Content Management Systems for Extranet?

Content Management Systems for Extranet?

by Darren Smith -
Number of replies: 8
I have set up drupal as a test extranet but it looks like it doesn't do everything I want it to do (at least not readily). I mainly need a user file area but also some other other features (which drupal does do).

These are my initial requirements:
  • LDAP authentication
  • PHP + MySQL
  • User file manager (possibly with quota)
  • Quick content creation
  • Good navigation
  • User roles
Bonus if it:
  • Reads from our email system (like squirrelmail)
  • Has (monitored) user blogs
  • Has polls
  • Has a user bookmark manager
Any recommendations, apart from moodle wink ?
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In reply to Darren Smith

Re: Content Management Systems for Extranet?

by Jens Gammelgaard -
Picture of Translators

Hi Darren,

Could you elaborate on the usage a bit further?

You could probably use Typo3, from typo3.org , but it might not be a turn key solution for you...

So a few more words on your assignment, could help us to help you.

Kind Regards

Jens Gammelgaard

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In reply to Jens Gammelgaard

Re: Content Management Systems for Extranet?

by Darren Smith -
Thanks for the response.

I work in a secondary school in the UK with around 1200 students.

Currently our intranet is just a set of links to things like our email server, moodle and other bits and pieces and I want to make it more easier and quicker for me and non-technical staff to add information.

I thought it would be good if I put this new system on one of our webservers which the students could access from home (our moodle server as it happens). Students would then be able to access things like school notices and the like.

I would also like students to be able to upload work to their own area so they can re-download it again at home. This would cut out email quota and file restriction problems. I could use usermin for this but I would like to have an intergrated solution.

I thought of perhaps e-groupware but collaboration isn't really the aim. At a quick skim typo3 looks interesting. I shall have a deeper look.
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In reply to Darren Smith

Re: Content Management Systems for Extranet?

by Miles Berry -
Hi Darren,

If I was setting things up from scratch these days, I'd go with Mambo. There's also a hint of moodle integration, but I don't know how far this has got.
There's a very nice try before you 'buy' facility over at opensourcecms.com
I tried e-groupware for a while, but wasn't too impressed - far too many quirky ways of doing even relatively simple things like imap.

We use squirrelmail for our web-based email, and there's a file management plug-in which allows users access to their home directories from, erm, home - I'm not sure how secure this is. There are also plugins for calendars and contacts.

I wonder how much of this could be achieved inside Moodle itself - the calendar stuff is great, you can use RSS for school notices, or use the announcements forum, and we're on the way to document managment, I don't know about e-mail though.

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In reply to Miles Berry

Re: Content Management Systems for Extranet?

by John Rodgers -
I have heard many good things about Mambo.  I tried it myself, and the experience I had wasn't that good.  Keep in mind, I'm not a very technically adept user, and I didn't have alot of time to experiment with it.

Although there were many modules available, I had difficulty installing them, and I also had difficulty uninstalling them when they didn't work.  The modules that could be installed I didn't like as well as the moodle modules.  They just didn't seem user friendly, although I was accustomed to the moodle look and feel, which perhaps spoiled the experience a bit.  As time wore on, there seemed to be many things that were difficult to manage, a even a level of instability seemed to creep in.  I couldn't find good support forums either. 

In the end I tried the moodle/mambo integration to exploit the higher usabilty of Moodle, but it opened Moodle in an impossibly tiny frame, and users still had to log in twice.  By the time the first phase of the project was over, I just gave thanks and moved everything to a Moodle install.

I had tried a Xoops setup before going with Mambo for the aesthetics.  From what I could tell, it seemed to function better and I perhaps should have stuck with it.

Anyways, Moodle in my opinion, is a few tweaks away from being a "Holy Grail" content and course management system.  Unless I had a really sophisticated content management needs, I would just go Moodle every time.
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In reply to Jens Gammelgaard

Re: Content Management Systems for Extranet?

by Jens Gammelgaard -
Picture of Translators
Hi Darren,

If Typo3 seems to be a solution for you, feel free to come back.

I can guide you through some paths there. Typo3 has quite a steep learningcurve, but for a talent like you it should not be a problem. thoughtful

These videoguides can give you a hint:

http://typo3.org/documentation/videos/wmv-format/

KR
Jens


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In reply to Darren Smith

Re: Content Management Systems for Extranet?

by Scott Karren -

Darren

You might consider Mambo at www.Mamboserver.com  I have been investigating this CMS as a replacement for our current Customer Service Website. 

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In reply to Darren Smith

Re: Content Management Systems for Extranet?

by Giulio Maistrelli -
Hi Darren,

you can check this website out: http://www.cmsmatrix.org/ it provides a comparison chart of all the most known CMS, with a detailed feature list.

I also like Mambo very much, but I'm unaware if it has all the features you wish.

The mambo community appears to be more fragmented than the moodle one (at least this is my impression seeing how moodle.org is central to the community of moodlers). Some links that I found interesting are on my website: follow Internet/Servers/Mambo Server (don't expect anything incredible though, it's just a selection of the few I found useful for me).

Mambo is often compared to Drupal: it is general understanding that Mambo is reacher in features but Drupal has a nicer code (but I'm just reporting others' statements, as I am not a developer).

Good luck
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In reply to Giulio Maistrelli

Re: Content Management Systems for Extranet?

by D LA -

We are using both Moodle and Mambo for our web services.

Both are incredible software solutions for the cost!

Mambo is the best in my exp for ease of use (as CMS not CMS..now you know why many are confused...Mambo is a good content system -- Moodle is the BEST course Man System). smile

Many do not really understand how many thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars (or what ever currency) are spent on a portal or CMS unit for a company.

It is a BIG business. You should look out for people who could help you leverage this open source solution to your individual need...A cottage ind has evolved for this purpose.

Send me a message and I can point you to some.

Good Luck

Doug

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