Website content management question

[Seineseeker]

If I developed a site for someone, and they wanted to update it (basic, text and maybe the odd image), and they don't want to fork out for Dreamweaver (which I use), apart from a text editor what can I recommend to them to use to manage their site? Or can I find something to put in the html with a script that does something clever?

[robgul]

Look at Joomla! Joomla!  - a great open source (free) CMS - you need a host that can handle SQL databases.

I use e-noise.com - good price, good service - the sites in my sig are examples of Joomla - easy to build, even easier to add to and maintain

Rob

[tonycollinet]

+1 to joomla.

Some ISP's (EG plusnet) give you webspace capable of hosting it.

[Seineseeker]

+1 to joomla.

Some ISP's (EG plusnet) give you webspace capable of hosting it.

Thanks both of you, I'll check it out.

[Seineseeker]

Joomla looks exceptionally cool and on the button. My dead cheap webhost doesn't allow SQL though, but one of the sites I've done for people might do, so maybe I can try it there.

[robgul]

just to add a bit about Joomla ... as well as the core platform there are about 4,000 add-on components that do all sorts of things!

If you go that route I would suggest that you install ver 1.5.x   and stick to add-on components that work in "1.5 native" - the older version add-ons that say they work in "legacy" mode are likely not to work too well as new 1.5.x versions roll out ... and the (2009?) step to 1.6.x

Rob

[Seineseeker]

Joomla looks really cool! So I need to try it out. I am new to this SQL stuff (I'm not stupid, I've just been a stay at home dad for 8 years). I take it I can make my PC a server to test out all this stuff.

[frankly frankie]

Wampserver is an easy way to get going with MySQL on a Windows PC
http://www.wampserver.com/en/

[Seineseeker]

Wampserver is an easy way to get going with MySQL on a Windows PC
http://www.wampserver.com/en/

Thanks so much, that's a big help!

[Jules]

Wampserver is an easy way to get going with MySQL on a Windows PC
http://www.wampserver.com/en/

Thanks so much, that's a big help!

XAMPP is cool as it can be run off a USB pen drive and doesn't need to be installed in Windows.

[PrettyBoyTim]

Depending on the site, Wordpress may do the job as well. It's fairly straightforward to use and very easy to install on any webhost that supports MySQL databases. Editing can be done on the site itself using the admin pages.

Wordpress started off as blogging software and I think that continues to be its primary focus, but the static page system allows you to make general sites as well. I've recently been using it to help a friend set up a site about her jewellery.

I've not used Joomla, but there was a recent article that suggested that Wordpress was ahead in the usability stakes, although my guess is that Joomla is probably a bit more flexible and generic than Wordpress.

[Jules]

Back to the original question - if you wanted to develop them a site in Dreamweaver instead of using a CMS - have you looked at Adobe Contribute?

What you would do is create pages based on Dreamweaver templates and leave the areas you want them to be able to change as editable regions as usual.

Contribute works like a browser, they navigate to the page they want, click the edit button, do what they like to the editable regions (the rest is locked by the template) click the button to save and the job's done.

A CMS will serve (sorry!)  just as well but if you want to use DW, or can't be bothered to configure a CMS to get the look you are after this might be something you want to look at - Contribute is commercial but if you have a legit copy of DW you'll possible find you already have a copy.

If what they want is very simple you might just want to use an online wiki  like Wiki - Free Website - Wetpaint. I've got a bunch of design students using this at present with a good deal of success and not much help from me.

[frankly frankie]

Wampserver is an easy way to get going with MySQL on a Windows PC
http://www.wampserver.com/en/

Thanks so much, that's a big help!

Having said that - I have found with broadband that its easier just to do development online - rather than prototyping the project on the desktop.
I have set up a few MySQL-based websites and I don't even have it installed locally ...

[Seineseeker]

Thanks, that's a good idea to investigate. Yes my DW is legit. I'll investigate Contribute.

Back to the original question - if you wanted to develop them a site in Dreamweaver instead of using a CMS - have you looked at Adobe Contribute?

What you would do is create pages based on Dreamweaver templates and leave the areas you want them to be able to change as editable regions as usual.

Contribute works like a browser, they navigate to the page they want, click the edit button, do what they like to the editable regions (the rest is locked by the template) click the button to save and the job's done.

A CMS will serve (sorry!)  just as well but if you want to use DW, or can't be bothered to configure a CMS to get the look you are after this might be something you want to look at - Contribute is commercial but if you have a legit copy of DW you'll possible find you already have a copy.

If what they want is very simple you might just want to use an online wiki  like Wiki - Free Website - Wetpaint. I've got a bunch of design students using this at present with a good deal of success and not much help from me.

[Seineseeker]

Just a quick update in case anyone passes this way looking for the same information.

Joomla! is just a brilliant piece of open source software. Takes a bit of work to get up and running, but the functionality is fantastic.  I'l really going to work on this.

Contribute is trivially easy to use. As a quick solution to content management it's excellent. Doesn't offer you what Joomla! does but if you already use Dreamweaver it's very simple to use.

[pcolbeck]

Wampserver is an easy way to get going with MySQL on a Windows PC
http://www.wampserver.com/en/

Thanks so much, that's a big help!

Having said that - I have found with broadband that its easier just to do development online - rather than prototyping the project on the desktop.
I have set up a few MySQL-based websites and I don't even have it installed locally ...

If you want to play with a web server and MySQL php etc and don't have a handy server to install them on try XAMPP. Installs in a couple of minutes and gives you a nice Apache based setup fo testing and prototyping stuff on Windows. Doesn't even need to be installed as a service you can start and stop it all from a nice little control panel applet. I used it this week to host an XML/PHP based application for the touch screens on some Cisco VoiIP phones I was demoing. Brilliant.