Adding a content management tool

[simplybikes]

A quick question....is is possible to add a content management fuction / capability to a html site after it has been built, in other words bolted on at a later stage. Something simple that allows type and images to be changed.

Thanks.

 

[Forbairt]

I've not used it in a while but ...
sNews

might be an option.

Other than that you need to create your template in the CMS of your choice and go from there.

 

[nevf]

well i could say CMS Made Simple - Welcome to CMS Made Simple

all you have to do is get your empty template, and where add in a few tags... copy your content over and your away with it....

 

[simplybikes]

many thanks for those suggestions, I'll check them out. Have you ever used Macromedia Contribute to edit a site.

 

[Forbairt]

Have you ever used Macromedia Contribute to edit a site.

yes ... one of my clients was using it with their previous crowd so I got to play a little bit. In my opinion its a waste of time / money really

you're editing files on the live site so to speak ... I didn't check out revision history or anything like that with it so that might come in handy (I think that exists but don't quote me on it)

Unless you know what you're doing you can generate some horrible code with it. That said with a CMS you can do the same depending on what you do.

 

[simplybikes]

many thanks Forbairt.

 

[ciar4n]

If you just got CGI i'd recommend News Content Management System .

Clean stable and well supported. Use to be at least.. been a while since i used it!

 

[Spiralli]

I came across cushy CMS lately. The premise is that you sign up for an account on the cushy cms website, supplying ftp details for the site you want to edit and then just add a class="cushycms" for every tag that is to be editable. You then set up editors who get an email with the details they need to log in. Supports the usual - input fields, text areas and images.

I guess the main concerns are that the editor would see the cushy cms branding (think you can pay to do your own branding), they might go out of business, and they might change the model so that the free stuff becomes pay-for.

 

[lostie]

I'm doing a site for my college, and they require that the menu be cms based so that when its built, lecturers and researchers can add to it. So all im looking for the cms to do is manage a drop down menu, and add simple pages too. But i'd like to design the rest of it, like the template. So what would be best? cushy cms sounds good

 

[darkstar_tfd]

1. use a nice CMS
2. create a template for this CMS that looks similar with the old site
3. now you have full power over a CMS and the design you want

 

[lostie]

And when you say nice cms, do you mean a popular one like joomla, or drupal? Is it easy to make a template for these, and are they very flexible in terms of what design they allow?

 

[darkstar_tfd]

When I say nice I say easy to use, easy to create template for, easy to work with.

Joomla is one of these CMSs. I can create a Joomla template in 2 days, without working only on that - because there is just one index file, 1 css file and an xml file ( and the images folder of course ).

Drupal is somehow similar, but I have not worked that much with it.

 

[Forbairt]

I had issues with joomla ... and the pages sub pages ... sub pages .. not being the simplest thing to do ... I found a lot of the basic things were missing and you started having to hack code .. install plugins and so on. Also when I was looking at 1.5 .... a lot of the plugins hadn't been ported so I was running into all sorts of issues.

I honestly find CMS Made simple to be extremely easy to use.

Pages ... sub pages ... menus and so on ... there are a few things to figure out .. but damn its just nice

 

[lostie]

Yeah I did a site in joomla last month and just didnt like it, too confusing to make small changes, dont think i spent enough time learning about it and how to do things. I spoke to a friend of mine who's build his own cms which allows users to change navigation and edit pages, so I'll probably just use that, its seems like the least complicated option, and does all i need it to do.

 

[Forbairt]

Until your friend goes on holidays ? and you can't get any support cus its a custom system (not saying it would happen ... just be aware there are reasons to use some of the more popular cms's out there)