Need Direction on membership/database site.

  • Building a new site. It has the features of a membership or “database” site, but I don’t know what I really need.
    Any advice is much appreciated.
    Wordpress 4.9.7

    The Concept:
    >> Users pay a fee to put up a “profile” of themselves on the site.
    >> Payment through PayPal or such must be automated.
    >> They can login later and change this profile/account.
    >> I want to screen people and restrict who can set up a profile.
    >> They can post a photo, a video, an mp3, and information in the profile.
    >> The public at large can do a multi-filtered search on all this stuff.
    >> The search results are presented in something like a product search site, with
    a thunbnail and a brief description for each result listed in the search.
    >> Users can then click on a result and get a “profile” page for that result.
    >> I want to create a pretty, customizable profile page of the information.

    WHEW! What to do!
    Since wordpress is “database ready,” I’m assuming I just need a good membership plugin, maybe along with something like a “forms” or table plugin like TablePress, or a search plugin like “Custom Searchable Data Entry System,” or something?

    Any wisdom here is greatly appreciated.

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 21 total)

  • You may want to consider a custom plugin for the profiles. Rather than paying for a premium membership plugin that will renew every year. Can you share more about what the users will include in their “profile”

    Thread Starter adhdcelt

    (@adhdcelt)

    Yes. Thank you.
    Basically what I mentioned in the post:
    A photograph
    A video
    An mp3 file
    Information about self
    External links to sites
    Contacts

    That’s about it.

    Do you want to host the videos on your server or have the users provide a vimeo/youtube link? Also, will these profiles all be assigned to the same user type?

    Thread Starter adhdcelt

    (@adhdcelt)

    The user setting up the profile must upload the photo/video/mp3 to the site with size, length, format, resolution, etc. restrictions that I control. So, I guess they have to reside on the server I’m on.

    As for “user type,” I will assume “yes.” They will be the same.

    Thanks for your help, Davood.

    Sorry for the delay in my response. I’ve had a hectic week. No, the videos do not have to reside on your server. I guess before I can provide you with my full suggestions I would need to know more about these videos.. because I typically advise my clients agains hosting the videos on their server but instead to use a video hosting service such as youtube or vimeo. Are you able to provide more background about what the user directory is going to be used for?

    Thread Starter adhdcelt

    (@adhdcelt)

    The member user will create a profile by entering information, a photo, a short 2-3 minute video, and a 3-minute mp3 file in a “form” on a page.

    The rest of us germs in the outside world can then use a filtered search to display that information, photo, video, and mp3 file.

    It’s basically just a standard, searchable database.

    Right, I guess a better way for me to ask the question would be. Why would I want to be searching this database? I am asking this to determine if the users who will have profiles will have the tech savvy to upload videos to youtube or vimeo this making it possible to just have one of those services host the video for you.

    It will get very expensive for you to host the 3-minute video and 3-minute mp3 files. You are going to want to look at third party services for that part… and you may even want to put it on the users to upload those files to the third party services

    Thread Starter adhdcelt

    (@adhdcelt)

    I suppose I should look into vimeo and youtube.

    Technical savvy? Well, I suppose that could be a problem, but the user will either have to have it or know someone who does, because the videos and mp3s are an important part of the profile.

    Yeah. I thought I’d run into bandwidth and money problems with videos and mp3s at some point. I think I should maybe do some detailed research into the problems you present instead of continuing to wear you out with it.

    However, aside from the problems presented by video and mp3 files, I still have to figure out what I need in order to collect profile information from the user, allow people to search that information, and then display that information to the searcher.

    Do I need a membership plugin? Do I need a good multi-filter search form plugin to search the information? Do I need a good forms plugin to display the information? Or will a good membership plugin do all of that stuff?

    As I said a few days ago, I do not think you should get a membership plugin but rather you should consider a custom plugin. Yes I would definitely encourage you to do some research on your own. That said, I have been doing some research on my end (from the shoes of an experienced developer) for you in between my projects since I’ve never developed a site that was solely used as a member directory/database. Would you please share more info with me about why someone would be searching your user directory/database?

    Thread Starter adhdcelt

    (@adhdcelt)

    To know things about the lives of the people who have profiles on the site.

    I have not forgotten about you. However, I am still thinking through my ideas and the research I’ve done into this for you and trying to come up with a solid suggestion. It sounds like you’ve thought of something that is potentially a new niche. I am just trying to figure out how to advise you to build this beyond having a custom plugin developed so that you do not find yourself dealing with issues down the road.

    Thank you for your patience and stay tuned.

    Thread Starter adhdcelt

    (@adhdcelt)

    Hey, Davood:
    I appreciate all your most gracious help here; however, don’t burn a lot of daylight on this.

    I can’t do custom plugins: No money for that, as I can’t build such programs myself. It’s gonna have to be stuff off the shelf that’s already out there.

    Again, the basic problem I’m tryin’ to solve is this:
    1. Users create profiles for a fee—like a membership thingy.
    2. The rest of us non-members use a filtered search to find those profiles.

    It’s something like Amazon or Indeed.com, where things gets posted, then, the rest of us can find those things using a filtered search. Searchin’ products; searchin’ profiles: same thing, basically.

    I’m wonderin’ if a good existing membership plugin will provide all that, or would I need a good existing search plugin as well to search and display profiles?

    Your project will require either a custom plugin or premium plugins…. Premium plugins will cost as much, if not more, than a custom plugin because premium plugins usually come with a yearly license fee. You will need multiple premium plugins to execute what you are trying to do. If you have something custom built you can start with the core feature set and add functionality as money permits.

    Trust me when I say you should look into doing this with a custom plugin. I’ve been developing WordPress sites for ten years and you are best served having something custom built on top of WordPress because there wont be yearly fees attached to the plugin maintenance and moreover you will always be able to find a developer to help you maintain or add features to the plugin because there are so many WordPress developers out there who do freelance work. In the long run a custom plugin will cost less to maintain than premium plugins because chances are you will need customizations to any of the premium plugins that are out there plus you’ll have to pay the yearly license fee as long as you are running the website.

    Thread Starter adhdcelt

    (@adhdcelt)

    Wow.
    Everything you just said makes perfect sense….
    Okay, so I need to change horses.
    Thank you so much, Davood.
    I’ll take your wisdom to heart.

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 21 total)
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