Re: AUGD: CMS Recommendations
Re: AUGD: CMS Recommendations
- Subject: Re: AUGD: CMS Recommendations
- From: Allen Emory <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:36:37 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
I could be completely wrong about this, but, I am guessing that most UGs by their nature are going to have homegrown solutions for membership management and web presence. By nature I mean we are computer geeks and have been for a while. I know for our group all of this is over time and very homegrown. It is part of the group; to figure out how it all works. So, with this is mind, here are some possible solutions.
For a web presence, I would recommend machighway.com (use to be itsamac) I also would recommend the $100 per year option still very cheap and gets you a dedicated SQL server.
The nice thing about machighway is you'll be hosted on Mac OS X sever. The reason this is a good thing - most of the "stuff" you need to create your web presence is already on your Mac. "Stuff" like php, apache, python, and, mySQL can be put on your Mac relatively painlessly. You get to test that everything works then upload to a server that is using the same.
OK - that is the where. now what.
There are lots of options for a web presence - none that I know of are turnkey - web presence and membership management.
What you will need is a platform for participants from a lot of locations. I might recommend PHPBB (google it) PHP based bulletin board (it will need mySQL, though). It has a user control system that could act as member management for you (though it might not be passive.) There are other solutions, our group has decided to give Mediawiki a try (google it) Mixed success, but we are going to keep at it for a while. Again Mediawiki is PHP based and works on a Mac, it need mySQL, though.
If listserves are a thing for you, Mailman might be a choice. It is python based and will run on your Mac. (google it)
none of this is as easy as clicking on a dmg and dragging a program to the applications folder. There is going to be a learning curve (and terminal commands). But, who needs a user group for drag and drop? This is a chance to learn something.
As for membership fees. PayPal. (no, we don't, but, we don't need to). You'll ultimately end up with a web badge for your website that links to a Paypal site for people to pay dues to your UG. And members don't need a PayPal account - just plastic.
The fun thing about this is you'll begin to have a whole new appreciation for your Mac. You get a glimpse of another world - open source developer world. You'll find plenty of programs that run cross platform - but - Mac users don't work nearly as hard to get running because Apple has included lots of "stuff" (see above).
Well, again I ramble on. Good luck, have fun. hope it helps.
Allen Emory
Triangle Macintosh Users Group
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
tmug.org
-----Original Message-----
>From: email@hidden
>Sent: Oct 10, 2007 11:40 AM
>To: email@hidden
>Subject: AUGD: CMS Recommendations
>
>The Military Members Apple User Group (MMAUG) is looking for a robust
>solution for website and membership management. I thought the
>community might be able to make some recommendations. Since our group
>has a large online component, we would like to be able to use our
>site as our primary means of tracking membership and conducting
>administrative business.
>
>Our CMS needs include:
>voting and/or polls (elections)
>forums
>membership (payment or currency tracking)
>forms (monthly officer reports)
>
>All suggestions will be apprecited!
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