I’ve been developing community websites with Joomla for about 8 years now.  I know it inside and out, but lately my sites have become very complicated. I’m looking for a CMS that can handle a complicated website without having to use 15 different vendors with weekly updates and break downs (like Joomla).

The problem with Joomla is that it’s not really built to do what I need for an association web site.  For example, an association needs to know quickly how many members it has that are in good standing or how many still need to pay their dues. Nothing like that is simple with Joomla.  Or, they may want to email all of the past members to see if they want to join again.  Joomla disables these users so they are basically non-existent.  These simple things have to be built and even then they will fail on subsequent upgrades or changes.

I build websites for non-profit professional organizations which typically use these features:

- paid memberships with possibly 10 or more member “types”
- addon profile fields
- public profile (only shows public certain things)
- public map of possibly multiple addresses for each member
- different access level memberships
- meeting registrations
- multiple “frontend” managers of website (with limited to no HTML knowledge) that can add articles or update member profiles, send email, etc
- either a forum or listserv
- need a CCK (content cunstruction kit) to be able to create the types of content they require
- a way to download membership roster or another complicated membership query into .csv file
- newsletter feature
- donation module

Those are the biggies.  Joomla plus CBsubs and some other extensions have been working, but I’m just so tired of the constant updates and versions from multiple 3rd party vendors which may or may not know what they’re doing.

Also, I can’t figure out if multi-site would be good to use on non-affiliated sites such as for example 5 completely different membership sites or not?  If I could do all of my sites from one install, it’d be a HUGE bonus.  Is multi-site only to be used for sites where the content and members intermingle?

Thanks

Hi apparker,

Thank you for your interest in ExpressionEngine and welcome to the Forums!

I am happy to report that ExpressionEngine is capable of the major points you outline. However, there is no way to avoid third-party add-ons for most of the functionality. Don’t let that sour you though! One of the key differences between ExpressionEngine, our developer Community and those of open-source systems like Joomla or Drupal - we all make our living building, supporting, using and developing for ExpressionEngine.

Several add-on developers have been around for years, know ExpressionEngine inside and out, and release new versions only when they have been tested and vetted for computability.

Now, what would you need to address your list?

- paid memberships with possibly 10 or more member “types”
- different access level memberships

This can all be handled with Membrr

- donation module

From the maker of Membrr - EE Donations

- addon profile fields
- public profile (only shows public certain things)
- public map of possibly multiple addresses for each member

An easy and flexible way to manage Member Profiles is Zoo’s Visitor. It allows you to take ExpressionEngine member management facility and use it in data channels. Having member data in channels let’s you use any data type you like for storing member information.

For mapping, check out MX Google Maps.

- meeting registrations

Have a look at rEEservation, a flexible booking module for ExpressionEngine.

- multiple “frontend” managers of website (with limited to no HTML knowledge) that can add articles or update member profiles, send email, etc

This can all be handled in the ExpressionEngine Control Panel. Alternatively, if you use Visitor this can all be managed through the included SafeCracker Module. All with Member group access permissions, either in the Control Panel or front-end.

- either a forum or listserv

ExpressionEngine includes a Mailing List module and you can add Discussion Forum for full integrations. There are also some option for integrating with other forum software, such as v Bulletin.

- need a CCK (content cunstruction kit) to be able to create the types of content they require

This point is a bit confusing to me, but it could be a difference nomenclature. Generally, ExpressionEngine does not care what *kinds* of content you need to manage. Data is stored in Channels using groups of channel fields.

Channel fields are analogous to data types. With these fields, you tell each channel the type of data it will contain. Using flexible field types like Pixel & Tonic’s Matrix allow you to mix and match data types in one field.

- a way to download membership roster or another complicated membership query into .csv file

AJW Export lets you export any of the data stored in the ExpressionEngine database into .csv format. That includes entries and Membership info.

- newsletter feature

There isn’t an outright newsletter module in ExpressionEngine. However, there are numerous ways to integrate with full featured services like Mailchimp.

Please let me know if you have any more questions about ExpressionEngine or any of the add-ons I mentioned here. If you are interested, contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) regarding access to a developer copy of EE!

I look forward to your reply!
Cheers,

FireMail does a great job of doing newsletters. It allows you to import templates into an email system that extends the native EE Communicate Module, and integrates with EE’s Mailing List functions. It also gives you tracking data for emails. Works great for me.

thanks guys, it helps

oh forgot to ask, would MultiSite be good for handling many non-affiliated websites from different clients?

Hi apparker,

oh forgot to ask, would MultiSite be good for handling many non-affiliated websites from different clients?

I’m afraid not. That use is one of the restrictions on using MSM.

For MSM, the sites need to be representative of products or services offered by the same parent company. It is not intended to run multiple client sites.

Cheers,