Homepage Idea...

[firefly]

I am actually quite keen on a "blog" area/section for TP, since the article system now is so versatile(lookwise) and will also have bbc-code option + permissions + comments in it, that using that system for specifically "user-categories"=blogs would be viable.

But what need to be present for a blog in a portal - to be any good?

Great! Some thoughts...

• Syndication: not by all methods necessarily, but at least by rss and probably xml also.
  Text input via the editor only, so disallowing it to be deselected (which would otherwise allow html).
• A link to the user's profile via user name.
• Theme selection (as per the boards) would be nice.
• An Adsense block for the user.
• Previous posts and/or archive.
• A companion block to show headlines from a selected number of user blogs.

Thanks, Bloc
(And please consider the User Homepage further.)

[bloc]

Thanks, firefly.

Homepage? thats the profile expansion/addon? I can see it expanding the SMF profile..but it may be better to have a user-module for TP..where also blog would be integral, to make it really come together. Number of own articles, uploaded downloads, even shouts..all these could be inside such a TP profile, and of course linking it with the normal profile page.

[Nokonium]

Thinking through this I like the Personal Homepage idea. My image is of having your own Home Page where you could define the blocks and articles, even via permissions to allow members to create their own. Could even be selectable as your start page, that would mean having front page options in the profile.

[firefly]

Ah, now I see where you're coming from, Bloc and, of course, you are right - I just didn't want to ask for a blog as a top, or high priority (in case it was too much to ask for) and I didn't see blog in the Roadmap. Implementation of what you are suggesting would make CMS a whole new ballgame  :coolsmiley:

Cheers!
Firefly

[bloc]

The roadmap is a bit behind schedule.. (need to do something about that)

Nokonium, do you mean to construct your very own blocks? or simply re-arrange the existing ones?

[Nokonium]

Nokonium, do you mean to construct your very own blocks? or simply re-arrange the existing ones?

A combination of both I suppose. What I was thinking would be for each member to have  a range of blocks that they could select from. The available range would be up to the Admin and could/would include blocks that are not displayed as the board default. The Admin should be able to set the maximum number of blocks. Another half formed idea is 'freestyle' blocks, where the member can set the content, possibly limited to just BB or HTML.

For Articles, a freestyle article could form the basis of a blog.

I suppose that underlying this has to be membergroup permissions on who is allowed to see this extra personal information.

[Xarcell]

But what need to be present for a blog in a portal - to be any good?

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For A Homepage
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If a user could edit an article, with blocks that can used within that article(which I think you mentioned can be done), that's just about all you need to have a user homepage. Just give each user a customiziable "personal article", blocks and all...

The homepage will need to be customizable "lookswise" also. This can be done by theme selection. Kinda like you can override a user's theme when viewing a board? Same concept when letting a blog-user select a theme to override the viewing-user's theme. Hope I didn't lose you there. Most blogs only let user's use custom stylesheets, not whole themes...

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To Promote From Homepage To Blog
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This would be tricker if you used the "personal article" concept. A Blogger would need to be able to post something, in which user's/friends can comment on.

Currently that I know of, only one blog out there that has forum intergration(crappy forums), and that's myspace. I'm sure you've heard of it by now, if you haven't, I suggest you get a profile there then, . That's one of the reasons why it's preferred over others.

Myspace even has a block that shows lastest posts from user's on your friends list, so you can easily track them in the forum.

Most blog's have a "friends list". You could actually use the "buddy list" feature for SMF. Same concept, it just also show's the user/buddy avatar. Some blogs only allow friends to comment, and some allow the whole public to comment based on the blogger's permission settings.

Any alternative ideas I need to try to come up with? Is the "personal article" concept viaiable, or do I need to steer away from it? I have other ideas, I'm a idea generator....

My "myspace account":  http://www.myspace.com/xarcell
I don't use it much anymore, since I found tagworld. I stopped working on it...

My "tagworld account": http://www.tagworld.com/Xarcell/
Work in progress, haven't had time to work on it lately...

[gerrymo]

Think your getting confused here. No need for any kind of blog features. Feline is working on a Blog Module to do that part of things.

We cant even get our members to complete their SMF profile, so no chance of getting them to do a homepage.

[Xarcell]

@ gerrymo, I'm willing to bet people would spend time on a user homepage more than user profile anyday.

I don't think I'm confused. I'm also aware of feline's blog module, however I have no idea on how she plans to sort it out.

[gerrymo]

I see very little point making things complex. The more of this stuff that ends up interlinked, the more confusion will be caused. Its fine for the likes of ourselves, but people that are new to the sites we build? Thats very different.