Customer Reviews

Community Server Quickly: A Concise and Practical Guide to Installation, Administration, and Customization

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I can't believe they are charging almost $40 for this book.
Imagine a 'quick start' guide that comes with most software - this is an even more basic version.
Examples: it explains 'photo gallery' by stating that in the old days people use albums (in at least two section of the book). There are pages explaining what blogs, forums are. The 'real' meat of the book is just showing screens and telling you what to click.
It is so basic, the title is misleading. For instance, it assumes the users knows how to install IIS, SQLServer etc - but then treats the reader like newbies to computers when explaining the community server or using typical windows install.
I suggest all potential buyers, to browse through it in a book shop first, before ordering. I still can't believe the publisher approved this.
No offense, but the author is doing a college book tour - I think most college students will find this book an insult to their intelligence.

I got this when there was no other book on CS out there and the docs from CS were wrong/missleading/incoeherent, now there are plenty (WROX); at the time of release this book was the only source of information to get the damn thing working. Now that CS have read this book that have improved their supplied docs!

This is a quick guide to getting CS1.1 up and running, we are on cs2007 now.
It is a thin book which is good as it is really the book that should come with the software. So if you are to impliment CS in a week by a client this is the one to skim thru. If your client wants its customized (since all CS sites look the same) you will need the WROX books and a copy of VS2005.
CS offers a very rich and very scalable (web farm) platform for deliving forums and blogs with other associated community features. Has an excellent Admin/CMS system, and is the platform of choice my many bloggers at microsoft.
Think of this book at 'CS in 5 days' then its ok.
The more detailed WROX book is 3 times as thick as this one, where as the WORX styling book (use the CD Custom controls to make a CS site unique from all the rest) is the same thinkness.

The Community Server platform is an out-of-the-box server software product that makes it possible to create online communities quickly.
The book, Community Server Quickly, helps the system administrator or webmaster that is new to this product, to get a quick start. It must be noted that the book focuses on the 2.1 version of the server. The 3.0 version is at the moment of this review in beta 2, and the book features a small chapter on this release.
The first section is a good introduction to what community server is. It presents the five main functionalities: Blog, forums, photo galleries, file galleries and reader/roller.
Next it explains in detail how to install the server followed by a very detailed description of the five functionalities. I don't think there is a feature in Community Server that isn't described in this book.
The next three chapters is about the administration of users and customizing and setting up the server. This is all described in relation to what the out of-the-box product is capable of.
Last the book goes into the more advanced features of Community Server as reporting, ads, spam blocker, URL redirects etc. This is not need-to-know knowledge for everyone that works with the server, but shows that this book describes what Community Server can do from A to Z.
I think it is a good book for new admins and developers that need an overview of what features the product contains. If you have already worked a lot with Community Server and wants to develop against it, this is not the book for you. Overall its a well-written book for webmasters or non-technical people that want insight in the wonders of CS.

The Community Server by Telligent System is a suite of applications for running an online community. It includes a blog, a forum, and photo and file sharing galleries. This book by Anand Narayanaswamy will help you install, customize, license and administer your very own online community with Community Server Express Edition. The author walks you through everything you need to do to get up and running.

He begins by helping you choose the version of Community Server that is best for your needs. Then he walks you through downloading and installing the application on your development machine. He explains the control panel and how to set up the program's options.

Next, you work on the Community Server's blog application. Narayanaswamy covers how to set up a sample blog. You will learn how to register and manage users to the blog and how to perform other administrative tasks. A discussion forum is one way to keep visitors returning to your community site. The author shows you how to start up a sample forum, how to set up multiple forum groups and how to manage the forum on a daily basis. Next, he does the same by showing you how to set up and manage the sample photo and file sharing applications. Finally, he helps you work with RSS to track content from other blogs.

Now that you have your Community Server site set up, the author walks you through the general management tasks such as registering and managing members, password protection, cookie settings, and working with member profiles and avatars. He also covers IP tracking, email setup and other administrative duties. Next he shows you how to work with blog and forum activity reports, how to manage your license, how to set up and maintain word filters and spam blockers. He also shows you how to set up RSS to get the word out about your new community site.

Community Server is a theme and modular based suite of applications. Narayanaswamy helps you customize your community site by changing the look and feel of the themes and customizing the modules to meet your specific needs. Finally, you are ready to find a server and go interact with your community.

Anand Narayanaswamy is an independent consultant and runs NetAns Technologies. He is also a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional in Visual C#. He has worked as a Technical Editor for several publishers.

I just received this book and have skimmed through the entire thing. I have come to view it as the missing owners manual, the book the application should have come with. It is an excellent book at documenting all the features of CS and what you can do with it out of the box with nearly zero coding.

The one downside to the book is that it does not get into anything beyond the options available though the web interfaces. This means no tips on how to script features, or how to customize the code to do various things. It does show how to install the app, and how to install a custom add-on. But beyond that this is basically a documentation of the features available via the web. This lack of more technical insight is why I give it 4 stars.

This is a great book, but don't expect it to solve all your customization issues.

This book covers all of the basic functionality of the Community Server product from Telligent. Chapter 1 gives you a background of the product. Chapter 2 tells you what is required to use the product and how to get a copy of it. The rest of the chapters dive into the detail on the individual features of Community Server, like blogging, forums, RSS feeds, user management and more.

The author of the book was very diligent to capture every and explain the many configuration options for Community Server. This makes the book a worthwhile purchase for anyone who wants to implement Community Server.

It's a pretty thorough manual for most of the functionality within CS which is itself very poorly documented but I was very disappointed in the chapter on "customizing community server". I guess a developer isn't the intended audience for this book but I imagine it would be helpful for someone who doesn't want to dig into CS too much and just wants to use it or administer it.

Overall this is a great Community Server introductory and admin book. There is very little here for developers or for customization. There are few areas where I thought the book could have gone a little deeper but overalll I liked this book.

If you are a Community Server site admin, owner or even a user then this is the book for you!

Written in very easy to understand sections that covers everything from the installation and hosting all the way to using and customizing your Community Server site, includes many screen shots, tips and warnings along the way.

This book will get you up to speed fast with Community Server and answer almost any question and is written in a non technical manner that everyone will be able to understand and will make Community Server much more accessible.

For the sake of full disclosure, I was given a copy of this book by the publisher Packt and have a professional relationship with Telligent Systems. With that out of the way, Anand Narayanaswamy created a very comprehensive manual for new Community Server site administrators and those considering Community Server as their online community building platform. I was very impressed with the thoroughness of the content and the accessibility of important points within each subject area.

The book has only @280 pages and is loaded with screen excerpts to clarify topics. I was able to start and finish Anand's book during a single session on a nordic track ski machine. It was a long exercise session, but even if read while in a stationary position, you'll find this book to be a very quick read. Thus the appropriate title, Community Server Quickly.

For those new to Community Server administration, those considering Community Server to build an online community, or those who want a quick overview of most of Community Server's features to compare with other online community-building packages, this book is a valuable resource.