Need some advice with joomla.

by Jay D
8 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
  • |
Hey everyone,

I want to build a membership site, currently I am experimenting with wordpress but I am not that happy. I have heard that joomla is a good option for membership sites. Is that true?

I want to know weather I will need to know php if I use joomla for my site, because I don't don't know any coding. And what about Drupal?? I hear it's pretty good as well.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks
Jayneel
#advice #joomla
  • Profile picture of the author RedEvo
    Joomla or Drupal will do what you need. You don't need any coding skills to use these fantastic tool but you may be better hiring a developer to set them up for you. You could find someone on elancer or getacoder or similar.

    d
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  • Profile picture of the author tdpubs
    You can purchase subscription management plugins for Joomla. There is a learning curve with this CMS, so I suggest you get some help from one of the millions of Joomla gurus out on the Web or buy the set of videos or manuals available.

    I use it quite often but it's not as "out of the box easy" as promoted.

    Dennis Francis
    DiD Publishing Inc.
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  • Profile picture of the author VisualWebEffects
    i am in the process of setting up 2 membership sites using joomla.

    Membership subscription manager: AEC Subscription Manager (Free and quite feature rich)
    Download Manager: DocMan (1.4, requires Legacy support to be enabled, also free)
    User management: Community Builder (Main component is free, works well with AEC and Docman)

    as mentioned though, there is a pretty good learning curve here, coming from Wordpress to Joomla. Although Joomla is an easier system to learn and use than Drupal, i find Drupal to be not very novice friendly.
    Signature
    VisualWebEffects- Web Application Development, PC Software Development and Identity Design services
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  • Profile picture of the author mywebwork
    I've used the same combination that VisualWebEffects uses, and I agree that while it's a powerful combination it isn't just "plug and play". AEC is a great component but if you do decide to go this route I strongly suggest paying for a subscription, and perhaps even their installation service.

    AMember is another good component for Joomla, unlike AEC it is not free and the licensing is for one site only. But if you're constructing a site with paid members you should be able to absorb the cost as a business expense.

    Joomla gets a bad reputation as being not easy to use - actually since version 1.5 was released it's really not that difficult to learn. I should mention though that I started with Joomla before using WordPress, so I may be biased - however now WordPress is my CMS of choice in almost every situation.

    A few years ago a fellow named Deep Arora created an excellent video about making a Joomla membership site using the aforementioned combination of components. It has disappeared from its original site but others have picked it up, you may want to look at it here:

    How To Set Up A Membership Site Using Joomla

    Note that this was for Joomla 1.0, but it still gives you the basics.

    Hope this helps, best of luck with your site.

    Bill
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  • Profile picture of the author managepro
    Joomla is a great platform for developing membership websites. It does not need knowledge of php, but it does need knowledge of other extensions and modules you need to install in Joomla.

    I do provide a service for Joomla which includes putting your site to gather, installing it on your host and providing you with training and support. You can find out more about the same by clicking on the link in my signature below.
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  • Profile picture of the author JoeOFarrel
    Hi Jayneel,

    First of all, make a list of everything you want your site to do. IM, blog, forum, affiliate module, etc. then select the most appropriate solution. If you go with joomla, I'd suggest the joomlapolis addon.

    There are a lot of ready made out of the box solutions out there also. Make a balance of the manhours you'll spend in joomla (from scratch, count quite a bit), and compare that to the price of ready made packages out there.

    Below link has over 25 scripts - they range between 47 and 597 bucks.
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  • Profile picture of the author ziya
    Yes, joomla Is a excellent plat from to create a website with membership, Joomla is a top most using CMS in the world, mostly we will use only Joomla.

    outsource-website-design.com
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    • Profile picture of the author Jay D
      Originally Posted by RedEvo View Post

      Joomla or Drupal will do what you need. You don't need any coding skills to use these fantastic tool but you may be better hiring a developer to set them up for you. You could find someone on elancer or getacoder or similar.

      d
      I am trying out things with Joomla. Haven't messed around with Drupal yet. Will do sooner or later. Thanks for helping!

      Originally Posted by tdpubs View Post

      You can purchase subscription management plugins for Joomla. There is a learning curve with this CMS, so I suggest you get some help from one of the millions of Joomla gurus out on the Web or buy the set of videos or manuals available.

      I use it quite often but it's not as "out of the box easy" as promoted.

      Dennis Francis
      DiD Publishing Inc.
      I know it's not going to be that easy and that's exactly why I am in the process of learning PHP . Thanks for helping!

      Originally Posted by VisualWebEffects View Post

      i am in the process of setting up 2 membership sites using joomla.

      Membership subscription manager: AEC Subscription Manager (Free and quite feature rich)
      Download Manager: DocMan (1.4, requires Legacy support to be enabled, also free)
      User management: Community Builder (Main component is free, works well with AEC and Docman)

      as mentioned though, there is a pretty good learning curve here, coming from Wordpress to Joomla. Although Joomla is an easier system to learn and use than Drupal, i find Drupal to be not very novice friendly.
      Will sure have a look at those extensions! Still haven't tried Drupal, but I will soon. Thank you for your help.

      Originally Posted by mywebwork View Post

      I've used the same combination that VisualWebEffects uses, and I agree that while it's a powerful combination it isn't just "plug and play". AEC is a great component but if you do decide to go this route I strongly suggest paying for a subscription, and perhaps even their installation service.

      AMember is another good component for Joomla, unlike AEC it is not free and the licensing is for one site only. But if you're constructing a site with paid members you should be able to absorb the cost as a business expense.

      Joomla gets a bad reputation as being not easy to use - actually since version 1.5 was released it's really not that difficult to learn. I should mention though that I started with Joomla before using WordPress, so I may be biased - however now WordPress is my CMS of choice in almost every situation.

      A few years ago a fellow named Deep Arora created an excellent video about making a Joomla membership site using the aforementioned combination of components. It has disappeared from its original site but others have picked it up, you may want to look at it here:


      Note that this was for Joomla 1.0, but it still gives you the basics.

      Hope this helps, best of luck with your site.

      Bill
      That video was quite good! I know the basics now. I am going to get Amember probably but still haven't made up my mind (going to read some more reviews). Anyway thanks for your useful post!

      Originally Posted by santoshr25 View Post

      Joomla is a great platform for developing membership websites. It does not need knowledge of php, but it does need knowledge of other extensions and modules you need to install in Joomla.

      I do provide a service for Joomla which includes putting your site to gather, installing it on your host and providing you with training and support. You can find out more about the same by clicking on the link in my signature below.
      I will get in touch with you soon. I have some projects I want to get done. Thanks for your help

      Originally Posted by JoeOFarrel View Post

      Hi Jayneel,

      First of all, make a list of everything you want your site to do. IM, blog, forum, affiliate module, etc. then select the most appropriate solution. If you go with joomla, I'd suggest the joomlapolis addon.

      There are a lot of ready made out of the box solutions out there also. Make a balance of the manhours you'll spend in joomla (from scratch, count quite a bit), and compare that to the price of ready made packages out there.

      Below link has over 25 scripts - they range between 47 and 597 bucks.
      Wow that site was so full of scripts. I find some of them quite expensive though but I am sure most of them are worth the money. Thanks for your help. I might get one of them.
      Originally Posted by ziya View Post

      Yes, joomla Is a excellent plat from to create a website with membership, Joomla is a top most using CMS in the world, mostly we will use only Joomla.

      outsource-website-design.com

      Thanks for helping. But I heard that Drupal was awarded the best CMS in 2008 and 2009? On what basis is that? (Easy to manage? more features? etc)

      If I want to do this with wordpress, has anyone done this successfully with wordpress? I have tried the wishlist plugin for wordpress but I wasn't really happy.
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