Content management from scratch

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amondi7
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Content management from scratch

Post by amondi7 »

It is a school project and I have been ask to develop a content management system but I do not what exactly a content management system is supposed to contain.

I will be happy if someone could give the structure of a good content management in drawing describing all elements.

some pf the features:

A templating system
updating content
Ajax
Xml

Add what you thing should be included.

I just need the structure in drawing. The coding is not a problem.

Thank you in advance for your help.
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jayshields
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Post by jayshields »

Shouldn't you be asking your teacher for this sort of stuff? I find it hard to believe they literally said to you "build a CMS" without teaching you anything about them or what they expect you to produce.
Begby
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Post by Begby »

So if I spend a couple of hours using visio to put this thing in 'drawing' and give it to you with all the elements of a CMS explained in detail, you are just going sit down and code it all because the coding is not a problem?

Would I be wrong to assume that your assignment is to document a CMS and you are going to print what we give you and just hand it in?
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

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Christopher
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Re: Content management from scratch

Post by Christopher »

amondi7 wrote:some pf the features:

A templating system
updating content
Ajax
Xml
Of those, only "updating content" is a feature of CMSs. The other things you list are possible implementation details, but are neither features nor necessary. So the real question is: what kind of content does the assignment say needs to be updated?
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amondi7
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Content management from scratch

Post by amondi7 »

Begby, You are totally wrong. I just want to know what are the necessary functions that a content management should accomplish.

If you can put it better in words, no problem. Because for me picture speaks for 1000 words so if you think you can explain to me using word no problem.

I would like to Thank feyd for his link.

arborint, I just want the basic features that are essential to a content management.
Begby
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Re: Content management from scratch

Post by Begby »

amondi7 wrote:Begby, You are totally wrong. I just want to know what are the necessary functions that a content management should accomplish.

If you can put it better in words, no problem. Because for me picture speaks for 1000 words so if you think you can explain to me using word no problem.

I would like to Thank feyd for his link.

arborint, I just want the basic features that are essential to a content management.
Ahh, ok, I stand corrected. Sorry if you felt slighted by my comments.


So back during the dawn of the internets people started making all kinds of websites. Then the sites got big. Then the sites became hard to manage because you would end up with like 20 people all making changes to the site and some of them would make mistakes, others would use the wrong font, and then others would lay the page out wrong. Also all the people working on the site needed to know HTML really well. Then the real headache is when a designer came along with a new design and the web guys realized they would need to edit thousands of html pages by hand to incorporate the new layout.

This is where a content management system comes into play. It allows one, or hundreds, of people to make changes to one site and have the pages come out looking consistent and structured. It also might include a template system so that design changes can be made in one file and then the new changes carry over to the entire site. Most of the systems do not require in depth knowledge of HTML.

That is kind of broad though, there are a lot of CMS systems out there, all are quite different and have a lot of different features. When designing a CMS a good starting point is to think about what kind of information will be on the site, what information will need to change, and who will be making those changes.

It might be a good idea to look at what is out there, what the sites can do, and how they work. Joomla, Drupal, and Wordpress are some worth taking a look at.
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Christopher
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Re: Content management from scratch

Post by Christopher »

amondi7 wrote:arborint, I just want the basic features that are essential to a content management.
Have you searched around? Have you found the lists of features of popular CMS systems? If you presented us with a list of features we could certainly give you insight into which are "essential."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Conten ... ent_System
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Post by onion2k »

I imagine that, like 99.9% of people who say they want a content management system, your client (teacher) actually wants a content update system.

An update system just gives a user control over the content in their website. They can create new pages, change content, and so on.

A CMS allows a team of users to manage content*. There should be systems in place to notify the admin about content that's getting old, that needs updating, that's popular or unpopular, breakdown site usage, trace paths through the site, etc. Without the management tools you've just got a bunch of scripts to update things.


* Note: This is my definition. People who believe a CMS should have the 'M' bit are suprisingly uncommon. I think that's because writing the stuff to update content is easy while writing the management tools is a lot harder.
amondi7
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conte

Post by amondi7 »

Thank you all for your help.

I will try to follow your recommendations.

Thank you again.
david2007
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Post by david2007 »

Are you thinking about business applications?

If so, then a CMS is not the solution.

MVC is complex. Discardable Software is simpler.
http://www.sybrain.com
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

You know david2007, you haven't proved to us that your postulate(s) are true.

Remember this thread?
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superdezign
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Post by superdezign »

Suspicious that this david2007 guy is just an advertiser? :wink:
onion2k wrote:* Note: This is my definition. People who believe a CMS should have the 'M' bit are suprisingly uncommon. I think that's because writing the stuff to update content is easy while writing the management tools is a lot harder.
I'd never even considered the fact that we didn't put much management features into our CMS... For the money I'm charging my next client, I should try that.
alex.barylski
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Post by alex.barylski »

This is a pretyt vague question, considering the complexity of the various CMS out there...

Look opensourcecms.com there are tons of examples you can steal ideas from...

Here is a bare bones CMS (Content Modification Script) I developed a while back to modify content for my own web site, but it's *really* limiting. Certainly makes understanding the basics of a bare bones CMS easier though.

http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/texocms

I'm trying to have this project removed...but it looks like I need to seek the advice of a lawyer as they won't remove it on my rquest alone, bastards :P
david2007
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Post by david2007 »

feyd wrote:You know david2007, you haven't proved to us that your postulate(s) are true.

Remember this thread?
There are other people in this forum and in other who say just about the same thing:
MVC is unproductive and unprofitable for the customer who's paying for it.

The only difference is that I'm the only one who says it loud and clear.

Do you know how to count?

Then just make the calculations on how much time you take developing a system with and without MVC.
Just plain arithmetics, dude!

By the way, I'm am advertising their system as much as anyone who puts some project link in their messages footers.

sigh...

MVC is complex. Discardable Software is simpler.
http://www.sybrain.com
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