Stipped Down Install ?

I now have three sites running on ocPortal, am starting to get a handle on administering ocPortal and am looking at using ocPortal for some other sites.

I am wanting to do an install on a number of sites with just a minimal or stripped down footprint or presence, by which I mean a welcome area and menu, a member area and menu, the forum and a few pages of content. To that I would then add other features over time. I would also like to use it for a few sites that are just simple blogs.

My time is very limited so this would allow me to get the sites up and functional and then build them over time adding more of the features. With the standard install there is just too much there that I do not have time to figure out, delete, restrict access to or otherwise modify to fit the site.

Can anyone direct me to or provide a step by step best practice on how to quickly achieve a minimal feature installation?

Don't get me wrong. I appreciate all of the features that ocPortal provides and that is why I have migrated the three sites to it, however, I have a few other sites that need to be very simple for the time being but I would like to use just one CMS if possible as opposed to having some sites on ocPortal and then others on WP, Drupal, Bitweaver and a few other platforms. Trying to become proficient on many different platforms is just not possible given my time constraints.

Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks.

The best way right now is to run the Setup Wizard after installation and uninstall all the Add-ons that you don't need. The Add-on screen of the Setup Wizard has two sections: one at the top, and one at the bottom under an expander. If you quickly go through that list, you will find that your site will be greatly simplified by the time you log in.

Robbie,

Thanks for your reply.

I finally had time to do a new install and tried your suggestion.

It was a bit tedious but it works.

I still ended up with more on the home page than I wanted but of course all of that is editable through the Admin Zone.

I still wish there was a simple, stripped down, install option but that is just because of my needs and may not be needed by very many others.

In the greater scheme of things a minor issue on a platform that I am very glad that I found after not finding it for years. I would have to go back through my list to make sure but I think that with the last install all of my non-specialized CMS based sites are migrated to ocPortal.

My vote: ocPortal is not perfect (none are) but ocPortal is a great CMS!

iamageneralist said

My vote: ocPortal is not perfect (none are) but ocPortal is a great CMS!

Absolutely true that there are always trade-offs between different CMS platforms. But I really like that ocPortal offers so much built-in (even when I disable much of it) and knowing that those options will move forward with each ocPortal release, thus eliminating my concerns about updating the software if I am using features that would be delivered via a third-party with another CMS.

Bob

Bob,

I agree and to that I would add the issue of third party plugins sometimes causing conflicts either with the CMS or with other plugins that you are using.