Netropolis – Building a Website Part 2

Following on from my previous article, I thought I’d give some basic thoughts into how you would build a community website similar to the one used at ORC Edinburgh. Note that it can take some time to build the site, so only advertise it when you’re good and ready.

Installation

Here’s what we’ll need to begin:

• An FTP client, such as WinSCP.
• A download of the recent stable version of Joomla (not a development release!). Note: some hosts may provide software like cPanel and Fantastico that simplify this, allowing you to install Joomla with a click.
• MySQL and PHP5 running on the server that wish to setup the community on
• FTP logins and MySQL logins for the server – contact your host for these.
• MySQL database information – again, contact your host for this.

If you’ve got all that, you’ll need to unpack and install Joomla through FTP, if you’re unable to use cPanel or Fantastico. The installation is fairly straightforward and is detailed on the Joomla site. I tend not to use the FTP option in Joomla’s setup.

I suggest you use a strong password: letters (BOTH upper and lower case), numbers and no “proper” words like r00t – preferably at least 10 characters for the admin username.

After deleting the installation directory as required (using your FTP client), login with the admin user at http://yoursite.com/administrator. Now use the Joomla User Manager and rename admin to something different – I would suggest that you don’t your own name: choose a simple yet descriptive name for it. Make sure that you can log back in with this username, and put the site into “Offline for maintenance” for now.

Okay – your basic site is there now you need to think about what modules you’ll need to install.

Adding modules/plug-ins/components

Here’s what I’d recommend if you’re building a site similar to ORC Edinburgh. You can download these from the Joomla Extensions directory at Joomla.org.

• Kunena forum software  is used for the ORC forums, using the Community Builder (see below) info for profiles and the like.
• UddeIM allows users to send personal messages to each other – the full premium version is only available if you make a donation – it allows you to send attachments.
• EventList is the calendar software used to list the ORC Events – the calendar view is an additional download.
• Community Builder from Joompolis – note that the captcha used on the registration login at ORC requires a subscription from Joomopolis. It also links into Kunena. There’s also an openID facility that allows users to use their Facebook logins to access a site (unused on the ORC site)
• JPFchat can be used to create a virtual chatroom.
• Remository can be used for downloads.
• Mobile Joomla! can also be used to create pages visible via mobile phones and PDA devices.
• JoomGallery can be used to add image galleries and pictures to your site.
• TagMeta can be used to create Meta tags for your site content.
• Xmap can be used to create a sitemap of your site for users and search engines.

I’ve not included the Mediawiki software bridge here as it was a bit of faff to install. There’s also a few plugins that may be of use:

• Bigshot Google Analytics allows you to embed a Google Analytics ID so that you can profile the site in Google Webmaster Tools.

• HttpBL checks an IP address against a blacklist from Project Honeypot, and will stop spammers and malicious bots from messing up your site.

Good Practices

• Don’t use your own name for admin.
• You can help reduce forum/site spam by either moderating user registrations or using a captcha for registration.
• Change the admin password regularly.
• You can set some modules to be for Registered users, e.g. the UddeIM module.
• Kunena allows you restrict the views of the forum.

Related posts:

1. Netropolis – Building a Website Part 1
2. ORC: Through the Looking Glass
3. They call me Mr Glass
4. Fear is the key
5. Sick man