Just came by a really cool wake-up call to this discussion. Check this out: http://pixopoint.com/products/pixopoint-theme-integrator/
It claims effortless integration between WordPress and practically "Anything which can include a static HTML file into it’s theme can be used with this system." You set up WordPress, your desired integration (BoltWire), apply a little bit of custom HTML/CSS, and presto! I don't know my way around HTML/CSS well enough to give this a try myself, but I'd love to see a more savvy BoltWire user give this a try. I know we've just discussed how BoltWire could easily be just as powerful a CMS as WordPress is, but take a moment to consider the sheer volume of high quality (most of them up-to-date) themes made for WordPress. There's no comparison (honestly, Joomla! and Drupal don't even come close to that amount of free, good looking and standards compliant themes). I think this could fit in perfectly with the aforementioned business plan of 'Enterprise BoltWire' contra 'Plain BoltWire'. While the enterprise version would be feature rich enough to build complete websites with it, the plain version would be nimble enough to make an ideal candidate for integrations such as this one. You could even charge for the additional custom HTML/CSS work that needs to be done (just please don't ever base your business model on holding back from users, e.g. if you figured out a way to render custom work unnecessary). On Jul 23, 6:31 pm, Erlend Sogge Heggen <[email protected]> wrote: > Helps? Sure, it enlightens me quite a bit in spite of some inevitable > holes in my understanding of web development in general. I don't need > convincing of any sort though =) We, the jMonkey team, have already > made up our minds about using WordPress+BuddyPress to create our new > project site centered around social collaboration. We will be staying > with that set-up for the foreseeable future (god knows we've worked > hard to come as close as we are to a transition). > > I merely brought this up for BoltWire's own sake, as I find it an > intriguing project and I could very well see myself using it to build > (with technical help of course) a website for a different project some > day. Also, I was just curious to find out how feasible such an idea > really is, which seems to be exactly what this discussion is coming > to :) > > On Jul 23, 11:21 am, Martin <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > I read your thoughts twice and checked the links you provided. > > If I got you right, I see no problem to build something similar in > > Boltwire with little effort. > > It is mainly a question how to organize the content as well as the > > access to the content. > > > In Boltwire you use pages as a kind of data bucket to store bits of > > content (e.g. a single blog post, a comment, etc.). > > And you use pages with a search and template to choose, collect and > > show those bits of content (e.g. as forum, a blog post, a whole > > collection of whatever content). > > Using user rights management, you can restrict access to registered > > individuals, different groups of members, guest users or guest users > > coming from a specified link for every single page inside the field. > > Using a clever url structure you can group data bucket pages as well > > as show pages in a way that reminds a folder structure. > > > Having 1000 users working on 2000 pages inside one field you would > > have to assign which bits of content should be accessible from which > > individual or groups of users and how you want to present the content > > to these users. > > > The challenge is to draw and maintain a map of user rights, data > > bucket pages and collecting pages. > > You would have to design data structures for custom post types too and > > create forms to capture (and validate) the required information. > > This is easily done and you can come up with new post or content types > > whenever you want. Try this in WordPress.... > > > What is missing right now is an easy mechanism to map different > > code.skin and code.style pages to different user groups. > > On the other hand, using search with different templates depending on > > which user group accesses the page would be an easy way to present the > > content in specific themes. It is a question of organization too to > > declare in which context you show a h1 headline in black or blue. > > > WordPress developers have to work around their backend and database > > restrictions. > > Boltwire is far more flexible. > > > Does this help? > > Greetings, Martin > > > On 23 Jul., 00:01, Erlend Sogge Heggen <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > I must admit I was a little afraid you would take my suggestion as an > > > insult (I've had similar debates before). I'm happy to see you're > > > promoting all of the positives here, while not forgetting about the > > > negatives. > > > > I'll gladly elaborate on where my affection for BuddyPress-as-a-wiki > > > came from. Before BuddyPress arrived I'd already had a similar idea > > > for WordPress Multisite. The idea then was for users to have their own > > > fully dedicated space (a whole blog) in which they could do more than > > > just create and edit one anothers' wiki pages, but discuss their > > > progress, upload files, connect with third party networks to > > > communicate all on-going activities; all within orderly directories. > > > > This idea became fully realizable with BuddyPress (note that I see BP > > > in a collaboration context much more so than casual social > > > networking). Within every Group there's a single board (and with a > > > plugin it can be just like any other forum, with several boards > > > dedicated to major topics within that group) where whatever is on the > > > group's agenda can be discussed at length, and in separate topics > > > instead of a dreadfully long comments section below a single page. > > > (With the upcoming bbPress plugin, page-comments like that will be > > > integrated with the forum, so every discussion going on at any place > > > in WordPress is part of some forum; all of a site's discussion can be > > > traced back to one source, yet can show up wherever you need it). With > > > plugins there's no end to what you can add to a group: Forum, blog, > > > File uploads, media galleries, RSS feeds, CSS customizations and so > > > on. Every group can be unique, in both functionality and looks. > > > > At its simplest a group can just be a simple entity that a group of > > > people belong to, with no other gadgets attached to it. At its most > > > advanced, it's a great little collaboration space. In the future there > > > will also be the possibility of establishing pre-determined (and > > > restricted if necessary) groups. On my site, jmonkeyengine.com > > > (building new site at jmonkeyengine.org) we hope to take advantage of > > > this. Some projects are complete, so they just need a place to show > > > off their project, say, with a gallery, an RSS feed of their own blog > > > and some links to their site, that's it. Others are just getting > > > started with a project; they'll need a discussion board, a wiki, file > > > sharing and so on. Best case scenario, users wouldn't even have to add > > > these things one at a time, they could just make a choice between > > > "collaboration space" and "promotion space" in the group creation > > > process, and voilà, the group's got all they need, and nothing more. > > > Of course, there are also means to sort these groups in different > > > categories, else it'd be a mess. > > > > It could very well be that I have been thinking about this in the > > > wrong way. Being so fond of BoltWire's small size and simple server > > > requirements, I guess I imagined it would fit better as an add-on to > > > more complex systems, as opposed to growing more complex itself. So > > > long as the core remains the same though, I suppose there's no reason > > > why it shouldn't be extended to great lengths, becoming a full blown > > > collaboration suit. The only catch is that this means tons of work, as > > > opposed to maybe just a single ton of work for something like a > > > BuddyPress integration ;) > > > > Martin's suggestion of an advanced API certainly sounds and looks > > > intriguing. I'm not very technical, but I still have this feeling that > > > BoltWire, being so lightweight and not database-driven, would be the > > > ideal mashup software. If not for the long run, then at least for the > > > big breakthrough. I think popping up on several of those extension > > > directories is one of *the* best ways to market your software for > > > free. > > > > I think for a successful integration of two different softwares, > > > there's one deciding factor that's come in the way of mass-adoption of > > > every integration script to date: Theming. It's why for instance the > > > WordPress developers have chosen to remake the currently stand-alone > > > forum script bbPress into a plugin, sacrificing some speed and > > > simplicity in favor of, most of all, effortless theme integration. > > > > Do you think there's any way BoltWire could somehow just inherit some > > > other system's theming? Sort of just taking the body of a page and > > > wrapping the 'parent system''s theme around it. I've no clue... > > > > Some WordPress resources that might be of > > > interest:http://codex.wordpress.org/Custom_Post_Types(Thebignew feature in > > > 3.0)http://wordpress.tv/2009/09/13/introduction-to-hookpress/(Couldease > > > non-intrusive integration, I dunno) > > > > On Jul 22, 6:44 pm, Martin <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > An api to Boltwire would allow to use Boltwire as a convienent CMS and > > > > connect it with other programs or devices or do some mashups. > > > > > This is what people do with the tumblr api > > > > >http://www.tumblr.com/docs/en/apps > > > > > Greetings, Martin > > > > > The Editor schrieb: > > > > > > That's a very interesting project. I'm certainly open to making > > > > > BoltWire available in some way to another CMS, but am not familiar > > > > > enough with any to lead out in such a project. I could just provide > > > > > support to someone else taking the initiative. > > > > > > I'm curious though what prompted you to think along these lines? Do > > > > > you feel BoltWire is deficient on the CMS side of things? If so where, > > > > > and could we strengthen BoltWire somehow? It seems simpler with our > > > > > architecture to expand BoltWire where needed, than to try and connect > > > > > it to a separate system. I use BoltWire for an active and quite > > > > > complex online school and it works beautifully for all my CMS > > > > > functions. There is significant custom coding, but I plan to > > > > > generalize some of that if we ever get around to a BoltWire 4.xx plus > > > > > version... > > > > > > I don't know much about BuddyPress, though of course I've heard of > > > > > WordPress. On my site for example, I have pretty much everything > > > > > listed on their home page: activity streams, extended profiles, friend > > > > > connections, private messaging, a blog, and groups (classes). Can't > > > > > compare the caliber of the two, but all of these were quite easy to > > > > > build into BoltWire. I'm not sure how scalable my solution is though, > > > > > as it is not currently database driven. > > > > > > This is an interesting thread if others want to chime in. Particularly > > > > > as strengthening BoltWire on the CMS side of things is one of my main > > > > > goals for 4.xx. It's also one of the reasons I left PmWiki--it was too > > ... > > read more » -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BoltWire" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/boltwire?hl=en.
