CMS Made Simple Forums

Posted: **Sun Dec 19, 2010 3:04 pm**

I agree Mr. Dude. I have A LOT to learn and it's overwhelming. I think I've read just about everything on the CMS site. I don't know if it is just me but when I try to learn all this coding, css stuff, it's like a read a paragraph that uses foreign coding words to me, I have to then stop, go find out what the word means, then go back to the orginal paragraph... Gosh, it just blows. LOL And so dang dry. LOL

I did the entire existing website but it was basically point and click using netidnow.com.

Why didn't I marry a coder?

Posted: **Sun Dec 19, 2010 3:07 pm**

Sorry Uniq... but was is a "forum intended system" and can it be integrated in a single sign on system behind a member's only page? Currently we have about 3500 forum members and about 60k posts.

Posted: **Sun Dec 19, 2010 3:19 pm**

Sorry to hog up this forum and I won't much further but just wondering if you all think the site below could be duplicated in appearance using CMS?

http://www.arthritis.org/

Posted: **Sun Dec 19, 2010 3:20 pm**

Check this http://calguy1000.com/downloads.html to find your way through with FrontEndUsers and CustomContent, also use Forum search there are many solved topics that can help you and also Tips&Tricks section.
Also WIKI might be helpful to :) http://wiki.cmsmadesimple.org/index.php/Main_Page

I know it costs some time to go throught all this info/documentation but this will be the case in any system you decide to choose.

Regarding reducing costs with a Professional, i was refering to hours you will spend with learning and setting up your system, if you account these hours you will most possibly get a number that will be above estimated cost.

Posted: **Sun Dec 19, 2010 4:07 pm**

GabbyG wrote: Sorry to hog up this forum and I won't much further but just wondering if you all think the site below could be duplicated in appearance using CMS?

http://www.arthritis.org/

CMSMS doesn't control the appearance of a site.. It just controls the content. I think you might be confused as to what CMSMS is. This and other CMS's aren't "site creators" where it asks you questions,you type in content and it creates a site.

CMSMS requires that you know how to design a website. The minimum knowledge required is HTML and CSS (we don't consider this coding, that's where we might have been misunderstanding each other

). Once you have designed your website, you "hand it over" to CMSMS to handle users, content, etc.

CMSMS is "simple" for web designers to integrate into their sites and is "simple" for regular non-techie users to manage, once a professional sets it up, but as you have found out, is not easy for non-techies to "create a site" with, as that's not what it does.

Paid online membership
Member's Only Pages
Four Interactive Databases
Online Donations Integrated , not paypal.
Integrated Member's Only Forum with smiley and avatar upload similiar to VBulletin
Integrated Member's Olly Chat
Member Profiles
Non mMember Profiles

To be honest, that list sounds too complicated even for me.

I'm really not trying to discourage you. It's amazing what one can learn when they have a real need to. I'm just trying to make sure you understand what's involved.

Posted: **Sun Dec 19, 2010 4:35 pm**

Dear Wishbone,
Thank you for your honesty and help. Yes, after today, I'm figuring that really my biggest problem is with design and I have no clue. I have been able to create everything on my list using an ecommerce host BUT required a good 3-4 months, 20 hours a day of my personal time in development and using some imagination in making an ecommerce site work as a non profit site. Surprisingly, most of an NPO site is e commerce and basic data. The problem is that we are getting killed with hosting and I'm not able to intregate as well as I need to. Example is that I'm inlining my forum and it's a real pain in the ass to have two login systems and of course costs more. I'll send you a PM with the site I've just created. God it took so much time that I made myself physically sick.

That is what is so frustrating to me. This appears to be a really good system but I'm to0 inexperienced to use it right now.

Gabby

Posted: **Sun Dec 19, 2010 7:10 pm**

Thank you for looking at CMS Made Simple.

The site you outline is fairly complicated but very doable. I would suggest breaking it done into small parts so it doesn't feel like you are trying to eat an elephant.

Paid online membership
Member's Only Pages
As Mentioned: FrontEndUsers and Custom Content
FrontEndUsers now has a "Registration" part the integrates with Cart and Orders for Paid Memberships
Four Interactive Databases
Need more details on what this is. Databases store data, we need to know the types of applications using that data to help point you to a module.
Online Donations Integrated , not paypal.
If you don't want paypal, what payment gateway do you want to use? Unless you are going to use one that is already coded, this will probably require hiring someone. Last time I coded one it was around ($1000-$2000USD)
Integrated Member's Only Forum with smiley and avatar upload similiar to VBulletin
Forum Made Simple is a basic forum that I use on one of my clients site. It can be setup to use an uploaded image on the user profile for the avatar. It also uses group membership from FrontEndUsers for permissions to read/post.
Integrated Member's Olly Chat
Depending what you want by this, it should be able to be done with jquery/javascript application, some custom setup maybe needed if you want it to automatically pull the members username for the login.
Member Profiles
Non mMember Profiles
Can be done with CGUserDirectory, have a FrontEndUser's group being "Guest" for the non-Member Profiles and then another group for those that have paid.

Posted: **Sun Dec 19, 2010 11:18 pm**

GabbyG wrote: This is what they need:

Paid online membership
Member's Only Pages
Four Interactive Databases
Online Donations Integrated , not paypal.
Integrated Member's Only Forum with smiley and avatar upload similiar to VBulletin
Integrated Member's Olly Chat
Member Profiles
Non mMember Profiles

Why four databases? One for site content, one for ecom info, one for the forum, and one for???? seems way like overkill to me...

From your earlier posts, your biggest issue seems to be cost of hosting. This is completely unrelated to CMSMS. You can run a plain HTML site on a cheap host or an expensive one, and you can run CMSMS on a cheap host or an expensive one. If your current site works well, why not try to address your hosting issues first? What are you currently paying per year for hosting?

Posted: **Mon Dec 20, 2010 1:20 am**

Thanks so much guys. Sorry for the late response as I had to step away for my own sanity. LOL

Regarding the databases. Because we are a NPO, additional databases are always necessary. Such has find a provider, find a support group, provider database profiles, and so on. Our forum is offsite at the moment because it cannnot be integrated with my current CMS, so that is another website we have to maintain and pay for. We are actually going to need two more searchable databases in the near future.

The current host I'm using now does not offer their clients back end access, meaning I don't have access to servers and hosting control panel, just design and implementation panel. Our cost for all three of our sites now just to host is close to 150 a month, this incluced all of the above. So, If I learn how to do this myself through our new test host, Arvixe, you can see the great savings to my organization this will be.

If I just had easy HTML site than yes I could host with any cheap host, but this is not the case.

Posted: **Mon Dec 20, 2010 1:26 am**

Jeff thank you very much for your reply. I'm gonna keep on trying. I also downloaded another CMS system today and gonna check that out this week. Regarding the paypal... I'm sorry I wasn't clear. I don't mind using paypal but I need it to be integrated fully so the transaction completes on my site not taken to the paypal site to be completed.

I really think if I could find a good design, I may be able to use this program with a lot of Whiskey and tylenol. LOL Not because the program is crappy, just my coding skills. The program is great.

Posted: **Mon Dec 20, 2010 2:38 am**

As for the "four databases". Look at CompanyDirectory, you might be able to just have four categories for the listings and have it all in one place.

Posted: **Mon Dec 20, 2010 2:59 am**

GabbyG wrote: Thanks so much guys. Sorry for the late response as I had to step away for my own sanity. LOL

Regarding the databases. Because we are a NPO, additional databases are always necessary. Such has find a provider, find a support group, provider database profiles, and so on. Our forum is offsite at the moment because it cannnot be integrated with my current CMS, so that is another website we have to maintain and pay for. We are actually going to need two more searchable databases in the near future.

The current host I'm using now does not offer their clients back end access, meaning I don't have access to servers and hosting control panel, just design and implementation panel. Our cost for all three of our sites now just to host is close to 150 a month, this incluced all of the above. So, If I learn how to do this myself through our new test host, Arvixe, you can see the great savings to my organization this will be.

If I just had easy HTML site than yes I could host with any cheap host, but this is not the case.

I could be wrong, but I bet you could consolidate all of your databases into one. I'm not sure why a NPO would require multiple databases any more than an ecommerce site, multinational company, etc. I think there may be some misinterpretation of exactly what a "database" means. CMSMS runs on a single database. Within that database, you can have many different types of information - i.e. user profiles, ecom products, calendar events, etc (which today might be spread throughout several different databases). That's one of the beauties of a CMS.

For $150/mo, I would certainly expect at minimum a control panel of some sort, along with backend access to the db's, shell access, etc. Holy smokes, that's a lot of money. Hopefully a dedicated SSL certificate is included in that.

And by "cheap" host, I don't mean a low-quality host. I mean it is possible to find high-quality hosting at a reasonable price. Certainly you can find low quality at high prices as well as the reverse.

Posted: **Thu Dec 23, 2010 3:11 pm**

In case no one else has already mentioned it, you should buy and read the Beginner's Guide to CMSMS which is available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/CMS-Made-Simple-1 ... 1847198201

It leads you through the creation of a simple site with a lot of the same functionality you have listed as your requirements. The book is written with an older version of CMSMS in mind, but all the basic principles still apply.

Work you way through this book, then read the the CMSMS wiki and the forum for any advanced topics. You should be good to go!

Sanjay

Posted: **Thu Dec 30, 2010 4:12 pm**

Hi Gabby, just a quick thought - have you considered sourcing a local computing student to help you with development? They tend to charge a lot less, as generally their aim is to build a portfolio before making a profit. You might even find one nice enough to help you out for free. The only cost here being it might be a little less than professional standard, and maybe take a bit longer as they are learning too. But students are not to be underestimated

Also, 150/month? Ouch. My host provides business hosting (sounds like it would cover everything you need) for that price per two years (including free domain for life, lots of extras and a great support team)...

Anyway, good luck with your site!

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