cms advice for a designer
- Started
- Last post
- 22 Responses
- ********
hey, i've got decent front end skilz, css, htmwhatever... but have been struggling big time to grasp using a cms. i'm looking at wordpress and joomla right now, i've checked out lightcms and drupal and other ones too and from what i can tell they all involve the same pain in the ass templating crap that for whatever reason i cant effing wrap my head around. it just doesnt click. was wondering if anyone has any advice on what i should do. i'm thinking something within a php framework is going to be the best bet but am feeling metally disabled at the moment.
- ipissexcellence0
you're name is too long.
- agree ... perhaps the complexity of your name adds to your general confusion ;-)alicetheblue
- arthur0
I'll be looking at Expression Engine shortly. I'll let you know how it goes.
http://expressionengine.com/
- ipissexcellence0
i like wordpress. it's really easy once it *clicks* with you.
- thoughtandtheory0
Another vote for EE.
- leftwave0
have you considered something like this which requires NO programming?
http://surrealcms.com/- another one like this is
CushyCMS..it makes your life so EASY!ambermiro - www.cushycms.comambermiro
- another one like this is
- ********0
Kinda depends on the scale and functionality of the site in question. WP is a good starting point.
- vaxorcist0
surrealcms looks interesting... better approach than most.... probably good for a designer.... I'll actually try it....
Most agencies have a workflow that makes using a pre-existing CMS hard. Why? Agencies like to approve designers photoshop screenshots, then figure out how to make the content editable. But most pre-existing CMS's work better the other way around, where you see what the CMS can do, then design around that subset of what you may really want. Most pre-existing CMS's also have lots of stuff you don't need or want.
So, being a developer/designer, I tended to roll my own CMS, based on a bunch of code I'd tested in the past, and using xinha for editing.
I'm looking at Concrete5 now though... it seems most easily redesignable, I dislike Drupal, as you have to retrain your brain according to Drupalism's mindset....
The central problem of CMS's seems:
1. if very simple, then maybe not quite what you want
2. if very customizable, then lots of irritating exessive layers of stuff to configure, as it's so generalized that it's full of extra-ism and you have to learn the CMS's idioms....WP is good, very good for what you can do with it, and often the best solution, as especially for low-budget jobs, you can make a pretty good site by taking a pre-existing template and tweek it so it looks completely different but works nicely.
- BattleAxe0
dissecting a CMS
designer - front end skills : you can edit master style sheets to move and re color elements , use HTML to re implement elements , or create a template from scratch
developer-backend skills- will be albe to do the same as above but will also be able to re configure functions and objects written in the middleware of choice to be a bit more custom. most modules that come with a CMS will be all right if left alone but can do much more if you tinker with it to suit your needs
CMS' I have ran into are usually broken apart into multiple files (includes) and its a matter of connecting the dots to know what file will do what
also studying the database structure will help greatly knowing what information is stored in what field or tables will give your customizing skills a lot more flexibility
so hack away
- i used Exponent , but one big crash left me wondering about it
http://www.exponentc…BattleAxe
- i used Exponent , but one big crash left me wondering about it
- TheBlueOne0
My fav three are:
Textpattern: http://www.textpattern.org
Expression Engine
sNews: http://www.snewscms.comsNews is REAL simple, but nowhere near as feature rich as the other two, or Wordpress, but it is super design friendly.
- i use Textpattern for many of my lower budget jobs - have you found Wordpress to be better or just different....bulletfactory
- was thinking of trying WP for my next lower-end site.bulletfactory
- welded0
The CMS should reflect the job it is chosen to do. I've used ModX, WordPress, Drupal, custom stuff, and have just started with ExpressionEngine. ModX can be a pain in the ass, but overall I wouldn't be able to pick a favourite, go-to solution. For example, the things we do in WordPress could just as easily be done with Drupal, but the extra overhead isn't necessary. Alternatively, Drupal can do a lot more than WordPress. I'm hoping ExpressionEngine will be a happy medium.
As for templating, which is what this is about, then WordPress might be the best way to go, at least at first. There are lots of themes to look at and only a few files to bugger around with, but you'll still have a high degree of control.
- itsmitch0
I love Wordpress. It's the easiest CMS I've found. Install it and start creating your theme while it's live so you can test while you're building. The Wordpress Codex + http://www.dbswebsite.com/design… + http://www.dezinerfolio.com/2007… should get you through your first theme.
- Why would I want to create a theme and test live??TheBlueOne
- It helped me a lot to make tiny changes and test since I'm not a developer. Just a suggestion for designers.itsmitch
- vaxorcist0
I haven't worked with Drupal in years, is anyone familiar with new sites done in Drupal that don't look like "a site done in Drupal" ...
- Haha, I know exactly what look you mean... The user login form is a dead give-away. ;)welded
- http://buytaert.net/…welded
- jimbojones0
whithout reading too much, is surrealcms something like cushycms?
- Sounds like it; hosted and tag-based solution for small-scale stuff, no?********
- yeah, too bad there's nothing like that as a local hosted solution :(jimbojones
- Sounds like it; hosted and tag-based solution for small-scale stuff, no?
- welded0
If we're talking hosted CMSs, then take a look at GoodBarry. http://goodbarry.com/
Pretty interesting and fairly powerful, although ultimately not for me.
- Jugarelly0
Another vote for EE. Nettuts just started a tutorial series on it: http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorial…
- WeLoveNoise0
not an expert in this but am a designer and the one i used to use before i got my own made was www.cushycms.com
was piss easy to use and really simple
- FallowDeer0
ive been using wordpress and im just getting used to it blog wise, havent used it for a propper site yet tho.
but ive heard a lot of good things about EE and I would like to learn that next
- Nathan_Adams0
I'm using WordPress more and more.
One thing you should consider, and people seem to ignore this, is how friendly the admin is to use for your client. You can have the easiest to design for, most customisable CMS on the planet, but if your client can't work out how to update their site then the whole thing is a waste of time.