Content Management using PHP/MySQL, MAC

[ncriptide]

Okay - I'm not a programmer. I've been a graphic designer on a Mac the past 25 years . . . I'm trying to learn php, but I'm in the very beginning stages. I create sites on a Macintosh G4 using Dreamweaver 8.

I simply want to be able to offer my clients a very simple CMS system that they'll be able to login to once I upload their site, and make text changes to any page. I know about Macromedia Contribute, but I'd prefer to offer them something web-based and not have to worry about installing it on their computer.

Is there a simple php/MySQL module out there that I can get up with minimal difficulties? I do have a VPS server from Interland that I put my client's sites on. It has php, mySQL installed.

Most of my sites are simple html sites not over 10-15 pages.

If you could refer me to a product, or some training . . . anything that would allow me to do this would be greatly appreciated.

[arvana]

If you have a basic understanding of PHP, then you should be able to install a full-on CMS like Drupal or Joomla. Both have something of a steep learning curve at first, but the benefits you'll be able to offer your clients will more than outweigh your startup time.

I've worked with quite a number of content management systems, including some of the very basic ones, and my experience is that you really need a system that has a full range and depth of modules available for it to suit whatever your clients may need. If you try to go with something simple, you will most likely find yourself running up against its limitations sooner rather than later.

I find Drupal excellent for community-based sites, and Joomla for more business-oriented ones. Those are my current favorites, and both have great communities that are very supportive of new users.

Good luck!

[ncriptide]

Thanks for your reply. I'll give both of them a look.

Thanks again!

[niggles]

Hi,

Am also on a Mac and the problem I've found with installing Joomla is that Dreamweaver truncates a lot of the long file names and so it doesn't upload properly. I now do all my Joomla installations from our PC to overcome this.

It's also a pretty steep learning curve with Joomla and I've had to do a lot of code-hacking to make it work with our designs properly. For a simple site though it's a good solution to allow clients to manage their own content.

Cheers,
Nigel

[Syspira]

Drupal and Joomla are both good -- of the two, Joomla comes across as the more slick and professional, and is easier to set up, but Drupal is a lot more flexible and gives you more control over how the site is set up.

If you find either of them too challenging for your clients, though, you might want to check out CMS Made Simple as an alternative.

With any CMS in general, all you really need to know how to do is use an FTP program, a text editor, and maybe a web-based database administration tool like PHPMyAdmin. You don't actually need to know PHP, unless you want to be able to customize it beyond what the existing modules, themes, etc. offer, and even then, editing themes at least can be done with only minimimal knowledge of PHP (but good knowledge of HTML and CSS). And it doesn't matter whether you're using a Mac, Windows, Linux or whatever -- it's all on the server, not on you own computer, and the only thing you'll be doing locally is editing text files, if that.

If you do want to learn PHP, there's an excellent PHP 101 tutorial on DevShed. That's how I got started with it.

And you actually can install PHP and MySQL on a Mac (assuming you're on OS X) so that you can test out your sites locally before uploading them at all, but that's a little beyond the scope of a forum comment... :-)

[Syspira]

Originally Posted by niggles

Am also on a Mac and the problem I've found with installing Joomla is that Dreamweaver truncates a lot of the long file names and so it doesn't upload properly. I now do all my Joomla installations from our PC to overcome this.

That's not a Mac problem, that's a Dreamweaver problem. Dreamweaver claims to be able to handle dynamic sites, but it really doesn't do very well at it -- I never use it for those, only for sites that are basically just static HTML and graphics. As a general rule, WYSIWYG editors of any type do not do well with dynamic sites.

Try using BBEdit instead -- it's a Mac text editor geared toward programmers (with built-in FTP), and will behave a lot better when working with PHP scripts. The syntax highlighting is nice too. It's what I use for any kind of programming work -- the one time I tried to use Dreamweaver for something involving PHP it made a complete mess of it, so I never did that again.

[niggles]

That's not a Mac problem, that's a Dreamweaver problem.

Agreed. I meant that the FTP built into Mac Dreamweaver has issues with those long file names which are the core of Joomla (hence using Dreamweaver on PC for initial upload).

For all my template building/editing and code hacking though I use Dreamweaver and have never had problems with it messing up my code.

Cheers,
Nigel

[mcm]

I tried just about EVERY CMS out there over the past couple of years. Forget about Joomla.

The BEST I have found that would suit a newbie to advanced user is "Dragonfly CMS" http://dragonflycms.org

Huge range of easily installed modules/plugins.SEO friendly too.

For a working example .. see my site at http://thai.expatz.net

Hope that helps.
mcm

[AjiNIMC]

Even you can use wordpress as a cms, and then you can offer the desktop tools for adding and editing. Some of my friends like it.

[CalgaryPix]

I've used www.php-update.co.uk
for a couple of client's site and seems to work well. I edit the template with Dreamweaver and then do all the content in its editing area.

[tanmonkey]

Have you tried Plume? < http://www.plume-cms.net/ > It's open, has an eager and smart forum support netywork and is simple to use.

I had some trouble getting it set up and looking right initially, but if you can get it humming it's not hard for users to run with it.

[Orion]

If you're interested I have a few not for profits and small sites which I wanted the same thing so I paid a student and under my guidance used fckeditor and created a really nice, simple, and light CMS which doesn't even require a database connection, it writes the pages and uses xml for other data.

Anyway msg me if you want some more info..

[oneofmanytims]

Xoops is a good, stable cms - http://xoops.org or compare it at http://www.cmsmadesimple.org/

Or get a php programmer to create an easy-to-use cms that is designed just for your client. Compared to the cost of learning a full-blown program it could be the way to go.

[mbangel]

I've been playing with one called Mambo lately, it seems pretty full featured, not too awful complicated...

[espectations]

I also used Xoops for a non-profit web site Fly-in destinations Southern Africa which we are designing for a client.

I found the modules very easy to use and only in some cases some knowledge of PHP was required.

The Formulize team time have been great as far as support is concerned and responded to all my enquiries promptly. In my opinion this module is great if you want your community to contribute to your content.

It is the most support that I got from any of these type of sites so I am quite impressed.

[PARoss]

I've had good luck with http://www.snippetmaster.com. It is as simply as they come, installs automatically, and allows editing between any snippet tags that you place. So, the essential design code is protected from unknowing fingers.

Phil

[texxs]

I had a client that was waaaay computer illertate but wanted to add her own content (like I'm magic or something!) to the web site I was to create for her.

My solution was a word press blog! It gave her the power to write content in a "WORD" like evironment and still she able to manage other authors and other fairly powerful features if she ever suddenly got computer savy. - (I think she died actually poor lady).

If a blog is too simple for you I recommend Xoops!

Does your web host have "Cpanel" as your account management interface? (I chercked out thier web site it does NOT appear so) it allows you to install things like Xoops and blogs with a "one click" interface. It's also praticlly tthe industry standard). Waaaaay easy! Many web hosts have this software, heck I can even give you a discounted account on my server or you can look at just about any web host out there.

[ncriptide]

You guys are great!

Thanks so much for all the helpful advice and recommendations. I'm going to take a look at everyone of the resources you've listed.

[Syspira]

Yes, WordPress can be really good if it's predominantly a blog-focussed site, and it's flexible enough that it doesn't have to be just a blog. There are various add-ons that can give it other features, though it's still primarily a blogging platform. And it certainly beats the hell out of anything else for ease of use -- I set my not-at-all-technical mom up with a WordPress blog, and by the time I checked in to see whether she'd like a tutorial on it, she'd already made several posts and was completely at ease with it.

Xoops I initially liked -- it's more flexible than Mambo/Joomla (Joomla's a branch off the Mambo project, with a firmer commitment to open source), though not as much so as Drupal, and it's easier to use than either of those. But I have some reservations about it now, after creating a site with it for some clients earlier this year. They've complained to me a lot about it being buggy and unstable, and said that sometimes articles they post disappear for no apparent reason, or weird formatting glitches appear and disappear more or less randomly.

I don't know how much of this may be due to them unknowingly doing something wrong, but it has made me a bit wary of Xoops, and I'm currently trying to decide whether to upgrade their site to Xoops 2.2 and hope that that fixes some of the problems they're having (though I'm edgy about that since 2.2 is basically a dead version and development is now going in a different direction, but it's the only alternative to the version they now have, and the only way to get it to use a different WYSIWYG editor than Koivi, which I think may be partly what's causing their problems), or just convert the whole thing over to Joomla instead. Which would be a headache, but at least no one I've set up a Joomla or Mambo site for has ever complained about it being unstable.

[TrafficProducer]

simple php: IDE Sould help you with PHP

PHP DESIGNER is a freeware IDE for coding PHP for both professional and novice alike.

Your Host may have some ready to use CMS. Check out your cPanel.

[mohsho]

The two that I have used are Geeklog and PHP-Nuke. I'm wondering if anyone can offer a comparison between these and some of the other CMS's mentioned in this thread (ie. Drupal, Joomla, Xoops, Mambo). Also, I plan to revamp the website of a smalll private school using a CMS and I would appreciate any specific recommendations that anyone could provide. An example or two of school websites built with a CMS would be fabulous. Oh right, I also want to do the same with the website of a community center. Keep in mind that I would need a very good reason to learn a new CMS, when I could just go with one of the two I already know.

Thanks, in advance, for your help.

[TrafficProducer]

Content Management Systems Here's some links that may help

[mohsho]

Can anyone else weigh in on my question above? Thank you.