Having customized portals developed vs open source portals

customized portal vs open source portal

[Lino]

Hello Everybody! Does anybody have experience using portals such as phpnuke? or experience modifying the code of those open source portal softwares to make the output look really nice and classy? or know any companies that specifically modify these open source portal softwares to meet clients needs? I'm basically debating whether I should have someone design it for me so the portal would look nice or use one of these free portals. The main difference is cost and the look. Having it designed from scratch costs an arm and a leg, but you would have a nicer look to it. What do you guys think?

[vkaryl]

Well, I use phpBB, and have been tinkering with a quasi-portal I downloaded from a site (with permission, even though it's open source! You don't go ripping stuff off without asking....) It's a super-clean look, but I'm having to do some reworking to get it to fit my forums.

But since my forums are on sites I own, run myself, and are absolutely NOT commercial, it would never occur to me to PAY someone to do something I'm capable of doing myself - I might consider paying someone if I expected the portal to the forums to help me make millions in the first year....

Otherwise, search for phpBB-related sites, and take a look at the portals many of them use or offer. If you find one you like, email the contact and ask if you can download source....