| Want to Make Your Own "Craigslist" |
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Supose, you want to build a site that would be similar to craigslist.org. Perhaps with similar functionality, but maybe for your local community or college or state...whatever. What would it take? Well you could hire a web design team to do it for you....expensive. Or you could do it yourself, from scrach...if you want to go to school and learn web programming.
Or you could build it yourself with existing web-based tools that make it pretty easy! You could used a content managment system like Joomla. Joomla is a free open-source program that is extremely functional. It is what I call a "modular" program. Meaning, you install it in its, native form and then add various components and modules. There are thousands of modules available for Joomla. Joomla was not really intended to be used for classifed ads, but there are three modules to choose from that would give you the ability to ad classified ads. Another option is to use a system that is specifically designed for classified ads. (Here is a really good one: webClassifieds ) This one is not free, and you have to pay for plugins but it is very powerful and fully supported. Setup time would probably be less than Joomla. There are few others, some do not allow for other plug-ins and usually allow limited customization. I actually did find one free one that is not bad. Unfortunatly their demo site is full of porn, so I am not going to link to it. The cost will vary greatly depending on how much of the work you want to do yourself. Are you on a budget? Yes? Well then, I assume that you would want to do as much of the work yourself as you can. The question is how much can you do? Can you do the install yourself? Or would you need to hire a professional to do that? Perhaps you would like to have someone do the install, then show you the system. Then you can you enter all the categories and other required information? So you have to decide if you are going to use Joomla or a specialized system. Here is a comparison using the two option I have listed here. Keep in mind other systems are available, I am just comparing these two.
Well, I think that about covers it. The bottom line is, if you want to build a classifed ads site that is dedicated to classified ads with little other features, then webClassifeds, or one like it, would be the way to go. If you are looking to build a full featured, community site, then Joomla is more likely what you would want. Whichever you choose you will need:
Good luck! BTW, if you need help installing or learning either of these products, just give us a call. |
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