Joomla

Build a Social Network Using Joomla!

on Apr 20th 2009 with 131 comments

Social network implementation has become a necessity for successful websites. Joomla!, the popular Open-Source CMS, has some great and affordable ways to bring your site to the social networking level. Let’s review how.

This article will walk through the beginnings of setting up a social site using Joomla. Some of the end goals and solutions will vary depending on your needs.

Joomla! shouldn’t just be looked at as a CMS but a framework from which to build your applications and accomplish your dreams. Before you jump in and start lacing together extensions to build your site, proper planning and a roadmap is essential.

Site Strategy

So you want to start a social network with Joomla! you say? First you need a purpose statement. In our sample, this is our purpose:

To create and nurture business relationships by offering free network and support opportunities.

After establishing the site purpose we need to know the site requirements. Start by asking questions:

How will people use my site?

Users will create custom content and events. They will also comment and review past events and content.

How will they interact with others?

Interaction will come by having user created groups, messaging, blogs / articles and helps, etc.

How much control do I want to give them?

Users will have unrestricted access to create content, events, comments, etc. Moderators will monitor the activity.

Are there features I can offer users to generate site income?

Users may purchase banner ad spots on the different pages.

Once we obtain answers to our questions, we need to create requirement guidelines to help us find the right Joomla plugins to use. We need the following features:

  • Messaging / commenting system for user interaction towards custom created content.
  • Event creation, registration, etc.
  • Blogging
  • Groups
  • Banner system
  • A Forum for helpful discussion threads (it’s in our purpose statement)

You can find almost anything you need at the Joomla Extension Directory

Finding the Right Plugins

With any large CMS community such as Joomla! there will be a lot of good and bad extensions to choose. Using a bogus plugin could make or break your website. It’s important you get it right the first time! Fortunately, Joomla! has some great extension directories for us to look at; each with reviews, ratings, and more. Here are some good resources for Joomla! plugins:

After surfing the directories and reviewing features, I chose the following extensions:

  • JomSocial

    JomSocial

    Most of the core features we need are in this component. It also has a plugin system, making our site future-proof and giving us the opportunity to offer new features to our users.

    Visit Site

  • EventList

    EventList

    This component has event creation, management, plugins, registration, and more. It integrates with JomSocial as well.

    Visit Site

  • MyBlog

    MyBlog

    This component extends the core Joomla content features for a more social blogging experience. This has JomSocial integration as well.

    Visit Site

  • Kunea

    Kunea

    This will offer our users a support forum. They are working on a JomSocial integration for the user profiles.

    Visit Site

  • JReviews

    JReviews

    This will allow for reviews and commenting. It has integration with JomSocial and EventList.

    Visit Site

  • JomComments

    JomComments

    This is another option we could use for commenting. This will allow users to comment on user created content. It also integrates into the social component core, so comments can be displayed on user profile pages.

    Visit Site

  • JomComments

    Ad Agency

    This allow an easy way for users to publish ads on our site.

    Visit Site

I had some determining factors in deciding the components to use. I wanted to make sure they were well supported, had good developers behind them, integrated with each other, and easy to customize.


The default JomSocial template

You will notice that some of these are commercial plugins and the core plugin we’re using, JomSocial, is quite expensive. There are free alternatives out there to try as well. Community Builder is a quality Joomla! extension that could accomplish a lot of the same things JomSocial does. It has a lot of extension integrations available as well. There are open-source commenting and banner ad extensions you can find in the Joomla directories. Amy Stephen and some other developers are creating the impressive new blog extension, Tamka. It should be available for BETA soon!

In the end, I chose the more expensive route because I am comfortable with what they can do.

Implementation

Using Joomla’s installer we can systematically install our extensions into the site. Once this is done, all that is left is configuring the individual extensions and tweaking our layouts. Let’s go over some of the highlights:


Templates that come with JomSocial

JomSocial Customization

You will find the settings for JomSocial are easy to manage. Because of the nature of our social network, our users will be doing a lot of the managing and setup too! Some of the initial things that must be done are:

  • Setup initial groups
  • Setup user profile fields and information
  • Setup the user point system
  • Customize the look and feel

To control the look and feel, JomSocial has many templates to choose from or you can create your own. You can also use template overrides to customize the site too!


The EventList Dashboard

EventList

Allowing users to create their own events, venues, etc. is important but you should have some initial ones created to fill things in. As with all the extensions I chose, EventList is easy to customize the look and feel to match the site. You can edit the CSS file right from the administration panel if needed. Once EventList is up and running we need to install the plugin integration with JomSocial.

Blog, Comments, and the Forum

These extensions follow suite. Configuring them and linking them appropriately in your menus is all you have to do.

Conclusion

Each of the extensions we chose should be easily implemented into our site. As mentioned before, one of the reasons I chose the above extensions is for customization. Most have templating / view files where you can change the markup and CSS to mold it to the look and feel of your design.

With so many extensions available for Joomla!, it’s easy to setup a cost-effective social network. Here are some Joomla! social network launches (for your inspiration):

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Newer Comments →
  • http://eyoosuf.blogspot.com Yoosuf

    It’s nice and expected one!,

    A suggestion as like WP teaming series why not Joomlla Series Jeff as a site manager you can conceder

  • http://www.xqlusive.nl xQlusive

    This is an good overview for the things you need to build a community with Joomla cms. Only for the Azrul (Jomcomment and Myblog) i would advice to look further, like comments from Jxtended.

  • http://twitter.com/maxberndt Mexx

    Hi Rick, thx for the tut. I love Joomla! Although I’d like to see how to customize these extension and build a great looking site. Its easy to set up a basic joomla site by just installing extensions. It becomes interesting once you master Joomla! and theme it so that other can’t tell, that joomla is working in the background.

  • http://laminbarrow.com Lamin Barrow

    I have never liked Joomla one bit but this tut have made me reconsider. I will give it a shot again. Great tut. :D

  • http://www.iconz.in iconz

    I have used joomla before. But I found that the installation file size is too much.. and the admin back end takes a lot of time to load and was quiet confusing compared to word press. although the functionality is great and there are thousands of plug ins to choose from.

  • http://shinokada.blogspot.com/ shinokada

    I started working on this school site in Norway for 2-3 weeks. http://sis.skagerak.org
    I use Jomsocial, Kunena, eventlist. And for comment system I recommend Disqus.
    Another recommendation is a chat function.
    http://www.anthonyurso.com/, unfortunately the website of this chat program is out of order at the moment, but I heard that it has the same chat function as facebook.

  • http://blog.insicdesigns.com insic

    lol, the article title sounds really interesting, and it ends only in choosing a ready made plugin. :)

    • http://twitter.com/vastudio Meshach

      Yeah.

      The quality of this one is very very low as there was no tut it was just telling you about a plugin.

    • Guimal

      Bobo ka talaga Insic! Kaya nga Joomla CMS ang ginamit eh para di ka na mag code, gagamit ka lang ng mga extensions.

  • http://www.joomlashow.it/ Federico Capoano

    Nice article.

    Unfortunately i have to say that if you need something very customized and particular Joomla is not a good choiche.

    Plus if you get a huge amount of visitors you will probably have a server crash unless you have the cache functionality configured correctly and probably also a query cache component.

    • http://beautyindesign.com Rick Blalock

      Joomla is one of the most pluggable / customizable frameworks out there (hence the 4000+ extensions for it).

      You can find Joomla on some very high-traffic sites.

      • http://landman.mypixelbox.co.uk TheLandman

        I agree with Federico. Joomla is an awesome platform. But it lacks the ability of giving the site developer that extra edge. Theming for Joomla is a mission as well if you’re a beginner. I’m a fan of Joomla, but if it comes to creating a social network… I have my doubts. Show me a sample of a social network running with Joomla and I’ll be convinced.

        Joomla kicks ass as a CMS System… Otherwise, I’d put my bet on trying to turn a horse carriage into a fighter plane.

        Personally, I’d go with WordPress…. ALL THE WAY!

    • j

      Shows how much you guys know about Joomla!….

      Joomla! is the most customizable of any CMS and if you knew code, you could customize any part of it.

      There are over 2 million websites using Joomla! and that’s for a good reason: it’s simply the best. Period.

      You may disagree…but then again, what kind of sites have you built?

  • http://mikemclin.com Mike Mick

    So, when comparing this to BuddyPress (WordPress MU), the use of Joomla “MyBlog” only creates a blog for the site as a whole (one single blog)? Users will not be able to create their own blogs, correct?

    Also, some sort of “Facebook Connect” integration would complement this list very nicely.

    As a whole, interesting list… I’ve never worked with Joomla, but I might give it a testrun now.

  • http://www.eraxa.com Sirwan

    I really dont understand why people get CMS or Blogging software and try to turn them into something else, that is already out there.

    Elgg does the exact thing this is trying to do, and there is no need to “intergrate” plugins and stuff together to get it working.

    • http://www.kevinquillen.com Kevin Quillen

      Yep.

    • http://www.315Design.com Mikhail Kozlov

      Yep. Can we get some alternatives next time, please?

    • martin

      this really is what i wanted to say

      • http://www.eraxa.com Sirwan

        I would rather have tutorials on the scripts that do this specifically like the Elgg or PHPizabi platforms.

        And be introduced to ways that are less complicated and unnessecary.

        There is too much focus on Joomla and WordPress, it kind of limits peoples imagination when wanting to start a new idea.

      • martin

        hehe i asked if the want to have some TYPO3 Tuts but they said “no”
        so maybe say them that you want something else than wp and joomla

        btw. i wanted to ‘reply’ but it seems that there are no deeper replies than 3 possible -.-

    • http://mikemclin.com Mike Mick

      Because…

      A – We are stupid
      B – We are comfortable with a certain platform
      C – We might want a site that is enhanced by certain social features, not dominated by them.
      D – We might not like working with Elgg.
      E – The developer community size for each platform
      F – Elgg might not support features that are readily available from other CMS/Blog systems.

      Take your pick… It seems every project is a little bit different. I can already see benefits using the Joomla method above over BuddyPress for certain projects, and vice-versa for other projects. Elgg, might be the best choice for certain Social projects as well, but I can’t imagine it is the obvious choice for every social networking solution. The more options, the better.

      • http://mikemclin.com Mike Mick

        I’m sorry if that came off snobbish… It wasn’t my intent. I do see some validity in your comment. I left a comment right above yours asking about BuddyPress comparisons. My comment is still under moderation, and not visible yet. I didn’t realize that is was still under moderation, and assumed you were directing your comment towards me :)

      • http://www.eraxa.com Sirwan

        yeah, no problem glad thereis a discussion rather than just a “good tut” comment.

        Iv used WordPress for 2 years, Im just switching over to Elgg now, I really suggest checking it out before dismissing it.

        WordPress is saturating the entire market and everyone is just copying everyones ideas… etc.. create a blog + long content = get traffic…

        A new platform like this is going to re-invigerate everything becuase its not just a social networking sites.. Im not going to tell you the features, becuase it has too much, lets just say instead of getting what you want with elgg by adding heaps of plugins like WP, all you have to do is remove the features you dont want.

        Elgg is actually going under the radar becuase most of the bigger starttups are going to use it before the “common market” saturate it.

    • http://www.kevinquillen.com Kevin Quillen

      Thats my opinion- WordPress was never meant for more than a blog.

    • http://beautyindesign.com Rick Blalock

      You shouldn’t look at Joomla as a out-of-the-box CMS but a platform / framework from which to build what you need.

  • http://www.johndeszell.com John Deszell

    Great Tut! I downloaded Joomla and set it up on my computer awhile ago when the first Joomla tutorial was posted on here. I played around with Community Builder and could see it being of use. I just wish JomSocial was free, though by the looks of it, it’s pretty nice. Would be great to see one with Community Builder.

  • hal2k

    help yourself and go with DRUPAL
    nothing against joomla & co
    but why reinventing the wheel?

    • http://mhuntdesign.com Matt

      I agree drupal for advanced creators and buddypress for those new to setting up or configuring sites.

  • http://www.ericdgreene.com Eric D. Greene (artist)

    Kick. Ass. Tutorial. Seriously! This is what I’ve been looking for. Thanks

  • samuel pushpak

    lookin for more JOOMLA tuts!!

  • Dave

    You should definitely add ParaInvite in there. You can’t build a social networking site without the best viral marketing/invites solution!

  • http://www.quizzpot.com crysfel

    i dont like joomla :o

    • http://twitter.com/vastudio Meshach

      Same here.

      • http://twitter.com/furley furley

        Same here.

      • martin

        Same here.

    • http://landman.mypixelbox.co.uk TheLandman

      Agreed!

    • http://www.twitter.com/mayakanon Mayakanon

      Same here.

    • j

      that’s cuz you are an idiot.

  • Dave

    You should definitely add ParaInvite in there. You can’t build a social networking site without the best viral marketing/invites solution!

    It integrates with JomSocial as well, and Community Builder too. It’s at http://mike.simbunch.com

  • http://viperfish.com.au John Pitchers

    Many new Joomla users fall into the trap of thinking that a Facebook or Myspace site is as easy to build as it is to make spaghetti bolognese. Just throw it all together and there you go. Unfortunately, this article doesn’t help the situation.

    Joomla is tremendous. My entire business over the past 2 years is built on it.

    @Federico. This is the exact thing that I’m talking about. Joomla is the perfect foundation to build any type of site you need. But you will need get your hands dirty in PHP code to get custom results.

    @Sirwan and others. I haven’t used Elgg, have used PHPIzabi and liked it very much. But these applications are social networking applications. Joomla can do this but it can also handle your e-commerce, blogs, newsletters, catalogues or what ever you need all in one site. And it provides the platform for you to develop your own applications. It’s more of a foundation to build what ever you like than a single purpose app.

    • http://www.eraxa.com Sirwan

      I agree that Joomla is a powerful CMS, but its just been too hard to customize and seems to be more of a programmers choice rather than a designer nerd like me.

      • http://landman.mypixelbox.co.uk TheLandman

        @Sirwan Yeah I agree with you bro. The joomla platform is an awesome CMS System, but it seems that the scructure of the platform is aimed at programmers.

        I know people are saying that Joomla and WordPress dominate the market but WordPress allows far better customization with themes. As a designer, I’m able to atleast dig through the PHP in WordPress to fiddle around and make changes. But with Joomla the code seems to be all over the place and never in one place.

      • j

        @TheLandman: you don’t know what you are talking about. The code for Joomla! themes/templates is always in the same place. You can dig through it just like in wordpress.

        Joomla has over 1 million free templates out there.

        You can customize any part of Joomla easily if you knew anything about PHP/HTML/CSS.

        usually you can even edit the CSS/HTML of the template inside Joomla without going to the file manager.

        you guys just have no clue do you?

  • http://frederic-soler.fr Fred

    I tried to use Joomla a year ago, but I did’nt like it.
    Does it always use to display content ?
    What is the best choice :

    - Drupal
    or
    - Joomla ????

    Thanks for the tut !

    • http://frederic-soler.fr Fred

      Hey sorry it didn’t put the “table” !

      :

      “Does it always use “table” to display content ?”

      • elton

        that was Joomla v1.0 (and then out of the box only). v1.5 is much much better

      • http://beautyindesign.com Rick Blalock

        You can control the core markup in Joomla 1.5

  • http://www.aytemir.com Tschai

    Although Joomla is probably the worst choice for a SN, it can be done. Also with WordPress, ideed.

    And as mentioned before there are a lot of better (free) OpenSource alternatives.
    None of seemed perfect out-of-the-box, though: phpIzabi, Elgg, Dolphin, BuddyPress, etc…

    PS: No matter what you use, the problem stays the same and you have to solve that first: Content!

  • http://www.microbrewmedia.com Microbrewmedia

    Don’t forget about Joomunity. It should be released soon. Talked with the developer. Blows JomSocial away and best of all it is free!

  • http://frish.nl/ Rogier

    I think BuddyPress is the way to go:

    http://buddypress.org/

  • http://www.nouveller.com Benjamin Reid

    I can never get on with Joomla, the back end UI is nasty.

    • http://twitter.com/furley furley

      agreed.

      • http://twitter.com/vastudio Meshach

        agreed.

    • http://www.web-jive.com Eric Caldwell

      You should look into Adminpraise2 (joomlapraise.com) admin template. My business has grown triple digits over the past three years and all we use is Joomla exclusively.

      The downside is the backend is confusing for noobs but with the A2 admin template and some customizing, my 60 plus clients are happier and way more productive.

      I was one of the original team members (one of the 3 who helped get it off the ground) for XOOPS and Joomla is the perfect tool for a foundation to build complex business and ecommerce sites with.

      • spongebob

        “Joomla is the perfect tool for a foundation to build complex business and ecommerce sites with”

        LOL … are you on drugs?

  • http://pcfirestorm.com Steve

    I really have to agree with several posters here, (from experience) trying to make joomla become a social network isn’t the easiest> Yes, adding these extensions will make it much easier, but as it is right now your looking at $450 in extension cost alone. I have downloaded and installed both elgg and dolphin. both are PHP and Mysql driven so if you can admin Joomla you can pick these 2 up pretty fast. DONT get me wrong, Joomla! is great, just not as a social network community

  • Jan

    Nice overview.
    I have been involved into Joomla for about one year, and can tell that Joomla offers a great base to start building any of your own applications.

    The main advantage is that the appliacation core itself, like users management, article management , module management, it is all built in, so you do not need to building these from scratch.

    You can easily start from a solid base, and use the Joomla framwork to get done what you want. For instance I’ve build simple e-shop based just on modules, very easy to maintain, for the client and for me. Personaly I do not like these extensions, appliacations sometimes it’s very hard to figure out on how to fit the extension, application to your needs ( as none of them fit 100% to my needs)

    From my experiences, clients always have requests that are very specific for each job, so at the end of the day you have to get your hands into Joomla PHP anyway.

  • http://www.twitter.com/marcooda Oliver

    Fantastic Tut.

    I’m currently researching the same thing, good to see a comparison.

    Cheers

  • http://hosting.mulyoo.com Joshua Parker

    Great post. I use a few of these extensions on the Technology Digest site.

  • http://laranzjoe.blogspot.com/ lawrence77

    happy birthday NETTUTS as per Indian Time! ;)

  • http://redouane.abouhafs.name Redouane Abouhafs

    some of the sites that were develped with joomla:
    http://www.theoscarproject.org; joomlahut.com; voipspeak.net; johnavon.com; sonnetto.com; turbotrade.com; therandymon.com; bestassociation.com; worldcup2010southafrica.com; betterhealthhere.com; mainspot.net; calailive.com; kissinuk.com/cms; skysystems.co.uk; creativeguypublishing.com

    • spongebob

      And how much time to you spend monthly to update all these sites? or you just don’t care about new security holes that get discovered?

      create a lot of websites using joomla and after a while you will notice that you haven’t any time left to create new ones because you need so much time to fix the websites that are already online, especially websites which use lots of plugins.

      • redouaneabouhafs

        You see how powerfull is Joomla. ths word Joomla has a meaning in arabic : phrase!

  • http://redouane.abouhafs.name Redouane Abouhafs
  • http://www.visual-blade.com Daquan Wright

    Tried using Joomla months ago, gave it up for WordPress. It is more technical and it isn’t easy to customize as wordpress, period.

    But with each problem comes its own tailored solution. That is not to automatically shoot Joomla out of the skies, but be prepared to dig into the code to really wrap the concepts around your head (never caught the modules thing but maybe that’s just me).

    Interesting tutorial to say the least.

  • Peal

    @Mike Mick

    1 – Jomsocial has facebook connect
    2 – Myblog + Jomsocial allows you to display your own blog into your profile

  • wayno007

    Thanks for the tut. I’d like to see more technical tuts, diving into the nuts and bolts of Joomla!. I’ve used this CMS for a few sites with good results, albeit a little slow response sometimes.

    • redouaneabouhafs

      Can you show us some projects build with Joomla ?

  • http://jimb0.com Jimb0

    Be careful of Joomla. You may lose a lot of hair trying to get things to work like you want them. Especially if you are using all these external components. Be very careful.

  • http://beautyindesign.com Rick Blalock
    Author

    Just saw a cool JomSocial site I thought I’d pass along: http://www.superherofansite.com

    Also, he has a video on how he got the dynamic menus in the JomSocial profile area: http://www.superherofansite.com/jomsocial-menu/jomsocial-menu.html

  • spongebob

    “Joomla! shouldn’t just be looked at as a CMS but a framework from which to build your applications and accomplish your dreams.”

    LOL … today isnt april fools day??? Joomla is not a framework, try zend framework and then compare it with joomla and you will see what i mean.

    I don’t like joomla … you have to apply security fixes serveral times a year, most of its plugins are very weak, compared to zend framework components the quality of joomla plugins is bad.

    You should not use them for commercial websites, most of its plugins have security holes, they can’t handle big amounts of visitors and its really difficult to add your own hacks. Every time the creator of a plugin is updated you have to redo your hacks, every time a new joomla core gets released you have to update most of your plugins, create a website with joomla and you will notice that its very hard to keep it up to date.

    • http://beautyindesign.com Rick Blalock

      I look at security fixes / updates as a good thing as it shows active involvement in improving a product, ensuring security, etc.

      Joomla extensions are great. There are some bad ones but saying “most of its plugins have security holes” is hyperbole.

      If you develop correctly there is no need to hack anything in Joomla.

      I’ve never had to update an extension because of a Joomla core release. I’ve done over 100 Joomla sites.

    • http://mhuntdesign.com Matt

      A general rule when using systems like wordpress, joomla and drupal is not to hack core. If you have to hack core then there is apparently something wrong with the system that needs fixing. Hacking core is being lazy or being a rookie. Those are the three main reasons for someone to hack the core files.

    • http://expressionindesign.com Rick Blalock

      It is a Framework first and foremost. The CMS is one of the applications of the J! Framework.

      http://docs.joomla.org/Framework

  • http://www.webdesign-k.com zik

    Grats for this interesting article !

    Thanks for sharing :)

  • http://www.nickbrowndesign.com Nick Brown

    I got really excited, I thought I would be learning Joomla here. Kind of a misleading title, but still seems to be some useful information.

  • http://www.eraxa.com Sirwan

    Well done on a excellent Article, that is Precise, Short, Sweet and to the Point.. And introduces options to people who may have not about this, I like stuff like this rather than the 5,000 word essays we get sometimes.

  • joomlist

    I’m afraid jomsocial is nothing but fuss, you want to build a community website – community builder is the only way to go

  • http://mhuntdesign.com Matt

    The first line of this article is assuming that only a social netwoking site is a successful implementation of a website and therefore required to achieve sucess. This is not a valid statement.

  • http://Yizi.co.uk Yizi

    I thinks this is a amazing article, thanks

  • http://www.superherofansite.com Superman

    Hey Rick Blalock,

    Thanks for the mention of my website http://www.superherofansite.com, thanks!

  • http://www.templatelibrary.net Paolo

    thanks for the infos..

  • Sean Comar

    Title of the tutorial is ‘Build a Social Network Using Joomla’ and not ‘Social Network Platforms of the world’.

    Due to your project requirements and personal preferences, budgets, resources etc. you will select a platform for implementation. When there is Coca Cola, there is Pepsi also. Burger King and Wendy’s play in the market dominated by McDonalds. Point being if your are comparing multiples SN platforms, that’s fine but I don’t believe that was not the intent of this tutorial.

    In the first few paragraphs, Rick outlined some factors to consider when choosing a platform and then concluded, ‘… I chose the following extensions’. Now, if we want to compare JS with other CMS/SN platforms, Joomla based or not, then other articles are needed!

    Overall, this discussion gave me a perspective on creating JS based SN site.
    Challenges of upgrades, security holes, not meeting 100% requirements exist in all platforms and even JS does not have that magic bullet to slay these dragons.

    Cheers

  • vic

    Rick, thanks so much

    i’m planning on building an event list and now i know where to start :)

  • http://www.joomlatag.com Roel

    You really make a lot of sense here!Nice article, am on the verge of making a series of joomla site and this one gives me all the things I need to accomplish first. Thanks a lot!

  • http://www.itsyllabus.com MIKE

    looking foward to install a new social website

  • Marcos

    I do not want to sound snooty or whatever but Joomla! has soo many things to offer that one person, let alone one post, can explain it all.
    This tut does what it says: “Build a Social Network Using Joomla!” it doesn’t say: “ab-sol-ute best way of building a social network on the web” or “do you like Joomla!”. This is one way of using tools with Joomla! to build a social network, yet again post doesn’t say “best way to…”
    Nice tut Rick!

    Ok, I did sound a bit snooty, sue me.

  • Marcus

    I want to suggest people try other forum applications such as Agora who are also working on Jomsocial integration. Also JFusion and Phpbb3 might be an option as I read about a plugin to allow shared profiles in phpbb3. Kunea is still very limited in permissions, and the next release of AGORA is going to be on par with many of the most popular forum softwares, all while being Joomla 1.5 native. They’ll also be having new template designs soon, or so I hear.

    I have been testing and following lots of forum software in preparation for switching away from SMF into a J! forum component. This includes testing on a live site with JFusion, phpbb3, SMF 2.0, Agora, and Kunea. Kunea would be my last choice. Unless you want just a very basic forum for a small group with basic permissions structure. Development on other forum components is moving at a much faster rate. There’s even work going on for Jomsocial PHPBB3 integration.

    As for Myblog and Jomcomment. I have licenses for both products. I just had to renew them. The AZURL site sent me emails with blank licenses. So I was unable to download them through the proper channel. After waiting countless days for a reply to my support tickets I sent a heated Email to Azurl and made a similar post on their forum. Two days later the support forum is down, as is the support site for Myblog and Jomcomment. Still no fix from them to allow me to download my updated components.

    Jomsocial looks nice, however it seems to me like they released an unfinished piece of software. Also I’m not about to purchase another product from AZURL when I am unable to acquire the latest updates for the licenses I just renewed. The answer from Jomsocial when I posted in their forum about my myblog renewal issues was to Email them directly. I did so and have still not gotten a reply. I ended up getting the latest version of myblog through less than legal channels, but I do have a receipt for my purchase at AZURL. I’m still upset I had to go about it that way. So much so that I’m probably going to remove all their components from my site. Lastly, I find it a bit odd that this tutorial includes three paid products from one developer and I got a twitter from that developer sending me here.

    Anyway take my words for what they are worth. I’m angry, and my experience hasn’t been the most enjoyable with some of these products lately. There are also alternatives with better support and faster development. I hope everyone who reads this will take it for what it’s worth and test other options before committing their site and patrons to any software.

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