Ooooh, 100 pounds, that’s FAB! When you get a chance, send me your story, and I’ll add it to the site!
Re: Drupal integration
TWWW is on Expression Engine, and it’s safe to say that I don’t care for it. I should have stuck with Wordpress. :injured:
I’ve got two other sites that I’m going to try Drupal on, but for a couple others, the programmers told me it would be best to code from scratch.:goof: (I haven’t committed to that yet.)
I don’t think that there is any additional licensing with Drupal.
I just went back to the PHPFox site and as far as I can see, the total cost that I would be paying would be $375 (Software + License Removal). Can you post where you’re seeing cost for additional modules? I’d be interested in checking that out.
The reason why I decided against Handshakes is that it’s not 100% open source and like many others who have posted on this thread, it gives us the willies. I have been researching software for days now and a over the weekend I told my boyfriend “This sucks. It’s so difficult to choose. I don’t want to screw myself.” My boyfriend (the programmer) said,“Then go open source. You can’t screw yourself because you have control of modifying the code”. Those of us who can say that are in a unique situation because we have resources that can allow us to modify the code… I know that’s not the case for everyone.
Where I’m at now is downloading Drupal for us to play around with and investigate. It’s an easy thing to do since it’s free and we can take it for a test run. I have to admit that I’m nervous about how bare bones it is and all the extra modules I’d have to add-on to get it up to all the features PHPFox comes with that I would like for my SN site. In the end, if it’s going to take us more than a month to get the site up and running, I may end up buying PHPFox after all is said and done. Maybe de-bugging shoddy code with a solid feature base is better than adding in mods from the ground up? I’m going to let my boyfriend decide on that once he’s under the Drupal hood.
Thanks so much for the reply, Kat! I will get you my story in the next couple of days.
Another question for you: the programmers that told you best to code from scratch… did they take a look at Drupal? If so, what’d they think? I can’t remembe a username, but the person who spent $12K with Drupal said that a lot of programmers had a learning curve with Drupal. I’m trying to figure out if that’s a Drupal learning curve because of the way the code is written or if it’s a PHP curve because the developers that person chose weren’t versed in PHP. BTW, if the person I’m talking about here is still on the boards and can answer those questions, please jump in!!!
They like Drupal, and are well-versed in it. I need some specific functions that would need to be custom coded, which is why they felt a total custom job (for this particular site) would be best.
It all depends on how you ultimately want your site to function.
What I did yesterday hlped me a lot to chose among these 2. I actually developed a present value and a future value matrix of both. Wrote down all the builtin features and extended features (paid/free modules) then assigned weight to these features for both software based on the quality of that feature. I tries to be as honest as possible and the result is in the favor of PHPFOX.
I think I should convert it into an excel sheet and upload it for you guys to check and may be better evaluate the feature weight by your expert judgment to draw a better conclusion. We may add more software to the feature list and evealuate them all.
What do you guys think? Would that be worth the efforts?
If you go that route, you might want to look at platforms other than php then. The php6 transition is going to break a lot of web aps so stuff will have to be rewritten. You might want to avoid that whole mess by investing in something based on django or rails instead.
I sent out some emails to a few site owners using PHPFox to get their feedback. I heard back from one person who said that it’s been great for them. No problems installing, minimal issues since integration and customization was “a little difficult compared to other programs they’d used (such as phpbb)”. Also added that support was very quick to help resolve issues.
Another point for PHPFox?
As for Drupal. I’m giddy. My bf had it up and running locally in about a half hour. After that, I asked him to add a couple of modules. I thought to myself “A ha! It can’t ALL be that easy! I’ll find the catch here somewhere!”. No catch. Drag and drop module integration as easy as one-two-three. So, I played with the software for about an hour before I forced myself to go to bed. I wanted to play around all night, I’m so excited with this product right now. My worries now are customization of a site template and what happens to the modules written for the current version when you upgrade to a newer version. I’m guessing if I scour through the boards over at Drupal, I find the answers to those questions. Right now though, I’m a total Drupal convert. I want to donate money to them, learn how to write modules and themes to submit to the site and help the project, make bumper stickers that say “I break for Drupal”!
Incidentally, I came across a pretty easy to follow “Drupal Cookbook” which I followed along with last night. It’s here:
I just wrote a long response and lost all that I wrote. Bottom line is that PhpFox out of the box is worth EVERY penny spent on it. There is no comparison to what you can get from this software vs building a similar site from scratch. If you like to do things from scratch and have a lot of time, money and knowledge, go for it (with Drupal). However, remember that it is open source and comes with a few more bugs than you might get from software that is proven in the market place. For SNS_Burnout, I used expert PHP programmers that had no knowledge of Drupal, as well as expert PHP programmers with a lot of Drupal experience. Don’t let all of the modules fool you. That’s what caught me, along with the “free” price tag. NOTHING is free! I have spent several hundred dollars on this new website with a few additional PhpFox modules. However, there is no comparison to the Thousands of dollars I have spent on the Drupal-built website. That was a nightmare I wouldn’t wish on anyone. However, it was my nightmare and doesn’t mean that it will be someone else’s. The things I would watch out for are the following: Administration aspect of Drupal, it’s kind of weak. Maintenance - they move to new releases before the previous release is fully stabilized. Learning Curve - It takes time. It seems easy, but is not. Configuration and customization to get the functionality you want is not easy. It sounds like you have a good PHP developer, so if you don’t have funds but do have time, Drupal may be your best option. However, if you can swing a few hundred bucks, I promise you there is no comparison when it comes to the product you will be getting from PhpFox out of the box compared to what you get from Drupal. Looking at sites like The Onion.com and Ourmedia.org shows the power of Drupal, but it doesn’t show the team of people involved in making it happen an the funds that were spent to bring these sites to their current state. I hope this is helpful. I don’t want to discourage you, I just want to prepare you. Good luck either way!
as you say, everyone has to make their own minds up, re their needs and wants in a script.
the two most commonly mentioned scripts in this thread, seem to be PhpFox and Drupal (ok drupal is a platform).
From my own perspective, I wouldn’t go with any script that is partially encrypted. The code has to be entirely open and edittable. Thus phpfox never comes into my thinking for a choice…tho i admit, it does look good.
Drupal looks to be a fine platform. But you need major money to then go on and develop your site on top of it. You could spend several thousands, and at the end of the day, you are STILL totally reliant on their platform. If they change/update, then you’ll have to update your site and any add-ons/modules. Thus you may have to call in your developers again - which means more major money.
I used to have a property rental website - built with a commercial script, that sat on top of mambo (and then joomla). But everytime a new patch/update came out for joomla or this script, i always had to be on the ball, updating everything. It was a regular neverending process.
I much prefer to go with standalone scripts, that have no hidden code, that I am in charge of, and that I can edit and tweak to my pleasure. My favourites re dating, are Datemill and OsDate. I’m still waiting for version 2 of each of these scripts to be released in the next few weeks/months.
Well we’ve done a bit of investigation and found a few promising MySpace clones that are customizable as in building your custom layout into their application.
PHPFox ( http://www.phpfox.com/ ) not sure of the templating system but they said it’s HTML based and the content is separated from the code, so it should be easily modified as well.
First, This is a GREAT thread and personally I want to thank everyone for the information I’ve learned here.
2 quick question. First, I believe Strawberries said theonion.com runs on Drupal, Are you sure? I ask because it’s an impressive site and that adds a lot more points for Drupal IMO.
Second, what problems are there with OSdate/Dolphin/Shark/(other fish) products. They’ve been around a been around a while, have some bugs but do claim to be the most popular community script. Is it not customizable? Hard to use? Make every site look like the same?
I’m just part of the “if it ain’t broke” group and cannot see spending large amounts of money developing the site when you can use those $$$$ promoting or advertising it. Especially if the product does 90% + of what you’re looking for.
Interesting thread. BTW, I work for a company doing SN software these days … good to review what’s out there.
One thing I noticed:
This is NOT TRUE! It’s a common misconception. See the GNU GPL FAQ:
In other words, it is perfectly legal for an organisation or person to take an open source product, do some work on it and apply a price tag to it. The only caveat is they are obliged to give their work back to the community to help further the product. So it is not true to say that if you paid for a product it is not open source! Buyer beware!
Also, please note companies selling versions of open source software (like us) usually can do so because they have added value and have the knowledge and expertise to pitch their work as a service. You are not necessarily ripping people off by selling a solution based on open source software. You’re just being commercially smart and saving on development lead times - as well as furthering the cause of the open source community!
I’m the one that mentioned the Onion.com. It is listed as one of the sites that run on drupal on Drupal.org. That was one of the reasons I decided to initially go with Drupal. Obviously, I wasn’t aware of the difficulties associated with creating a site of that nature. Again, the three big things regarding Drupal are maintenance (i.e. upgrades, patches, etc…), cost to develop website and ongoing costs, instability of releases with many different contributors to modules that are not supported in the core release. The benefits are that there are many modules to choose from. It is open source and; therefore, “free”.
With regards to PhpFox, it is highy customizable. I’m not sure what part of the software is encrypted, but if you have to get down to that level of programming, you are probably better off starting from scratch or using something else like phpizabi (Alicia). It all really depends on your needs. I was sold on buddyzone at first, but decided that phpfox had most of what I needed and would get me off and running the quickest. For a few hundred dollars, its gotta give you the best bang for your buck over starting from scratch. However, you should check out the other software like Handshakes and Buddy Zone to see if they meet your needs better. I hope this helps.
I’m giddy. My bf had it up and running locally in about a half hour. After that, I asked him to add a couple of modules. I thought to myself “A ha! It can’t ALL be that easy! I’ll find the catch here somewhere!”. No catch. Drag and drop module integration as easy as one-two-three. So, I played with the software for about an hour before I forced myself to go to bed. I wanted to play around all night, I’m so excited with this product right now. My worries now are customization of a site template and what happens to the modules written for the current version when you upgrade to a newer version. I’m guessing if I scour through the boards over at Drupal, I find the answers to those questions. Right now though, I’m a total Drupal convert. I want to donate money to them, learn how to write modules and themes to submit to the site and help the project, make bumper stickers that say “I break for Drupal”! 
NOTHING is free! I have spent several hundred dollars on this new website with a few additional PhpFox modules. However, there is no comparison to the Thousands of dollars I have spent on the Drupal-built website. That was a nightmare I wouldn’t wish on anyone. However, it was my nightmare and doesn’t mean that it will be someone else’s. The things I would watch out for are the following: Administration aspect of Drupal, it’s kind of weak. Maintenance - they move to new releases before the previous release is fully stabilized. Learning Curve - It takes time. It seems easy, but is not. Configuration and customization to get the functionality you want is not easy. It sounds like you have a good PHP developer, so if you don’t have funds but do have time, Drupal may be your best option. However, if you can swing a few hundred bucks, I promise you there is no comparison when it comes to the product you will be getting from PhpFox out of the box compared to what you get from Drupal. Looking at sites like The