CMS Made Simple Forums

Hello all,

First of all I have to say that I'm totally new to the CMS technology, I know nothing about it. 

I know how to create static web pages and upload them to a server though.

Now to get things going.

Do I need to have a server that meets certain requirements? ie. PHP & MySQL

My current ISP doesn't allow that so I want to use my other computer for now, if at all possible. I have Windows XP Pro SP2 installed on it right now.

Where do I go from here? What can/should I do next?

I want to have a website with a database of all my music videos (well over 1000), home movies, photos, etc., but I have no idea how to set up such a website.

A friend said that I needed a content management system, but they couldn't offer any help or advice on how to design one and that's why I came here, hopefully the right place. 

Any advice is greatly appreciated,
Cheers,
ziggy

Hello Ziggy,

yes you need to have both PHP and MySQL available. I have "XAMPP" running locally, which installs/runs both on the local system. Off course there are other applications that can be used as well. If you installed one of them, you can install/run CMSMS from there. Basically you are able to download/install all available modules http://dev.cmsmadesimple.org that you want for your site. Several modules are available for different purposes. The main page of the dev-site shows a list of most downloaded modules.

Ronny

Hello all,

I got the application you mentioned above and installed it. Can you elaborate more on the details of how to set up CMSMS on the system because I have no idea where to go from here.

Thanx for now,
Cheers,
ziggy

Hello ziggy,

ziggy wrote: ...Can you elaborate more on the details of how to set up CMSMS...

Well, you should RTFM. The install guide, at least. http://wiki.cmsmadesimple.org/ is your friend.
As you "know how to create static web pages and upload them to a server", you may be interested by this other one :
http://wiki.cmsmadesimple.org/index.php ... with_CMSms
...but it is being written, not finished yet.

Have fun !

Pierre M.

Hello all,

Somebody please explain to me what the purpose of a "Forum" is. I don't know.

I took for granted that it was a place to ask for advice/help on issues with the hope in mind that someone else, who's come across the same situation, might be able to assist/guide us through the basics of what they did to accomplish certain things. How foolish of me to completely miss the point of a forum.   

Now that I know that people on forums only have the courtesy and kindness to tell others to "Read The Fucking Manual", no names mentioned here as I do not feel the need to stoop down to that level of ignorance, I only have to look at where this kind of answer is coming from to derive a conclusion as to where the answer should go.

If the person I'm refering to here can't even understand any of this, let me know as I'll have no trouble giving tutorials/advice/help on simple idiosyncrasies. Otherwise, grow up!!! 

A final note, I won't this advice too seriously and judge the entire forum community based on one person because I do believe that there are a lot of people out there willing to help out. It's just the people that have nothing better to do that feel the need to add their two cents worth.

If it's sooooo simple, then why is it sooooo difficult to give a proper answer??? 

Engineering degree??? 

Cheers,
ziggy

P.S. I'll be surprised if I don't get banned from the forum after this one. On the other hand, I may have made a point that many others were too afraid to say. 

ziggy wrote: Hello all,

First of all I have to say that I'm totally new to the CMS technology, I know nothing about it. 

I know how to create static web pages and upload them to a server though.

Now to get things going.

Your first piece of advise is that CMS is not made for people who don't know web site development. You should know some things about MySQL, CSS, and HTML development, and the basics of installing some packages in hosted environmnents.  (Knowledge of FTP, permissions, etc).

If you can get past that... then CMS is simple.

Do I need to have a server that meets certain requirements? ie. PHP & MySQL

Yes, CMS requires a database, and is built with PHP so, yes you need that (and a few other things).  All of these requirements should be in the docs.

My current ISP doesn't allow that so I want to use my other computer for now, if at all possible. I have Windows XP Pro SP2 installed on it right now.

Where do I go from here? What can/should I do next?

You should install XAMPP, or another such package that provides apache, mysql, and php, etc.  And learn to use it relatively well, or at least learn how to configure it.

I want to have a website with a database of all my music videos (well over 1000), home movies, photos, etc., but I have no idea how to set up such a website.

A friend said that I needed a content management system, but they couldn't offer any help or advice on how to design one and that's why I came here, hopefully the right place. 

Any advice is greatly appreciated,
Cheers,
ziggy

Well, to use a content management system, you'll need to do a fair bit of reading and learning.  If you're up to that, then we're up to pointing you in the right directionn.

ziggy wrote: Hello all,

Somebody please explain to me what the purpose of a "Forum" is. I don't know.

I took for granted that it was a place to ask for advice/help on issues with the hope in mind that someone else, who's come across the same situation, might be able to assist/guide us through the basics of what they did to accomplish certain things. How foolish of me to completely miss the point of a forum.   

Now that I know that people on forums only have the courtesy and kindness to tell others to "Read The Fucking Manual", no names mentioned here as I do not feel the need to stoop down to that level of ignorance, I only have to look at where this kind of answer is coming from to derive a conclusion as to where the answer should go.

If the person I'm refering to here can't even understand any of this, let me know as I'll have no trouble giving tutorials/advice/help on simple idiosyncrasies. Otherwise, grow up!!! 

A final note, I won't this advice too seriously and judge the entire forum community based on one person because I do believe that there are a lot of people out there willing to help out. It's just the people that have nothing better to do that feel the need to add their two cents worth.

If it's sooooo simple, then why is it sooooo difficult to give a proper answer??? 

Engineering degree??? 

Cheers,
ziggy

P.S. I'll be surprised if I don't get banned from the forum after this one. On the other hand, I may have made a point that many others were too afraid to say. 

I think both Pierre and Ronny were kind enough to give you some pointers on where you should get started and you're just being plain nasty with your response and still pretending you don't want to be offensive by saying you don't want to mention their names. They told you where to get started and that's what you should do, if you don't like reading or don't understand the basic guides, then a PHP/MySQL-based CMS might not be for you. People are here to help, if they choose to do so, they're not here to do the job for you.

Hello ziggy,

I'm sorry my answer has hurt you. I didn't want to hurt you.

In CMSms context, RTFM is Read The Fantastic Manual. Anybody who dares read it knows this.

You first question is about requirements (PHP/MySQL...). Here is what the FM has about them :
http://wiki.cmsmadesimple.org/index.php ... quirements
Isn't it the "sooooo simple" answer to your question ? "is it sooooo difficult" to read the FM ?

To begin locally on your XP computer, Ronny (and then calguy1000) has given you a nice advice : XAMPP.
Then, you ask on this CMSms support forum "Where do I go from here? What can/should I do next?". Hey,  why not installing the software ?
http://wiki.cmsmadesimple.org/index.php ... stallation
Lots of people find this guide usefull. Many of them even don't need support about installation, only about extensions.

And as you have said "I'm totally new to the CMS technology, I know nothing about it.  I know how to create static web pages and upload them to a server" I have thought this is for you :
http://wiki.cmsmadesimple.org/index.php ... with_CMSms

Doesn't all of this "guides through the basics" ?

May be I "can't even understand any of this". May be you haven't read the Fantastic Manual before posting.
Improving this Fantastic Manual is done with free time, as is support here, as is dev there. For everybody on Earth including you.

Pierre M.

Hello all,

First off I would just like to say that I wasn't being nasty or rude to anyone here. I was simply stating a point that occurs far too often in forums. And, if anyone reads any other forums as I do, you too will have seen "RTFM" many times before and it doesn't mean "Read The Fantastic Manual".

Pierre's last post states "In CMSMS context, RTFM is Read The Fantastic Manual. Anybody who dares read it knows this." In my initial post, I clearly stated that I didn't know anything about CMSMS, so I obviously I haven't read the whole manual, yet, and therefore wouldn't know that RTFM has a different meaning in "CMSMS context" than it does in the rest of the world.

I apologize to Pierre M. for my ignorance of not knowing that the term "RTFM" has a different meaning here. 

If I may make a suggestion for future reference, I wouldn't recommend using the term "RTFM" because it obviously can be misinterpreted by others, but hey, to each his own. Personally, I wouldn't use it.

Also, I don't "pretend" about anything. If I have something to say, I say it! And if it's misinterpreted or misunderstood, ask me about it because if you really knew me, you'd know that I'm not rude or cruel, unless provoked.

Anyway, enough babling as it could be misinterpreted also. 
Cheers,
ziggy 

Hello all,

Interesting!!! I hadn't been back at this site for a few days, but just before I logged on, I saw that 240 people have viewed this thread.

I've looked at some of the other threads on this site, even just looking at the first page of the "Installation Help" section and the only threads that have had more views that this one were started at least 5 months ago and this thread is less than a week old.

You know what that tells me??? Obviously I'm not the only person that has had the same question about "Website with database design" or that there quite a few people that have nothing better to do than read a thread/post with a basic/easy topic, which I heavily doubt because "People aren't that nuts!!!". Not to mention the fact that I haven't been banned from this forum or even had this post deleted due to it's content. 

I did in fact spend some time doing what was suggested in an earlier reply to this thread, which stated that I "RTFM". I also spent some time searching this forum in an effort to figure out what to do because the answers I've gotten on this topic quite frankly suck!!! 

Now, to those people who are actually interested in some "Real" answers to this thread, it took me all of about 2 hours to find a FREE web hosting service, that supported MySQL, CGI, Pearl, PHP, etc. and I installed and set up my "Website with a database" as stated in the topic of this thread.

That's about 2-3 hours from start to finish for someone who started with not knowing anything about database driven websites!!! So what I'm saying is, don't waste your time with this system or with the people on this forum who respond to posts with "RTFM". Like I said earlier, I DID spend some time reading the manual and other threads on this forum and I haven't seen a reference to "RTFM" as "Read The Fantastic Manual" anywhere. 

As far as I'm concerned, these people only reply with answers like "RTFM" because they simply don't know themselves but they feel a need to reply to posts/threads because they feel they must say something to make themselves feel important and worthy due to their insecurities.

I would say where I found the free web hosting service and give step-by-step instructions on what I did to get my site up and running to try to help others who are searching for the same answers as I was, but I think that I would only be helping out the asses that did post replies to this post.

It would also be free advertising for the hosting service that I found and the CMS system that I'm using, obviously not CMSMS. I simply couldn't believe how simple the step-by-step guide was to follow to get my site running. Now that's the type of help, support, friendliness, guides and service that everyone should receive.

For those still looking for a Content Management System, I would never recommend CMSMS!!! Not because of the system itself, but because of the developers and the type of people that are a part of the forum network responding to threads.

Cheers,
ziggy