We're considering Umbraco for a new project but there are a few requirements I'm not 100% sure Umbraco can handle (out of the box at least) and I'd really appreciate some advice as to whether Umbraco could handle these aspects and if not a rough idea of the effort/time required to build them:
Is it straightforward to set-up a workflow such that some users are able to edit but not publish changes and other users are able to edit and publish changes and how would this be handled in terms of email notifications and such like?
Another requirement is allowing visitors to the website to subscribe to the changes in a page. So if a page was to change any visitors who have subscribed to that page would be emailed a notification. An opt-out would be needed when editing the page so that the notifications were not sent out when correcting spelling and grammar mistakes or minor changes.
Those are the two major points but while I have your attention...the project also requires a Wiki and Forum. It would be good to be able to integrate these into the website so they share the same membership system.
For the Forum what would the best options be uForum or YAF or something else?
For the Wiki the obvious choice is MediaWiki but has there been any progress with the Wiki 4 Umbraco package built from the Wiki on this site? Are there any other options?
1. it is straightforward to a certain extent, you have basic workflow in umbraco which allows editor/writers to edit pages (with or without publishing rights) and have other users notified of changes (for example, to approve them). umbraco comes with some user types built-in. If those don't fit the bill, you're still able to create new user types and assign users to that specific type. E-mail notifications are built-in as well, just have to configure those in the admin backend.
2. Not available oob, but umbraco can easily be extended to allow for such functionality, there's a relation api so you can create any type of relation you want (relate pages to members), and use event model to sent out the notifications to members when a page is updated. May need to think of that mechanism to not push out notifications when making minor changes or correcting spelling mistakes (For example, add a new context menu action to push out a notification on request)
uForum or YAF: both can be integrated, altho uForum is much more flexible as it's designed to run from umbraco.
no wiki package available except for a package by @pdijksterhuis (http://www.dijksterhuis.nu) -> not sure about status of the package and if it's ready for use on a production site.
1. That's great to know the workflow won't be too difficult to implement.
2. That doesn't sound too bad after all and that does make sense to change it to an action editors would perform on request rather than having to opt out.
uForum looks good but it is a little concerning that it's still in Alpha but I'm using it here without any problems so there can't be too many issues with it. I'll have to take it for a test drive and see how I get on. I can't see a way to get notifications for replies to posts on this forum which is pretty crucial for a forum in my opinion.
The membership integration for the Wiki isn't critical so perhaps MediaWiki is the best option there, I'll keep an eye on that package though but it seems like it's stalled somewhat.
I am willing to be corrected but I believe that the our.umbraco.org site is built on uForum. It may have been extended etc but I'm not sure how much as I have not used uForum myself.
Thanks Jay, yes it does seem to work pretty well here.
There are a few features it seems to be lacking though, like email notifications for replies. That's pretty important in my book especially for a fledgling forum. We'll have to weigh it up as to whether uForum or YAF is the best option for this particular website.
Can Umbraco do this?
Hi,
We're considering Umbraco for a new project but there are a few requirements I'm not 100% sure Umbraco can handle (out of the box at least) and I'd really appreciate some advice as to whether Umbraco could handle these aspects and if not a rough idea of the effort/time required to build them:
Those are the two major points but while I have your attention...the project also requires a Wiki and Forum. It would be good to be able to integrate these into the website so they share the same membership system.
Thanks for looking.
Hi Micheal,
welcome to umbraco!
1. it is straightforward to a certain extent, you have basic workflow in umbraco which allows editor/writers to edit pages (with or without publishing rights) and have other users notified of changes (for example, to approve them). umbraco comes with some user types built-in. If those don't fit the bill, you're still able to create new user types and assign users to that specific type. E-mail notifications are built-in as well, just have to configure those in the admin backend.
2. Not available oob, but umbraco can easily be extended to allow for such functionality, there's a relation api so you can create any type of relation you want (relate pages to members), and use event model to sent out the notifications to members when a page is updated. May need to think of that mechanism to not push out notifications when making minor changes or correcting spelling mistakes (For example, add a new context menu action to push out a notification on request)
uForum or YAF: both can be integrated, altho uForum is much more flexible as it's designed to run from umbraco.
no wiki package available except for a package by @pdijksterhuis (http://www.dijksterhuis.nu) -> not sure about status of the package and if it's ready for use on a production site.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
/Dirk
Hi Dirk,
Thanks so much for your prompt responses.
1. That's great to know the workflow won't be too difficult to implement.
2. That doesn't sound too bad after all and that does make sense to change it to an action editors would perform on request rather than having to opt out.
uForum looks good but it is a little concerning that it's still in Alpha but I'm using it here without any problems so there can't be too many issues with it. I'll have to take it for a test drive and see how I get on. I can't see a way to get notifications for replies to posts on this forum which is pretty crucial for a forum in my opinion.
The membership integration for the Wiki isn't critical so perhaps MediaWiki is the best option there, I'll keep an eye on that package though but it seems like it's stalled somewhat.
Hi Michael,
I am willing to be corrected but I believe that the our.umbraco.org site is built on uForum. It may have been extended etc but I'm not sure how much as I have not used uForum myself.
Jay
Thanks Jay, yes it does seem to work pretty well here.
There are a few features it seems to be lacking though, like email notifications for replies. That's pretty important in my book especially for a fledgling forum. We'll have to weigh it up as to whether uForum or YAF is the best option for this particular website.
is working on a reply...