ocPortal 9

I recently expanded the Web site of a University society I help to run, which had started to outgrow its previous static HTML + PHPBB setup. I decided on ocPortal, and it was very straightforward to install, even on the rather restricted hosting we have (for example it includes scripts for setting file permissions correctly). It integrates nicely with the existing PHPBB installation (existing user accounts work in ocPortal, staff permissions are used across ocPortal and PHPBB, the existing emoticons appear throughout ocPortal, etc.). We now have a calendar, galleries and a wiki system thanks to ocPortal (I disabled the other addons), along with other nice community features like the points system (this integrates well too, since every user started with a load of points due to their PHPBB activity over the years :) ).

Highly recommended!

I use my website primarily as a virtual classroom needing to be updated constantly, often with real time content submitted by multiple authors(students).For three years, I’ve had to struggle with Joomla and a number of third party addons to create my idea of such a site. Searching for the right components that would play nice with the ones already in place was time consuming and somewhat wearisome, while striving to keep a stable site. I was constantly reminded by a multitude of invasive critical updates and upgrades cascading through components, modules and bots that I had created a living nightmare requiring constant administrative attention to repair the disturbances to the site.Searching for a better solution, I stumbled upon ocPortal and it was “love at first site”

I built my interactive website in under an hour without requiring a single third party addon as right out of the box; I had access to a sophisticated forum, group memberships with an elaborate permission tree structure, blogs and photo galleries for each member and most formidable; interactive front page blocks updated in real time with content submitted by multiple authors, RSS feeds, quiz and polls. Most of these goodies set up practically by themselves with the installation wizard.

With a small and friendly community, it was easy to notice how the architect of this powerful software is always readily available to fix problems, instruct and reassure users and designers over their best course of action to implement their ideas; meanwhile, guiding the project through well defined objectives.

However, unlike Joomla and other better known CMS, there seemed to be very few “Themes” for ocPortal, indicating perhaps that most of its users were favoring substance rather than relying on spiffy graphics to create unique websites, or was it that it was too difficult to implement such radical changes without affecting the stability of the software?

Since I like to give an artistic flavor to my websites, I set out to explore the theming possibilities of ocPortal. Equipped with a very rudimental understanding of HTML and CSS templates and documentation provided by ocPortal, I had my first theme standing proudly on its own within a couple of hours. I was stunned at how easy it was to change the look of the main page without ever going out of the software and accomplishing it in real time. I was so thrilled by this prospect that I immediately created a series of tutorials and set out my students into crafting distinctly unique ocPortal sites, as part of a new and exciting topic of my virtual classroom.

In the case of ocportal, having limited theme choices does not necessarily imply it is difficult to implement one, but rather an apparent minimalistic preference in using what is working just right, out of the box, for most satisfied ocPortal users.

ocPortal is FREE! With the release of version 4.x.x (currently at version 5.0.3) ocPortal made its way into 'opensource' and that, put simply, is a wonderful addition for those that want a CMS that can do just about anything you want. And a few things you didn't know could be done! The synopsis for the product says it all, and as a user of the engine, both paid and free, I cannot recommend it highly enough! It comes with 'everything', out of the box; you disable modules you don't wish to use. That is refreshing, especially when you've used other CMS's and have had to hunt for hours looking for add-ons that may or may not have integrated seamlessly, or which might have turned your installation into a veritable Swiss-cheese as far as security is concerned. Go get it. What are you waiting for?

Amazingly great CMS with every functionality the potential user may dream of. Robust, efficient and flexible but with steep learning curve as this is rather complex professional system. Moreover there is also a friendly and vibrant community where you can even expect support, very promptly given by the creators of the ocPortal. This excellent CMS is unique in terms of being a real out of the box solution. Present version - 5.03 but 5.1 is already coming, which means that this system is improved on constant basis. Best regards.

I was looking for something to replace my Wordpress site with because I wanted to have the use of a forum on my site. With Wordpress you had to use a bridge and I really didn't want to have to do that. Then I stumbled upon ocPortal which has a built-in forum. After installing the software I was, to be quite honest, a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of features it has. But I quickly realized that I could use only the features than suit my needs and simply turn off the rest. The cms software is great and the built-in forum is great as well making ocPortal the perfect answer to my needs. Many thanks to the ocPortal team for a great piece of software and FREE!

Boxx, I don't know about the demo, but I have been running ocPortal for a few years now, with no issue, whereas I've had Joomla crash and such. Sure, the issues I had with Joomla were 9 out of 10 do to the plug ins I was using, but for my site I needed those types of plugin, and lots of plug ins. Having so many 3rd party plugins to run my site ended up bringing in unwanted crap and left vulnerabilities. After facing yet another intrusion, I left joomla for ocPortal.

I've started in the 4.1 series, and have upgraded throughout to the current 5.0.1, largely with no issues. Sure I'd have the occasional small bug or misunderstanding, but the team over at ocportal helped me out, and most of the time gave me same day and in some cases same hour service, all for free, and often by the head developer himself. There are add ons for ocPortal, but I haven't needed any of them as it does what I need out of the box. Theming it has been easy, and the theme generator gives a good start, and don't even get me started on the wonderful forum, catalogs, and CEDI (wiki) tools of the site. Buggy? My site disagrees.

So yeah, go ahead, stick with Joomla if it suits you better. Joomla is a decent CMS. I just find ocPortal better, more stable, and just plain more awesome. I'd give you a link to my site to prove it, but I am not sure if that is against opensourcecms rules or not. Demos aer generally a good way to see how a product works, but sometimes the demo itself isn't installed right or isn't maintained as it should be, plus with a system like ocPortal, really the only way to get a good feel for it is to install it yourself.

Demo is very buggy.
Many features, but maybe the developers should focus more on stability ?!

Stick to Joomla.

I have not produced a website in many years, but have had the dubious pleasure of using many CMS systems through work; I have since chosen to use ocPortal for a personal project and the power, flexibility & simplicity of this software has blown me away.

There are now rumors coming from the development team, suggesting a new release is imminent ... I can't wait for the upgrade, so I can't see what version 5 has in store!

You can even perform an upgrade straight from the administration area; what more could you want?

ocPortal is an incredible CMS product. Personally I am redesigning my 12-1/2 year old website which, over the years has not kept pace with the changing web standards and has other problems. It badly needed to be brought into the 21st century web experience.

I had found ocPortal about a year ago in my three year search for a ??perfect?? CMS platform. I am finding that ocPortal enables me to produce a web compliant, fully featured website that has community and other cool features which will make my website so much better than I could have done on my own. Usually, I am a do it yourself kind of guy but since ocPortal comes â??out of the box? with excellent technical support and a creative and helpful user community, I am enjoying having help in my endeavor.

I read so many good reviews in this column and tend to agree with them that ocPortal is the best.

Unbelievable! I'm still checking to make sure I have not died and gone to heaven!

I am very fortunate to have several web sites that have become very popular with thousands of visitors per week. Unfortunately, success does have it's downside - especially when the foundation was not built for such a load.

I have spent weeks and weeks evaluating everything I could find that might be suitable for a new foundation. Without a doubt, I have found it in ocPortal. Using the features already built-in, I had replacement sites up in less than one hour.

I am abandoning Drupal, Joomla, ModX, Wordpress for ocPortal.

ocPortal and it's team is a delight to work with. It's developers work tirelessly to produce a CMS that simply WORKS! ... Out of the Box. The comments above regarding needing FTP access, etc are simply bogus. If you want ocP to install it for you( in about 3 minutes) sinply create a database / user and dedicated FTP user/password and you'll be running in now time.

My experience is with Miva 5.5, Joomla, MODx, Magento, WordPress and SilverStripe. All CMS and ecommerce solutions have their + and -. ocPortal seems to place most of the checks on the right side of the isle, and no need to download buggy 3rd party modules, etc.

ocPortal is extremely well planned, well documented, and even has helpful tips WITHIN the CMS. The videos are extremely helpful to the newbie since its logic is not logical... at first. After a few hours playing around with ComCode and dropping in your own css styles, you'll start to understand the power and potential it has. My next project will use its ecommerce functionality... I'll post more when I get some hours behind it.

Have a look at http://ocportal.com/docs/tutorials.htm kelechi, they helped me out lots when i first started using ocPortal.

I've used loads of CMSs over the years and never found one I could really get along with. ocPortal was the first one that had everything I needed without having to try and import third party modules which would then need tweaking to fit and look right. I'm not a programmer so i struggled and finding ocPortal made my life a lot easier to what i was using before.

I am New user of ocportal.I need a guide or manual with which i can use it with out difficulties.any 1 can help.my email knwuba@yahoo.com

For me, this CMS was crash (I work on it for about 4 month) after the first try to upgrade without possibility to upload the back-up. Doesn't work!. Was very complex but moving slowly and very complicate set-up!
I don't recommend!

Really the most powerfull and the most feature rich free CMS in the whole wild world. Nothing compares to it.
The only bad thing is very little custom themes.
But that can be fixed by making your own