CMS Made Simple Forums

i hope i am posting this in the right forum.
ok here goes...
i am a very new web designer. very new as in still-in-school. i'm just learning database creation. i php/asp class is next semester.
i work for a nonprofit, and theyve commissioned me to create a website for them. it's going to need a forum, blog, some flash elements, simple scripts.
my situation: i need to make the site in some kind of cms system so they can update/keep it going themselves, because they can't afford to have me do all the updates obviously.

i have a friend with experience in psp and database stuff, and he's agreed to work with me, however he's never dealt with any type of cms. at my old job, i was responsible for website maintenance/updates through xcart and typo3 (front end) so i understand how it works for the user.

i need to have the site done sometime around september. it is not a urgent urgent deadline, so there will be time for me to learn.
here's my question: is it realistic to try to teach myself to create this website in a cms?? i need to learn it because eventually i will be working with them to move their main site into a cms and that is much larger than this secondary one i am working on.

everybody in this forum seems nice, and i am sorry if my question is stupid. i would like to use your program because it has gotten good reviews on other boards.

thank you so much.
jamie

Hi Jamie,

The best advice I can give is to try it out. If you have the oppotunity to set up a test site and play around with cmsms, I think that would be the best way for you to find the answer to your question.

It is absolutly realistic to learn cmsms in the time frame you are talking about (it really is very intuitive, and easy. If you have any previous experience of web page creation, using cmsms will be like a dream - fully flexible, yet simple  )
And as you say, the forum is active and friendly, which can make a big difference.

That said, you should know that CMSMS is not really comparable with typo3, they are quite different things. If you want to, you can "feel" at some different open source cms at: http://www.opensourcecms.com/

Best of luck!
Z

Hello,

I agree, trying is usefull. You see by yourself with some help of your PHP-SQL experienced friend.
But beware the skill requirements
http://wiki.cmsmadesimple.org/index.php ... quirements
May be you can first begin with http://www.kompozer.net/ then motorize your site with CMSms. Take care of your design : have templates from the start.

Pierre M.