Would you use Sails.js or a JS CMS for a community website with forum and chat?

I want to build a community website with forums and chat using a JavaScript stack using either a capable framework or a CMS. I am not keen on using PHP based frameworks and CMS like WordPress because I don’t know PHP and have already invested significant time in learning JavaScript. I also have to build it quickly.

Another alternative would be to build the core functionalities and use plugins for forums and chat. I have not done any research on plugins so far, but if anyone has experience using JS based plugins please let me know.

Quincy sent this out not long ago, it’s a great tutorial and is one of the coolest websites iv seen.

possibly might help you with the chat side of things, might even be able to bend Chatkit to offer a forum type feel.

Hello CamelCamper,

Thanks for sharing the tutorial, I hadn’t heard of this website before, and it looks useful.

If you know anyone with experience with Sails or Node-based CMS, please refer them to me as I could ask them for guidance. I think I can build the chat part myself using tutorials like above and the documentation, but some guidance will be needed.

Hello @ksimgit.

Keystone.js is an awesome start, and I can promise that from my experience. It is a CMS that uses express.js for routing and the mongoose ODM to communicate with MongoDB. Sails.js is also perfect. But I strongly recommend Keystone if what you need is an already-laid foundation.

Look at Spectrum for a forum?