Need some help with my website

[Darren Lewis]

On my website I have a reviews section for book reviews. I manage this at the moment by having each review as a HTML page, with a main index page.

Problem is that it's quite time-consuming. I have to place the new review on the homepage, then update the reviews index page, and then create a page for the review itself, with links to the forum where members can discuss the review.

Is there an easier way to do all this?
I don't know much about databases. I only have one SQL database allowed on my server which I'm using for vBulletin.

It would be great if users could view the reviews by author etc..

I've seen things like vPortal and PHP-Nuke around - what are these and are they what I need?

Thanks.

Darren.

[NUTNDUN]

This site is using vbportal. They are content management systems. Vbulletin 3 will have a CMS plug-in released soon after the release of the new forum software, and when that time comes we are going to get everythihg switched over on the test site and get it debugged before we move it to the main site.

[Darren Lewis]

I'll wait until VB3 is released. I haven't installed any hacks to my VB yet - just modified some of the templates.

I want to get familiar with the base VB setup before installing hacks etc.

So the CMS will allow me to post the reviews on the main site and link back to the forums?

[NUTNDUN]

yep and it's all in one database.

[jrwap]

Try this: http://phpreview.nl.linux.org/

Its a PHP review script for book reviews.

-JRW

[Darren Lewis]

That looks very good but I want to keep everything based around my vBulletin forums.

I might have a look at vbportal and see if I can figure it out. Are the other CMS eg PHP-Nuke worth a look or should I just stick with vbportal?

Will there be any problems upgrading to VB3 if I start to use vbportal now?

Thanks again for the quick replies. I'm glad I found this site - very friendly and informative

[jrwap]

If you go with the portal now, you will have to wait until the guys over their edit the code to be compatible with vb3.... it could take months!!! I would wait. The script that I posted above could be integrated into vb ... probably wouldn't be too hard.

Basically almost every feature of vbportal can be done with a bunch of hacks that can be found at vbulletin.org.

-JRW

[Darren Lewis]

OK, I'll wait for VB3.

I don't have a lot of time at the moment, but I've downloaded that review script to have a look at, and I'll look around vbulletin.org too.

Thanks.