Thread

What’s the best place to ask questions about add-ons in the EE forum?

I want to hear how people are using add-ons to build portal websites. Posting a question in the technical forum got no attention at all - which is odd cause I am a license holder.

As it’s a general question about using EE then “General discussion” would probably be the best place, tech support is really for “solving problems” and the like.

To start the ball rolling, when considering addons it really depends on what you want to achieve. Personally I only use an addon if there is no method of doing something using EE’s native functionality. It also depends what you mean by “portal” - if you can define exactly what you’re doing it will be easier to see what might be needed.

You may know this already, but if you’re looking for add-ons devot-ee.com should be your first port of call.

To start the ball rolling, when considering addons it really depends on what you want to achieve. Personally I only use an addon if there is no method of doing something using EE’s native functionality. It also depends what you mean by “portal” - if you can define exactly what you’re doing it will be easier to see what might be needed.

Thanks for the tips, blue. Here’s what I really need to know about adding the right portal features for my client:

1. Custom membership templates - Should I override these manually or should I invest in Solspace User. I really hate the default markup and want member functionality out of the box.
2. Editable SAEF forms: Do I use the EE-Insider core hack or invest in Safecracker?
3. Can I create a Quiz application using Matrix (which i already own) or should I also be looking at playa? Will it really help?

You may know this already, but if you’re looking for add-ons devot-ee.com should be your first port of call.

The responses I am getting at devot-ee aren’t really that great. This is my first time with EE and I am building a medium sized portal. Are there other places too?

1. Custom membership templates - Should I override these manually or should I invest in Solspace User. I really hate the default markup and want member functionality out of the box.

If you want total flexibility with member/profile templates the User module can’t really be beaten, whenever I build a member based site I buy it and install it without thinking. User is one of “the” essential addons in my opinion.

2. Editable SAEF forms: Do I use the EE-Insider core hack or invest in Safecracker?

Personally I’d go with Safecracker for editing content outside the CP. I’ve only used it once so far and it worked first time off the bat with no faffing around.

3. Can I create a Quiz application using Matrix (which i already own) or should I also be looking at playa? Will it really help?

I’ve never built a quiz function in EE but I suppose it’s down to how you want it to work. If you just want to collect results and have them emailed to you then Solspaces Freeform will help, otherwise if you want it to collate and measure scores you might need to write a custom module.

Thanks a lot, that helps me breath better.

For the “collate and measure scores” bit, can’t I use a math plugin to make simple calculations with some PHP session variables. Module would be too big right?

On 1 and 2 definitely yes, they’ll ease development considerably.