Is a CMS the best way to approach this?

I'm fairly competent with the front-end side of webdesign, but have never really been exposed to back-end stuff like database driven sites or content management. All the sites I've worked on have been purely static content.

I now have the opportunity to develop a real estate site, which is going to need a degree of functionality. The client will need to be able to add, edit, and remove property listings on the website in as simple a manner as possible (a password protected web based editing system would be ideal), and this will need to be searchable by site visitors.

I have absolutely no idea how to proceed, I've heard good things about CMS but I'm not totally clear on the concept of it.

I have a basic grasp of programming concepts also, so I'd hope to be able to pick this up once I know where to get started.

If anyone could advise me on what technologies I should be investigating for this project, I'd be very grateful.

This seems like the perfect opportunity to expand my skillset so that turning down work because it's 'too technical' will be a thing of the past.

Thanks very much for any suggestions.

 

Look into wordpress! In my opinion it is the most user friendly CMS out right now! If you have a good understanding of XHTML and CSS then the sky is the limit! You only need to know a bit of php! It will be very intimidating at first but i assure you it is not as bad as it starts out to be and it will benefit you greatly. They have templates to pull into wordpress but you want to stear away from them because they look to much like a Blog or what not! Take a look at wp.srgcorp.net this is a simple design i am working on at the moment and the design is pulled into Wordpress! Now everything is editable from the web based Admin panel!

 

Wordpress is great to start with. I think Joomla is the most powerful CMS out there. I tried drupal but found it very slow for a simple site. Mambo is pretty good too.

IMHO Joomla is #1

With any CMS, just make sure it is installed securely.

 

You can use joomla, it has several extensions for real estate.

 

Thank you all very much for the suggestions.

A pre-made realestate extension sounds promising - I'm checking them out now on the joomla site.

As far as installing it securely, should the CMS come with instructions on that? I'm not very familiar with web servers beyond the basics.

Thanks again.

 

Hi, just to offer an opinion, I think CMS Made Simple is very useful. I am currently learning it and trying to put a charity site up for a location in Kentucky. The modules seem endless!

As for Joomla, here's a semi angry post I made about my attempts with their code along with Simple Machines.

Joomla and SM HATE

 

You can find the tutorial in help.joomla.org or search it, there are lot of tutorials how to install joomla.

 

Hi, yeah If there isn't a support forum and instructions with the code, I wouldn't waste any time. Especially if you are doubting your success.

 

Thanks again for the links & info.

The most promising one I've found so far is called EZ realty. Seems like it has the power to do just about everything I want, & also supposedly has fantastic support. I just hope customizing the look & style isn't going to be too complex.

One more question - is a template and an extension the same thing?

Thanks again.

 

They aren't the same thing, template controls the overall look and layout of the site, extension is add-on of core joomla cms. You can read more at joomla faq