Step 2 - Choosing Components (add-ons)

Sunday, 04 January 2009 17:29 |

Written by NetworkNerd007 |

So what's a website without anything on it? DEAD.

Surely you had something in mind to put on it when you created your server.
Perhaps it was a blog, a forum, a HTML website, or something like that.

But chances are, you don't know where to get many of those items or what all exactly is available to you. The best part, everything I list and use is FREE!

So let's take a look at our choices. . .

FORUMS

phpBB (http://www.phpbb.com) - This is the forum software I personally use for my forums. It's very simple to install and has plenty of features. You can also download themes for it and different MODS for it as well.

myBB (http://www.mybboard.net) - This is another free forum software similar to phpBB. I haven't tried it yet, but there it is if you want to take a look.

SMF (http://www.simplemachines.org/) - You guessed it, yet another free forum software. I haven't tried this yet.

punBB (http://punbb.informer.com/) - This is another free forum software. I haven't tried this one either.

XMB (http://www.xmbforum.com/) - This is a newer free forum software that joined the scene just last year.

BLOGS

WordPress (http://wordpress.org) - This is a great and incredibly easy blog software with TONS of things you can add to it to customize it and make it just right.

b2evolution (http://b2evolution.net) - This is another forum software packed full of great features.

nucleuscms (http://nucleuscms.org/) - Yet another forum software with lots of great features as well.

* I found this article comparing the three above. http://ezinearticles.com/?Comparing-Free-Blogging-Software&id=41365

VIDEO SHARING - (YouTube Clones)

VidiScript (http://www.vidiscript.com) - Create your own video hosting website where people can upload, watch, and comment on videos just like on Youtube.

phpMotion - I've removed this one because I've spent several hours trying to get it to work on both Windows and Linux Apache servers and I've had no luck. In addition, their support for it sucks and I've received no help with trying to solve the issues I've encountered. Therefore, I do NOT recommend this script.

PHOTO SHARING SCRIPTS

Coppermine Photo Gallery (http://coppermine-gallery.net/) - This script allows you to begin your own photo sharing website. You can organize them by albums, etc. and it also supports other multimedia formats as well. I use to use this a few years ago and it was great then, so I imagine it's even better now.

Gallery (http://gallery.menalto.com/) - This was the highest rated photo sharing script. It has some really nice features. One that really stood out to me was the remote feature, which is a java applet that allows you to upload your photos to your Gallery website without going to the website, in other words, an upload tool. It has a lot of other really nice features and this is definitely worth taking a look at.

CMS - (Content Management Software)

Joomla! (http://www.joomla.org) - This is a software used to create, design, and manage a website. It offers an easy-to-use menu system so you can build your own website content without the need to know how to program or be advanced at web design. It will however require you doing some reading on how to use everything in it. This website was build with Joomla.

glFusion (http://www.glfusion.org) - This another CMS script that comes loaded with things such as a calendar, forum, and more! Probably the best one for those just starting with a CMS software.

Drupal (http://drupal.org/) - This is another very popular content management software out there. I have no personal experience with it, so it is what it is.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

Elgg (http://www.elgg.org) - Elgg is a free social networking script, similar to Facebook. It's fairly simple to install and has lots of great features, so if you've been thinking about starting a local intranet social network or even a public interent one, Elgg is definitely a good place to start.

Dolphin (http://www.boonex.com/products/dolphin/) - Dolphin is a community builder software that also integrates video uploading/sharing and even conferencing between users. It's loaded with features and is fully customizable.
**The only issue I've had with Dolphin is getting the video to work on a self-hosted server. If you manage to make it work, please contact me so I can add it. **

WIKI

DokuWiki (http://www.dokuwiki.org/DokuWiki) - Have you ever wanted to create your own Wiki website? Perhaps you're developing software or just have some sort of need for your own Wiki. Well DokuWiki is the answer.

MediaWiki (http://www.mediawiki.org/) - MediaWiki is the same software originally used for Wikipedia and is available as a free download. Wiki's are great for documentation and manuals, but they do have their own "Wiki" code that takes a little getting use to for formatting.

Once you've picked one out and are ready to install it, move on to Step 3 - Installing Components

* * ADDITIONAL STUFF * *

VPN - (Virtual Private Network)

Hamachi (http://www.logmein.com) - Hamachi is a free (for personal use, up to 15 user connections) VPN software that allows you to setup and establish VPN connections between computers. This is great if you want to have a private FTP server that's not available to the world. If you later decide you need a commercial liscense for it, they're very affordable starting at $4.95/month and get cheaper if you get 6 months or more at a time.
You can read more about how to install it and use it by reading this article.

FILE SERVER SOFTWARE

HFS - HTTP File Server (http://www.rejetto.com/hfs/) - HFS is an independent HTTP file server software, meaning you do not need Apache or anything else to make it work. It is a free, highly customizable file server software allowing people to access directories and files contained within them via their web browser. This is a truly remarkable software program that is easy to configure and allows you to even assign user permissions to protect the directories.
If you've ever asked the question "How do I make my own file server from my computer?", then look no further. I've spent hours searching for a program like this and now here it is and it's absolutely free!

TEXT EDITOR SOFTWARE

Notepad++ (http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm) - This is a really nice and simple text editor that works great for editing configuration files, html files, and more. It has numbered lines as well, making troubleshooting much easier. It also gives you the option to edit with Notepad++ when right-clicking on the file.

I perosnally use this for editing my configuration files because regular Notepad a lot of the times will not put it in an easy-to-read format.

** More to come soon! **

Comments

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Phpmotion not support?

Brundows Y-m-d H:i:s

Phpmotion not support in Xampp with Windows?

So, what script support, i do
not like VidiScript

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RE: Phpmotion not support?

1337soldier Y-m-d H:i:s

Hey Brundows,
I don't know of any other video scripts at this time that will work with
Windows. They are all created for Linux servers for some reason and even with
all of the required components installed, they just simply don't work.
Vidiscript was the only one that I found that had been developed so it would
work with Windows.

I've tried installing them on Linux and at this time I have been unsuccessful at
doing so.

Reply | Quote

is it possible for winamp relay?

hanpedro Y-m-d H:i:s

1337soldier,

Good informations!

I wonder if Vidiscript can relay winamp on web sites.

Anyway I will try to install Vidiscript.

Reply | Quote

RE: is it possible for winamp relay?

1337soldier Y-m-d H:i:s

Hey hanpedro,

I recommend referring to the VidiScript Forums for more info regarding your
question, as it sounds rather elaborate and outside the normal use of the
software. I personally do not use VidiScript because I prefer to use embed
codes and host my videos myself to maintain video quality. I'll soon begin a
series of tutorials on how to do this.

The Vidiscript forums can be found at http://www.vidiscript.com/forums/

Thank you for visiting!

Reply | Quote

Pear and Symfony

Ernie Y-m-d H:i:s

Hi!!!

I would like to know how to install pear and symfony framework, after installed
Apache, Php, MySql, Myadmin. Using your excellent video tutorial. Could you
helpme please... thank

Reply | Quote

what is CMS

omi Y-m-d H:i:s

i really donot understand CMS - (Content Management Software). what is it and
why some scripts are said to CMS - (Content Management Software)

Reply | Quote

RE: what is CMS

NetworkNerd007 Y-m-d H:i:s

Hey omi,

I completely understand where you're coming from because I had never heard of
them and had no clue how they'd help me build a website either. All I use to
know is HTML and didn't know how that applies or even connects to a CMS.

So let me try to explain it.

CMS stands for Content Management System, which basically means it's a framework
that's designed to help make managing your website's content easier.

They usually don't require you to know any code at all. You just log into a
backend(admin) area and add/alter your website's content that way. If you want
to add stuff, such as these comments, you just install add-ons that expand your
website's function. Every page(usually referred to as articles) is easy to edit
their contents and update it accordingly.

Most people don't look at WordPress as a CMS, but it is one as well. You manage
your blog posts and pages all from a dashboard, which makes WordPress a CMS as
well.

The drawback to using a CMS is if you want to customize stuff, you have to learn
that CMS's structure and coding methods. Joomla is probably one of the most
difficult ones I've found along with Drupal. My favorite CMS to date is http://concrete5.org because it's very easy to use, learn, and make custom templates for.

CMS's are also different in the fact they usually rely on templates for the
site's appearance and usually are the same across the whole site. The idea is
to re-use as much code as possible, meaning the same design code you use on one
page will usually be used on every page, thus the themes/template concept.

My best recommendation is to install something like Concrete5 and start
experimenting with it. That's what this site began as, me learning Joomla as my
first attempt at using a CMS. Once you get the hang of it, it's really simple
and can save you a lot of time.

I hope that helps.

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