly

[Arantor]

Better question, why involve Mambo? Historically bridging multiple systems does not work out nearly as well as people hope it will.

Use SMF, add one of the blogging mods, add something like Aeva for handling images and you have the facility for members to create their own blogs, all in one place. I'm not sure what you could do with Mambo that could not be done with that combination.

[thegoodkelly]

Mambo came up as a case of me knowing just enough to be dangerous. I saw that there was a licensing problem of some sort with Joomla and Mambo was the second most frequently seen web page site in my limited experience.

But, never mind that: I can do it ALL with just SMF??!! That is music to my ears.

Would a portal to organize and direct traffic as well as post articles be useful or just add another complication?

You ARE a super hero! Thanks for helping me!

[Arantor]

I'd probably suggest getting a portal as well, it can certainly be used to direct traffic well.

There are several choices for both blogging and portal facilities, so fire up a little test site somewhere and experiment with the different choices until you find something you're happy with

[thegoodkelly]

Will do! I've been stuck in the mire thinking and making this more difficult and complicated than it has to be.

Now I can move on to the fun part.

Thank you SO much again!