I am exploring the idea of using Umbraco as a CMS and platform for builiding and administering my community forum (just like what you have here).
Can Umbraco, as standalone, be used to create and manage a community forum? Or does it need a plugin to do so?
Please also share your experiences related to my question[s], if you have such. If you know case studies, testimonials, success stories, examples of community sites using Umbracro as CMS and admin platform, please post them in your comments as well.
Umbraco itself it's just a empty framework where you can build your website. With Umbraco you are building the backoffice so it´s just suits your clients need in relation to the fields that are available.
Since you are new to Umbraco I would provide you some good starting point on how to learn to use Umbraco. The first link I would provide you is the Umbraco TV. Umbraco TV is a collection of videos that show how to use Umbraco http://umbraco.tv/videos/umbraco-v7/
Some of the videos are free to watch, and learn from, and some of the needs that you subscribe to the Umbraco TV service, you can see the different plans here: http://umbraco.tv/plans-signup/
Umbraco comes with some starter kits, that you can install, and other good way of learning Umbraco is by setting up two Umbraco installations, one where you install a starter kit, and one where you did not install a starter kit. The installation where you not install the starter kit is using for you site, and every time where you have some doubts about how to do things in Umbraco you can look at the installation with the starter kit installed.
The last good way to learn Umbraco is to attempt one of the Umbraco courses. Umbraco has 2 levels of courses. The first two-day course will guide you through the basics of umbraco v7 from a designer/developer, and the other will focus on how to integrate existing .NET applications into umbraco and how to customize umbraco using Microsoft Visual Studio. Both ended with a certification and then you become a certified Umbraco developer.
I just got informed that we have a website and it is running on Umbraco 4.0. What we want to do is to add a community forum within the walls of our existing website.
I believe the Dialogue package requires a much higher Umbraco version? Do you have an alternative?
I just got informed that we have a website and it is running on Umbraco 4.0. What we want to do is to add a community forum within the walls of our existing website.
I believe the Dialogue package requires a much higher Umbraco version? Do you have an alternative?
But I think you should try and make a copy of your site and then install this package to see what it offers. Otherwise you might need to think in a kind of workaround - Perhaps it could be an option to have the forum as a independent site running on forum.yourdomain.com for instance? And then you can install some forum software on that domain and style it so it looks like your original brand perhaps?
Using Umbraco as platform for community forum
Hello,
I am exploring the idea of using Umbraco as a CMS and platform for builiding and administering my community forum (just like what you have here).
Can Umbraco, as standalone, be used to create and manage a community forum? Or does it need a plugin to do so?
Please also share your experiences related to my question[s], if you have such. If you know case studies, testimonials, success stories, examples of community sites using Umbracro as CMS and admin platform, please post them in your comments as well.
Thank you.
Hi Harry and welcome to our.
Umbraco itself it's just a empty framework where you can build your website. With Umbraco you are building the backoffice so it´s just suits your clients need in relation to the fields that are available.
For your qustion about using Umbraco as a CMS and platform for builiding and administering my community forum, you can do this, This Umbraco community is build on a Umbraco installation, and there is some packages available for Umbraco to have a forum. One of these are https://our.umbraco.org/projects/collaboration/dialogue and another option could be https://our.umbraco.org/projects/collaboration/simpily-forums
Here is some documentation about how to install packages on Umbraco. I am always using the option called install on local when I installs packages to my Umbraco installations. https://our.umbraco.org/wiki/how-tos/packages-and-projects/how-to-install-a-package
Since you are new to Umbraco I would provide you some good starting point on how to learn to use Umbraco. The first link I would provide you is the Umbraco TV. Umbraco TV is a collection of videos that show how to use Umbraco http://umbraco.tv/videos/umbraco-v7/
Some of the videos are free to watch, and learn from, and some of the needs that you subscribe to the Umbraco TV service, you can see the different plans here: http://umbraco.tv/plans-signup/
Another good resoruce to learn for is the documentation, and there is some documentation about how to setup a basic site using Umbraco https://our.umbraco.org/documentation/Using-Umbraco/Creating-Basic-Site/ and http://24days.in/umbraco/2014/how-to-set-up-an-umbraco-site/
Umbraco comes with some starter kits, that you can install, and other good way of learning Umbraco is by setting up two Umbraco installations, one where you install a starter kit, and one where you did not install a starter kit. The installation where you not install the starter kit is using for you site, and every time where you have some doubts about how to do things in Umbraco you can look at the installation with the starter kit installed.
The last good way to learn Umbraco is to attempt one of the Umbraco courses. Umbraco has 2 levels of courses. The first two-day course will guide you through the basics of umbraco v7 from a designer/developer, and the other will focus on how to integrate existing .NET applications into umbraco and how to customize umbraco using Microsoft Visual Studio. Both ended with a certification and then you become a certified Umbraco developer.
You can see more about the courses here. http://umbraco.com/products/training
Hope this helps, don't hesitate to ask again.
/Dennis
Hi Dennis,
Thank your for your detailed reply. I appreciate it much. I will look into the links you provided, particularly the first 2.
Hello /Dennis,
I just got informed that we have a website and it is running on Umbraco 4.0. What we want to do is to add a community forum within the walls of our existing website.
I believe the Dialogue package requires a much higher Umbraco version? Do you have an alternative?
Hello /Dennis,
I just got informed that we have a website and it is running on Umbraco 4.0. What we want to do is to add a community forum within the walls of our existing website.
I believe the Dialogue package requires a much higher Umbraco version? Do you have an alternative?
Hi Harry
There is an old package called uForum, which might work https://our.umbraco.org/projects/collaboration/uforum-basics - It's actually a fork of this forum from waaay back.
But I think you should try and make a copy of your site and then install this package to see what it offers. Otherwise you might need to think in a kind of workaround - Perhaps it could be an option to have the forum as a independent site running on forum.yourdomain.com for instance? And then you can install some forum software on that domain and style it so it looks like your original brand perhaps?
Hope this helps.
/Jan
Hi /Jan,
"I think you should try and make a copy of your site and then install this package to see what it offers."
When you said "this package", did you mean the Dialogue or your recent suggestion uForum?
Ciao!
Hi Harry
I meant uForum - Sorry if that was not clear enough :) You won't be able to install dialogue since it's for v7 only.
/Jan
Ok. Thanks, /Jan
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