Simple, customizable group website software/host?

August 1, 2005 10:09 AM

I am helping an alumni/student association set up a simple website that would ideally include news items, photo albums, a calendar and basic static information about the group--its mission statement, history, and past activities. They'd probably also like to be able to create mailing lists around different interests on the fly, and then also browse those topics. Yahoo Groups is probably a little less than we want, but the other options seem like they would require too much customization (Plone) or too little flexibility (Typepad) Are there good alternatives (even fee based ones) that help groups communicate their missions to the public and staty organized? We're using PBwiki to generate content (that's working well) but it's not pretty enough for a public face--I feel the same way about JotSpot. Any recommendations? I thought I remembered a new player in this space, but can't recall them now.
posted by teddyb109 to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

CivicSpace
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 10:46 AM on August 1, 2005

I believe these nice folks make precisely the product you're looking for. Give them a ring?
posted by metaculpa at 11:35 AM on August 1, 2005

I've been fiddling with Drupal this week and it with some available modules for newsletters might be up your alley. Like the other few CMS products I have used it's been a little hard to wrap my head around it initially (perhaps I am just dim) to get the look and content I want but so far I'm liking it better than Typepad, Xoops and GeekLog.
posted by phearlez at 1:40 PM on August 1, 2005

I'm also configuring a Drupal site this week and I think it might be more than teddyb109 is looking for. I don't know if I'm being thick, but the damn taxonomy tagging system in Drupal is giving me a migraine. On the other hand, it does make it easy to put a pretty face on.
posted by realcountrymusic at 2:01 PM on August 1, 2005

Movable Type's built on the same engine that powers TypePad, has a free non-profit license, and you can get it preinstalled by a number of web hosts but still make use of the hundreds of plugins that let you customize it. Plus, it supports publishing as many blogs as you want.

(Disclaimer: I work for the company that makes MT and TypePad.)
posted by anildash at 9:39 PM on August 1, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks all. These are great suggestions. I've also found True Substance, which seems to be in alpha right now. I still swear I saw an advert a few weeks ago for a new groups tool--orange background, three panes, with pictures of groups showing how happy they are to use this new software. Maybe that application was a vision...again, thanks!
posted by teddyb109 at 2:56 AM on August 2, 2005

And, of course, check out WebGUI, which you can get commercially hosted by many places, including the software producers, for $30/mo and these people, for $10/mo.

It's a *nice* package.
posted by baylink at 4:35 PM on August 4, 2005