MODx, Joomla, Django, etc

[Winnow]

I'm looking for a content management system.

What first got me looking for one was the comicvine.com website whichis powered by django:

http://www.comicvine.com/

Notably, I thought the search/drop down results bar was badass and wanted something similar on my site. The entire site is well done and impressive to me. It says clearly at the bottom of the site that it's powered by django, a free CMS lke Joomla, so I set about installing it on my Dreamhost account.

I failed. Got pretty far but still failed to get it working using these instructions:

http://wiki.dreamhost.com/index.php/Django

somewhere around here is where it fell apart:

* Otherwise, without easy_install, edit .bash_profile to add Django to your path and python path

export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/django_src/django/bin
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:$HOME/django_src:$HOME/django_projects

I'm guessing the path to my python install or django install isn't right

which lead to this part not working:

* Link admin_media to your media domain from the Django source code

$ ln -s $HOME/django_src/django/contrib/admin/media $HOME/media.mydomain.com/admin_media

* Start a new project in django_projects

$ cd django_projects
$ django-admin.py startproject myproject
$ chmod 600 myproject/settings.py

Thankfully, Dreamhost has a "one click" install of Joomla so I have that up and running. I also one click installed phpBB 3.2 and have that running so I can check out mods, themes, etc so I'm better informed when making suggestions for VV.

This is the list of what you can "one click" install on Dreamhost:



I was able to get my Coppermine Gallery up and running so have fared well for the most part with this stuff even if I have to manually install and modify some code here and there.

My command line knowledge is very limited. I suck at setting the correct paths to files, etc.

Back on topic, Joomla looks kinda cool and there's a large support base with third party extensions, mods, etc but I'm new to CMS and am curious if anyone has an opinion or recommendation. I checked this site and it looks like there 100's of CMS options available. Take into consideration that I'm not a coder and would only want to modify small bits of existing scripts, etc. Joomla might be my answer with it being on my server already but If someone is a huge fan of django or something else, I might try again to get that up and running.

[Spang]

I have no idea what you just said, but good luck with it!

[Boogahz]

A good friend uses Joomla on a few sites, and he loves it for management. I also failed at getting it working with the Dreamhost install, but I admit that I really didn't try to mess with it too much.

[Winnow]

A good friend uses Joomla on a few sites, and he loves it for management. I also failed at getting it working with the Dreamhost install, but I admit that I really didn't try to mess with it too much.

Just be sure to create a subdomain that's dedicated to Joomla before installing it. You need to have a mysql host created as well beforehand. You can create the actual mysql database when you install.

It's not really one click but it's pretty easy compared to django.

note: just looked and you can create the host at teh same time you "one click" the joomla install.

-you need to create a unique mysql database name (names can't be generic as everyone else on Dreamhost's database names can't match so calling it, "mysql" isn't going to cut it"
-for the host, use your domain name with mysql in front of it. If you haven't already created a mysql host, there's a delay while the DNS propagates.

I created four subdomains last night and they were all ready within less than five minutes (could access the raw directory via the web)

For all of these installs, Dreamhost sends you an email after the install is complete with passwords, and exact instructions on how to finish the setup. Typically you'll have to FTP into your site to delete an install folder before things work (after the admin setup)

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I'm watching the Joomla 1.5 Essential Training tutorial from lynda.com as I write this (it's free on their site but you can get it easier from the newsgroups)

Liking it so far! Seems very straight forward. I think someone like Xyun would be able to take advantage of Joomla for his political site. The basics only take a short while to grasp so you can be off and running fast but there's a lot more customization possible that you can learn as you go. I recommend the lynda tutorial. it's only 3 hours running time total. Short quicktime movies. Can watch part 1, skip part 2 (installation) and then get to the meat of the info starting with chapter 3. There's 14 chapters total.

I'm still interested in Django though as that search engine is awesome and it looks like it can handle huge amounts of data which I might have if I apply it to my image sites. Was thinking of setting up a better method of comic offerings than the current VV forum permits. (actually letting people upload issues in an easy way, etc)

[Fash]

I would rather headbutt a landmine than build another site in Joomla, which is perhaps the most unfriendly and inefficient framework I've seen. It's like using a wrecking ball to push a nail in.

If you're going to only use the functionality they provide, you may be able to squeak by with one of these systems... but say hello to security holes and patches. Custom code is the way to go, and the best time to learn is right now. I can help.

[Winnow]

I would rather headbutt a landmine than build another site in Joomla, which is perhaps the most unfriendly and inefficient framework I've seen. It's like using a wrecking ball to push a nail in.

If you're going to only use the functionality they provide, you may be able to squeak by with one of these systems... but say hello to security holes and patches. Custom code is the way to go, and the best time to learn is right now. I can help.

Not going to deal with custom code. django maybe if I can get it installed or some other CMS, but I don't desire learning to be a full blown web coder. My websites are for fun so I could care less if they get hacked. Dreamhost has three backups of my site taken at various time intervals so I can restore it and then download a patch if needed : )

Thanks for the offer to help though. If I thought I was a command line entry or two away from getting Django running I'd ask but I need to work on that some more.

I'm pretty happy with Coppernic as my database gallery for images.

http://stuff.thathappened.com/

I usually end up learning a lot as I go on these projects. I'm looking for a front end to wrap around it and other components like phpBB, etc.

I have a hacked version of vBulletenboard as well to mess with.

[Winnow]

I'd like to report that I had an issue with my FTP account on Dreamhost. For some reason I could only sFTP into my server. Most likely, I screwed something up over the past three days while attempting a django install, installing a version of python and then installing a different version, and then installing Joomla and phpBB.

I emailed support and within 30 minutes received an email back, confirming the issue and describing how he fixed it after investigating it. Very nice.

Positive happenings with webhosts go unreported too often!

[Winnow]

After searching around for a bit, I found a CMS that I'm going to play around with.

It's called MODx.

http://modxcms.com/

What I like about it its support of Ajax which means I can take advantage of live search, etc which is why I was looking for a CMS in the first place (re: cool ComicVine search bar)

Anyway, installation was a breeze. All you really need to do it setup a mysql database and know how to enter that information into the initial setup page.

This is the generic initial install of mine:

http://words.thathappened.com/

Not too exciting by itself but it looks to be highly mod'able.

There's a decent user base and development is active:

http://modxcms.com/forums/index.php

The initial install actually has a form of live search but not what I want. To test it, type in "example" or "ajax" etc. in the search bar. There's not much to search for in an empty install.

A search similar to this site is what I'm shooting for eventually:

http://www.comicvine.com/

Doubt I'll end up sticking with this one but it's a good one to mess around with and learn a bit more about Ajax.

[Winnow]

Been looking around the web for what I want on my website.

It's all about Ajax.

For starters, has anyone been using Microsoft's live search?:

http://www.live.com/

This site is Ajax based and impressive.

On image searches, the page scrolls forever. Nice.

Try an image search: (singer Alizee)

http://search.live.com/images/results.a ... &FORM=BIVR

check the right side for the image adjustments. Can resize the thumbs, filter size, dimension, can even filter by face, head & shoulder pics, etc.

take that same search over to video:

http://search.live.com/video/results.as ... cope=video

To see the previews in action by hovering your cursor over the thumbs.

Both image searches and video searches are Piclens enabled. An Add-On that everyone should have!

---------

As for what I want my search to do, check out the Suicidegirls website:

http://suicidegirls.com/

In the search field in the upper right corner, start typing a girl's name:


The results that follow are what I want. Live filtering as you type with images. So cool.

Try a smaller search, "l" and see how the returned results scroll. Fast.

Check Cassie's webpage on Suicidegirls: (reason I was at the website in the first place because the Hask/Slash comic said to go there as part of the story)

http://suicidegirls.com/girls/Cassie/

All the relational data on that page is what I want. (tabbed)

-Click on her "view profile" button

click the Pics tab. I want my gallery to be like that. (can't see actually gallery unless you subscribe which I'm not going to)

You also have the option of launching a flash gallery from there (again sub needed in this case)

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Suicidegirls is a kickass website from a design perspective.

So far, Comicvine and Suicidegirls are the best examples of what I'm looking for.

Comic vine is powered by Durango but I can't tell what's behind Suicidegirls besides the developer's page:

http://hire.saturn5.com/

Hey, found an avatar for Aslanna:


----

so,

what I really am after is something that will do exactly what the suicidegirls ajax search does. (return live search results with images that can be linked to data) So far no luck finding it but at least I know it's Ajax!

So far these two sites have it:

http://www.comicvine.com/

http://suicidegirls.com/

Let me know if you find any more or find a script, plugin, module, whatever for any CMS etc that will do it!

-----

Nice explanation of Ajax is found here: First couple tutorial videos

http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=480

Lynda's Ajax Essential Training.

edit:

Yahoo has some YUI : Yahoo User Interface libraries with prebuilt scripts. here's the autocomplete:

http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/examples ... _flat.html

The other YUI components are listed in the left column

oooh here's a flickr example with images:

http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/examples ... r_xml.html

this one's cool too but not what I want: (tool to insert flickr image into a message)

http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/examples ... ditor.html

[Truant]

Xou is an ajax master. (as well as mastering many other forms of kung fu)

[Winnow]

Xou is an ajax master. (as well as mastering many other forms of kung fu)

Xou!!!!

If you read this post, how hard is what I'm looking for (the Suicide image search) to code? I'm sure the hard part is on the database side of things.

Basically what I'm looking to so is create an easy way for people (Comic VVers) to upload a comic along with an image of the front cover and then have that tied into the image search so when someone searches for Hulk, all the hulk covers pop up (instantly in a live search) that are linked to their respective download/info pages. I'd also want tags so anything tagged "hulk" for example would show up.

I already found a database that can handle the easy uploading and allows for various filed entries if desired (author, penciller, comments, additional image gallery, etc) but it's in Joomla and I don't think Joomla and Ajax go well together from what I've seen.

The very basics of what I've been working on can be found here:

(temp removed link)

That's just a proof of concept for myself to see if it could be done.

It has a real simple upload form. It automatically resized the thumbs and cover images so peoplecan jsut upload the huge original image if they want. Basically I want to make it brain dead-easy or people won't use it. The FTP'ing etc is way too much for most people to deal with or want to deal with.

Here's a rough draft of the entry form:

(temp removed link)

(Anyone feel free to test upload something if you want)

Hardest part so far was figuring out how to get my subdomain to accept uploads over 2MB using php. I have it set it to 150mb now.

[Winnow]

Oops, removed the form and database links in previous post. Reworking the site. Found a nice ajax search. It can't display live search images yet but it can have images for categories in the live search results.

Need a bit to clean things up and get the database modules back in place.