Content management

[Jay McLaughlin]

I have to design a website that will be constantly updated with various articles, reports etc.

Trouble is, although I know html, I don't have a clue about php etc.

Is there any software or site builder that can do the work for me, leaving me to concentrate on skinning the site and making it look pretty?

[Ulysses]

There is software, but I'm of the opinion that if you use a content management system that other people use ... it increases the possibility of hacking, likewise, if you were to create your own without php (or other scripting) knowledge (particularly security knowledge). Then again, I use this to scare customers to buy custom one-off content management systems from us.

Anyways, those points aside, have you looked into whether your hosting provider has modules that you could install directly from your control panel? They would also be able to give you free help on any issues you might encounter.

If that is of no help, you need to know what technologies your hosting acount supports: php, mysql, asp etc etc.

Then, once you know this, come back here, and I'll see what I can dig up on google for you.

[Patrick Shannon]

I wrote my own content management "program" out of PHP last summer, and it was quite a doozy to complete. You have to cover each and every base, for example, applying encryption to the password, cookie usages in various scenarios, etc. For additional security, the passwords in the database are encrypted so even if someone got into the database, they'd have no idea about a user's password. On the other hand, the encryption key lies on the webserver (yes, off the www areas) and likely if someone could get the the database, they sure as hell could get to the server and find the encryption key. Nothing's ever foolproof.

What I'm trying to say is that you could write your own, but if you aren't already familiar with PHP it's going to take a good while to get up to speed. As for existing programs, I'm sure there's one out there that will suit your needs. And I'd stay away from simple Javascript logins, my friend showed me his website with one and I easily defeated that by turning off the Javascript.

[Ulysses]

Javascript logins, my friend showed me his website with one and I easily defeated that by turning off the Javascript.

Hahahahahaha. Ah yes ... the good ol' days.

[Jay McLaughlin]

I found this....

http://www.mamboserver.com/

[Ulysses]

It looks pretty good to me, Jay. I personally find it a bit clunky to navigate and too restricitve to customize, but then again, that is the price of not being able to hardcode pages yourself when using a Content Manager. If it allows you to get what you're after though, I think it looks as good as any other out there.

Just be sure your hosting account supports it's requirements.

[Allen Harkleroad]

The company i worked has a content managment system/instant portal application

http://www.gmpservices.com/tabindex-1/tabid-59/DesktopDefault.aspx

asp.net 1.1 and SQL server are the requirements.

It uses a lot of css and your creativity is the only limitation.

[Terydinho]

Try using Coldfusion if your new to content management - it all runs through dreamweaver (coding side anyway) and you can pretty much teach yourself in a few hours...well I did...

Download a trial of it and get playing - it is very easy to do once you are used to it, content management is the only way to go with web design now, i would very rarely design a website without it.

Try www.easycfm.com (http://www.easycfm.com) for some ace tutorials on teaching yourself coldfusion ;)

[benjo]

For something simple I use www.textpattern.com but I'm going to be using Mambo very soon.

[Ulysses]

Doesn't Cold Fusion require installing on your web server in order to take advantage of what it has to offer!? If so, can anybody recommend any cost affective hosting servers that support it?

[Allen Harkleroad]

Yes it has to be a Cold Fusion enabled hosting server to take advantage of it. More large hosts offer it as an option. I don't know offhand who does support it, but it should be too hard to locate one. www.Internet.com has a hosting guide and site that lists hosts based on what they support.

[Roo-1]

Exprssion Engine (pay) or the free pMachine Pro (http://www.pmachine.com/) can easily be turned into a full CMS.

Requires php and MySQL on the server, is easy to install and cutomize.

[Terydinho]

Hey - i know this thread is a little old now - but I have found a nice tutorial that takes you through the steps of building a decent CMS

http://www.devshed.com/c/a/MySQL/Building-a-Simple-ColdFusion-Content-Management-System-with-MySQL/

Hope this helps anyone looking to get started