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Hosting a church directory online...

B

Brendon Bauer

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Is it possible to host a church directory online? I don't know of any church that does it, but the directory would need to be secure and somehow be possible for each church member to have their own account. It would be used only by church members to find one another.

Anyone have any ideas or know of anyway to do this?

Thanks!
 
sure it is possible, but unless you are a developer I suggest you hire someone who knows what they are doing.

EDIT:
this may sound a little odd, but have you thought about using some type of social networking site like Facebook. You can create a private group and then everyone can find each other there. Free, and easy.
There might be other services available that would be better suited for this, but Facebook might work just fine for what you need.
 
You can host a directory online and it can be secure. You can use an Access backend or just SQL. I would recommend doing this in ASP and using a SQL DB. You can have people sign up and list the directory that way, or load the information yourself. Your choice. I would run this similar to how a live inventory for a store would run...using SQL as my backend and ASP on the front end.
 
jessica. said:
You can host a directory online and it can be secure. You can use an Access backend or just SQL. I would recommend doing this in ASP and using a SQL DB. You can have people sign up and list the directory that way, or load the information yourself. Your choice. I would run this similar to how a live inventory for a store would run...using SQL as my backend and ASP on the front end.
Click to expand...

any reason you would recommend ASP over PHP? PHP is open source...
Or is it just that you are familiar with ASP?

Let me just say for you Brendon that a developer has his or her own preference to the language used and it really doesnt make a difference at all to the end user.
 
Me1000 said:
any reason you would recommend ASP over PHP? PHP is open source...
Or is it just that you are familiar with ASP?

Let me just say for you Brendon that a developer has his or her own preference to the language used and it really doesnt make a difference at all to the end user.
Click to expand...
I recommended it over paying some dude to do it for him. Just thought I'd lend an opinion. My qualifications/knowledge didn't factor in, though maybe they should have. 😉
OP, do it in PHP or ASP, don't get hung up on open source if you happen to be better with one over the other.
 
jessica. said:
I recommended it over paying some dude to do it for him. Just thought I'd lend an opinion. My qualifications/knowledge didn't factor in, though maybe they should have. 😉
OP, do it in PHP or ASP, don't get hung up on open source if you happen to be better with one over the other.
Click to expand...

Alright, I was just wondering...
 
jessica. said:
I recommended it over paying some dude to do it for him. Just thought I'd lend an opinion. My qualifications/knowledge didn't factor in, though maybe they should have. 😉
OP, do it in PHP or ASP, don't get hung up on open source if you happen to be better with one over the other.
Click to expand...

PHP, ASP, JSP, Python... you could do it in practically any language. Suggesting ASP and mentioning Access just seems to go against the grain of the typical LAMP platform that small sites (like the OP described) favor.

Judging by the original post, I'd say Brendon doesn't know any programming language with which he could create the site he described. (Sorry if I'm wrong, just making an assumption here.) As such, this discussing seems unnecessary.

Anyway:

Yes, any web developer could pull this off with relative ease. Custom features demand a premium, but hiring a developer is probably the easiest way to get what you're looking for.

Most forum software and such do offer extensive user directory systems, so that's one way to go. It's probably a roundabout way to do it, but if you are looking to host discussions or whatnot, that's definitely a possibility.

Facebook as someone mentioned is another possibility. That's probably the quickest route to take, but then again, it's facebook.
 
Sorry I didn't every get back to you. I only read the first post or two and never came back apparently 😛. We are still interested in doing this, so thank you for all the suggestions.

Facebook sounds like an easy route, but I'd like it to be incorporated into our website. We have a forum using phpbb already, but I don't want to force everyone to keep their information there. I'd rather the forum be for exactly that--discussions only for those who want to participate.

I'd like something that is more of a directory script. I was searching online for php scripts but I haven't found anything yet. I'm familiar with php (as long as it's already made and I only have to change stuff to my liking lol) but not with ASP or anything else. Most of our website is done in plain html/css with some php thrown in for good nature. You can see it here if you like: http://www.summitnorthwest.org. Feel free to make any comments or suggestions 🙄

So I really am interested in this but I can't find what I'm looking for. I ran into this website but I'm not really sure this is exactly what I need. http://www.interlogy.com/products/pmb/ What do you think?
 
you can easily do this with an open source CMS (content management system) i would recommend e107 (www.e107.org) simply cos i know it inside out there is also Joomla?
 
Well maybe I'll try e107. What would be the best way to do what I want? I want to be able to have members be able to log in and see all the other members. Specifically we'll have addresses and phone numbers. Would each user have their own password? I know not every church member is computer savvy so I doubt all members will go on there. Would it be better to make a universal login account? I'm new to this so any help would be great!
 
with e107 you can give everyone their own login which they can register for themselves you can then add custom fields to the user profile pages to include phone number and address anything you want. You can also edit peoples details yourself the other way to do it is use a "plugin" there is a priest from Liverpool who writes some great free plugins for e107 which would suit your purpose you can get info on Father Barry's plugins at www.keal.me.uk give me a shout if you need any help
 
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