Any real webheads here?

**TheOldSalt** · 10-04-2007, 05:54 PM

I'm looking for someone who is skilled at making websites, has some free time, really knows their stuff, and can still work cheap. If that sounds like you, then I'd like to ask you some questions, and possibly offer you a chance to do something that's never before been done.

Ice Prince · 10-05-2007, 07:22 PM

im pretty good at html coding and i can do some javascript coding. what do you want done?

Damon · 10-05-2007, 11:40 PM

Marty is also one to look at. It should be his slow time of year also.

FinnFan · 10-11-2007, 06:17 PM

If, by "making websites" you mean designing graphics, coding html, creating stylesheets, and doing a little bit of javascript, I could offer you some help, depending on the size and scope of the project. I spend all day creating websites at work, so spending all night doing it, too, is sometimes a bit much.

If by "making websites" you mean coding lots of php, asp, or other more serious programming languages, then that's probably not something I can help with.

**TheOldSalt** · 10-11-2007, 10:50 PM

I'm looking to build a website with a public mainpage and a password-protected forum. The forum itself is not to be accessible or visible without the password.
Users should be able to apply for membership and register via a formfill page, and then get an automatic email acknowledging their submission. The registration info then goes to me via email and/or to a database, and they are granted access. As if that's not tricky enough, I also need a way to verify the identity of the membership applicants.

I can settle for a visible forum with one little publicly viewable area, but the main areas invisible without the permissions. FishForums, for example, has a forum on it for moderators that only moderators can see. The mods are given the ability to see and use that mod-only forum. I would settle for a VB forum like this one that visitors can see part of, but with only members having the ability to see most of it. Actually, that should be pretty easy to set up, but a real pain to work daily, so an all or nothing arrangement works better.

The rest of the website itself should be able to have many of the features and capabilities commonly found on typical sites today, and most importantly it needs a way to catagorize submitted pictures ( by submittors clicking a little box declaring the correct category, maybe ? ) and display them within their categories.

All this will make sense someday.

redpaulhus · 10-12-2007, 06:20 AM

Hi TOS.
I think that would be very reasonable using one of the newer content-management / "blogging" systems -- ie joomla, drupal, etc.

I'm playing with joomla right now for a re-write of the Boston Aquarium Society website - it seems pretty flexible and powerful without being too difficult to setup.
Part of the available functionality is the ability to use a number of different existing forum platforms - vbBB, phpBB, etc - and tie the core security in with the forum security.

FinnFan · 10-12-2007, 09:36 AM

I haven't gotten into the manipulation of opensource content management systems or forum systems, so I don't think I could provide you with the security and validation features you are looking for. I have been thinking about revamping one of my websites, using an opensource cms, but haven't done it yet, so no experience in that area thus far.

FinnFan · 10-12-2007, 09:53 AM

BTW, there are some decent free boards out there that give you pretty good controls over forums. For example, I have found: http://invisionfree.com/ to be very configurable. If you want the free version, of course you'll have to put up with some ads (though, no pop ups). You could certainly buy a domain name and have a page in front of your forum (or any number of pages).

I have a friend who set up a phpbb board, and she isn't really a webgeek, but she was able to figure out how to work the controls and change the options so there could be public sections and private sections. I might be willing to explore this option, if you think this is what you are looking for.

Ice Prince · 10-12-2007, 04:39 PM

To do what you want TOS i believe you would need a combination of php and javascript and of course html. i dont know how to do php because im not gonna pay for a domain name just to screw around with php (all/most free hosts i found dont let you use php)

EDIT: Like FinnFan said there are some free forum hosts that make guests login before they can see the forum (proboards)

**TheOldSalt** · 10-13-2007, 01:09 PM

thanks for the input, everyone.
I want to avoid php, as it is too easy to hack. Php sites are alway getting messed with, and that's one hassle I'd prefer to avoid.
I've looked into this joomla! stuff. I don't understand it yet, but thanks for pointing me to it.
Getting a domain name is something I absolutely require, so that's not a problem. In fact, the main problem I've found so far is finding a host that will absolutely let me use VB instead of php. Most of the hosting companies I've found so far want to bundle php as part of the service, but that's useless to me.

FinnFan · 10-14-2007, 07:13 PM

I really think that for your purposes, php would do well. We have done many secure sites in php and had no problems. Just my .02, take it fwiw, because I'm definitely not a programmer

**Shaggy** · 10-15-2007, 07:39 PM

What you got up your sleeve there TOS

redpaulhus · 10-15-2007, 09:36 PM

Originally Posted by TheOldSalt

thanks for the input, everyone.
I want to avoid php, as it is too easy to hack. Php sites are alway getting messed with, and that's one hassle I'd prefer to avoid.
I've looked into this joomla! stuff. I don't understand it yet, but thanks for pointing me to it.
Getting a domain name is something I absolutely require, so that's not a problem. In fact, the main problem I've found so far is finding a host that will absolutely let me use VB instead of php. Most of the hosting companies I've found so far want to bundle php as part of the service, but that's useless to me.

A good host should let you put whatever technology (php, etc) you want on the site as long as it compatable with the platform - ie I'm running a "drupal" based system on http://redpaulhus.com and hosting it on a non-windows server, so I'm using non-microsoft based tools.
PhP is basically just a programming language, as is VB. Php is more popular on Linux based servers than on Windows servers, although it can be run on a windows server.
VB is microsoft-based, and I suspect the hosts who didn't support it are running Linux servers rather than windows servers.

Alot of the "content management systems" like drupal or joomla use php "behind the scenes", but a few are more Microsoft based (using vb and ASP or ASP.NET).
As for forums - there are VB forums and php-based forums (and I beleive others as well) -- again, the host environment will affect what you can run.

The important aspect of the systems like joomla is that (once built and configured) they allow you to make changes, updates, etc to the site without knowing any programming language or even html. The big reason I'm looking at converting the fish club site to joomla is that I want the site to be completely updateable by whomever the officers of the club are, not just the "webmaster".

I think php-based sites that are improperly secured are getting hacked - but that's happening to vb-based sites as well (in fact, since its a microsoft based system it might be targeted even more). Properly secured sites of either type should be reasonably secure.
(yeah, I just re-read that, and it sounds silly -- secured sites should be secure. no way, really ?