Linux, PHP, etc woes

Time for a rant:

I'm growing tired, messing with this for months, there is no end in sight.....

So way back, I installed phpnuke, and integrated gallery2.

So, the integration was crap, nothing worked. The integation package was hosted at nukedgallery and you had to donate to get to it (get special privledges). Got it, used it, still not everything works correctly. Massive searches find 100's of work arounds, and possible solutions to try to various issues. Few work, and its getting tiring to put up with....

Like I said, I have been doing this for months now, and it's winning (the bad code, the crappy modules, the unsupported systems, the outdated packages, communities long gone)... I just want a simple website where users can post on forums, add pictures to their gallery, show some news, and perhaps an events calender. Nothing fancy, just simple. I have a large family, they all want to be part of this, but I can't find a solution for us that works, or works but is simple to use....

I really am at my last thread of tolerance for phpnuke and gallery2. They are nice, but there is no 'true' support for either. I would be up to coding my own solution, but that means that it's going to be 5-6 months before anything is in a good state for them to use (let alone transfer 5,000 some pictures over to it that they have already uploaded).

Does anyone know of a solution? Even if it costs me money, I dont care anymore, I just want this to be done.

I can help you with all that. Shoot me an e-mail. You haven't been a bastard to me in the past, so I'll be nice and help you as cheaply as humanly possible. :)

Just tell me everything you need. Doesn't have to be detailed right now. Can be a bunch of bulleted lists. Also, the URL for this site.

Now, It may not be possible to move all your stuff. If you are actually hosting all of it yourself in a MySQL database. Then yes, We'll be able to re-harvest all of it. But if you aren't, if you don't have access to the database. Then we likely can't. Not with ease.

5-6 months seems like a very long time to code a forum with gallery.

It has been a long time since I coded anything that needs a secure login system. Things might have changed in the security side, as they tend to do. But that is nothing a little research can't fix.

Anyway. Shoot me an e-mail.

Can't you just get a proper CMS system like Joomla or something?

Anyway, if you've got lots of money to burn, Cyber Glues CMS system will keep you covered.

I read some issues on Joomla I believe, which is why I am having these woes... I don't want to go to all the work of installing something, having everyone waste their time trying it out just to find out it has issues that no one will support....


I dont have that much money, I am just tired of dealing with constant workarounds with the open source community.. Opensource is a great thing, its just a huge pain because no one really supports it, they just have "maybe this will work, maybe that, try this" then finally "none of us have a clue, sorry"....


I'm no mastermind with php, I mean I could probably do it quicker, however 5-6 months for a well done package would be a conservative estimate. I guess my main downfall is just layouts, as I am not good with color schemes at all (I have no sense of artistry at all, just a coder at heart).

What are you proposing DampeS8N?

Depends what exactly you need. What I gather is that you have a forum, and the members of the forum have their own profiles ala myspace or deviantart where they can post things in gallery.

It all depends how many features you want. A simple forum something like this one, with a member page that has a gallery, isn't all that big a deal. The more buttons and gizmos you want, the longer and harder it is. Like all things.

Interface design is more important than graphic design in these type and most other sites, the graphic design could be anything really, as long as it doesn't cloud the interface or clash with the object of the site... You wouldn't want to do... www.bungie.com for example. Nor would you want to have flowers and little girls all over a site dedicated to first person shooter clans.

The real kicker is how you would prefer to update a site like this. If you want the easy to update, hard to code, route. You could have a fully-featured admin system that lets you have all the control of some stand-alone forum package like Invision Power Board. But is that really all required? Are you going to want to re-arange the whole site and have all that extra control? Unlikely.

On the other hand, you might not want to have to touch code every time you need to make a slight change.

This is why I want you to e-mail me. Talk is free, planning is also free. Once I know what it is you want, I can better help you figure out what you need. If nothing else you can take it elsewhere and find what you require.

The big issue with all these opensource things, is they have so many un-needed features, that the interface becomes hazed. It is always better to have a custom-design. Specially when it will likely be cheaper than anything out there you can buy and retro-fit.

Tell me what your ideal site is. What your idea was in creating it. Why you think it should exist. And let me see what it currently looks like.

If you don't like my ideas, all you wasted was some time and words.

Well, I appreciate the offer, and I might take you up on it. However I did take Flameducks advice and am trying out joomla. so far I am not dissapointed yet, its very robust, yet simple to use.

I will let you know as I get a bit further into it.

Again, I appreciate all your help.

no problem. I hope it works out for you.