Just spent ages, and I mean ages getting my head around Rapidweaver and have managed to create a decent website after purchasing many addons.
My only problem now is and this is really bugging me, is that I want a Forum on my website where Members can ask questions and discuss things but I cannot find such a Stack anywhere.
How come such a good programme as Rapidweaver is lacking in such a Stack?
Any suggestions and “no” I am not after Comments but a Forum.
Thanks.
Hi, a Forum needs to be installed on the server and is not static like the sites you can build with RW. So there is no stack for such kind of complex system. The best would be to install a solution like https://www.discourse.org or others and link to it from your website. Keep in mind that depending on the country you are located, you might be legally responsible for the content which is uploaded and shared on your forum.
How come such a good programme as Rapidweaver is lacking in such a Stack?
Because inherently forums are very complicated to code and setup; often involving multiple layers of server configuration like PHP, Node.js, MySQL and much more. Lots of moving parts - so impossible to interface into a single stack.
You have many legal obligations too; like child protection, copyright enforcement, data protection and user privacy. Plus a constant battle against spammers trying to undo everything you create.
Even if it were possible, the time it would take to develop and provide support for a dedicated forum stack would likely result in a price tag which too many here would be unprepared to pay.
So have a look around at existing solutions such as Muut, whereby you pay a fee and they take care of all the technical and legal complexities for you:
Or choose one of the many open source forums available and install it into a subdomain on your hosting account. It is easy to create an offsite link in your menu bar, to take users from your main website to a forum.
There is also a growing trend nowadays more towards ‘chat rooms’. I am thinking along the lines of Discord and Slack. These can be configured like a forum, with dedicated ‘rooms’, search boxes, private messaging and more. With the added convenience for people to login and communicate on smartphone apps and get notifications of new chats.
You are joking. Just look how much it costs. Not for a hobbyist like me.
David.
You have to pay for Muut and I don’t want to do this.
Thanks anyway.
A forum is not just a simple stack, it’s a complete software solution with a front- and back-end and requires PHP / Java / Rails [insert name here] environments and a database.
As the others said, you can either self-host a forum system (like phpBB and others) or use a third party boards- those are usually paid. I could imagine there are also suppliers who offer a free tier for small boards.
There are plenty of free Forum options. None with a RW Stack. Do a basic search and you’ll find several options.
One forum that some people have liked is Vanilla since it seems easier to integrate with RW.
See here: https://vanillaforums.com/en/software/
They offer a regular paid version and a free open-source version.
Hi.
Thanks. Would you believe I am presently trying to set it up?
Cheers.
@bluecob Hosting companies vary a lot in the services they provide. My service offers a way to easily install certain web-based apps such as WordPress and some forum options (including Vanilla). Your hosting company may, or may not, offer such an easy installation. Worth checking.
… otherwise youi’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way with an FTP app and setting up a mySQL database. This isn’t a terrible way to do things … but worth seeing if your hosting service makes it any easier/faster first.
The bad news is you have to pay for most website addons and extra services - especially if you are expecting to receive regular updates and customer support. Addons don’t just magically appear out of thin air. There are real people writing the code and putting them together. These people have bills to pay too. As has been emphasized already, the technologies that go into making even a simple forum are very involved. Developers rightly need to be compensated for their efforts.
There are some free (or open source) forum solutions available to install on your hosting server. But “free” means that you either have to compromise on some of the rich functionality or do some of the work yourself towards installing and configuring the forum software. No drag-and-drop stack is available to help you with this process (that I am aware of). So one of these free forums may not necessarily be the best match for you either.
Also take careful consideration of the other very important points I raised - specifically the legal aspects you must adhere to for hosting your own forum. You cannot pretend this stuff isn’t relevant or turn a blind eye to it!
Vanilla forum is worth a look. It is one of the few (only?) that has a built in embed feature, meaning it’s easy to add to a RW site and appear as if it’s part of the actual site.
I use it here https://www.guidebookspain.com/forum/#/discussions. Site built entirely in RW.
That looks great. What Theme are you using?
Thanks.
I don’t use themes, that site is built in Uikit3.
Oh, also, if you are looking for a really simple forum, this is a great option: https://www.phpjabbers.com/php-forum-script/ It’s about as simple to setup and get going as it comes. It’s a very basic system, but for many forums it’s fine. I’ve used it on a few sites. It uses a code snippet to add the forum to your site.
Vanilla is really good, but it does require quite a bit of “getting-to-know” time. You need to add quite a few plugins too to really get it to the level of something like Discourse. But the killer feature for me is the embed facility, meaning it will drop straight into any website, including ones made with RW. I don’t know of any other forums that can do this. Typically what you do is build a header and footer into the forum to match your site, opposed to embedding it directly into your site.
When I added Vanilla to that site linked above I spent best part of a week playing with it and gathering up plugins etc. And that was with a good understanding of how these sorts of things work.
(Offtopic: “Hello” from the Costa Del Sol / Gibraltar)
It certainly is. Ignore all the hype around some frameworks, UIkit3 is THE framework for those who want total control and are willing to put in the time to learn it.
What does promoting UIKit have to do with the original question?
It won’t make integrating a forum easier…
I was just answering the comment made to me, I’ve no idea what the next one is about!
My response was to TemplateRepo, not you. Sorry for the confusion.
Don’t know if this is helpful but Elixirgraphics’s Foundry can include a Disqus Stack via the add-on Foundry’s Potion Pack; Potion Pack includes a stack for the commenting platform Disqus.
Elixirgraphics’s documentation for the Disqus Stack found here. https://foundry.elixirgraphics.com/documentation/disqus/
Here’s a tutorial on how to include the Disqus Stack into a RapidWeaver project. https://youtu.be/ouJDmbWZdrU