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Is this possible? (building a CMS)

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:24 pm
by the9ulaire
So I'm new to PHP and Apache and have a fair knowledge of SQL. I'm potentially going to be doing a website for a singer. I'd like to build a content management system for them, but I know this has got to be a huge project. A couple reasons why I want to build it are (1) great training grounds to gain an understanding of a CMS and (2) I don't want to train people to update the code of their website.

I can tell I'm in over my head, but I'm up for a challenge. So my question for all of you web development geniuses is this: do you think I could learn to build a CMS in three weeks?

I'll be talking to the singer's husband on the 24th, and that will probably be when I find out whether or not I will do the site. I don't need to have one built by then, but I'd like to be able to have it created between two and three weeks following that. So with that in mind, perhaps you could say I have a month overall.

I'll be honest, I'm not great at learning from books (which I'm doing right now because I'm determined to learn) but I am good at manipulating codes already before me to make them do what I want them to do (I hope that makes sense to you guys).

Is it realistic for me to think I can build a quality (not amazing, for it'll be my first obviously) CMS in a month?

Any advice, tips, or any other thoughts? I appreciate any help/feedback. I'm determined to try.

Luke

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:51 pm
by Benjamin
Luke,

Basically you will need to learn:

0. How to read the PHP manual and lookup functions.
1. How to create html forms - not too difficult.
2. How to retrieve this data in PHP once it has been posted to the webserver.
3. How to validate the data to ensure it's of the correct type, IE numbers, text, length etc.
4. How to escape this data for insertion into database queries.
5. How to write database queries (MySQL is most likely what you will use).
6. How to execute these queries using PHP functions.
7. How to retrieve these records back out of the database and display them on the webpage.
8.. How to protect the admin pages from the general public.

This is assuming you already know CSS/XHTML. I'm sure others will add to this list. It's not an impossible task, we can help you and point you in the right direction as long as we see your doing your homework.

How many pages will he want to update? Will he need to add/remove pages? What kinda specs are you potentially working with? Building CMS for a few pages is a fairly quick job depending on features.

Re: Is this possible? (building a CMS)

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:53 pm
by alex.barylski
I can tell I'm in over my head, but I'm up for a challenge. So my question for all of you web development geniuses is this: do you think I could learn to build a CMS in three weeks?
Sure. Won't be a very good one, but thats up to you and your client. I've been working on CMS applications since people started posted content on web sites and I have still yet to see or find the perfect CMS (even my own hobbyist CMS's that I use for clients fall waaaaaay short of something easy and effective). It really depends what you expect.

Will you have advanced user management, content history tracking (CVS), etc....probably not. If all you need to do is allow a few pages to be edited...probably won't be difficult in three weeks.
I'll be honest, I'm not great at learning from books (which I'm doing right now because I'm determined to learn) but I am good at manipulating codes already before me to make them do what I want them to do (I hope that makes sense to you guys).
I know everyone is different, but....It's usually a ***lot*** easier to start from scratch then learn someone else's system. It's one thing to change a single SQL query it's quite different when you need to actually change something complicated. Mix that in with the countless ways people design and architect their applications and your in for a real long ride.

Look to spend at least 1 month studying even a basic open source CMS before you can even consider making drastic changes. Many try and get around this by offering developer extensions (Drupal, Mambo, Typo, etc) but they have their short coming as well and still take a few days to learn.
Is it realistic for me to think I can build a quality (not amazing, for it'll be my first obviously) CMS in a month
Quality. Depends on your definition I guess...In my opinion...not a chance but my standards are borderline physchotic; I'm quite pedantic.

Effective. Yes, as long as they don't start becoming power users or someone tries to hack your site.

I wouldn't personally recommend it (it's what has prevented me from doing so for many years) but others do it so why not? You might as well do it or someone else will. Thats the lesson I'm slowly starting to learn about life and business.

Peice of shyte or not...if people buy it...giver... :)

Cheers and good luck. :)

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:30 pm
by the9ulaire
I don't need something that will allow for manipulation of absolutely everything.

Here's what it looks like right now will need to be able to be updateable:
-Shopping cart
-Maybe a couple pages that the only thing to be editable would be text (announcement page, bio, et cetera)
-Add to and create photo galleries

I am not sure if I would make the option to add more pages or not.


Here's the book I'm going through:
http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/ ... 79665.html

I dunno if it's the greatest, but it's sure throwing a lot at me all at once. I'm a little over a third of the way through the book.

As for knowing CSS and XHTML, I'm fine there.