Can I do this, and if so... how?

I assume I will need Joomla 1.6 to get the various user levels I wish; but will that and CB be all I need?

I'm looking to create a community site to allow 3 types of people to interact with each other. I'll call the groups (a) "Customers", (b) "Retailers", and (c) "Wholesalers" (though this is inaccurate, it is close enough to present a basic idea of what I want to accomplish).

There's a lot I wish to accomplish, so please bear with me, I'll try not to get sidetracked or be confusing as I describe the desired site.

The main point of the site is to let the wholesalers advertise their products and services to the retailer, and the retailers to advertise their products and services to the customer. In turn, the customers can rate and review retailers, and the retailers can rate and review wholesalers.

So, I would like three distinct types of user profiles. Customers have minimal profiles, not much more than Joomla standard. Retailers get customizable profiles; allowing them an avatar (company logo), and an image gallery, about me blurb, link to an external website, etc. I'd like it if each retailer could customize the theme of their profile, so that whoever browses it sees what that retailer selected (as far as colors, fonts, etc.) The wholesaler profile is similar, but more limited - no image galleries needed, and no need to customize the appearance of the profile. Also, an integrated rating system (like 0-5 stars or something) so that customers (only) can rate retailers, and retailers (only) can rate wholesalers.

Next, I would like to allow a classified ads system - I've thought about just using a forum, and would be okay with it, but it would obviously look more professional if it was designed to be a classified ad page instead of a forum category. Customers can only see retailer's ads, retailers can see each others' ads as well as the wholesaler's ads, and wholesalers can see each others' ads as well as the retailers' ads. I'd like them to pay per each ad they post, and to give a discount to just bump an existing ad to the top of the list, instead of posting a new ad.

I'd also like a reviews section, where customers can write reviews of retailers, and retailers can write reviews on wholesalers. I'd like to have the last 5 or 10 or N reviews to be linked to at the bottom of a retailer's or wholesaler's profile page, and the profile page to be linked to from each review - making it easy to cross reference and see the details of the retailer (or wholesaler) at a glance, and then jump back and read the details of the reviews.

And finally, I would like to have a forums with a general category (everyone can read/write), and a category for each member type (customers only, retailers only, and wholesalers only).

That just about covers it, there's a lot more I want, but it is the more standard stuff, such as allowing blogs, having generic Joomla article pages and sections, etc.

So, what all do I need, aside from J! 1.6 and CB to make this site work?

Thanks!

2 and a half weeks and not a single reply, really...?

kargrafx wrote: 2 and a half weeks and not a single reply, really...?

Sorry, we focus on support areas of advanced membership and sometimes things slip through.

Sometimes community members help each other and sometimes not.

In your specific case you are asking many "how would I do this" use case questions which are borderline consulting feedback related and I guess not many community members can help.

Addressing your inquiries in next post ...

kargrafx wrote: I assume I will need Joomla 1.6 to get the various user levels I wish; but will that and CB be all I need?

In theory you would think that CB and Joomla 1.6.0 (or 1.6.1 just released - still has bugs) would be enough to get the granularity you wish. However, this is not the case since CB does not yet take full advantage of the ACL levels present in J16.

I'm looking to create a community site to allow 3 types of people to interact with each other. I'll call the groups (a) "Customers", (b) "Retailers", and (c) "Wholesalers" (though this is inaccurate, it is close enough to present a basic idea of what I want to accomplish).

Sounds more like a e-commerce site.
You can do this with CB1.4 and CBSubs 1.1.2 on a Joomla 1.5.22 website.

There's a lot I wish to accomplish, so please bear with me, I'll try not to get sidetracked or be confusing as I describe the desired site.

The main point of the site is to let the wholesalers advertise their products and services to the retailer, and the retailers to advertise their products and services to the customer. In turn, the customers can rate and review retailers, and the retailers can rate and review wholesalers.

So, I would like three distinct types of user profiles. Customers have minimal profiles, not much more than Joomla standard. Retailers get customizable profiles; allowing them an avatar (company logo), and an image gallery, about me blurb, link to an external website, etc. I'd like it if each retailer could customize the theme of their profile, so that whoever browses it sees what that retailer selected (as far as colors, fonts, etc.) The wholesaler profile is similar, but more limited - no image galleries needed, and no need to customize the appearance of the profile. Also, an integrated rating system (like 0-5 stars or something) so that customers (only) can rate retailers, and retailers (only) can rate wholesalers.

CBSubs allows you to specify which and what CB fields (avatar, etc) and tabs each CBSubs plan subscriber gets and can see on his own profile or on other profiles. The level of flexibility is very good and you can most likely do everything you mentioned.
Theme customization would need extra plugins (I believe there is a template chooser available in incubator projects - not sure if it will give you what you want though).

Advanced members have access to rating field type which allows you to add rating fields to profiles.

Next, I would like to allow a classified ads system - I've thought about just using a forum, and would be okay with it, but it would obviously look more professional if it was designed to be a classified ad page instead of a forum category. Customers can only see retailer's ads, retailers can see each others' ads as well as the wholesaler's ads, and wholesalers can see each others' ads as well as the retailers' ads. I'd like them to pay per each ad they post, and to give a discount to just bump an existing ad to the top of the list, instead of posting a new ad.

You would need extra extensions to do this as CB is not a classiied ads system. Also CBSubs does not support pay per post concept - it is more of a subscriptions system.

I'd also like a reviews section, where customers can write reviews of retailers, and retailers can write reviews on wholesalers. I'd like to have the last 5 or 10 or N reviews to be linked to at the bottom of a retailer's or wholesaler's profile page, and the profile page to be linked to from each review - making it easy to cross reference and see the details of the retailer (or wholesaler) at a glance, and then jump back and read the details of the reviews.

You might also need to find a review system - perhaps the built in review of mostrees or SOBI could help you?

And finally, I would like to have a forums with a general category (everyone can read/write), and a category for each member type (customers only, retailers only, and wholesalers only).

CBSubs URL parts integration can be used to create protected forum areas in Kunena (since Kunena currently does not have group forums) - see our professional and advanced forum categories above - you are allowed to read posts but if you try to post a reply or start a new thread you will be instructed to subscribe to plan (this is done by CBSubs).

That just about covers it, there's a lot more I want, but it is the more standard stuff, such as allowing blogs, having generic Joomla article pages and sections, etc.

So, what all do I need, aside from J! 1.6 and CB to make this site work?

Thanks!

Hopefully the above mini-consultancy analysis has helped you better understand some options you have - there are most likely more that I am not aware of.

I think this has helped me, and guided me to what I need to look at; I thought it more 'pre-sales' than 'consulting' . . . but you don't have a pre-sales forum on the site!

kargrafx wrote: I think this has helped me, and guided me to what I need to look at; I thought it more 'pre-sales' than 'consulting' . . . but you don't have a pre-sales forum on the site!

We do have a presales area for CBSubs.

We also have consultancy services.