Don't know where to put this....website tool suggestions?

[Oddone]

Hi there.

A few weeks ago I bought some webspace, and was surprised to find all that was available for what you pay. And that's the problem.

I've got a good idea what I want in a page: A personal portal for myself, and a place for my friends to hang out online. A messageboard, possibly a chatroom, a main page where I might start...not a proper weblog....but more posts to a front page with my thoughts and links to articles/entertainment, like a news page you see a lot of PHP CMS sites show off. Also a place to hold rants, an extensive links list of things I find useful.....and possibly in the future a place for creative endeavors, mine or friends.

It's a tall order...but the various PHP based content management systems seem to give things an order, style, and ease of creation and maintenance that would help me out immensely.

Which brings me to my problem: Fantastico seems to offer an absolute embarrassment of riches when it comes to cool web tools, and I've no idea which one would be the best for me and my website goals. I'm just flooded with information, and all these tools seem really, really good.....I'm at something of an impasse.

Which, hopefully, is where you folk come in.

Which PHP content management system balances power, elegance, and ease of use? Why? Are there any preferred methods of use(Templates, scripts...) I should be aware of?

What's the best message board, using the same criteria above.

What are good ways to implement a chatroom, should I choose to go down that road?

I just need pointers in the right direction on what to choose based on my available options. I'm basically only going to use the tools offered by hostgator in the control panel, as from what I've read on the websites for these various programs, they have more than enough power for what will probably be just a small personal page with community add-ons for friends.

I'll do the footwork myself, I promise, but right now I just need help choosing the right tools to use.

Many thanks(And appologies, I know I get long winded, it's just hard to stop typing when I start!),

-Jose Cruz-Rojas

[msd]

I would suggest you to go with PostNuke.
As far as I know, it is easier to setup/mod than PhpNuke (although it was originally based on PhpNuke).
However, PhpNuke seems to have more mods than PostNuke.
(check their websites for more details about available mods)

I'm not going into the discussion about the "best message board" - it would start a pointless discussion here...
Take a look at phpBB and IPB (basic version). They are both good, free, and will perfectly suit your needs!

For a chatroom, look for available mods for the above options: PostNuke/PhpNuke/phpBB...
I'm not sure if there is a (free) IPB chatroom mod, but there must be.

Check also other websites using these different options in order to decide... or install them in parallel, and choose the one that best suits your needs.

Just my 2 cents...

[Archertech]

Although i agree the post nuke is a very nice CMS , i would Highly recommend PHP NUKE.

Ok now i know its a bit hard to get hang of and there own website gives you crappy information on stuff, but beleive a little determination can give you amazing results.

WIth PHP NUKE you can always add various new modules and stuff and its the weapon of choice for most COOL websites you see around these days.

Want to make it cool without working hard ??? Visit templatemonster.com and search for PHP NUKE themes ... you'll be amazed to see HOW COOL they can be

[Oddone]

Thank you both for your suggestions, I'm looking into them.

[dimension]

Oddone, I see that you're currently looking at Postnuke - you may also consider taking a look at MDPro and dropping in MDForum for a discussion board.

phpBB2 - Forked/ported to work with Nuke systems --> PNphpBB2 --> MDForum


Brief overview of where things have come from:

 
ThatWare --> PHPNuke --> Postnuke --> Envolution --> MDPro
				 --> Xaraya 
		 --> MyPHPNuke
		 --> CPGNuke

Xoops and miscellaneous others also evolved out of these projects for various reasons.

Whatever is chosen, you're sure to find a community site with a forum that can answer most of your questions.

Good Luck.