Re: Social media and RPG

[Bryce Martin <BMartin@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've used both Joomla and Wordpress.  I would go with Wordpress. Wordpress 
is much easier for doing custom templates and I like their API way better. 
 I'm actually starting up a hosting service based around Wordpress so that 
you won't have to worry about the database administration or updating the 
software.  As far as running on the IBM i, that shouldn't be a problem. If 
you are going to look at CMS's then take a serious look at Wordpress as 
well as Joomla and Drupal.


Thanks
Bryce Martin
Programmer/Analyst I
570-546-4777



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Re: [WEB400] Social media and RPG






Great question, Kelly. I've been following the IBM i web development 
threads with a lot of interest. The CGI approach has a lot of merit on IBM 

i in my opinion, and I've been interested in Aaron's RPGUI project as well 

as CNX's Valence product. According to CNX, the latter will be introducing 

Sencha Touch support in early 2011.

Recently our PR department called a meeting regarding updating our company 

website, and they are wanting to use a CMS to maintain the site. They 
would also like to introduce options for mobile devices. So I've done 
research into the multitudinous open source solutions available. The most 
popular ones as you note are PHP / MySQL-based (e.g., Joomla!, Drupal and 
Wordpress). If one is needing a CMS with huge numbers of add-ons (e.g., 
blogging, shopping carts, etc.), these projects would seem to argue in 
favor of a PHP / MySQL approach. Otherwise, one will have to spend a lot 
of time reinventing the wheel. So that requirement has opened my eyes a 
little to the advantage of using PHP for web development (and also Java 
since there are options available there as well).

With XAMPP, I was able to get Joomla! and Drupal running on my Windows box 

in no time. I haven't tried loading either of them on an IBM i system yet, 

but since PHP and MySQL are so well supported, I wouldn't think it would 
be a problem. The question I have is how well documented the Joomla! and 
Drupal APIs are (i.e., books, tutorials, etc. beyond reference materials) 
and how difficult it would be to integrate custom programming into the 
respective systems (e.g., secure logins & connections, session management, 

etc.). It seems like there is more developer materials available out there 

for Drupal at this point. Though I have no idea of the quality of the end 
result, I also noticed that Joomla! has an extension to create a mobile 
version of a website (MobileJoomla!) with little to no effort.

Blake

Blake Butterworth | Senior Programmer Analyst | Kansas Turnpike Authority 
| 9401 E Kellogg | Wichita, KS 67207 | (316) 652-2740



------------------------------

date: Thu, 11 Nov 2010 11:06:27 -0600
from: Kelly Cookson <KCookson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
subject: Re: [WEB400] Social media and RPG

I'm all for people having the tools to roll their own social media on the 
IBMi. Different strokes for different folks. 

However, if I personally needed to run social media on an IBMi platform, 
I'd look at running open source packages via the Zend PHP server and MySQL 

database. 

I've used Drupal on other platforms and like it quite a bit. Drupal 
provides polls, forums, blogs, wiki books, wiki-like pages, customizable 
user profiles, contact pages, and RSS feeds all out-of-the box and 
administered by a menu. There are also many modules you can install to 
enhance Drupal capabilities. 

I also like MediaWiki--the same wiki software used by Wikipedia. People 
who are familiar with Wikipedia feel right at home with MediaWiki. There 
are also extensions to enhance the capabilities of Mediawiki.

There are other packages such as WordPress and Joomla that should, in 
theory, run on the IBMi via Zend PHP and MySQL. Also, there are a number 
of bulletin boards and email lists that are written in PHP and use MySQL. 

I'm curious if anyone has used the Zend PHP server and MySQL database to 
run Drupal and/or MediaWiki on the IBMi.

Kelly Cookson
Senior Programmer/Analyst
Dot Foods, Inc.
217-773-4486 x12676
www.dotfoods.com