Recommend a user-friendly cms?

[Webfunk]

Hi guys,

I've been looking for a user-friendly cms for a while now. All I want essentially is for my clients to be able to modify text and swap images themselves - nothing major.

But the more I look into the array of options available, my mind just implodes! I was looking into Business Catalyst for a little bit, but I found the admin area a little confusing at times, and if I had trouble I'm sure the client would too! So until they fix that, I'm looking into other options...

Wordpress seems to be an obvious choice, everyone recommends it, saying it's extremely user-friendly, and from what I've seen it is (if you're using a template). But that's not my thing...I want something a little more unique. So I started exploring the 'build your own template' idea.

Now I'm comfortable coding a static page with HTML and CSS, that's what I do, but what I'm not familiar with is PHP. And it seems to me that a knowledge of PHP is almost essential to write your own Wordpress template. Am I wrong? Have I missed something?

And how would the process go exactly? Do I simple code the static site like I normally would, and then enter tags within the code? Because that's what it sounds like, I'm just not 100%...

The other one I was considering is Drupal, however I haven't looked into it yet.

Can anyone shed a bit of light on this subject? Keeping in mind, all I want is for the client to easily be able to change text and images themselves.

Thanks in advance! So confused...

 

[geodomains]

May I suggest http://templatic.com/

I have just started building http://www.fraserisland.com.au with it, not finished yet, but seems pretty user friendly.

Don

 

[joe]

i'd say learn a little PHP and go with wordpress, there's so much you can do to extend/customise it.

 

[Webfunk]

i'd say learn a little PHP and go with wordpress, there's so much you can do to extend/customise it.

Am I right to assume that building my own template with no PHP knowledge would be extremely difficult? Or have I read it wrong?

 

[joe]

Am I right to assume that building my own template with no PHP knowledge would be extremely difficult? Or have I read it wrong?

I wouldn't say extremely difficult, might be a bit of a learning curve but that's the best way to learn - by getting stuck into it. There's a tonne of info out there on how to edit wordpress templates, you almost don't need to understand how the PHP works, just know what to copy/paste and where.

A good place to start would be to setup a test site and hack the bejeebus out of one of the existing template files, i.e. single.php for posts or page.php for pages

 

[joe]

...alternatively you could just go nuts on style.css without ever needing to touch PHP, but it's worth learning a little bit of PHP nonetheless. There's a lot of cool stuff you can do with even a basic understanding.

 

[johno69]

Wordpress is user friendly. Even more so with 3.3.

Add "White Label CMS" plugin and you can hide all the elements you don't want them to see.

Essentially making only the "Text & Images" available to edit.

 

[dave]

Definitely go with WordPress, and in saying that you would be mad not to look at one of the frameworks such as Genesis or Thesis.

The initial learning curve may be a bit steep but I can guarantee that once you get your head around how they work you will find that it will save you hours in the future (especially as you build up your own custom code library of reusable functions).

 

[aus11]

Definitely go with WordPress, and in saying that you would be mad not to look at one of the frameworks such as Genesis or Thesis.

I agree! I recently got Genesis and have slowly started converting all my websites over to it.

 

[Webfunk]

Thanks to everyone for the information!

Would it be a good idea to write the static site first, THEN alter it towards a WP theme?

 

[johno69]

Thanks to everyone for the information!

Would it be a good idea to write the static site first, THEN alter it towards a WP theme?

No. I'd suggest picking a base theme, then morph it into what you want/need.

 

[Ash]

And don't forget to create a 'child theme' so you can still easily update the parent theme without breaking your website or having to rewrite your custom code in files such as functions.php, single.php etc...

 

[Webfunk]

Definitely go with WordPress, and in saying that you would be mad not to look at one of the frameworks such as Genesis or Thesis.

The initial learning curve may be a bit steep but I can guarantee that once you get your head around how they work you will find that it will save you hours in the future (especially as you build up your own custom code library of reusable functions).

These frameworks confuse me... I just had a look at the Genesis site, and it seems like you're paying to use pre-made designs? Which isn't want I want to do, I want to do the designing, that's what I'm getting paid for.

Can someone please explain how something like Genesis fits into my workflow?

I use DW when I create my sites, and I like writing the XHTML & CSS from scratch, so I'd prefer not to use another program to start from scratch. I'm looking to do what I normally do in DW, and somehow get the html and css files into a CMS and indicate what sections I want to be editable.

Is this not how it works? lol maybe I'm just over-thinking things??

 

[dave]

Would it be a good idea to write the static site first, THEN alter it towards a WP theme?

No Way! Best way to go is pick out a WordPress theme that is close to what you want and then start making slight modifications.

Like I said earlier, it takes a bit to get your head around it but once you do you will be really excited by the opportunities beyond plain old HTML and CSS. Keep in mind also that both Genesis and thesis have great user forums and a lot of good code has already been written and released for you to use.

 

[johno69]

you may be interested in this: http://www.lynda.com/Dreamweaver-CS5-tutorials/and-wordpress-3/60272-2.html

To me it seems overkill, but you can have dreamweaver totally create your wordpress template for you with your own design.

 

[Webfunk]

you may be interested in this: http://www.lynda.com/Dreamweaver-CS5-tutorials/and-wordpress-3/60272-2.html

To me it seems overkill, but you can have dreamweaver totally create your wordpress template for you with your own design.

Thanks for the link johno! I'm currently watching another WordPress related tutorial on lynda, but I didn't see that one. Will watch it next, might be what I was thinking of...

I can almost guarantee that after I finally wrap my head around all of this and make my first WP site, I will look back at this and slap myself haha.

 

[Victor]

Can someone please explain how something like Genesis fits into my workflow?

The Genesis framework gives you a pretty solid and flexible base to create custom child themes. It's got a ton of hooks to work with and the Genesis simple hooks plugin makes it, well, simple. Check out the Thematic site if you don't know what WP hooks are - it's got a good explanation of child themes and hooks.

I'd say there's not much point creating a static site and then converting it into a WP theme. You're better off just doing the design and then making a WP theme from it.

 

[djuqa]

I will throw a spanner in the discussion
JOOMLA! 1.5.25
Simple , elegant and easy to integrate custom templates.

 

[johno69]

I will throw a spanner in the discussion
JOOMLA! 1.5.25
Simple , elegant and easy to integrate custom templates.

I liked J 1.5 also. But seems the major upgrades and lack of upgraded components were always a headache.

I too have a component that I sell for 1.5 and haven't bothered to update it as yet.

 

[Snooks]

Out of interest, ive just spent 3 months looking and trying to learn Joomla, Mambo, Drupal and one or two lesser known of the cms's.

Ive now gone back to WP. I concede my skills are low and try as hard as i can, i simply cant get my head around them and cant make a decent site. The closest ive come to anything decent was when i was using Mambo, which i believe Joomla is based upon......

Sadly, i think you either get it pretty fast or like me, you are just incapable of learning. Ive invested probably 60hrs reading, watching videos on you tube and other sites and gone the circle back to WP where i can make something half decent, from a template, in 30 mins.

Im very dissapointed after trying so hard