Wordpress - Silly question maybe...

[DayoftheJackal]

Hi

I'm relatively new to web design and so have a question regarding wordpress. nbow this may sound stupid but I was wondering if it is a standalone blogging package or whether I could integrate it into a commercial site?

I am looking to develop a site that will have a social networking aspect to it. On one side there will be an advertising / info element but on the other I want to be able to offer blogs and forums for user interativity. For the forum i'm going to use vBulletin I think.

Its the blogging side I'm confused about. Should I build my own (which I have no idea how to do) or can I integrate something like wordpress to allow users to blog on my site.

The site is not up yet as i'm just in the early stages of planning it out.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[MikeBigg]

Will there be one blog, or many blogs? ie each member of the site can have their own blog?

Either way you can integrate Wordpress into your site -- for a single blog use the standard wordpress, for multiple blogs use the mu version.

Mike

[DayoftheJackal]

Hi Mike

There will be multiple blogs. i want to be able to offer users the opportunity to create their own blog on the site.

[MikeBigg]

Then you should look at wordpress mu:

http://mu.wordpress.org/

It might suit your neesds.

Mike

[Dan Schulz]

I agree, you're going to want "Multi-User" WordPress. WordPress also has bridges you can use to link forums such as SMF and vBulletin to it (so users are registered globally and can access the entire site with a single account, depending on their specific permissions) as well as plugins for image galleries, polls, contact forms, e-commerce shopping carts (no clue as to how secure they are though, since I don't use WP for e-commerce)...

[DayoftheJackal]

WordpressMU sounds like a good goer. Won't need the ecommerce side as the site is intended to be 100% free.

[Dan Schulz]

I know the feeling (hence my statement that I haven't used it). But it is available should you decide to use it later on down the road (or on another site).

Good luck with your site.

[DayoftheJackal]

Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated.

[fcolor]

The good thing about Wordpress is that it is regularly updated. I like it very much and use it as a platform to all my personal blogs but there are probably better solutions for anyone who wnats to offer preinstalled blogging capabilities the way blogger.com does ti for example.

[richrf]

I agree, you're going to want "Multi-User" WordPress. WordPress also has bridges you can use to link forums such as SMF and vBulletin to it (so users are registered globally and can access the entire site with a single account, depending on their specific permissions) as well as plugins for image galleries, polls, contact forms, e-commerce shopping carts (no clue as to how secure they are though, since I don't use WP for e-commerce)...

Anyone know of example sites which use these bridges? Also, has anyone taken a look at the new Vbulletin Blog? Any comments?

Rich