CMS Made Simple Forums

Is it just me that thinks that CMSMS modules and theme site is inadequate?
It should be more like Wordpress or Joomla!.

This is what I think is missing with the modules site:

* There is no rating
* No version compability info
* No Categories
* There is no sorting on downloads, ratings, version compability, update date,
* No links to samples or screenshots.

Same thing goes for the themes site (except for the screenshot part)

I honestly believe that CMSMS would me more popular if Modules and Themes sites were more "today".

Hi Raboo,

I don't think anyone would disagree that these would be nice features to have. I believe the Theme site, for example, is build on a module which wasn't intended to be something as specific as what you're describing. I think it might be a totally custom programming job to make the Themes site do what you're talking about, but I certainly agree it would help "sell" CMSMS to more people.

As someone who has contributed a Theme myself, the feature I would most like is to be able to update my Theme to include bug fixes and new features. Right now I believe I need to add it as a new Theme. Bit of a pain, as someone has just pointed out something that needs fixing.

Regarding modules, the biggest problem is the amount of them and the fact some of them are dead or superseded by other modules. We do not do a good enough job of pimping what you can do with CMSMS. Perhaps a rating/downloads tally would naturally push the better ones into a more prominent position. SilverStripe pimps itself very well in this regard; fantastic list of the best modules and excellent details page when you click the more info link:

http://silverstripe.org/modules

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I have another crazy idéa.

We all know that CMSMS isn't preferred by us cause it's advance and complex, right?

I know this sounds a bit crazy, but what if the Modules and Theme sites where hosted on another CMS platform?

Let's face it, we want CMSMS cause it's simple. I don't think any of the other CMS communities would laugh(at least not that hard) at us because the CMSMS theme and modules sites user another CMS.

Cause the issue with the poor modules site makes it harder to use CMSMS.. It's a pain in the ass to try out all modules when you need to find a suitable one for your site.

I'll deffer to past discussions (it has been discussed and re-discussed)...

Essentially it boils down to this:

1. Themes uses the Uploads module, at the moment there really isn't a good way to allow you to "modify" your upload. Yeah, it can be a PITA if you update your theme. It would take a brand new module or extensive modifications to make this work.

2. It has been discussed for a "ranking system" in the themes section. It shouldn't be too difficult... but like too many other things there is this thing called "lack of time/resources" that gets in the way.

3. Modules... (this seems like a semi-weekly discussion ) There have been extensive discussions on the forum, in irc and amongst the dev team. We all agree it needs a little love, but I will reiterate what I said in #2 ("...this thing called "lack of time/resources" that gets in the way.)" There are plans to help weed out the stale and stagnant modules that haven't received updates in X amount of months. Unless we get a large dedicated, almost full time, QC team to test each module with various platforms, environments, CMSMS versions, etc it will be difficult to rule out which modules are "good" and which ones are "bad".

So unless you want to try to gather members for a Quality Control team and you want to manage it, it will be very difficult to list samples, screenshots, compatibility info, version info (which exists... but is up to each module developer).

Sorting/searching/categorization has been discussed and will hopefully be addressed in due time. Sorry no promises on timelines though.

Yes, silverstripe has a nice implementation... but keep in mind you are comparing a platform with a few dozen add-ons to a platform with a few thousand add-ons.