This is obsolete. See http://guildrelationswow.wikia.com/wiki/Compiled_list_of_useful_website_utilities for current list.

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Q u o t e:
I'm compiling a list of useful guild website utilties. This will include CMS, forums, and other freely available php scripts and such. It will focus primarily on web utilities and not gui plugins.

Please post your suggestions for inclusion below and I'll update the top posts as the thread populates.


Quick Start Guide for new guild leaders

• Find a free webhosting site. Search for "free guild hosting" and you'll find plenty of sites (or scroll to post #5). View some of the guild sites hosted there to get an idea of the speed, capabilities, if there are mandatory advertisements and how intrusive they are, etc. Select a host that appeals to you and sign up. Some hosts allow you to have your guildname in the URL - try to get one that does. Some sites also offer paid services such as arbitrary php scripts, ventrilo or teamspeak servers, etc, so if you expect to need it in the future, consider upgrade options and the cost when choosing a host. (Free isn't always "free", and some free sites really charge a lot for extra services.) More advanced sites might be able to sell you a domain name for your guild (about $10) and have them host it.
  
• Configure forums. You want both a public and private section. Don't go overboard with number of forums, as they will just be unused, even with a large guild. Make five sections: news section (some sites provide one that displays on the front page), public general chat, public quest signups, private guild-only chat, and invite-only officer forums.
  
• Configure the look and feel (skins). Use colors that contrast a bit, but not too much. For example, never use black text on red background, but similarly, bright yellow on a large red background is painful to read.
  
• Make your front page look good! If you aren't artistic, find a guildie who is good with photo editors and put something entertaining or at least interesting there. Proofread the front page and get rid of all misspellings! Make it easy to get to the forums, to read about your guild values, etc.
  
• Advertise your completed site! Put it in your message of the day, and make it an integral part of your guild. Your guildmates will use it if there's a good reason. Post it on your local realm forums and make sure it's added to any big lists of guild websites. Submit your site to http://www.google.com/addurl/ so that it gets indexed quickly so that someone looking for you can find your guild.
  
• Maintain and update your site. Make sure news is updated at least once a month, even if it's something small. Frequent updates cause two things: first they get indexed by search engines more often, and second, it makes your guild look active. If there's ever any heavy drama in the public general forums, move them to the private forums immediately and continue there. Deleting threads often just causes them to reappear, but locking them or talking it out in a private section usually causes it to die off. (There's nothing worse than a prospect going to a guildsite and seeing a ton of drama.)
  

That will give you the bare minimum for a guild website.

Advanced users
For those that want more or are finding themselves very successful, you will want your own domain and website utilities such as DKP tracking, better forums, RSS feeds, etc. Search for "register domain" and you'll find a ton of sites that want your business. Although the free guildsites above cater to gamers, they often won't allow you to install your own php scripts such as rosters or raid point tracking plugins. If you want your own domain name or your own php website scripts, you might have to go with a different provider or shell out the cash to a "free" site. But if you search around, you can often find very inexpensive sites.

The rest of this thread will list website scripts for the more advanced users. Beware, installing these on your website and making them run can be difficult, but it is the best way to fully customize your site.

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reserved

last reserve... should be plenty.

actually, there's a lot of stuff out there. One more for good measure.

Appendix 1: Free "Webpage-In-A-Box" Services

www.worldofguilds.com

PROS: Good for a beginning guild, or a guild that doesn't need a very robust website. Interface is clean, and the developer used the WoW fan site kit (I think) to create the borders and such so it looks very official and WoWish. All you have to do is plug in your info, use the AddOn, and you have a very visually appealing site. It also has your guild name in the URL, which was a big selling point for me - no random number string to remember.

CONS: Some drawbacks were that the forums are not very robust - no sticky, edit, or text formatting abilities - and some of the advertised features aren't working. (Supposedly there's a "wants"/"needs" trade page, but I could never get into it to change the wants/needs.) Also, I sent three requests for support to the developer/administrator and received no responses. It's also plastered with "Buy Gold" adds (what free site isn't) but they're text-only so not too distracting.

OVERALL: In all, good for a guild that wants a clean, simple, and attractive site. Has the potential to be a great service, but it's not quite there yet. Advanced users will not be satisfied.

www.guildportal.com

www.wowguilds.com

www.guilduniverse.com

www.guildwizard.com

www.e2games.co.uk

www.proboards.com

www.siteground.com

www.freewebs.com

www.cjb.net
(forums only?)

Features I find key to a good raiding guild include:

* Web site (duh)
* Forums with multiple levels of security - guests - regular members - class leaders - officers - inner council
* DKP system and/or suicide kings system - the best are systems that can be updated in real-time (during a raid) and let the raiders check their balances any time
* Rotation system - this is a tough one and something my guild has been struggling with for several months. With 5 priest slots and 10 raiding priests managing the rotations can be a complex not to mention drama-inducing thing.
* Character roster - who has what, how are they equipped, what talent spec do they use, what can they craft, etc.

I can't wait to see the links you come up with man and thanks in advance for the info to come.

GuildTollS
http://www.curse-gaming.com/en/wow/addons-1899-1-guildtools.html
This addon is capable of gathering in-game information that relates to bank character (possetions of the character, incoming and outgoing mail log) and the guild roster. Then you can either generate local html files for use on your web-site or upload directly to GuildBankManeger's database.

GuildBankManeger
http://www.curse-gaming.com/en/wow/addons-2904-1-wow-guild-bank-manager.html
A PhP application that allows you to display in well-orgonized manner things like: Content of the bank, logs of the sent/received items by the bank characters, guild roster and more. Direct upload from GuildToolS is available.

I'll get to it, don't worry. I got a lot of work IRL atm. :)

There will be a few sections:
1. Quick start guide for minimum of forums and news
2. list of free CMS, forum software, galleries, and non-game specific web/php/asp scripts
3. list of game-specific web software, such as phpraid, rpgroster, etc.

No pressure :) I moved psyches info over here for you to consolodate the suggestions that were included. now looking at it though, I realize I don't have the entire guide :( just the first page.. :( Hope you can use it :) and thanks for putting it together !

Posted by: Psyche Guild: Praetorian Alliance Realm: Doomhammer

Intro
This post contains three basic sections, all related to website utilities for guilds:
Blog, Forum, CMS Engines - A place for your guild to interact outside of the game. News, forums, galleries, the works.
UI Mods to Assist with Websites - Character/Guild profiling, guild banks, etc. Not an exhaustive list, but covers the basics.
Wiki Engines - If your guild is looking for a way to work together to build dungeon walk throughs, farming guides, quest tips, or whatever, a Wiki might help.

What is this post for? Provide a quick reference to guilds looking for a way to build or improve their guild website.

What isn't this post for? It is not for support or troubleshooting of website problems.
It is not for UI Mods specifically or any other guild utilities. Website engines and extensions is it. For a great guide to Guild Oriented UI Mods check out Largeman's compilation here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?FN=wow-guild-relations&T=11218&P=1

What is required to use the solutions suggested here? More than likely you will need a web host with some disk space, some bandwidth, and support for the technologies required by the solution you pick. Most hosting services will
The solutions suggested here may require a hosting service and some technical know-how by you or someone in your guild.

A Guide to Creating a Guild Website
http://thenyx.org/2006/03/10/fizzlegrids-guide-to-creating-a-guild-website/
Props to Kimyah of Nyx on Emerald Dream for putting that together.

Content Management Systems - CMS - aka Forums
A CMS is most commonly known as a forum engine, but just a forum is not enough for most guilds anymore. Galleries, news items, managed articles, downloads, uploads, and other utilities are often in high demand. Most CMSs support themes to change how they look and feel to better fit your guild's personality.

phpBB http://www.phpbb.com/
phpBB offers a rock solid forum engine. It has a very large number of users and developers working to improve and modify it. The out of the box features are somewhat limited compared to other CMSs, but news and galleries and other features can be provided if you are willing to install Mods and AddOns for it.
Technologies: php, mysql
Difficulty: simple
Flexibility: medium

Nuke
http://phpnuke.org/
http://www.postnuke.com/
There are many flavors of Nuke out there, and I will do my best to link Nuke sites that are popular and stable. I am not as familiar with this system, but I know it is a popular one. I know it supports forums, but I am not sure what else. There are many WoW related modules for the Nuke systems.
Technologies: php, mysql
Difficulty: Medium
Flexibility: High

e107 http://www.e107.org/
e107 has a full offering of forums, a calendar, news, articles, uploads/downloads. It also has a very robust permissions system that will allow tons of flexibility in allowing your guild to contribute things to the website. This is the engine I have chosen for my guild to use. AddOns and Mods are also readily available for this engine, as well as easily developed.
Plugins: http://e107coders.org/ http://e107hacks.org/
Themes: http://e107styles.org/ http://e107themes.org/
Technologies: php, mysql
Difficulty: Medium
Flexibility: High

Mambo / Joomla http://www.mamboserver.com/
Joomla and Mambo are both built on the same foundation. They are full featured CMS engines. If someone using Mambo wants to give a two sentence summary I would appreciate it.
Technologies: php, mysql
ItemStats Mod http://forums.eqdkp.com/index.php?showtopic=2217&hl=joomla
Difficulty: Medium
Flexibility: High

VBulletin http://www.vbulletin.com/
More advanced than phpBB this software is not free, but well worth the price if you have some funding available. The most customizable web forums available today includes build in calendars customizable user profiles and themes with built in editor. One utility for extending VBulletin can be found at http://www.vbadvanced.com
Technologies: php, mysql
Difficulty: medium
Flexibility: high

Drupal http://www.drupal.org/
Includes everything you need for a dynamic site, has a forums module, and all kinds of stuff. Theming and extending the software can get tricky.
Technologies: php, mysql
Difficulty: medium
Flexibility: high

Wordpress http://wordpress.org/
A very straight forward tool, this is more intended for blogging, but some people prefer it. If someone using Wordpress wants to give a two sentence summary I would appreciate it.
Technologies: php, mysql
Difficulty: Simple
Flexibility: Low

Hadn't heard of drupal, I'll take a look at that. All those others, including separating joomla! and mambo, were planned.

DKP Management:
Zero-Sum and (my brain is lacking the other type)

EQ DKP - http://eqdkp.com/

Use with DKPTable to view dkp in-game: http://ui.worldofwar.net/ui.php?id=2458

Use CTRaidTracker (a modified version) to add dkp directly into EQ DKP: http://www.curse-gaming.com/en/wow/addons-1836-1-ct_raidtracker-enggerfreqdkp-modded.html

There's a plugin for EQ DKP called 'ct rt' that is useful for importing for zero-sum DKP

there's another plugin called 'rtimport' that seems to be useful for the other type of DKP

Suicide Kings DKP Management: http://www.curse-gaming.com/en/wow/addons-3169-1-sk_list.html

Raid Signups:

phpRaid - http://www.spiffyjr.com/

Other notes:
If you're setting up a website for your guild using some of these php/mysql-based programs, it's extremely helpful to put everything into the same database. In fact, some integration can only be done when things are performed this way.

Pretty much everything out there seems to be able to plug into the phpBB user database. Users create a user there, you put the user into your 'guild' group, then other things, like Roster or phpRaid can use that for user authentication.

A note about wordpress:
Wordpress is a Blogging platform that has many other capabilities and is extremely flexible in it's feature list. On my guild's website, I've integrated the Wordpress user database with my guild member database, so guild members can log into wordpress and create items. I don't give them permissions to publish directly, however, they then send me a message on the forums so I can review and publish their content.

I find this thread topic extremely helpful, as I haven't been there, done that. I am still learning web work, and as I see I need, I often come to see if there is soemthing in here that will help. The different hosts that offer websites for guilds is very helpful I was actually referred to guild portal, as it is similar to a plug and play, and I really like the event and forum sharing feature between allied guilds. I am hoping to include some of the php scripting in our site at some point, but I haven't figured out how to insert code into the freeform /html section there yet (it displays as code). The tools/addons are a great reference too :)

These are mostly more game mods.. few site.. but I borrowed this list from the old eu forums :P credit at bottom.

Introduction

This is a compiled list of the tools, mods and website that many of the guilds find useful in managing thier guild processes.

The tools and mods range from voice of IP software to managing your guild bank, if you have a guild problem you might be able to find a tool or mod that can solve it here.

Please only post mods you find useful in managing your guild examples of mods you should post include guild event management, dkp managment, profiling tools,tools to improve raiding. Post a short desription and a url to were you can download it and I will do my best to keep this list upto date.

Heres what we have so far.

VoIP Communication Software

Teamspeak
http://www.goteamspeak.com/

TeamspeakOverlay Same as VoiceOverlay, but only for Teamspeak; worth trying if VO has problems.
http://www.teamspeakoverlay.com/

These are particularly useful to a guild leader to make sure she gets to know people's voices more quickly.

Ventrilo
http://www.ventrilo.com/

VoiceOverlay Allows you to see who is talking on Ventrilo or Teamspeak in-game.
http://halb.servercamp.de/proggi/VoiceOverlay/features_en.php


Both the Teamspeak and Ventrilo software are professionally developed and fully supported software packages. I believe the client software is free to download however it is illegal to run the server software with out paying a licence fee.
Please be aware of this if you wish to use the software.

Skype Probably not that useful for raid orginisation as its p2p although it does have conference call capabilities but its free and potentially useful.
http://www.skype.com/

DKP Related


DKP Log Parser is a tool to administrate a time based dkp reward system. Can be found here:
http://www.lokorin.com/dkplp/about

EQdkp is a method for recording you guilds dkp:
http://www.eqdkp.com/?p=download

Get DKPWant to check DKP in-game?
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=1545
thanks to Emphera

Incdkp is a mod that lets you see the dkp of players and the dkp cost of items in game amongst other things. Takes a little setting up
I am currently writing a guide for this as well as some helpful tools to make creating your own data files easier so if you have any questions plz post them here.
Can be found here:
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=1854

Nightwatchers DKP GuildtoolsDKP management tool. Manage raids, events, purchases, attendees in WoW.
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=2675

Nurfed DKP is another dkp tracker.
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=1765

SuicideKings is an alternative to the dkp system named after teh guild who created it and can be found here:
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=2335
Discussion of the mod can be found here:
https://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-guildrelations-en&t=138&p=1&tmp=1#post138
A mod tutorial can be found here:
http://www.shadowlords-gorefiend.com/web/mods/SuicideKings.swf?ABCDEFGH


Event Management

GroupCalendar This AddOn allows you to create/schedule/manage future raid instance directly in-game.
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=2718
a discussion of this mod as it compares to Guild Event Manager can be found here:
https://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-guildrelations-en&t=8&p=1&tmp=1#post8

Guild Event Manager I wouldn't wholey recommend it, it can be buggy, but some guilds SWEAR by it
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=1592
thanks to Lonewolf

PhpRaid is a web based raid management system.
You can read about it here:
http://www.spiffyjr.com/
See a demo of it here:
http://raids.wildeyes.net/

Raid Ninja RaidNinja is an event signup and management tool, specifically designed for clans and guilds.
http://www.lemonrage.com/raidninja/

Wow Scheduler Guild site. That has a nifty tool for scheduling guild events.
http://www.wowscheduler.com/

Roster, Bank. Profiling Tools

CharacterProfiler, GuildProfiler, and Roster
Roster extracts data from the CharacterProfiler and GuildProfiler addons for use in a website to display the guild member list, common quests, levels, etc.
http://www.wowroster.net/
http://www.rpgoutfitter.com/

Character Profiler lets you to grab info about you character/s from stats to recipes you know to whats in your bank, so that the info can be used in tools and websites. Can be found here:
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=1444

Guild Profiler is a mod that grabs info from the in-game roster to be used in other tools and on web-sites requires character profiler. Can be found here.
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=1124

Haarmys Bank Report Mod that lets you download the contents of you guild bank and saves the data in a format that can be use with a phpbb powered forum.
http://www.unknown-guild.com/mods/BankReport.zip

Internecion Roster Update Too

Misc

CQuote Allows you to record quotes made by a guildies.
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=1204
Thanks to Runad

CT Raid Assist Pretty much a must have for for doing a big raids. Can be found here:
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=694
all the CT mods can be downloaded here:
http://www.ctmod.net/downloads.ct
thanks to Lonewolf

Guild Greets Allows you to send a greeting to guild members as they come online with the click of a button.
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=2941
Thanks to Runad

GuildOrganizer Improvement on the guild roster UI that allows people to associate each character with thier alts.
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=300
Thanks to Runad

FlageRSP A roleplaying add on. Might be nice for roleplaying guilds.
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=1028

[b]Guilded[b] Allows you to create a 2nd guild channel that allows you the same benefits as the guild channel. Possibly a way of improving multi-guild communications.
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=905
Thanks to Runad

GuildAds allows multiple independant players to create a channel for chatting, exchange object and event organisation.
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=1767

GuildDingDING! Always a funny one :-)
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=518
thanks to Emphera

GuildMap Lets you see other members of your guild that have this mod on the mini-map.
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=1566

GuildStorage "Ressurected"
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=2524
thanks to Emphera

Raid UI Mod for use in raids.
http://www.raidui.com/

Taunt buddy: A great little addon that makes a chat message when a taunt is resistet, super for the Drakes in BWL.
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=2863

Threat Meter: This isnt a perfect mod since the threat count of the attacks is kinda fluid, but it gives a good overview over who is going too far. At the same time it gives good information when you want to do tank switches on a boss (eg. Huhuran). (Everyone you want to be able to see on the list has to have the addon.)
http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=3488

Wow Item Creator Super fun happy tool for creating your own amusing items.
http://wow.blupp.net/index.php

The CT Mod site:
http://www.ctmod.net/downloads.ct

borrowed:
originally posted my Mazzyfenton here: http://forums-en.wow-europe.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-guildrelations-en&t=330&p=1

Thanks, this is all very useful.