Simple portal program?

January 5, 2004 6:25 PM

I'm looking for a simple portal type program, something that can be used by multiple people to post a link to the latest updates to their sites (more inside)

A program that works similarly to the one used here I've looked into several programs but they are way above my abilities.

Thanks.

posted by SuzySmith to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Radio Userland has a multi-author weblog tool which can do this. I haven't actually used it, but it shouldn't be very hard to set up. Each user provides their own RSS feed (using Radio or any other weblog tool) which is then aggregated by the multi-author weblog editor into a single page. The other major blogging tools including Moveable Type, Blogger and Greymatter I'm sure all support multiple authors, some (e.g. MT) in a more straightforward manner and "out-of-the-box" as it were. But they can take some setting up, as opposed to Radio, which is generally a doddle to use (except when it goes wrong, but that's another story...)

You don't say which programs you've tried -- if you want something even simpler, there are bound to be scripts out there that do (most of) what you want, but I would suggest that a blogging tool and RSS are probably the best way (and the best-supported way) to go.
posted by cbrody at 7:07 PM on January 5, 2004

A friend (a Mefite who is rarely around these days) asked me a while back to try an experiment. In every category on my MT-driven site, I've added a trackback ping URL to a special 'public updates' category on his site. Now, every time I update, it pings his site, and my latest updates appear in a sidebar on his main page.

Which is probably gibberish, if you don't know Moveable Type, so FWIW. It is a reasonably flexible and elegant way to do what you're talking about, if it's within a community of MT users.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:56 PM on January 5, 2004

You might ask the guy who created the software used at the link you referenced if you can use his code. It takes some technical savvy, but I don't think it's too bad.

Or you could check this out:
http://topicexchange.com/
posted by adamrice at 8:17 PM on January 5, 2004

(Disclaimer: I work for the company that makes both tools.) An easier way to do a Movable Type-style links page is using TypePad, which lets you just sign up instead of installing anything, and you can invite as many guest authors as you want in the Pro level.
posted by anildash at 10:14 PM on January 5, 2004

I'd recommend using MT's ping function if the people who you want to have in your portal are using MT or another CMS which can send a ping. If you want more info on that, Suzy, drop me an e-mail and I'd be glad to help you with setup.
posted by Dreama at 9:00 AM on January 6, 2004