Need ideas for CMS integration

[joecool85]

I'm working on a site that will have 30 or so static pages. On 6 of these, there needs to be sections that are editable by way of CMS. I've thought of a handful of different ways to do it, but none that meet all my needs.

- It needs to be able to upload pictures
- It needs to be able to be integrated into an existing site structure (via php include or whatever)
- It needs to be able to be run by a "normal" person - ie not a programmer

I can't figure out a good way to do it other than to code something myself...which I'm not really excited about. For instance, one of the pages will have a table with 10 cells that need updating, but I don't want the end user to mess up the table itself, only just able to edit the content in it. The other pages could be set up more loosely or they could be set up with just "change the pic here" box and "change your text here" box type deal.

Anyone have a good solution for me?

 

[lucidmedia]

Do you need a CMS for data flow, or do you just need the ability for end-users to update the pages in controlled way?

If so, I am not a huge fan of the software... but how about Adobe Contribute?

 

[joecool85]

Do you need a CMS for data flow, or do you just need the ability for end-users to update the pages in controlled way?

If so, I am not a huge fan of the software... but how about Adobe Contribute?

I will check into adobe contribute. The issue is that I need an integration where a non tech savvy end user can update a table on one page and a few pictures and descriptions on several other pages. They don't need (and shouldn't have) control over styling or design of the page as I'm worried they might break the site lol.

I'm thinking about maybe using wordpress to make pages, then use a php include to use that page data somewhere on my new site...or maybe an iframe if I can't get it to work right with an include.

Are there any free versions of contribute? Maybe something open source?

 

[design-is]

Hi Joecool

It sounds like you might be interested in CMS from Scratch. I've used it many times in the past, and whilst it's not the most advanced piece of kit, this makes it simple enough for designers (without much code knowledge) to implement. It also means that 'normal' people will be able to handle the system to update their site without much more than a short demo.

I wrote a short post on it a while ago on my blog if you want to check it out...

I will say however, that if you do try it, use version 1.2.1 rather than the more recent 1.9+ versions as they require a lot more effort to get going smoothly.

/Doug

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

Great advice so far.

If you find those tools too simplistic, advance to Drupal, a fantastic open source freeware CMS with outstanding themes and module (plugin) support. You set it up the way you want, assign a user to a role called "content manager" or something and restrict them to only posting stories which might be simple HTML or text. Install the free FCK Editor module if you want to give them more power for HTML creation, but still restrict them from changing your layout and removing things, etc. You'll spend a little more time to tweak the setup and roles, but for them - they simply login, go to admin, create content in the proper area (you'll train them on that), and save. The rest Drupal will do automatically.

Obviously I'm a fan of the product, but I will concede this is not as easy to setup and learn as the other solitions mentioned, but certainly offers all the power and controls you asked for plus some great tools and add-ons you can explore.

-jim

 

[joecool85]

Wow, great help as always guys!

It looks like we're going to be going with Adobe Contribute since we already use Dreamweaver for development, and they go so well together. I do think I may try Drupal out for one of my other projects though.

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

Wow, great help as always guys!

It looks like we're going to be going with Adobe Contribute since we already use Dreamweaver for development, and they go so well together. I do think I may try Drupal out for one of my other projects though.

Makes perfect sense, that's cool. Enjoy!