closed Can Member Profile Content Be Limited or Focused?

Hello, I'm trying to get a feel for what I can and can't do with Jamroom AND how easy it will be to set up before I take the plunge because I AM NOT A CODER. And self-hosting scares the bejeebies out of me. LOL

So my question is this...

I'm setting up a site for textile lovers and want their "My Page" or profile page to be USEFUL to them but don't want it to be totally a free-for-all.

For example... I'd love for them to be able to use their profile to keep track of projects, as a database for materials on hand, as a pattern or idea library, of course connecting with friends etc. But I'd like to set up templates for such things to keep the focus of the site intact. (I haven't even launched and am having issues with spammers)

Hopefully I'm using the right words to express what I'm trying to do.

A little background... I'm currently a Ning3 user exploring a shift to JamRoom before I launch my site. I love how EASY it is to use Ning but I bought my Ning3 site based on my knowledge of Ning2 (from back in the day) never dreaming that functionality on a product would be REDUCED in my absence. I'm horrified at how useless member profile areas currently are in Ning3.

Thanks in advance for any insights.
ShellyB
updated by @shellyb: 03/19/15 12:27:13AM

Hi Shelly - Welcome to Jamroom
As you are probably aware Jamroom is for building 'community' websites and as such has numerous features available geared towards that - friends/followers, blogs, messaging, image and media uploads, privacy settings, forums, etc. etc. so you shouldn't find it lacking with respect to allowing your users to connect with each other.
As for keeping your site focused, we have a module called Aparna. This is basically a tool for creating specific 'item' sets that can be listed, added to, updated (and deleted) by your members. If you think of a blog, song or video as a Jamroom 'item', with Aparna your could create an item called 'material', another called 'pattern' or even another called 'idea'. You can then add attributes to those items, for instance, with 'material' you could add a select type option of wool, cotton, nylon, etc., then another option for your members to enter how many yards of said material they actually have. I guessing here as to what attributes you would actually need but hopefully it explains how your members could build a site focused database of their materials to hand. The same could then be done for patterns and ideas. You can even add file uploads to these created items allowing members to share patterns, say.
All of this is done without any coding by just filling in forms in the Jamroom control panel. However, to present the data to your users would then require some template work. You might consider this as 'coding' but in reality, it is just editing pre-generate text files, but having said that, basic html knowledge is useful.
As I have said, I'm just guessing at what you might actually need but hopefully giving you an idea of what Jamroom can do.
For website hosting, we can also help with that. By the end of this month we will be offering a range of Jamroom hosting packages where we take care of server configuration, backups etc. This project is entering its beta phase this coming Monday.
Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any further questions.
Paul


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Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

Thank you, Paul!

It sounds like Jamroom can do the sort of thing I'm looking for and then some. Natch it'll take a bit of education on my part poking buttons to see what they do LOL.

I think I'll focus on my content for a few weeks while you get your hosting packages together before I dip my toe in and start learning how to set things up. I'm a one woman show and one less headache is BLISS to me.

Thank you ever so much for taking the time to help me

ShellyB

No probs. hosting will be up and running by the end of this month so check back then.
Thanks


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Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist
updated by @paul: 02/08/15 12:00:15AM