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Besides you guys I’m also taking a very serious look at:

Movable Type
Subdreamer

However, none of them have EXACTLY everything that I’m looking for… I’m working on a gaming community website. Here is what I need, please tell me if you offer all of these:

- Must allow multiple authorized writers to post news on the front page.

- Customizable permissions and profile management.

- Profiles for all members with their own avatar showed in comments on articles.

- Posts can be tagged or categorized so you could easily find all of the news relating to your favorite game/console.

- The more native support the better, I prefer avoiding plug-ins since they generally complicate things (unless it is an official plug-in with no problems guaranteed).

- I would like the ability to allow users to create their own blog on the site (I might do this via IPB though).

- Must be friendly with search engines for proper listings, ad traffic, and optimizations.

- Integration with Invision Power Board for a single login for commenting on the front page as well as on the forums (I would consider the EE forum software, but that is VERY unlikely considering I’ve been using IPB for over three years and it is very advanced now).

You cost a bit more than Subdreamer but are more affordable than Movable Type.  The free competitors all seem to be lacking what I want…sure the community can offer things but that isn’t reliable since people lose interest in projects, etc.

Your software looks like it is of a VERY high quality, yet for some reason I don’t see very many people mention it. Is there a reason why? Is the software successful? Will it continue to be supported and updated with improvements/fixes/new features steadily? How much do updates cost? How long has this company been around? Do you have an example of some quality websites that use your software?

Sorry for all of the questions and thank you very much for your help. This search is becoming quite exhausting but I must put all of my effort into it since this will be the very backbone of my website!

For an easy example, I am shooting for something similar to Destructoid.

May I add that an archive of high quality skins is a HUGE draw for me. Do you offer any skins?  Does the community offer any free skins?  Are there any commercial skinners (I wouldn’t mind paying)?

And one more question. Can I go ahead and install this version and easily be able to upgrade to this 2.0 that I keep hearing about or should I wait for 2.0 before installing? Is there any ETA on 2.0? Will all of the skins still work and look good? Thanks.

And just for your reference I would probably be purchasing the most expensive version of your software since it will be a free gaming community site but I want to make ad revenue…would that be the commercial license or the personal?  Thanks for the help.

First, welcome to the forums!

  * Must allow multiple authorized writers to post news on the front page.

No problem.

  * Customizable permissions and profile management.

No problem here, permissions are handled by member groups and you place your member into the group with the appropriate permissions.  You can see what profiles look like at the top of this forum by clicking “Profile” or “Control Panel” (the former for viewing, the latter for modifying)

  * Profiles for all members with their own avatar showed in comments on articles.

No problem

  * Posts can be tagged or categorized so you could easily find all of the news relating to your favorite game/console.

No problem here either.  There is a third-party, EllisLab certified Tag module, and categories are built in. You can use either, or both, or whatever combination you want. 

  * I would like the ability to allow users to create their own blog on the site (I might do this via IPB though).

This would be against our license to handle in ExpressionEngine.  You can read more on that in this kb entry.

  * Must be friendly with search engines for proper listings, ad traffic, and optimizations.

No problem, the URLs are friendly and the content and presentation are entirely under your control, so you can make it as SEO friendly as you want.

  * Integration with Invision Power Board for a single login for commenting on the front page as well as on the forums (I would consider the EE forum software, but that is VERY unlikely considering I’ve been using IPB for over three years and it is very advanced now).

Integration would be a custom development you would need to do.  If you need help with this, you might consider the Pro Network or posting on our Job Board

You cost a bit more than Subdreamer but are more affordable than Movable Type.  The free competitors all seem to be lacking what I want…sure the community can offer things but that isn’t reliable since people lose interest in projects, etc.

Your software looks like it is of a VERY high quality, yet for some reason I don’t see very many people mention it. Is there a reason why? Is the software successful? Will it continue to be supported and updated with improvements/fixes/new features steadily? How much do updates cost? How long has this company been around? Do you have an example of some quality websites that use your software?

Sorry for all of the questions and thank you very much for your help. This search is becoming quite exhausting but I must put all of my effort into it since this will be the very backbone of my website!

No need to apologize, we’re here to help!

May I add that an archive of high quality skins is a HUGE draw for me. Do you offer any skins?  Does the community offer any free skins?  Are there any commercial skinners (I wouldn’t mind paying)?

ExpressionEngine does not have one-click theming (the exception being the Discussion Forum).  You can certainly pay someone to design skins for you, and the links above would help.  You can use almost any template available out there by just dropping in EE tags after making it an EE template (pasting it into a template in ExpressionEngine, that is).  See this tutorial. =)

And one more question. Can I go ahead and install this version and easily be able to upgrade to this 2.0 that I keep hearing about or should I wait for 2.0 before installing? Is there any ETA on 2.0? Will all of the skins still work and look good? Thanks.

We do not publicize ETAs or Roadmaps and there is no information about EE 2.0 at this time, other than that there will be a sneak preview at SXSW =)

And just for your reference I would probably be purchasing the most expensive version of your software since it will be a free gaming community site but I want to make ad revenue…would that be the commercial license or the personal?

Have a read through this kb entry to help determine which license you need. =)

And of course, we always recommend you try ExpressionEngine out!

I think if you were integrated with IPB this would be the perfect software for me.  Subdreamer costs $150 less and comes with the integration and skins, but then you offer features that they don’t.  Such a tough decision and no one has it all, everything is a trade-off!  I’m clearly going to have to figure out which features are my priority before I can make a decision.  This is tough!

Also you missed this one:

Your software looks like it is of a VERY high quality, yet for some reason I don’t see very many people mention it. Is there a reason why? Is the software successful? Will it continue to be supported and updated with improvements/fixes/new features steadily? How much do updates cost? How long has this company been around? Do you have an example of some quality websites that use your software?

Thanks again for your help.  This will be the biggest decision I make regarding my site for a long time.

Sorry about that, I don’t know how I missed an entire section! I quoted to avoid that very issue =)  Actually, your question was just answered yesterday by our Chief Technology Evangelist.  May I recommend reading that post? =)

As far as continued updates, improvements, features - this our business, the method by which we support ourselves, our families, and our lives - we have a vested interest in making sure that ExpressionEngine grows and flourishes.  If you want to see how well we’re doing, then have a look through our Announcements to see our team’s own growth, as well as our Change Log to see ExpressionEngine’s growth over the years.  It is not a secret that 2.0 is in the making, of course.  I think all of that speaks greatly to our success. =)

You can also review our Showcase to see some examples, as well as the Site Intros forum right below Pre-Sales. 

Read this article about how updates and renewals work, as well. =)

Let me know if I missed anything else, or if you have any new questions!

Thanks for linking me to that article, very good to know.  I have a touch decision ahead of me and I will just continue gathering info as I go but you are definitely still in the runnings!

I just want to add a small note to this discussion. The main difference between EE and every other blog/CMS tool that I know about is that EE makes as little assumptions about what you want to do as possible by design. This is the key difference, in my opinion, between EE and just about everything else and its what gives EE its magic. This means there is generally more up-front work then something that offers “skins” for example, but the end result is more likely to be exactly what you want versus an altered version of somebody else’s design and code.

I just want to add a small note to this discussion. The main difference between EE and every other blog/CMS tool that I know about is that EE makes as little assumptions about what you want to do as possible by design. This is the key difference, in my opinion, between EE and just about everything else and its what gives EE its magic. This means there is generally more up-front work then something that offers “skins” for example, but the end result is more likely to be exactly what you want versus an altered version of somebody else’s design and code.

Thanks for the thoughts.  That will definitely be a great boon to me in the long run, but will be a bit of a pain in the beginning. 😊 However all great things take time…

Is there a place where I can see how the categories thing works?  I want to see if it will work good enough so that I don’t have to use tags but the Control Panel demo said I couldn’t use that feature to add a category.  I’m very curious of the details on that and can’t find a specific article.  Any help?  I would definitely want to add something to multiple categories.  Such as if there was an XBLA review I would add it to the reviews category, XBLA category, Xbox 360 category, and want them to be able to view any post that I ever placed in those categories easily while also being able to see that the post I just made go in those categories…if that makes sense.  And from what you say does it appear that a site like Destructoid could be done on Expression Engine (minus the user blogs of course)?

I’m generally not interested in third-party stuff unless that guarantees it will be updated with the new versions of your software and won’t break things!  The number one problem with third-party items is when they stopped being developed.

Hi, Shadow -

I would, again, strongly strongly encourage you to take advantage of one of the other trial options, we supply the free EECore for trial, as well as the full trial with the 30-day hosted demo.  That way you can see, for yourself, how everything works.

Categories are hierarchal and an entry may belong to any number of categories.

Destructoid is a huge site - are there specific features you wanted to ask about that they offer?

I’m going to do a test install of the most basic version you offer to test things out as you said.  Most of my Destructoid related questions have been answered.  I’d say my biggest concern is the fact that you don’t allow user blogs but IPB does that so I will just have to deal with it.  I’m going to have to budge on one feature or another since nobody has it all but you appear to have the most.  For being 1.x I’m particularly impressed and excitedly awaiting 2.0.  I will likely make my purchasing decision very soon and you guys are top dog right now…

After seeing your awesome site and the awesome UserCP the default skin is a little bland…I’ll have to account for a custom skin in my finances. :( I also can’t seem to figure out what the summary and extended text sections are for.

EDIT: Also is there a function to make it so users need to “hit the jump” to see the rest of the article (and comments) besides hitting the comments link?