The Joys of Using and Learning a CMS
And by CMS, for those who aren't in the biz of building websites, I mean Content Management System.
Where to start? Right, I've always been most comfortable working with HTML/CSS website design and structure. This is what was drilled into me. And, programing is not my strong suit, so while I can do mundane things with PHP and Javascript -- elaborate is not my game. I'm completely unfamiliar with what to do with a database, and, well, generally websites that I make for clients are visually appealing but not terribly complex in the coding.
Except that now I have a client who insists on wanting to update their own photo gallery and they have NOT ONE CLUE about HTML.
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Cue the need for a CMS. Why? Because a well designed CMS essentially makes editing/adding/changing content for the layman as simple as using a WYSIWIG system like WORD. Maybe even easier, as I constantly find myself fighting with WORD. Fortunately, you can get a variety of CMS and Blog type engines for free through the open source community, like Drupal, Joomla!, and WordPress. Unfortunately, while these CMS/Blog type work-horses do the bulk of a web creator's work for them (it deals with the PHP, the MySQL Database, and you can find a variety of plug-ins to make it do more complex tasks with no coding on your part), someone still has to install the thing on the designated server, design a suitable appearance (which still involves a lot of CSS work and image editing program work), and to be kind to the client, probably set up a simple sort of documentation to teach them how to use the CMS at hand.
While still in University, I had a professor take one class and spend a good third of a semester having us develop a site for an actual client in the popular open source CMS, Joomla!. We did this as a three-man team at the time. I didn't have to install Joomla on the server (1&1, by the way), I didn't have to adjust the module positions, I didn't have to seek out and install appropriate user-made plug-ins and components, and I did not have to create the documentation. All the same, I owe that teacher a debt of gratitude that I never gave him in class for forcing me through the experience.
Now, to please my client, I find myself re-learning Joomla!. And that's fine, Joomla! has come a long way in the few years since I took that class, and version 2.5 that is out now has a series of easy installers for plug-ins, components, and templates that take a good deal of the pressure off of me. Much of organizing the content remains the same, and what has changed in thoroughly documented. Once you get the swing of how things opperate in the CMS, how it creates web pages, links, ect, adjusting to working with it becomes remarkably intuitive.
The most difficult thing for me, was installing this manually to my host servers at 1&1.com. Be prepared to sit back and wait if you plan to FTP all of the unzipped files for Joomla! up to 1&1. I want to be able to design and play out of the public eye while leaving my current website as it is, so I've set Joomla! in a sub folder. Two things to remember with 1&1: first: make sure you switch your PHP type to 5! that will make the difference with having the auto installer initiate or not. Second, print out the information when you create your Joomla database, because 1&1 uses a string of incoherent letters and numbers a mile long that you have no hope of memorizing for when you need them to be filled in to the auto installer.
Once you have those two things sorted, its really very easy to point your browser at the sub-folder and go through the steps provided to install Joomla!. Lovely. Now I need to get in there and edit the CSS to create a site to please my artsy sensibilities, wrangle all of the content I'd like, and eventually force 1&1 to point at the sub-folder as the index when I finally get everything set up as I'd like.
All this for me to learn the system before bringing the idea even up to my client and proceeding to work through the same steps to do the same for them.
I may yet pull my hair out.
Where to start? Right, I've always been most comfortable working with HTML/CSS website design and structure. This is what was drilled into me. And, programing is not my strong suit, so while I can do mundane things with PHP and Javascript -- elaborate is not my game. I'm completely unfamiliar with what to do with a database, and, well, generally websites that I make for clients are visually appealing but not terribly complex in the coding.
Except that now I have a client who insists on wanting to update their own photo gallery and they have NOT ONE CLUE about HTML.
---
Cue the need for a CMS. Why? Because a well designed CMS essentially makes editing/adding/changing content for the layman as simple as using a WYSIWIG system like WORD. Maybe even easier, as I constantly find myself fighting with WORD. Fortunately, you can get a variety of CMS and Blog type engines for free through the open source community, like Drupal, Joomla!, and WordPress. Unfortunately, while these CMS/Blog type work-horses do the bulk of a web creator's work for them (it deals with the PHP, the MySQL Database, and you can find a variety of plug-ins to make it do more complex tasks with no coding on your part), someone still has to install the thing on the designated server, design a suitable appearance (which still involves a lot of CSS work and image editing program work), and to be kind to the client, probably set up a simple sort of documentation to teach them how to use the CMS at hand.
While still in University, I had a professor take one class and spend a good third of a semester having us develop a site for an actual client in the popular open source CMS, Joomla!. We did this as a three-man team at the time. I didn't have to install Joomla on the server (1&1, by the way), I didn't have to adjust the module positions, I didn't have to seek out and install appropriate user-made plug-ins and components, and I did not have to create the documentation. All the same, I owe that teacher a debt of gratitude that I never gave him in class for forcing me through the experience.
Now, to please my client, I find myself re-learning Joomla!. And that's fine, Joomla! has come a long way in the few years since I took that class, and version 2.5 that is out now has a series of easy installers for plug-ins, components, and templates that take a good deal of the pressure off of me. Much of organizing the content remains the same, and what has changed in thoroughly documented. Once you get the swing of how things opperate in the CMS, how it creates web pages, links, ect, adjusting to working with it becomes remarkably intuitive.
The most difficult thing for me, was installing this manually to my host servers at 1&1.com. Be prepared to sit back and wait if you plan to FTP all of the unzipped files for Joomla! up to 1&1. I want to be able to design and play out of the public eye while leaving my current website as it is, so I've set Joomla! in a sub folder. Two things to remember with 1&1: first: make sure you switch your PHP type to 5! that will make the difference with having the auto installer initiate or not. Second, print out the information when you create your Joomla database, because 1&1 uses a string of incoherent letters and numbers a mile long that you have no hope of memorizing for when you need them to be filled in to the auto installer.
Once you have those two things sorted, its really very easy to point your browser at the sub-folder and go through the steps provided to install Joomla!. Lovely. Now I need to get in there and edit the CSS to create a site to please my artsy sensibilities, wrangle all of the content I'd like, and eventually force 1&1 to point at the sub-folder as the index when I finally get everything set up as I'd like.
All this for me to learn the system before bringing the idea even up to my client and proceeding to work through the same steps to do the same for them.
I may yet pull my hair out.