content management [i think] newbie questions?

[bugman]

okay, i might have a web job that will kill my foodstamps for a month

problem is, i hand-code, and the client wants stuff to be updatable from their office

after conferring re the data to be updated, i agree, and it's not the kind of one-line stuff i usually will do in <pre> tags for other clients

so, firstly, is this what is known as content management?

secondly, the names i hear most often are joomla and drupal and ?

anyone use them, anyone like them, anyone know what i need to know going in?

it's a big, official site, not interested in anything too 'bloggy'

thanks for any help, gonna go use the google

[Lobster]

It is content management.
To tweak you may need to use PHP or just the defaults . . .

Perhaps the 'simple' system used by the Puppy News Site
is simpler than Drupal.
We did waste 6 to 12 months on developing a Drupal site
and then it got too complex to maintain/the main developer disappeared . . .

Puppy News
http://puppylinuxnews.org/

Content Management System used
http://www.snewscms.com/

[bugman]

To tweak you may need to use PHP or just the defaults . . . We did waste 6 to 12 months on developing a Drupal site
and then it got too complex to maintain/the main developer disappeared . . .

this "good" to hear, my brief research has uncovered other such stories

php not a problem, wrote a slideshow script w/ back, next, & thumbnails in a couple hundred bytes the other day, getting better all the time

i've realized i should just download/install both and simply play with them

i am so sloppy at learning that i model the untechnical brilliantly

i've got to download the existing site first, the previous webmaster will delete it when she finds out, this from previous experience with her - the sort of person that charges $100 a month to maintain a godaddy account

interesting that so many government sites use drupal though - this is a government site - though i note that most people who contract for the government tend to, um, charge excessively?

not me though, which means it'll be an uphill battle to get the damn job . . .

[aragon]

bugman,

you might also want to have a look at typo3...

aragon

[bugman]

thanks!

i have to say though, i think with this i'm gonna have to go the moron route

which means godaddy and pre-installed software - my experiences with godaddy indicate that even getting php to run the same way twice is like sucking eggs through straws [is that the right metaphor?]

i know these people, i know how they think, and i have enough problems as it is without getting experimental on their asses

the old site, as it turns out, already has a bunch of wordpress pages set up; if it's easier to not re-invent the wheel [or re-educate the bureaucrats] then i might wind up doing the whole thing in that

[shudder]

another day, another cms, another download, another self-criticism session . . .

[GustavoYz]

Joomla is really easy to install, manage, edit and has a lot of extensions.
The thing is that it could give a 'bloggy' impression sometimes...
(usually when the administrator is lazy).
Judge it by yourself: http://www.joomlabased.com/

[bugman]

The thing is that it could give a 'bloggy' impression sometimes...

thanks for the link

funny, the wordpress stuff at the site they have now is not as bloggy as i thought, even though the admin is thoroughly lazy

assuming i can get the links where they belong [hate right hand links] i think i'm gonna stay with easy - easy for them [matters not to me]

now if i can only remember how to set up mysql [why do i need mysql to host text docs again? ]

[sc0ttman]

Purely for comparison purposes, here my CMS: http://scottjarvis.com/page2.htm

The above link is a page describing the features of my CMS, served up by my CMS - I like dogfooding

I know the comparison table linked to is out of date now, and just plain incorrect!

And here's some videos of how to use it: http://scottjarvis.com/page86.htm
(the video on payment forms system is good IMHO)

Please note, I'm not trying to sell anything to you!! Just though it would be a nice opportunity to share my work with nice people who could give me some feedback - as I never (much) used Joomla, Mambo, Drupal, Wordpress, etc... Only 2 mins of each!

EDIT: Just noticed there's 2 threads! oops..

[L18L]

Hi bugman,

you can (if you can) use wordpress without bloggy impression
using just 'pages' not '??'. Sorry I have forgotten the English term.

If they accept wordpress I would take it. There are so many plugins for example slideshow is very easy to setup.

PM me if you like more info.
Cheers

[bugman]

Purely for comparison purposes, here my CMS: http://scottjarvis.com/page2.htm

gotta tell you, if it were my site, i'd be playing with everyone's cms

well, since i hand-code, probably not, but you know what i mean

this is a site where i need to play with the big boys - a site i'd keep my distance from if it weren't for the $

[bugman]

you can (if you can) use wordpress without bloggy impression
using just 'pages' not '??'. Sorry I have forgotten the English term.

If they accept wordpress I would take it. There are so many plugins for example slideshow is very easy to setup.

i got it running yesterday morning locally, i see what you mean - until then i wasn't sure if the pages had to be made by the "engine" itself or not

haven't had time since, but am going to play with shoving my handwritten pages down the engine's throat today, see what it spits up

the thing i'm wondering about now is security - i need different passwords for different pages, and an admin [or two] - hoping that won't be too weird

met with them yesterday, started off by telling them how to get a gov domain, and how to use it to cut off the old webmaster from her $100/month payday [for doing nothing but paying a $6 godaddy bill]

your typical government contractor at work

and confirmed that they sort of understood wordpress already - it's a done deal [if i get the job]

[L18L]

You have made it run locally.

I would use the default theme and make it fit for their purposes.
Copying to the remote site is easy, just change domain and password and URLs (there are 2) in the database.

why not get the job?
You have my best wishes for it

[bugman]

thanks!

we'll see which bid they accept, there will be a few . . .

[raffy]

Sorry, been away or a while. Yes, try Wordpress. Look for a theme that you like and use it (as easy as decompressing the theme to its folder then getting into the dashboard and choosing the theme).

You can allow commenting on pages, just activate its Akismet spam protection (you need to get an Akismet account and enter your code). Instructions abound in the Wordpress site.

Can't recall now about the page ownership feature, but create the other user account/s first then login with that username and create his/her page.

Make sure you follow Wordpress development and apply the updates (this will help keep the site secure).

[2byte]

Heads up
http://www.itpro.co.uk/632854/wordpress ... level-hack

[L18L]

Heads up
http://www.itpro.co.uk/632854/wordpress ... level-hack

so what?

bugman has a local copy of wordpress "source"

[bugman]

oh, wordpress

it's like something you tell your kids not to eat

after developing nothing more than a headache this morning, remembered that i'd downloaded the other two

installed joomla, installed drupal

joomla, it's looking a bit like aspirin to me right now, especially like the editing features [like some forums i frequent] and the security stuff [all questions answered] and the documentation and and and

so i'm thinking it's the answer [drupal left me cold]

i apologize to all the small cms devs for ignoring them, but again, the client wants a chevy, even though i may be personally more inclined toward a recumbent bicycle

if that makes any sense . . .

[L18L]

So your potential client does not like wordpress anymore?

And if http://www.chevrolet.com/ would be hacked or cracked then any chevy would become insecure?

I have been made translate.g**gle for recumbent bicycle. So I have to thank you for not using basic English or simple English but having contributed something useful for the learners of the English language.

[bugman]

So your potential client does not like wordpress anymore?

And if http://www.chevrolet.com/ would be hacked or cracked then any chevy would become insecure?

I have been made translate.g**gle for recumbent bicycle. So I have to thank you for not using basic English or simple English but having contributed something useful for the learners of the English language.

no, i don't like it any more, that is to say, i do not think it can handle the job - big site, complex requirements

a recumbent bicycle [perhaps i am spelling it wrong] is the kind you lay back in, with the pedals in front - in other words, experimental

i'm hating the world of content management so much [and understanding it so little - i can just make the page look however i want so easily - why do they make it so hard?] that i'm considering not even applying

i know what i know, i do what i do - and this is not it . . .

[L18L]

[perhaps i am spelling it wrong]......
i know what i know,......... - and this is not it . . .

Yes it is!
You have spelled it correctly an g* did translate it correctly