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#1 2006-04-03 11:11:54

danthewhaler
New Member
Registered: 2006-04-03
Posts: 2

Is Textpattern the answer for me?

Hi,

I have a niche website that currently has a forum (Vbulletin) and picture board (PhotoPost). I’ve been thinking about adding the ability for members to set up blogs on their own sub-domains within the site. I’ve spent a while looking around here and it seems to fulfill my requirements, but you never really know until you try, so can anyone answer these questions?

I want to set up a blog when members request it and then leave it entirely for them to deal with – preferably no further effort from me – is this possible?

Multiple blogs? Entirely separate and password protectable?

How easy / difficult is this to set up and administer? To give an idea of my competancy here, I have installed a phpbb and Vbulletin boards before and found these straightforward, PhotoPost was a complete pain in the a** – I did get there in the end, but don’t want to repeat anything like the process again!

Any pointers would be gratefully received – Paul

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#2 2006-04-03 11:32:57

maarten
Member
From: Netherlands
Registered: 2005-02-19
Posts: 130
Website

Re: Is Textpattern the answer for me?

Technically it shouldn’t be a problem. Entirely separate? How are you going to manage the subdomains? Will you grant every member access to the root of the domain?

As far as working with TXP, I think it depends on the skills and abilities of your members. I personally don’t t hink it very easy to set up and administer if one doesn’t have basic ‘web’ skills (html, css).

Maarten

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#3 2006-04-03 14:07:06

Elenita
Member
From: Falls Church, VA
Registered: 2004-05-16
Posts: 407
Website

Re: Is Textpattern the answer for me?

As with many things, I think it depends on the skillset of the people involved.

I personally think setup can’t get any easier—but it’s not automated by any means. If you want each member to have an <strong>entirely separate</strong> install, you’re going to have to configure and upload Textpattern files for each install, and possibly (if you really, really want things to be totally separate) create a new MySQL database for each one. (Multiple installs can share a database without affecting each other, but I don’t know how “separate” you want things to be.) And if you do go the individual database route, you might run out of databases fast.

And, beyond that, I have to agree with Maarten: if your users don’t have a solid grasp of xhtml and css, getting their blogs configured to their liking will probably be an exercise in frustration. Because Textpattern strongly adheres to the principle of separating content from presentation, using it without knowing anything about css will be problematic. And while it doesn’t use proper xhtml tags, it’s templating system is modeled on that language.

In short: if you have a very small community that’s knowledgeable about webdesign, it’ll probably work out. Otherwise, I don’t think your “hands off” policy will mix well with how Textpattern works.

Edit: It sounds like <a href=“http://www.typepad.com/”>Typepad Pro</a> (paid) will do what you want. And so might <a href=“http://www.pmachine.com/pm/”>pMachine Pro</a> (free).

Last edited by Elenita (2006-04-03 14:16:30)

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#4 2006-04-03 14:16:38

danthewhaler
New Member
Registered: 2006-04-03
Posts: 2

Re: Is Textpattern the answer for me?

Thanks for your replies maarten and Elenita. You’ve both immediately found an area I didn’t think about – duh!

I don’t think there would be many people who would take up the option and I have unlimited MySQL databases with my host so that aspect wouldn’t be a problem.

However the blogs themselves need to be simple-stupid configurable by the user with a simple web interface to work properly, so it looks like Textpattern won’t do the job unfortunately.

Thanks again for your replies, you’ve saved me an awful lot of time – looking at MoveableType now, just emailed them regarding the cost of various licences.

Paul

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