Phoenix Board

There has been huge interest expressed by many people in the Phoenix Project. There are also a few who are worried about the path Phoenix Project is following.

Their main concerns are -

• Why is it integrating with CB API ?
• It will bound the system with CB only sites.
• Is this some sort of bridge to work with CB and wont that make the site slower ?

I will share my personal views on Joomla and answer these questions. These are just my views so pls don't flame me.

Point 1

Joomla is a very Good Single-site Content Management System.
Drupal is a very Good Multi-site Content Management System.

Joomla, alone, is NOT good enough if you are looking to build a Community Site.

A Community Site needs - User Profiling, User Grouping, Forum, Community System, Activity Wall etc.
A Joomla base installation has non of these features. You CAN NOT create a Community System based on Joomla only.

Add-on Components for Joomla, can add these functionalities quite beautifully.
Like - Community Builder, JomSocial etc.

You must need them if you are building a Community Site.
I am sure you will agree with me if you personally run a Community Site.

If you want a Joomla Site with a Forum only, and nothing else, Phoenix Board is NOT for you. Use PHPBB or SMF or VB.

If you are looking for proper Community Site based on Joomla, then you need Community Builder, Groupjive (for Group Management based on CB API) and a Forum System (Fireboard or Agora or up-coming Phoenix).

NOTE, Jomsocial is NOT FREE so I don't support them. I am a Stallman follower.

To sum up, Joomla + CB + GJ + PB in my mind is a killer combination for a Community Site.

Point 2

I am little confused with Joomla's Development Strategy and I still am.

When I first learnt about Joomla, I had to choose -
Joomla 1.0.10 (STABLE) or Joomla 1.5.1 (BETA)

Few moths ago I have to choose -
Joomla 1.0.15 (STABLE) or Joomla 1.5.3 (STABLE)

Now I have to choose -
Joomla 1.0.15 (STABLE) or Joomla 1.5.x (STABLE) -- ok ok, 1.5.x is the way to go. I agree.

In next few month in future, I have to choose -
Joomla 1.5.x (STABLE) or Joomla 1.6 (BETA)

Too much version changes.

On the other hand CB's API is powerful enough to support Mambo, Joomla 1.0.x, Joomla 1.5, Joomla 1.6. So, it is easy enough for me and my project to support all Joomla versions and users.

Also, CB's API is NOT that complex like a 'Bridge System'. It is just a inheritance of core Joomla Class itself with number of simple IF-Blocks. So, performance wont be any issue.

And, if and when Joomla Team introduces updates or changes to their Joomla API Class, CB team will also update their API class so that applications running on their API don't get effected or in a very small magnitude. Atleast, we won't have to write the entire code from the scratch.

Thats why I choose this 'path'.

A special thanks to parogne for helping me in writing this wiki-page.

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