Hello All, I've been through them all, I swear. My favorite of the bunch from a feature perspective is Handshakes, but that company is a disaster. So, I want something that has all the features of Handshakes, but I can't find anything that's good. Dolphin - Sucks, misused and incorrectly coded ajax galore, and no support. PhpIzabi - They haven't had the funeral yet, but that product is dead. Social Engine - Nice script, let me know when it has features. AbleDating - Yeah right. Webscribble - Doesn't allow users to customize their profiles very well Joovili - What is this thing? I just saw it for the first time tonight. Looks promising. Any feedback? PhpFox - The script that almost was. One of these days they'll get around to finishing that thing. Elgg - Up and comer. Anybody have any luck with this thing? Looks promising, but also looks like months of work to bring up to speed. I'd rather pay. Any others? Help! ~ChrisX
I danced around tons of scripts until finally going with Dolphin...In my opinion, it is, out of the free scripts, the one with the most potential.. I also know a myspace clone thatcosts like $400...looked very powerful...If you need this link, let me know
Oh I forgot that one. Do you mean BuddyZone? I've traded emails with that guy. He's a little temperamental, to say the least, lol. He absolutely flips if you ask about any of the script's shortcomings. Reminded me of the Abbott and Costello "Susquehanna Hat Company" routine, only I'm the guy selling the hats. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3rzUi7FytI -ChrisX
Chris - I am very familiar with all of them. Handshakes is still clearly the leader at the moment but it has a bunch of issues as well that may not affect you as much. The answer to which one you should choose depends upon the available capital you have and what you want to accomplish. Out of the box, handshakes is the most stable and can get you there. But it takes work - I have created some beautiful sites with DZOIC's Handshakes but for some of them they are transition to fully funded solutions. It takes effort to get a Handshakes site to being truly usable from a UI perspective and I've probably spent more time than most adapting the software and know it's pros and its real cons. SocialEngine is an expensive solution for a platform but I think they overestimate the script as is for that price right now. There also doesn't seem to be a user development area like there is for many others. Glad to help you with the decision but need more information.
Always willing to pay, but I don't want to go with something that doesn't have at least a portion of it generally available. I don't want to be "held hostage" by a small group or worse, one developer. I don't quite get why this is so hard for so many developers. In my mind, you would START with offering the features MySpace or Facebook has, and then deliver something extra. Instead, everything seems to be full of holes, and substandard. Much of the technology is already out there, and is open source. So I don't understand the problem here. I can't believe the "best" that's out there for under $5000 is "Handshakes". Isn't there anything better? -ChrisX
If you're already willing to spend $5K, you're better off starting from scratch with something if you have time and developing it properly. As much as I've done great things with Handshakes, there are concerns that I have. At this point with funding I may be developing something else as well.
Whoa, no, don't want to spend $5k on a script. Not even close. SN is a fad. I give it 3 or 4 more years, MAX, before the big boys start jumping ship. To those that doubt that, remember what AOL used to be? ~Chris
Looking to set up a travel related social networking site. Part of it will be a database with travel guide info, which will need to be a customized storage and retrieval for members to use. Are any of these script flexible / open source so that we can add functions to it? Or we should better think of everything from scratch? How about using something like joomla as a base to build?
Chris, If you can pay try US based geeks4me.com. they do custom development in a flash. Long list of satisfied customers. Say Krishn sent you, and you'll get 25% off regular rates!
I don't mean to pick on your site, but anyone who needs to pay for that should probably think about a new business venture. HINT: The best way to save $10 is RTFM
Yeah but Joomla has no social networking feature, unless of course you consider "Community Builder" useful. That and their photo gallery mods suck, a huge staple in a travel site. I'd use it for CMS, but you have to find a SN script that can be integrated. JMHO, but I'm still looking too
Having used Joomla extensively, you've got to beyond desperate to even think of using Joomal for social networking. It is barely adequate as a CMS. Unfortunately everything feels like a hack job extension once you get beyond the basics.
Yes, community builder is pretty bad. I'd rather use Izabi in its current state, lol. Hey, maybe someone will sit down for a couple hundred hours and figure out how to integrate ELGG and Joomla? A perfect marriage of open source IMHO. ELGG is not exactly cutting edge, but it's pretty stable and it's GPL. I'd be absolutely elated if that happened. CB is ridiculous. The first time I installed it I thought I did something wrong, lol. Nope, it just sucked ~ChrisX
Joomla is only good for one purpose - a basic publishing site that doesn't require many subcategories. It will provide you with some additional benefits like modules that can do some neat things like a business directory or ratings. Some of the designers create gorgeous templates. Easy to get a basic site about your company up and running and look very good. But administration is absurdly difficult and awkward. SEO is poor. The need for something like Community Builder after a total rewrite by the blind "core team" is absurd - you also need it to do certain things with article authors which is preposterous. They should have thought of that long ago - but then again, there are many other problems they have been dealing with too, including a copyright fiasco. I agree with Chris on a number of things but not on marrying ELGG and Joomla. Bad idea. Throw out the idea of Joomla or Drupal. They aren't built for SN in any meaningful fashion.
No, they're not SN sites, but they are both good CMS's. I love Joomla. I honestly think the administration is amazing for what it is. Drupal is a nightmare, but I haven't looked at 6 yet. Yeah, subcats are a long requested feature, but it can be worked around. Is there anything better for CMS on Linux? (open source)
Raymond Benc is an idiot. I just had another look at PHPFox. 1.6 is pretty nice, but they broke the bulletins. Then when the issue was reported, he comes back saying they're working as designed. What an idiot. I can't believe they broke this, and are calling it "working as designed". http://tracker.phpfox.com/index.php?cmd=view&id=291
Social Engine seemed really good. I tested it for a while. The only issue is that each feature is its own compnent and is purchased separately. The gallery component did look impressive though.