[NTLUG:Discuss] more OSS packages for BSA

[Mike Stute]

It sounds like you need a portal solution, not just a forum.

Joomla 1.5 is out now and has had big architectural improvements since 
the 1.x days.

This will give you a full portal that will allow forum integration.

As for the shopping cart, Virtue-Mart is a great solution that is open 
source and is under active development.

Virtue-Mart is a BIG plug-in for Joomla, so they also provide an 
installation package that will install a complete Joomla portal with the 
shopping cart already integrated and configured.

Virtue-Mart for Joomla 1.x is stable and available now.  The final  
Joomla 1.5 version will be released in a few weeks.  Personally, I would 
wait for the Joomla 1.5 version.

Lastly, there are a plethora of sites with Joomla templates (skins).

My favorite is Rocket Theme.  There is a one-time fee to subscribe, but 
there are no on-going charges to use their templates.

Rocket Theme templates are GORGEOUS.  Your web site will look as 
professional as anything out there.


Joomla
http://www.joomla.org/

Virtue-Mart
http://virtuemart.net/

Rocket Theme
http://www.rockettheme.com/


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Greg Edwards wrote:
> Thanks for the help on the discussion forum packages.  I looked at both 
> phpBB and Phorum, I went with phpBB.  The security issues seem to be 
> from version 2.  I didn't find any Google references to security issues 
> that were newer than 2005 (I think).
>
> JBOSS based solutions are not really an option, but thanks for that 
> suggestion as well.
>
> The Boy Scouts OSS Website will have an Open Source product catalog that 
> will work like an E-Tailer website.  The current plan is to build it 
> from scratch since I don't think there's anything available that is 
> close enough to start off with as a base.  But maybe I'm wrong.
>
> I've started looking at Zen-cart, does anyone have any other suggestions?
>
> TIA
>