Suggest a theme for membership?

[Donna Parkin]

I am looking for some lead-up information on StudioPress themes as I try to decide whether or not to take on a new project. Just wondering if there is a particular StudioPress theme that lends itself to the requirements that I will describe below.

Note that I have only worked on one other website project, a few years back, and I was so thrilled that I found StudioPress at that time. It was a great experience and the project went very well. There was minimum customization (using the Church theme). The website could be described as a news update type of site with only 2 plug-ins, one for Google Calendar and the other for pod casting.

This new project for a professional association would involve: 1) maintaining a list of members and search capabilities from that membership database. 2) The client would like a distinct member area separate from a visitor area. 3) As well they want to start using social media (facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc) which I believe is a standard for StudioPress themes. And finally, 4) Sponsorship capabilities are also desired which I believe is a basic part of any StudioPress theme.

I should also mention these two details that are important to this client:
During a public search of their member directory, 1) certain members should appear "highlighted" based upon a database attribute, and more importantly 2) a search for a member in a particular city/town would return a list of members in that particular city/town AND surrounding areas.

Any thoughts on this, considering I have not had any database maintenance experience in a website environment?

I don't want to get in over my head. The client fully understands my reservations but would like to work with me because of a trust relationship based in other areas.

Thanks in advance folks.
Donna

[Brad Dalton]

You could use any SP theme with a membership plugin like S2 member however the features you want would need to be added using a plugin or code.

You would need to find in a plugin or code which generates these features:

1) certain members should appear “highlighted” based upon a database attribute, and more importantly

2) a search for a member in a particular city/town would return a list of members in that particular city/town AND surrounding areas.

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Tutorials for StudioPress Themes.

[Donna Parkin]

Thank you Brad for giving this direction.

I realize now that I should have done a little research myself before opening a post here. The SP demos do describe adequately that Genesis = engine, Child Themes = skins, and as you confirmed, specialized functionality comes from plugins.

There are a number of posts in the forum here relating to membership plugins, and S2 member does seem popular. One post that gave me a little concern mentioned that integrating membership plugins can become quite complex and as such outsourcing that particular requirement might be advisable.

I will go ahead and do more digging! But thank you again for replying, much appreciated.

Donna

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