Thread: Joomla and JomSocial

After a long relationshp with Dolphin, I finally had to make a decision in regards to their software, support (or lack thereof) and began evaluating a lot of other products. My principle concerns were:

Open Source (or as close to it as possible)
Ease of Use
Modularity
Community backing and support
Broad range of modules and addons

Having been through a pretty rough patch with hosting fees, support fees and so on, I finally bit the bullet and discontinued all of my dedicated hosting (saving over $500/month) and switched all my sites over to my own server using my standard ISP connection. This is a very limited bandwidth option, so I had to include site load speed, bandwidth usage and more in my original concerns.

After trying various products including Wordpress, Drupal and others, I selected Joomla as it met most of my requirements as well as providing a number of nice social networking modules. It is relatively easy to learn (took me about 3 or 4 weeks to master the basics) and the modularity it offers is far and away superior to anything that Boonex has been able to come up with to date.

My impressions: It just works. Out of the box, it installs perfectly (comes with provisions to test your server setup at installation) so you know beforehand if it will work with your hosting setup. Modules install quickly using the backend installer and if they break anything, you simply disable them without affecting 240 files on your site. Templates are everywhere online for free or minimal cost to customize your site the way you want it. Templating is a breeze using just a very few css style sheets. It is FAST. My page load times went down 70% or more from my original D6 and D7 sites.
There is a TON of community support not only for the basic Joomla itself, but for modules, plugins and components. There are actual MANUALS available for most everythinig as well as video tutorial galore on YouTube and on vendor sites for just about everything.

You can get FREE: Store Modules (Virtuemart) low cost and free membership purchase plan addons, donations modules, mutlimedia modules galore, security addons not only for just the joomla, but integrated with your server and your sites. Multi-Site management modules for managing many sites simultaneously from one master site. And way too many more to discuss here.

It is a COMPLETE solution and it is supported by many thousands of developers and millions of users. It is the top rated CMS solution and used by more sites than any other.

I know I sound like I'm a sales rep for Joomla, but after 4 years of struggling to customize and use Dolphin, thousands of hours searching for answers, both here on this site and elsewhere, it's NICE to google a problem and within 5 minutes find a solution.

Anyway, my 2 cents worth (and probably not even worth that), but I hope everyone understands, a webmaster just does not have the time or energy to spend fixing problems all day long. A solution should just WORK, and Joomla fills that bill.

Originally Posted by bigal0228

After a long relationshp with Dolphin, I finally had to make a decision in regards to their software, support (or lack thereof) and began evaluating a lot of other products. My principle concerns were:

Open Source (or as close to it as possible)
Ease of Use
Modularity
Community backing and support
Broad range of modules and addons

Having been through a pretty rough patch with hosting fees, support fees and so on, I finally bit the bullet and discontinued all of my dedicated hosting (saving over $500/month) and switched all my sites over to my own server using my standard ISP connection. This is a very limited bandwidth option, so I had to include site load speed, bandwidth usage and more in my original concerns.

After trying various products including Wordpress, Drupal and others, I selected Joomla as it met most of my requirements as well as providing a number of nice social networking modules. It is relatively easy to learn (took me about 3 or 4 weeks to master the basics) and the modularity it offers is far and away superior to anything that Boonex has been able to come up with to date.

My impressions: It just works. Out of the box, it installs perfectly (comes with provisions to test your server setup at installation) so you know beforehand if it will work with your hosting setup. Modules install quickly using the backend installer and if they break anything, you simply disable them without affecting 240 files on your site. Templates are everywhere online for free or minimal cost to customize your site the way you want it. Templating is a breeze using just a very few css style sheets. It is FAST. My page load times went down 70% or more from my original D6 and D7 sites.
There is a TON of community support not only for the basic Joomla itself, but for modules, plugins and components. There are actual MANUALS available for most everythinig as well as video tutorial galore on YouTube and on vendor sites for just about everything.

You can get FREE: Store Modules (Virtuemart) low cost and free membership purchase plan addons, donations modules, mutlimedia modules galore, security addons not only for just the joomla, but integrated with your server and your sites. Multi-Site management modules for managing many sites simultaneously from one master site. And way too many more to discuss here.

It is a COMPLETE solution and it is supported by many thousands of developers and millions of users. It is the top rated CMS solution and used by more sites than any other.

I know I sound like I'm a sales rep for Joomla, but after 4 years of struggling to customize and use Dolphin, thousands of hours searching for answers, both here on this site and elsewhere, it's NICE to google a problem and within 5 minutes find a solution.

Anyway, my 2 cents worth (and probably not even worth that), but I hope everyone understands, a webmaster just does not have the time or energy to spend fixing problems all day long. A solution should just WORK, and Joomla fills that bill.

I agree with the Joomla part. I am in fact an active webmaster for Joomla and specialize in developing sites with that platform.

In terms of free alternatives to Dolphin - there is always OsDate from tufat.com. I used them for a while in the past and found it to be quite good, but for my taste, the templates were not what I was after.

regarding joomla.... does it have a good webdating mod? I did not see one...

Thanks

Originally Posted by Stanjensen

regarding joomla.... does it have a good webdating mod? I did not see one...

Thanks

Modz are endless with Joomla, and can come from so many sources. The most popular social media for Joom is Jomsocial. And there is another called Community Builder(CB) that I can not speak for, since I have never used it.
Jomsocial, is very user friendly, and rather flawless when compared to Dolphin. Objects like forums, and music can be integrated with no problem. And with the new release of Jomsocial, the future is looking very good with them. I have several sites going now with both D7 and jom, and after viewing webtracker info, it is very obvious that users prefer jomsocial, and can navigate easier.

Not just that, Jom was installed and configured in a day, with no changes yet!!! I have been fucking with D since 6.4 and still dont have it going smooth or how I want. That was all the proof I needed. I will never go back.

While it is a paid mod, it is well worth it. Jomsocial integrates an activity stream much like FaceBook, is rich in capabilities for your member profiles including customizing the hell out of registration and profile items, in the new version you can drag and drop modules wherever you want them (end user also has this option), has an activity points system built in, integrates photo and video albums as well as profile video, can use comments on every module within it, add like/dislikes to most features, has user selectable components that can be added and removed by each user in their own profile, and integrates with a component called jbolo which is a FaceBook like menu bar at the bottom of the page with a chat feature for online users, and lots more. It can really turn your community into a very nice site for your members.

The Kunena Forums (free forum for Joomla) also integrates with JomSocial and most other apps so your members profiles are displayed in the forum posts, forum posts can be integrated into the activity streams, points are accrued for posting, karma is issued to users, and lots more. Very scalable and flexible, and many template options are available.

Groups and events modules are already built in as well.

All major forums will integrate nicely with Joomla and JomSocial too. You are welcome to check out my site to see most of these features and a few others in action.

Looks good Al. Will give it a try.

Originally Posted by bigal0228

After a long relationshp with Dolphin, I finally had to make a decision in regards to their software, support (or lack thereof) and began evaluating a lot of other products. My principle concerns were:

Open Source (or as close to it as possible)
Ease of Use
Modularity
Community backing and support
Broad range of modules and addons

Having been through a pretty rough patch with hosting fees, support fees and so on, I finally bit the bullet and discontinued all of my dedicated hosting (saving over $500/month) and switched all my sites over to my own server using my standard ISP connection. This is a very limited bandwidth option, so I had to include site load speed, bandwidth usage and more in my original concerns.

After trying various products including Wordpress, Drupal and others, I selected Joomla as it met most of my requirements as well as providing a number of nice social networking modules. It is relatively easy to learn (took me about 3 or 4 weeks to master the basics) and the modularity it offers is far and away superior to anything that Boonex has been able to come up with to date.

My impressions: It just works. Out of the box, it installs perfectly (comes with provisions to test your server setup at installation) so you know beforehand if it will work with your hosting setup. Modules install quickly using the backend installer and if they break anything, you simply disable them without affecting 240 files on your site. Templates are everywhere online for free or minimal cost to customize your site the way you want it. Templating is a breeze using just a very few css style sheets. It is FAST. My page load times went down 70% or more from my original D6 and D7 sites.
There is a TON of community support not only for the basic Joomla itself, but for modules, plugins and components. There are actual MANUALS available for most everythinig as well as video tutorial galore on YouTube and on vendor sites for just about everything.

You can get FREE: Store Modules (Virtuemart) low cost and free membership purchase plan addons, donations modules, mutlimedia modules galore, security addons not only for just the joomla, but integrated with your server and your sites. Multi-Site management modules for managing many sites simultaneously from one master site. And way too many more to discuss here.

It is a COMPLETE solution and it is supported by many thousands of developers and millions of users. It is the top rated CMS solution and used by more sites than any other.

I know I sound like I'm a sales rep for Joomla, but after 4 years of struggling to customize and use Dolphin, thousands of hours searching for answers, both here on this site and elsewhere, it's NICE to google a problem and within 5 minutes find a solution.

Anyway, my 2 cents worth (and probably not even worth that), but I hope everyone understands, a webmaster just does not have the time or energy to spend fixing problems all day long. A solution should just WORK, and Joomla fills that bill.

Originally Posted by bigal0228

I know I sound like I'm a sales rep for Joomla, but after 4 years of struggling to customize and use Dolphin, thousands of hours searching for answers, both here on this site and elsewhere, it's NICE to google a problem and within 5 minutes find a solution.

Anyway, my 2 cents worth (and probably not even worth that), but I hope everyone understands, a webmaster just does not have the time or energy to spend fixing problems all day long. A solution should just WORK, and Joomla fills that bill.

You dont sound like a sales rep at all, and this is something that i really dont understand about people who have used dolphin for a good length of time, having to fix bug after bug after bug.. Why do people stay with dolphin is such a mystery... Its when you then decide to go work with another software, while you are waiting on the next version of dolphin, it somehow takes you by surprise the way other software just seems to work, and then it hits you how buggy and slow dolphin really is... so when you talk about any other software, in relation to Dolphin, it comes across like some sales pitch because in comparison other software is so easy to use. Course those that try to find excuses why we cant fathom Dolphin out or make it work right, it will be our fault cos we aren't clever enough or some such rubbish. when truth is, D7 is a pig, and boonex knows it too. Isnt there talk of them moving on now to D8 before D7 even works properly... just like they did with D6 moving onto D7 before D6 worked properly...

Seems to be a pattern here dont you think...

Originally Posted by wingman

when truth is, D7 is a pig, and boonex knows it too. Isnt there talk of them moving on now to D8 before D7 even works properly... just like they did with D6 moving onto D7 before D6 worked properly...

Well - as we mentioned... if staying within the Dolphin code, 5.6.5 (GPL)(OPEN SOURCE)(NO LICENSE FEE) is a good place to "start again" and see were we can go with it.

It would be nice to do this with v6... but version 6 is CC-BY...

But there is another question.... once GLP, aways GPL...

But what happened was

4.x (aeDating) Commercial License
5.x (Dolphin) GPL
6.x (Dolphin) CC-BY
7.x (Dolphin) CC-BY

The question is... can you go from a restrictive license (4.x commercial), to a less restrictive GPL (5.x), then to a more restrictive license CC-BY (6.x and 7.x).

Some people have expressed that once something is GPL, it is always GPL.

So, is in fact, Dolphin 6.x and 7.x, really still GPL, as the change to CC-BY was invalid?

I don't know - but it raises some interesting questions.

Warm regards,
Smoge

Where can I download 5.x (Dolphin) GPL ?

Originally Posted by cbassthefish

Where can I download 5.x (Dolphin) GPL ?

http://downloads.modmysite.com/Dolphin_5_0_X/