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General questions about getting started with SilverStripe that don't fit in any of the categories above.

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Pre Sales Questions


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9 Posts   3756 Views

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scorpio66

Community Member, 4 Posts

30 November 2009 at 10:11am

Hi all.

I hope this isnt too long winded.....

I currently have a site running through Joomla. Now designing a new site and Im considering Silverstripe.
Have had security issues with Joomla, and due to the number of plugins needed to get the site how I wanted, Im looking at alternatives.

My new site will be a large community site, and so I need to be able to do as many as the following as possible!

Users should be able to register through a registration form containing MANY custom fields which mostly would appear on their 'Profile'.

Registration to be confirmed by email automatically.

On initial login, new members would have a choice of a Free Trial Period or pay a Yearly subscription, before entering main 'member area' of site. Payment through a Paypal Gateway. (Any mods for this?)

Customisable Search Facility of Members Profile fields. (IE Show all members who have field labelled 'cinema', with 'Go Regularly' as selected option.

Scrolling horizontal gallery showing members personal images.

Profile editing pages for members

Google map showing all member locations.

Forum - Shouldnt be a problem!

Personal Messaging?

So, most of my site is basically a Member Area. Access only to registered and subscribed members.

Thats about it for the basics!!!

Would I need many extra mods/plugins etc to achieve this?
Any you can recommend?

How is Silverstripe security wise?.
Joomla has been a pain to try and keep secure. I have got a little tired with the endless plugins at Joomla, most of which are badly coded if free.

ANY advice greatly appreciated.
I had a look at the back end demo, and love the way its laid out.
Im praying Silverstripe is my solution.
What do you think of my chances? :)

Regards Scorpio66

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Double-A-Ron

Community Member, 607 Posts

1 December 2009 at 12:09am

Hi Scorpio,

Aside from the Forums, pretty much everything you have listed would be custom work on your part. I have just finished a membership based site that basically uses a highly modified ecommerce plugin. It took me around 2 weeks including bug hunt and fixing.

I wouldn't expect you to find too many solutions out there with all of this custom functionality available out of the box. You have a rather custom set of requirements there.

The good news is, all of what you have list is possible by getting your hands dirty in the Sapphire framework.

Security wise, I've never seen any major global attacks on Silverstripe sites in my 2 years of using it. However as with all Open Source projects, because the code is Open Source, it's alot easier for script kiddies to find holes.

Not sure if the title of your thread was tongue-in-cheek. But you do know that SS is free?

Aaron

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scorpio66

Community Member, 4 Posts

1 December 2009 at 7:21am

Hi Aaron.

Thanks for your reply.
Yes I did realise it was free, but basically my post was a template I put out to several cms systems to gather some response.

Could I ask what commerce plugin you had to modify?

And regarding the custom work, Im not really a php, or msql user. But I know html, and can see what some aspects of code does.
Do you think I could achieve this with just help through this forum, or is it so involved I would need to pay somebody to set out my site skeleton?

I dont mind getting my hands dirty if I know Im not going to be left stranded.
Are people fairly friendly and helpful here?
I know some forums you can wait many days before a reply.

And lastly if I may, is there any alternative cms systems that may do what I need with less customising?
The site I am working on is currently under Joomla, and pretty much does all with little customising, just endless plugins!
But I just cannot trust Joomla security wise. It seems Joomla is a prime target for some.

Thanks again for your response.
Have a great day.
Scorpio 66

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bummzack

Community Member, 904 Posts

1 December 2009 at 7:40am

I think you'll have a hard time without PHP knowledge. I'd say you need some solid PHP skills and quite a good understanding of the sapphire framework or web-applications in general to create such a website. Security is also a big factor here. If you don't know your tools, you're not going to write secure code.

Although the people are friendly and helpful around here, I doubt that anybody would write that code for you without being paid... so I guess it's probably best you hire somebody for the job.

I don't know if there are other CMS that meet your requirements. Maybe look into some of the big forum/bboard solutions out there? They might have a lot of it covered.

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scorpio66

Community Member, 4 Posts

1 December 2009 at 9:09am

Hi Banal.

Thanks for the post.
I have little php knowledge, but Im sure I could pick up the basics fairly quickly.
Im not sure if paying would be the solution due to costs.
I have a programmer friend in Spain, but when I spoke to him, his prices for site design varies from £2000 - £20,000 for corporate jobs.
This is way out of my range.
Perhaps if I have no luck with any other solutions, I should come back and give it a go.
Im sure somebody here, could look at my code and advise?

Anyway, thanks for the response. Will keep looking.
Shame really, I like the look of Silverstripe. The back end seems 'clearer' than the Joomla backend.

Regards Scorpio66

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Double-A-Ron

Community Member, 607 Posts

1 December 2009 at 10:03am

Sure people would look at your code and help point out particular problems you are having. What Banal means is that unless you're very lucky to have a member already do something similar, you aren't going to get people to supply you with code for addressing one generic problem. All of the help you get on these forums come from busy developers who are working just like you.

I will say that the SS community is not as active as other CMS communities I have been with. (Drupal, Joomla! and Modx). Silverstripe is relatively young in that department compared to these others. However that will only get better and I have noticed it has been recently.

My suggestion is to download, and install Silverstripe in WAMP or MAMP and go through all of the Tutorials here. When I first started learning, I printed all those off and worked through them over a weekend. It really is the only way for you to see if you would enjoy the Silverstripe way of doing things.

If you find that Silverstripe may fit your needs based on those, there is an official book. I have this and can say it's would be a great fast track for beginners.

So yes, there will be a lot of work for you to do there. Unfortunately you are going to have to go through a learning curve no matter which CMS system you decide on - and you will be learning PHP. None of these CMS systems are going enable you to piece this together without learning how to hook into their core functionality or paying someone to do it for you. You may get lucky in a few areas of your wish-list where plugins exist, but that list is so customized, you are going to have to learn to code.

I was using the only Ecommerce module available to Silverstripe (that I know of): http://www.silverstripe.org/ecommerce-module/

Best of luck mate
Aaron

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scorpio66

Community Member, 4 Posts

1 December 2009 at 10:31am

Thanks Aaron.

Your suggestion of installing, tutorials and book is a worthy one.
Seems a good way to find out if I can hack it as well as Silverstripe!

My only problem, like everyone is time. I can only get 2-3 hours a day in as its not my job!
BUT, I picked up Joomla and Zencart pretty quickly through books, so this may help, (especially the php side)
Still going to have a peep at some other cms first, but I still think it will be down to ModX or SS.
I think you must like the look or feel of an application to remain interested when things aint going to plan!

I hope I can work with SS. Cant explain why, just like the look and 'feel' about it.

Thanks for your time and advice.

Cheers Scorpio66

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Yambo

Community Member, 4 Posts

17 March 2010 at 7:27am

This is a question for Double-A-Ron.

I am working on a membership only site and was wondering if I could purchase your membership module? I was playing around with customising the forum module as this uses profiles, etc. But think the e-commerce route makes a lot more sense as the client may want to allow payments at a later date.

Is it possible to contact you and come to some arrangement about purchasing this module?

Cheers,

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