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I think you could almost take your pick of CMS and get this feature. Obviously, the three most popular platforms are Joomla, Drupal and Wordpress and commenting is integral to the last two, but there are so many more choices that would do a fine job there.
I use MySource Matrix as my CMS. While it doesn't have an out of the box feature to switch on commenting for pages, it's got an asset builder that can build comments (and pages/images/video/events etc) so you just nest that into the layout of the pages needing the functionality.
Take care.
I did find a free extension that looks pretty good. My main concern is the supportability. IOW, if I build the site based on the extension what happens when/if
(1) the author of the extension stops supporting it
(2) Joomla does come out with comments in the core and I want to migrate to that.
When I get a chance, I'll wander over to the Joomla site to see if they are announcing any plans for comments in the core.
I did read something about blog integration with Joomla but didn't quite understand it. I'm wondering if there might be a way to put a link or includes to a wordpress blog hosted on the same site. I haven't really thought that through but it sounds a bit messy.
The funny thing is that joomla has wording in it's back end about 'listing sections as blog content' etc.
/ramble
cg
From [developer.joomla.org...]
After we release the alpha, each beta release will be time-boxed (we hope that not more than four are required). The following is a list of the features highly desired for the final distribution. Each of these features will need to be complete in order to be included in a beta release. Some of these features will make it in the alpha, but none will prevent the alpha from being released if they are not ready. Overall we will need significant help from the Joomla development community to complete any of these features:Implement unlimited depth categories (but not multi-mapping).
Refactor the user management system and make it more extensible (eg, allow custom user fields).
Implement a comments system (including pings and track-backs).
I'm not sure what the timeframe would be for this to be actually implemented. My plan right now is to launch my new sites using Joomla 1.5 with no commenting. Once commenting is available in 1.6, then I'll start switching over.
I'm not sure what the timeframe would be for this to be actually implemented. My plan right now is to launch my new sites using Joomla 1.5 with no commenting. Once commenting is available in 1.6, then I'll start switching over.
I have two Joomla 1.5 sites that really need commenting. I'm not real fond of most third party add-ons, so I'm in the same boat — waiting for native commenting in 1.6
1) There's no release schedule for 1.6. Like most open source stuff, it's done when it's done and given the list on the roadmap [developer.joomla.org], it seems like that could be quite some time. I saw someone joke that they were waiting for the Drupal 7 release, but hopefully it won't come to that!
2) Realistically, it looks pretty certain that comments will make it into 1.6, but maybe not into the alpha release. In any case, you're looking at an alpha and a projected four beta releases before an official release. So that likely means at least 6 months until you see a stable release with commenting.
3) It seems there might even be some possibility it won't happen, though that seems unlikely. The roadmap says:
The following is a list of the features highly desired for the final distribution.... Some of these features will make it in the alpha, but none will prevent the alpha from being released if they are not ready. Overall we will need significant help from the Joomla development community to complete any of these features...
* Implement a comments system (including pings and track-backs)....
The features that make it into the final Joomla 1.6 release will depend upon what the Joomla Development Community contributes.
I would guess the community will pull for this one, but it's not a 100% done deal until someone writes the code.
So that brings it back around to the plugin solution.
>>(1) the author of the extension stops supporting it
When a new version of Drupal comes out, there's usually a module upgrade guide and generally speaking I haven't found it *that* hard to get most abandoned modules running. Ditto with Wordpress, though the abandoned plugin issue seems much less of a problem there, partly because they're more conservative about API changes.
>>(2) Joomla does come out with comments in the core and I want to migrate to that.
That might be more of a worry. Typically for this type of problem (again, speaking generally, not specifically for Joomla), I clear any cache and log tables, dump the database. Add a comment (or image or whatever) using the native system, clear cache and logs again and dump again. Compare the two dump files and you should be able to figure out where things go and write a simple script that puts all the pegs in their boxes.
The problem comes when the new system requires new data that is fundamentally not available from the old, but I don't think that would be a problem?
"We are donating our Comments extension to Joomla 1.6. We feel very strongly that this move, along with access control improvements, will put Joomla in better standing with other Content Management Systems. We will still be releasing and supporting the commercial version for Joomla 1.5 but will be providing an upgrade path to Joomla 1.6. Comments for Joomla 1.6 will go into the core just prior to the first public beta release. Choosing JXtended Comments now gives you the smoothest transition into Joomla 1.6."
Full article: [jxtended.com...]
In the mean time you could install their comment extension (link to extension in above mentioned article) into 1.5 as I would assume the transition would be smoother if you plan to use the default 1.6 commenting system.
[edited by: engine at 8:17 am (utc) on May 30, 2009]
[edit reason] See TOS [/edit]
Joomla has no commenting capabilities out of the box? Seems like they're still as behind the curve as they were 2 years ago...
Regards,
OZ
Having used both, they are two totally different animals. Joomla 1.5 is a fine product with plenty of plugins, extensions, etc. Commenting is just one feature, but honestly, rarely do my clients ask for it as they aren't "blogging".
[edited by: T_Miller at 6:27 pm (utc) on June 20, 2009]
Dries, the founder of Drupal, has an axiom that he dubs the Okham's Razor Principle of Content Management Systems: "Given two functionally equivalent content management systems, the simplest one should be selected."
By which he means, if Wordpress has all the features you need, even Dries will tell you to use Wordpress, rather than Drupal. Ditto with Joomla.
In my experience, the principle movers and shakers in Drupal, Wordpress and Joomla communities all seem to have great respect for the work the others are doing (Matt Mullenweg attends Drupalcon, Joomla and Drupal announce major new versions of each other's CMS on their sites). Sure, there's a lot of overlap, but I see all of these projects as catering tom somewhat different needs.
It's a matter of finding the right tool for the job, not deciding which is the "best". Ask ten carpenters what the best hammer is and you'll get at between 3 and 10 answers I bet (Black Rhino, obviously, but which model?).
I have a couple projects on Wordpress.
My ecommerce sites are on their own platforms (cart systems)
Most of my sites are on Joomla.
A couple of my old sites are still old html static pages...
It's a matter of finding the right tool for the job, not deciding which is the "best". Ask ten carpenters what the best hammer is and you'll get at between 3 and 10 answers I bet
I understand and agree in concept but we're talking about a CMS here and not a hammer. Hammer's are relatively simple - functionally the same. CMSs are functionally different and the inner workings and attention to code quality, upgrades, GUI, intuitive customizations, community support are complex and not so obvious from the outset.
not so obvious from the outset
That's a good point. It's a lot harder to change CMS than to change hammers. A better analogy might be making the decision to build out of wood or concrete. Big skill sets to learn if you're going to switch materials. But I guess my point was that you can't ask "What's the best building material?" either.
Anyway, I was thinking of the case where you are not a developer, but you're looking to build a single site or a set of roughly similar sites.
In that case, I would first ask myself whether or not Wordpress does the job without heaps of custom coding. If so, stop. It's going to be easiest to implement.
On the other hand, if you're trying to build something that looks like Facebook or Digg, Wordpress just isn't going to do the job (is it?) and you'll need something else. It's still not *easy* with Drupal, but it is possible with minimal custom coding. But you pay a penalty in terms of overhead and stability.
I spent the winter building something pretty complex in Drupal. Sometimes I think it feels like a house of cards and if you change something in one area you get unintended consequences in another area (I never get that feeling from Wordpress), but I don't even know where I'd start in Wordpress.
If you have access to the Supporter's forum, see the end of this thread for more details: [webmasterworld.com...]
