By AAV on

Hey guys, wondering if ya could help me out. Im looking to do a site and was wondering if Drupal would fit the bill. Im looking to do a site with a main community page for articles, picture gallery, forum(preferably phpBB, and even better if I can use a pre-existing phpBB forum) and eventually video. Off of this main page I would also like a page linking to users(or groups of users) pages that are created within this site as well. I would like the user/groups to be able to create these pages on their own - preferably have it easy for them to setup and even change themes/site layout/colors. I would like the user to be able to have their own private/video picture gallery and possibly a planning calendar.

All picture/video galleries I would like to be able to configure the number of pics/vids per users site, as well as pic/vid size. I would like the user to have the option to include the uploaded pic/video in the main gallery as well as their private gallery.

Do you think this is obtainable with Drupal , or would I be better served with something else? If you you think Drupal fits the bill....are there any modules, etc that come to mind to help me out on my quest?

Just FYI- I have never used a CMS before. Im mildly versed in php and MySQL.....have modified and maintianed a handful of different sites using the php/mysql combo.

Thanks!

Comments

vm’s picture

vm commented

Drupal has it's own forum module though there is a phpbb bridge in the downloads area.

with regards to users having their own layouts, investigate the mysite.module

video = video.module or a CCK.module content type with e a video addon like mediafield

calendars and events are handled by the calendar module and views, or the event.module

_____________________________________________________________________
My posts & comments are usually dripping with sarcasm.
If you ask nicely I'll give you a towel : )

AAV’s picture

AAV commented

So your saying that drupal is totally capable of easily doing what I need?

If you happen to know of any sites that have something similiar setup using drupal, I would LOVE to check it out :)

snipe’s picture

snipe commented

Hello AAV
drupal is the best choice for the site you are looking for
you can check the sites using drupal at http://buytaert.net/tag/drupal-sites

Suketu T.
Demarlos Solutions
www.demarlos.com

vm’s picture

vm commented

So your saying that drupal is totally capable of easily doing what I need?

the word easily is subjective and I hesitate to use that word. What may come easy for one may not at all come easy for another.

drupalsites.net is also a good site to see what can be done with Drupal.

_____________________________________________________________________
My posts & comments are usually dripping with sarcasm.
If you ask nicely I'll give you a towel : )

AAV’s picture

AAV commented

Thanks, ill look through some more drupal sites that you linked to this evening. I have seen some already....I was just wondering if any come to mind that are already setup similiar to what I mentioned.

One more question. I relaize this one could be touchy :) My other choice at this point is Postnuke, mostly because I have seen a fairly similiar site done in postnuke. In your opinion, does drupal excel in comparison to postnuke....esp for my application?

Thanks again for your time guys, very much appreciated!

vm’s picture

vm commented

I've never used postnuke, wasn't crazy about nuke when it was introduced.

What I can do is show you how the packt publishing awards for 2007 were handed out: see: http://www.packtpub.com/award

View Drupal as a framework, with which you can build any type of CMS you want and not be pigeon holed into what the developers want their CMS to be.

_____________________________________________________________________
My posts & comments are usually dripping with sarcasm.
If you ask nicely I'll give you a towel : )

AAV’s picture

AAV commented

A stupid question for ya:

What are logins usually used for in CMS's? Can you allow different content for logged in members....etc?

vm’s picture

vm commented

drupal comes default with two roles

anon user (not logged in)
authenticated (logged in)

You can of course create more roles that users can be promoted to or join

That being said, yes, loggin in "can" give a user more permissions then that of someone in the anon user role. This depends solely on the way you configure your permissions in administer -> access control

an example would be:

maybe you allow anon users to read content (or some content)
but only authenticated users to post content (or certain content)

_____________________________________________________________________
My posts & comments are usually dripping with sarcasm.
If you ask nicely I'll give you a towel : )

AAV’s picture

AAV commented

Can you assign people to groups and do group permissions?

If using a forum such as phpbb, will the person logging into the CMS also log them into the forum?

Thanks for fielding all my questions, you have been a huge help thus far :)

vm’s picture

vm commented

In Drupal there are no groups, there are roles. and yes you can assign people roles.

If using a forum such as phpbb, will the person logging into the CMS also log them into the forum?

not out of the box , no. You would have to investigate the phpbb.module in the downloads area to bridge both installations and share logins, users, and the like. I've never used it so I can't comment any further.

My best advice is to set up a TEST site on your local machine or your server in a subdomain. take back ups of your PHPBB and current installations.

copy them over to the test site

begin working Drupal in to see if all will wok as you expect it to.

DO NOT throw caution to the wind and just start throwing things at your live site. If it breaks there will be very little most can do for you here. Haste makes waste.

_____________________________________________________________________
My posts & comments are usually dripping with sarcasm.
If you ask nicely I'll give you a towel : )