To BB or not to BB...

[jariggs]

I am putting a site together and need some help deciding what format to use...Blog, BB, OSC, SM?

Site will alow users to initiate new topics.  Each topic will be narrow; about a particular person or thing.  I want to approve the topic before it goes live.  I need to allow for uploading of image(s) and short and long descriptions for explanation of topic.

In order to add to topic (comment/reply), one must register as a member.  I may want to approve comments before they go live as well to avoid spam or other issues.

Ecommerce - I would like the site to have separate window panes with the topic, short general description and image to remain static in the left or right pane, while the comments are scrollable.  Site will accept targeted donations and I expect to place that button in the static pane.

Images and short topic descriptions should be viewable in a catalog type format, with hyperlinks to detailed discussion.

I am considering OSC (using the user reviews as the "comment" section...)
BB/Forum software such as SM...
or Blog software...

The plan is that various members will initiate a topic, and other members will chime in.  I don't expect a lot of questions and answers or "replies", but more likely "additional information" or viewpoints on the topic.

Any ideas on whether BB/Forum/Blog/OSC is better starting point for this application?  Must be open source and simple to administer.

Thanks...

Jeff R

[AlphaWolf]

Hmmmm

I wouldnt choose OSC - the application has not been updated in 2 years and the original development team jumped ship and started Zen Cart.  Besides which this isn't really e-commerce store so....

A blog may work for what you want pretty well - just a word of caution.  There is so much comment and referrer spam going on now that many people are moving away from the standard open source blogs and using blogger, but publishing to their site.  We had to suspend 3 sites this month because of the high RAM and CPU usage they were getting from their blogs being hit many times a minute by comment spammers.  If you do a blog, we suggest that you put it in a directory with a name that is not easily recognizable as a blog. (That is why our forums are under SMF instead of forums or boards etc.)

You could probably do well with SMF also.  With its SSI capabilities you could create a page, (without using frames that kill SEs), with static links etc in one side and SSI pulling of posts, etc. in another.

Let us know where you go with this and I would love to see how the site develops.

peace

Wolf

[jariggs]

Thanks for the info.  I set up our retail site with OSC (That's what you all had on the CPanel/Fantastico).  I see you now have Zen Cart...I'll ask about that on other thread....

For the new site, Sounds to me like I need to explore SM.  Should be interesting...

Jeff R

[AlphaWolf]

Thanks for the info.  I set up our retail site with OSC (That's what you all had on the CPanel/Fantastico).  I see you now have Zen Cart...I'll ask about that on other thread....

For the new site, Sounds to me like I need to explore SM.  Should be interesting...

Jeff R

 

Yeah it should be!  I have seen a lot of cool things done with SMF in the past.  Check out www.simplemachines.org.  Its a very active community and if you get stuck trying to implement something, lots of folks with a lot of experience are willing to lend a hand.

peace

Wolf