Writing a CMS

[7031]

Hey guys. I was just wondering if any of you know of some tutorials to get my started with PHP, and maybe working on my own CMS in the future.

I know a lot of HTML and CSS, and I often use Wordpress and SMF, so I was wondering if you could give me some good tutorials.

Thanks,
Joel Nichols.

 

[notnek]

check out http://www.tizag.com/phpT/ for a nice tutorial on understanding and using PHP.

then there's always good ole php.net

 

[MrSmith]

I used Build your own Database Driven Website using PHP & MySQL. I knew nothing at all about php when I started it. It teaches you how to make a CMS from scratch. You can download a few chapters for free before you buy. I recommend it.

 

[MojoWill]

a good way of starting is by downloading a framework system like

http://www.silverstripe.com/

or

http://modxcms.com/

you can use what you like or simply hack the code as they are open source as long as you credit!

 

[Definity]

A CMS is a huge system to undertake. If you have users take up the system, if you sell it or give it away, expect to be tied down to it, and have your users expect updates and swift bug fixes.

Personally, I'd suggest not reinventing the wheel.

 

[7031]

a good way of starting is by downloading a framework system like

http://www.silverstripe.com/

or

http://modxcms.com/

you can use what you like or simply hack the code as they are open source as long as you credit!

Thanks for that! I'll have a look at it and see what I can make out of it.

@Definity: While this may be true, I'm mostly trying to improve with my PHP skills, and no, I do not expect to create Wordpress in a matter of minutes, but in some cases I have worked on websites that no CMS/plugin is capable of running, due to the unique functionality.

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

It's cool and awesome you're improving your PHP skills - a CMS has it all, including session, database, plugin/module, file manager, editor, layout controls and so forth - great way to learn.

But, take what others said here very seriously. I'm going to expand on previous comments a bit. Learning from a popular and well written framework teaches you good habits as well as saving you valuable time. Beyond learning, or for the fun of it, in real work projects if you've determined there is more work in conversion of legacy code/content than the entire CMS framework, so be it, but be diligent during the research and be sure. I've found that most of the time it's more time and resource efficient to adapt legacy apps/pages - it might involve extracting key data to XML or database formats used by the CMS, and careful testing of revised code. But the goal is to not solely to support legacy stuff, but also to ensure the entire site (front and back end) is scalable and supports modern standards. The client uses the CMS, so it's crucial to this goal.

On smaller projects this isn't so important, but since you mentioned you're learning, thought I'd take a moment to mention this in context of "been there, done that". My personal .02, of course.

-jim

 

[ChrisA]

It's cool and awesome you're improving your PHP skills - a CMS has it all, including session, database, plugin/module, file manager, editor, layout controls and so forth - great way to learn.

That's right. What I'd do, rather then reinventing the wheel join an Open Source project. Every project could use help. You can learn a lot by fixing bugs and adding new features.

 

[Definity]

Very true, we're always here to help. 🙂

 

[cmuench]

Perhaps I could shed some light on your path. I was once a developer just getting my feet wet in php/mysql. I figured the best way to learn was to create my own CMS. so I went all out and created my own open source project on sourceforge.net.

I did about 4 or 5 releases before using wordpress and joomla for another site. Then it hit me that I would never ever be able to match that. One person can't keep up with thousands. Anyway in the end it worked out. Now I just use my CMS code on little sites that just want a admin part to change content and dynamic menu generation. I also had a newsletter,news,rss,polls, banner rotation, however that was just the tip of the iceburg of modules that wordpress and joomla have.

Anyway this is not to depress you but so that other people can learn from me 🙂

 

[7031]

Perhaps I could shed some light on your path. I was once a developer just getting my feet wet in php/mysql. I figured the best way to learn was to create my own CMS. so I went all out and created my own open source project on sourceforge.net.

I did about 4 or 5 releases before using wordpress and joomla for another site. Then it hit me that I would never ever be able to match that. One person can't keep up with thousands. Anyway in the end it worked out. Now I just use my CMS code on little sites that just want a admin part to change content and dynamic menu generation. I also had a newsletter,news,rss,polls, banner rotation, however that was just the tip of the iceburg of modules that wordpress and joomla have.

Anyway this is not to depress you but so that other people can learn from me 🙂

Thanks for the response. Like I said though, the reason for me doing this is because i want to learn some PHP, since it's really not a strong point for me right now, I know a bit of HTML and CSS, but no real server side code.