Hey guys, long time lurker, first time poster. I've had an idea for a website for sometime now, but I've only just fallen into some free time and can now actually proceed with researching/making it, I really don't know what platform I should begin with so I thought I'd ask your opinions. The site I would like to make would be user interactive, people can create an account, have a profile, and submit content to be rated by admins, and if it's good enough, get posted on the front page. I would like to set up a 'blog' style posting platform, one where I (as an admin) can login and post something to the front page, making previous posts fall below the latest ones. People registered at the site can also post comments on content and vote on content, their vote's going towards points on their accounts. I'm more of a graphic designer than a programmer so I don't really know where to begin to look. I'm thinking PHP would be my best bet to create something like this? What do you guys think? If so, any resources you could point me in the direction of? Sorry if I've posted this in the wrong forum, if so I didn't mean to, just looking for advice. Thanks!
I believe wordpress would do the job for you and you can use this plugin to get people to send their posts: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tdo-mini-forms/
Thanks for your reply! I've been looking into wordpress, but I would have no idea how to custom build a theme, the source is oh so confusing, I know this project is big but it's a long term goal. If I were to attempt to make something like this from scratch, would PHP be the way to go?
Hello, You're said you are more of a graphic designer, so I think you don't have previous experience with programming. Am I right? First, try to learn the basics of programming. You need to understand how to think as a programmer, so you can understand the language you want to learn... I suggest you PHP, because it is easy for begginers and still powerfull for experienced programmers. Try to visit they're website. They have a begginers tutorial that is great!!!
Yeah, I do have basic knowledge of html and css, but that is all. I've just come across www.wordpress.org/download where you can download the wordpress client. I'm yet to download it, but does this mean I can use the wordpress CMS and integrate my own username/logins for users while hosting it on my own? If so that is awesome and I think I've found what I need, anybody have experience with this side of wordpress? By the way, you guys are really helpful! Such a nice change from other sites full of unhelpful trolls.
yes thats right, you are on right track. PM me or post here if you need more programming help or just finding a host for the wordpress blog and testing it
I would give Joomla a go for this kind of project. Not WP. Bcoz afterwards you ll be asking many plugins to show them right etc etc and easy templating. Joomla and its extensions will be a lifesaver for you imho.
My piece of advice would be to hire a coder and make it from scratch using PHP, Wordpress is too common.
Thanks for the replies! How much would I be looking at to hire a coder for something like this? Over 1k? Over 2k? I've never hired anyone for anything so I wouldn't know what the price range would be. EDIT: I've just had a look at Joomla! Very interesting, have you guys got any experience with using Joomla? Would you recommend it for a site that would potentially be creating 100's of dynamic pages a day? EDIT 2: Okay I think I'm tossing up between Joomla! and wordpress for my thing, one deciding factor is can I use external API's in Joomla? I'm going to want to use the twitter API on my site for a fun little interactivity thing I've got an idea about.