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I have to use my first CMS or something like it and im scared mommy

Milfette

Milfette

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 8, 2009
12
0
Canada, igloo street
http://freshandcosalons.com/

Im making this site for a friends client (NEVER GONNA DO THAT AGAIN) so far its been a pain.

Im pretty much done building it...(yes i know there is alot to fix all over the place but i have DW04 and i just got an intel macbook...) He wants to be able to update the front page. I think i should give him access to the services and bio's page too though because he keeps printing off his emails to give to me to type out... :confused:

Ive used a CMS before, in fact i use em alot but im also so lucky as to work in a corporate environment and have always had a handy team of IT guys at the ready. I've used Coldfusion so im familiar with building pages around includes but i had to get someone else install joomla for a mini project at work and even then, i couldn't figure out changing the template.

What is the best dummy proof option to easily transfer this site over? He always wants changes and i gotta start charging him for them and come up with an easier way to manage em... oh and im not new to this, in fact im embarrassed to say how long ive been the "old guy" that fears CMS's....
 
A

Ap0ks

macrumors 6502
Aug 12, 2008
316
93
Cambridge, UK
I'm not sure if cost is an option, but if it is mostly text that the client wants to change themselves, you could get them a copy of Contribute CS4.

You set editable regions in Dreamweaver, set the client up as an contributor and they can then browse to & edit the site in-situ. It's a easy to use system, and makes website content updates a breeze.

http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/contribute/features/?view=topnew

Other than that maybe start playing with Joomla/Drupal/Typo3/etc... see what you can knock up on a test machine. If it's only for a couple of pages you could right your own little back-end in CF but would probably take more hours than you want to spend.
 
TheReef

TheReef

macrumors 68000
Sep 30, 2007
1,888
167
NSW, Australia.
You say your not new to this, and is probably your first thought anyway, but why not just give him access to a server folder, with basic html content files that he can change?
Use whatever include function coldfusion has to get it on the site?
 
J

jamesarm97

macrumors 65816
Sep 29, 2006
1,090
116
Use php and mysql to pull content from a database dynamically. I know that is what Joomla and others do. I did it just to keep the html simple and not have to change all those templates.
 
SrWebDeveloper

SrWebDeveloper

macrumors 68000
Dec 7, 2007
1,871
3
Alexandria, VA, USA
The "Contribute CS4" solution was a great recommendation.

Aside from that, as you know CF and how to code, if you opt to customize your own solution then add FCK Editor as the WYSIWYG editor for editing content on the site. It's free, I've got it working with both CF and PHP on one of our portals, and it's reliable and easily customizable. It allows direct uploading of images, Flash content, and of course edit HTML generating XHTML that helps ensure content passes validation tests if you care.

Just saying that's a lot better than textarea editing, uploading HTML, etc., that's all. This is not a "CMS".

Personally, as to CMS's, I'd use Drupal as compared to Joomla in terms of "ease of use" but the Contribute CS4 suggestion is worth looking into as well.

-jim
 
J

jakeOSX

macrumors regular
Mar 24, 2005
123
31
you could use server side includes, but those are probably out of style these days =)

i've set up a site where i use PHPBB as my CMS. so I have certain forums that show up on the front page or on users pages as news or announcments. it was easier to write than figuring out how to template some of the more advanced ones.

the biggest thing is that no answer is really an easy one. you'll need code or more software or the client will need to learn some HTML.

one suggestion is to look into some of the wiki's out there. media wiki is a beast, but a well built one, but some of the smaller ones are much easier to theme. and then you can set up so your client can change any of the pages.
 
Milfette

Milfette

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 8, 2009
12
0
Canada, igloo street
TheReef said:
Y...but why not just give him access to a server folder, with basic html content files that he can change?
Click to expand...

it was my first thought but he is dumber than a post for anything but hair. whenever i try to explain anything even a simple as the ftp or server he looks at me like im speaking french.

SrWebDeveloper said:
The "Contribute CS4" solution was a great recommendation.

Aside from that, as you know CF and how to code, if you opt to customize your own solution then add FCK Editor as the WYSIWYG editor for editing content on the site.
Click to expand...

wysiwyg, sound perfect actually! i have to get used to the idea that once the site is handed over, i have no control over what he does with it but such is the business, Then again, i could just control text formatting with some CSS. at work i have this one station that makes us format text like this so i now make the templates and let them input everything beyond that.. and that's a NICE page too.

anyway,FCK seems like a winner! Contribute sounds good but this guy is cheap cheap cheap and i don't think he would cover the cost of it for him or myself.
 
SrWebDeveloper

SrWebDeveloper

macrumors 68000
Dec 7, 2007
1,871
3
Alexandria, VA, USA
Milfette said:
anyway,FCK seems like a winner! Contribute sounds good but this guy is cheap cheap cheap and i don't think he would cover the cost of it for him or myself.
Click to expand...

Don't you sometimes just wanna tell the client, to his or her face, "YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!!!" - but of course we can't, most of the time! Anyway, I forgot to include the link to FCK editor so here it is:

http://www.fckeditor.net/download

Cheers

-jim
 
TheReef

TheReef

macrumors 68000
Sep 30, 2007
1,888
167
NSW, Australia.
SrWebDeveloper said:
The "Contribute CS4" solution was a great recommendation.

Aside from that, as you know CF and how to code, if you opt to customize your own solution then add FCK Editor as the WYSIWYG editor for editing content on the site. It's free, I've got it working with both CF and PHP on one of our portals, and it's reliable and easily customizable. It allows direct uploading of images, Flash content, and of course edit HTML generating XHTML that helps ensure content passes validation tests if you care.

Just saying that's a lot better than textarea editing, uploading HTML, etc., that's all. This is not a "CMS".

Personally, as to CMS's, I'd use Drupal as compared to Joomla in terms of "ease of use" but the Contribute CS4 suggestion is worth looking into as well.

-jim
Click to expand...

Glad I came to this thread, the WYSIWYG editor sounds like a really good idea will have to look into one day.
 
design-is

design-is

macrumors 65816
Oct 17, 2007
1,219
1
London / U.K.
Hi there, I know I'm a few days late, but I've recommended it before and I will do again :)

CMS from Scratch is a great, easy to impliment, lightweight cms which has the FCK editor integrated. It sounds perfect for what you need.

I have a small review on my blog.

Hope it helps!

/Doug
 
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