Content Managment advice

chipper_001

New Member
Please can someone help me? I am just starting out in webdesign/devlopment and am currently trying to build some websites for friends so I can get some
practice and to build myself a portfolio of my work. My problem is my friend
s that I am building the websites for know nothing about webdesign and HTML/CSS etc but will want to update and amend the content of their site once I've finished it. Please can someone give me advice on what the best way of doing this? I've heard WordPress could be an option, Many thanks!
 

wetgravy

New Member
Look into wordpress, joomla or kubeblog. All have an adminstrator utility that is fantastic for just updating sites, publishing/unpublishing content, and managing users.

either that, or if you want them to have a site that only has 3-6 pages they want to regularly update ... CushyCMS.com is a neat online cms that you can program in the code for editing ... bad thing is, is that if they want to add pages or lots of content they are restricted to what you programed in.
 

3dmagicaldesign

New Member
Wordpress is just useful to create blogs and interact with people, it also brings traffic to your website, CMS is a very good option, although you need to acquire good skills in web design and web development.

The reason why I say this is because you need to know many resources to complete a very good project and most of the times your clients will come with complicated tasks to be developed ( too much programming involved), then you will realize that not only Wordpress skills or CMS skills will be enough.

If you want to get involved with web design you need to start learning many tutorials, ask on forums, for example, you didn't know I was gonna give you this advice and now I know it will be very useful to you. I also started with a few skills, then the market and my competitors made me think about learning many techniques, strategies, new technologies, etc.


I really hope you have success with your new venture, please let me know if my comment is as useful as I think it will be.

Warm Regards
 

chipper_001

New Member
Many thanks again for your help and advice, I've been doing all my coding building my website in Dreamweaver and have nearly finished the website but then my friend will need to update the content, so it will be him that will use the CMS but I dont eactly know what I need to do on my part and how they work.
 

wetgravy

New Member
they are rather simple, but you need to figure out which one you are designing for BEFORE you finish coding. I know some use a split template so you can modify the header, content and footer areas all seperately, while some just modify the css since the software controls the different elements of the site.

Also and most importantly ... if you don't figure it out before you finish coding ... you might have to redo the entire site just to make it work ... double the work seems sort of foolish to me.
 

chipper_001

New Member
Arrhhh, I didnt realise that wetgravy, this seems to be more complicated than I first thought, all I want is an easy way for people that I build a website for to be able to update and make simple changes to their website, instead of them bothering me, I also undertand that not all cms's work on all hosting platforms. Also Isnt wordpress just a blog cms where you have to use their own templates and designs? that;s not really what I want.
 

voodish

New Member
It depends heavily on what you want the website to do.

If it's just a relatively basic to intermediate CMS your require, ie. image and text uploading / editing / galleries / contact forms etc.

Then I would still look into Wordpress; here is a recent example: voice broadcasting
 

chipper_001

New Member
Hi, voodish, yes that's exactly just what I need, can that be done with wordpress though? I did look at the site but I was under the impresson that you had to use their own templates for the actual design, layout and structure of your site, is that not the case?
 

voodish

New Member
Wordpress is open source so you can download the Core to use on your own server. You can therefore change any of the files as you see fit; the template system is extremely intuitive too.

You can download it here: http://wordpress.org/
 
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chipper_001

New Member
that's great news, thank you! so all I need now is to find a host that supports wordpress, and then I shd be good to go, can you think of anything else I m need to know?
 

voodish

New Member
To start you off you will need an Apache,Linux server with PHP and a mySQL database to run aforementioned - pretty standard stuff these days
 

chipper_001

New Member
Thanks again, Is that seperate to a host? sorry I'm new to all this and dont know much, I do aprechiate all your help though
 

voodish

New Member
It is what the host will supply you with should you ask for it.

I think your best bet is to ask your host (if you've decided on one) that you are planning to:

Host and serve various types of CMS and Shopping cart solutions such as Wordpress, Joomla, Zen Cart etc.

If they are worth their salt, they will know exactly what you require re: server set-up... btw don't fork out for a dedicated solution unless it is managed, because you will need in-depth knowledge of Linux and associated...
 

sheanhoxie

New Member
Since you dont have much experience, if your located in the USA I would recommend GoDaddy. This is probably not the most popular choice amongst fellow web designers and developers but they have a featured which allows you to easily install third party applications like Joomla, Drupal, Wordpress, OSCommerce, phpBB and more (by the way, these are some of the most important opensource solutions available in my opinion, so research them) and it can allow you to get your hands dirty with these apps.

If you have a bit more experience with cPanel or Plesk or WHM depending on budget Id choose a shared (budget) or dedicated server (no budget) over @ HostGator(cheaper) or Rackspace(more expensive).
 

chipper_001

New Member
I'm located in the UK Sheanhoxie but thanks anyway, and thanks again voodish, I know a little more about it now, think I will try wordpress and speak with my host, thanks again!
 
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