CMS: what can it do for you?

Hello, maybe I should have asked this question earlier on, before looking into CMSs, anyway, to you experienced CMS users:

Why would I want to use CMS?
What are the benefits?
Why did you start using it (apart from the obvious reason of saving time)?
To whom is it really worth getting to grips with CMS?

I know it's easy to master for some, I just want to make sure I am not going to get a headache for nothing!

Thank you...

 

Easier to manage articles, less headache after you set it up and customize it.

Easier to add content, usually takes alot less space then html equivalent.

Learn PHP and mySql then write your own . There are alot of guides out there you can use to learn the basics, then you can add your own improvement.s

 

i never used any of ready made cms's mambo/phpnuke etc etc

i find them to have features that i dont need or features lacking, also companies dont like their sites to look like a cheap off-the shelf component

i always sit down with client, find out evrything they want, i dont get coding untill everything is taught out and the client signs the feature sheet, theres nothing worse than going back and redesigning the database when ur almost complete

 

Hi,

After years of thinking I know better, I've recently started transferring some sites over to Mambo. I've resisted CMS before on the grounds that they do far too much for you and all look the same. Another thing that always put me off was thinking that I could have written a complete site in the time it would take me to actually learn how to use the CMS properly.

But if you get to grips with the templating then it can look however you want it to - something I've not delved too far into as yet. Plus, every time I think of something that I'd like to add in - I only have to go and look and someone has already written a component.

Plus I spend 40 hours a week doing web development for someone else, it's nice to be able to concentrate on the actual content of a site when I get home. I did start to write a CMS that would suit me, but I decided to use what's out there and if there's something I need that isn't there I can code it and actually contribute back for once

We've even in the process of porting one shopping site over to Mambo with the phpshop module.


Cheers

Chris

 

Thank you guys!

Saintdw: I am not ready to learn php and mysql in depth to be able to do my own, but thanks for the suggestion, maybe in a few months...

Cornelius: I perfectly understand your point, doing work for someone else is another matter and it makes sense to avoid CMS.

Blackbug: That's the point, is it worth investing time learning how to use CMS? It depends a lot on what sort of sites we are looking at.

Any other opinions?

Thank you...

 

hmmm

i start of with pen and paper draw the tables (yes i know theres software out there, but doesnt beat the good old pen
then event lists, ER diagrams, break down relations, normalise tables (i would recommend navicat, phpmyadmin is just too slow)
once i have the backend done i move onto the logic layer, continually testing with any input i can throw at the system
then make a templates using php Smarty and a friend whos a graphic designer does the graphics

once u have one done most of the code can be reused over and over gradually improving on each module

but yes mambo is an excellent CMS, theres no arguing from me there, but it doesnt beat the hours spend trying to figure out some obscure php problem and experience gained by doing evrything urself

 

That's a very good question. For me it was definitely worth learning (and still am learning, much to learn!). But I would not feel happy using one if I didn't have a grasp of the mechanics of a web site and what is going on behind the scenes. I'm often fascinated to find ways round problems and solutions for others in a CMS that do something in a way I never thought of.

And you're right, it does depend of what sort of site you're looking at. For a starter, something along the lines of a WYSIWYG editor like Front page or Dreamweaver might be a damn site more appropriate. Or even Nvu (http://www.nvu.com/). I've not tried it yet, but it's free and looks promising and has the Mozilla heritage behind it.


Cheers

Chris

 

Ok, so I'm trying Xoops.

It's nice, not that difficult to install, although my first impression is that it makes building a portal easily.

Is that the idea?

A portal with some added features that blend in well with each other?

Or are other CMSs a lot different?

thanks...

 

A CMS is good for those who can't or don't want to code their own websites. If you just want a quick website set up there are many CMS systems out there that will do the job well. If you want your website to be unique then your going to have to code it yourself. It all depends what you want.

 

Not necessarily, they usually have templates and such, I mean, look at csszengarden, their themes are totally off the wall different, but that's only from changing CSS. So, it can be totally unique. The only part that will be the same is the part that the admin will see when they login to create/edit content.

If you are designing a website for someone else that doesn't know css, html, php, perl, then giving them a way to edit their pages in a simple, sometimes even wysiwyg, manner is worth it. So they don't come back to you every 10 minutes asking for things to be changed.

Or, if you just suck at design like me, you can take a template and make simple modifications to it, like colors and logos and such.

But if it's just for you and you like using vim on a server or something, or you really want to get crazy creative, then it might be worth it to just do your own thing.

(One problem I have with my CMS, is that the meta tags are defined in the template, so they don't change for each page... I guess I'll have to figure out how to do that. Had to do it with the titles of pages as well, for dynamically generated pages.. sucks, I need a good php programmer to redo some stuff.. heh.. *rambles*)

 

I see you point. You can get a much differnt look to the site, but if you have been browsing the web a while you can still tell when a website is based off a CMS. There is always the same basic structure to it, and ofcourse the copyright notice of the CMS name. In my opinion coding something yourself is a more professional (is that the word im looking for?) thing to do. But then again this isnt always possible.

 

meta tags shouldn't be a problem, if you can deactivate the automated generator, I would do that and do without them.
They are close to useless and sometimes it's better to ignore that tag.
That's all from my personal SEO point of view.

Thanks to everybody.

 

I have been using Xoops, because the learning curve was a bit much with others like the nukes etc.

As far as learning php and MySQL and writing your own CMS, that was also a bit much for me right now.
--I am slowly learning php now by impletmenting mods and hacks others share with the community. By diving into the php files and looking for where to change, I am also starting to understand a little bit why things work the way they do. I have also started customizing some of the modules for xoops to fit my preference (nothing major, just cutting some of the extra info from showing, or making other info show). Plus I am starting to figure out the templates and css which are amazingly easy plug in and change the site in seconds, or customize in minutes (for me anyway )

As far as making the site more search engine optimized. There are a few suggestions about how to change a couple lines of php to get the page to render different fields etc.
Check out http://www.xoops.org/modules/smartfaq/faq.php?faqid=362 For some of the suggestions. I don't know...but maybe some of these suggestions could be used or modified to be used in other CMS's??

And finally, as far as looking like a million other CMS sites. If you get into the templates (which usually consist of about 6 files or so...a main html, the css, graphics folder, and sometimes the 3 columns' html files) you can change it to almost anything you want. The nice part is that you only have to upload "theme" to your directory and go into your admin section and choose that theme...bang...your whole site has changed over.
Check out this Xoops based site... I was impressed with how professional and different it looked...http://www.fantasyfootball.com/

by the way- I am not affiliated with either of these sites, except that I use Xoops for a CMS on one of my sites.


Later,
Rob

 

WOW, that's a very precious post for me!

I've got to thank you for all that info and those tips.

Thank you Rob!

 

No Prob.

It is amazing how much info is hiding at xoops.org. Sometimes you have to really look for it...but when you find it, it usually is pretty good stuff. The forums are very supportive also, but they get a little touchy when the same questions are asked over and over, so do a quick search first...you'll probably find your question already answered a few times. Plus if you have something specific you want done, and it hasn't been done before, you can usually find a few people there that will do some custom work for a fee. Or sometimes a few suggestions will peak the interest of some xoopsers and a project may take off and your suggestion may later become impletmented or done and offered in the module repository.


Later,
Rob

 

I've been involved in developing web based CMS for the last 8 years (I just finished developing one for our last client http://www.macm.org/). I just wanted to add to the discussion that selecting the right CMS is really dependant on the business processes involved in building / maintenance / evolving the web site. CMS is a very vague label today, encompassing any software involved in publishing content to a web site. The universal CMS platform doesn't exist yet and they all require a fair amount of configuration, development and template programming for creating a web that doesn't look out of the box.

there's hundreds of CMS on the market, either open source and commercial. You should analyse your needs and determine your selection criteria before making your choice. http://www.cmsmatrix.org is a good place to start for making your selection. They have a search engine that let you search by functionality. There's also http://www.opensourcecms.com/ were you can test drive many open source CMS system.

 

Why would I want to use CMS?
ANS: I think CMS is best platform to customise easily by everyone include those who don't know about programming. That's why you should use this.

What are the benefits?
ANS: Easy customization, easily update, edit, insert, and delete page content and website design

Why did you start using it (apart from the obvious reason of saving time)?
ANS: I can pass my time by using it. I can earn money through without going anywhere.

To whom is it really worth getting to grips with CMS?
ANS: Wordpress is really worthable CMS solution.