how do I know which CMS will work for me?

[M@rtijn]

I looked at the site already. Please elaborate on why you think CMSMS won't work. Perhaps I'm missing something...

I already explained, as did Calguy ... what part of that do you not understand?

Calguy did not say it is impossible. I think the main point he raised in his post is this:

Besides, it is my belief and experience that in 99% of the cases where people think they need thousands of pages, they are usually displaying specialized data (for example Products, or a directory site, or some other type of data that is better suited to a module specially suited for that type of data. (i.e: I've seen sites using the Products module with thousands of products).

And I guess that is exactly what jmcgin51 is pointing out. Forget putting everything on individual pages, start thinking in modules, one of the main advantages of a CMS.

To get back on-topic (Suzanne's question), this is a very good thought:

You *could* leave the site "as is" and label it "archive" and start a whole new website, where you cross-reference the pages.

[Suzanne]

Alex,

Expression web is $149 apiece here in the US. That's not cheap. We have no budget. Our site doesn't make any money, and the people who work on my site are volunteers. Often they are unemployed or stay-at-home moms, so they can't afford expensive programs like that, and I can't afford to buy it for them. Also, having to install and learn it is tough for many people. That's why I was wanting something that was more like a blog-like or some other simple interface where new volunteers didn't need to know so much in order to upload information.

We use CSS on our site. I don't know it very well, but I don't think you can make a complete design change with it the way I like to do....

Thanks for the info about the dedicated servers...I'm fairly sure that all my websites are on one server. I don't share it with other customers or anything like that. I have three main sites, tvmegasite.net, suzann.com and soapsgirl.org (and a few smaller sites).

We can use Expression web right now. It works fine with Frontpage extensions on our server. That's not the problem. The problem is that it's not cheap, and it's hard to find people who already know it, or Frontpage, or buy it for new volunteers who want to learn it, or expect them to buy it.

Thanks for your help!

[faglork]

Alex,

Expression web is $149 apiece here in the US. That's not cheap. We have no budget. Our site doesn't make any money, and the people who work on my site are volunteers. Often they are unemployed or stay-at-home moms, so they can't afford expensive programs like that, and I can't afford to buy it for them.

I see ...

We use CSS on our site. I don't know it very well, but I don't think you can make a complete design change with it the way I like to do....

With a standards-compliant, pure CSS-driven site: should be no problem. With frontpage: just forget it.

Thanks for the info about the dedicated servers...I'm fairly sure that all my websites are on one server.

That's not necessarily a dedicated server. "dedicated server" means that you are the the owner or the one and only user of this server, so only your websites run on it.
If you do a reverse DNS lookup, there are at least 18 websites on this server. So it looks like a shared server, which is just "normal" webhosting business. In such an environment, server ressources are restricted, which is ok for static pages, but can get you into real trouble with dynamic database-driven pages.

To sum it up:

If you want to run this site on a CMS, you need either professional help or at least someone who

• is very familiar with "running huge sites on a CMS"

• understands what you want/need

• can get a realistic(!) opinion on how much effort and money is needed

An important issue: You need someone to maintain the site. Of course, you could do it by yourself, but from your postings I gather that you are not the "coding type" (correct me if I'm wrong). Running a CMS is not like using Frontpage. For the editors, work is generally more easy with a CMS, but to setup a site this big and keep it running can be a daunting task even for an experienced administrator.

But of course, this is only *my* opinion.
Cheers,
Alex

[faglork]

And I guess that is exactly what jmcgin51 is pointing out. Forget putting everything on individual pages, start thinking in modules, one of the main advantages of a CMS.

Well, have you looked at the TV Megasite?
What would *you* put into which module?
And how performant/scalable is that module?
With thousands of pages in the database, will it run in a shared environment?

There are some modules that come to mind, yes, but will they work on such a scale?

There is only one solution IMO: Build a test site with generated sample content and see how it actually performs. This should be fairly easy, since for testing, you don't need any nice looks, you can use the bare system, so to speak.

Cheers,
Alex