CMS Made Simple Forums

Hi.  I'm the volunteer webmaster for a small nonprofit in Salem, Oregon.  My site is here:
http://www.WillametteArtCenter.com  It's all handwritten HTML with a smidgeon of Javascript--I'm a fossil with years of FORTRAN programming before the Web was around, and I like doing things Old School.

The problem is that the nonprofit has become busy enough that I can't keep up with the news and edits to the website.  One gal said she'd help edit if she could use Dreamweaver.  I don't even remember why, but it never was able to couple properly with the site.  Then recently a couple of gals volunteered to be "content editors," but they also can't handle the concept of editing the HTML directly (eyeroll).  They like WordPress.  So, after several hours of messing around with WP, I'm finding it's WAY OVERKILL for what I need, and too complex to filter down to just the parts I want.

Finally surfed my way here to CMSMS by way of b2evolution, and this sounds promising.  Simplicity is definitely a component I'm looking for. 

I want to continue to use my current layout, buttons, zebra tables, etc--basically my existing CSS files--to display 90% of the content, with just a few areas on  certain pages that will be update-able by other users, blog or news-item style.  If you look at the link, for example, on the first page, I'd like these volunteer editors to be able to update only the news in the Green Side Boxes.  And of course, the interface for them to make their edits has to be all (gagging sound) User Friendly, preferably resembling the WordPress dashboard.

My question is, Can I Use CMSMS Do That?

More specificallly, can I hardcode some sort of Small Component or Subroutine of CMSMS directly in my existing page to give these volunteers access, without having to overhaul my site and create a gorram "Template" and "Skins" and other stuff that will just duplicate my current CSS?

Help?

*crossing my fingers*

fawkes_07 wrote:More specificallly, can I hardcode some sort of Small Component or Subroutine of CMSMS directly in my existing page to give these volunteers access, without having to overhaul my site and create a gorram "Template" and "Skins" and other stuff that will just duplicate my current CSS?

The beauty of CMSms is that creating a template is... simple! A template is simply your html file. Replace your title line with {sitename} - {title}. Replace the main content with {content}. In the control panel, create global content blocks. Put the content of your little green boxes in them.. Whenever you need a little green box, you can put something like.
..and so forth.

The most difficult part usually is the menu. You will have to understand how the menu manager works, and a little bit of Smarty programming. In my first CMSms site, I just hard-coded the menus, but when you get the menu manager working, whenever you add a new page in the admin panel, you automatically get a new menu (or sub-menu) items when it's saved.

Try the demo at the top of this page so that you can see how the admin panel works. "Downloads" -> "Demo"

ooooooOOOOOoooo, I like the sound of this already.

I'll check out the demo.  BUT...

How hard is it to "understand how the Menu Manager works?"  Is there documentation? If so, got a link?  What I've found so far is that most CMS's SEEM able to do what I want, but the problem is, you kind of have to be a pro already at using them in order to MAKE them do it... and geez, I don't want to be a pro, I just want to learn enough to set this one website up so these HTML wimps can edit with their cute little dashboard instead of cPanel. 

I've done some PHP programing (reminds me of C) but not "Smarty..." whatever that is.  Like I said, Old School FORTRAN.  I LIKE to have my computer utterly crash because I used a comma instead of a semicolon. 

You are scaring yourself too much. There is nothing to it. Sure, it is a step above clicking a button, but you won't be rewriting your website just to fit CMSMS.

And once you put that tiny investment down into converting to CMSMS, updating something is a snap.

You can start right now with a test installation. Then take a look at the "minimal template". Those few tags are all that is needed to convert the website. Not so with other CMSes.

I agree with replytom3k

CMSms should be just about perfect for your needs

No need to know PHP, though if you do know it you're just that much farther ahead.  Learning the Smarty syntax is straightforward and nothing to fear if you already have programming experience.

The best thing you can do is download and install it on a local PC or hosted site, and give it a test-drive.

or try it here instead:
http://php.opensourcecms.com/scripts/de ... e%20Simple

Guys, don't mention Smarty, OK? If you look at the website, all I see is a straight template without any need to mention scary things like Smarty and PHP.

Smarty is core to CMSMS and is implemented to make it easier for professional website developers to make powerful and flexible websites without having to dive into PHP or perl or other more complex languages.

It is required knowledge to using this system.  Developing websites in CMSMS without a basic understanding of smarty. html and css is like building cars without a basic understanding of the internal combustion engine.... just stupid.

replytomk3 wrote: Guys, don't mention Smarty, OK? If you look at the website, all I see is a straight template without any need to mention scary things like Smarty and PHP.

Learning S****y isn't really necessary for a very simple site, as long as your menu structure is identical to the menu managers default template... If your menu is any different, you will have to learn S****y.

As I said though, until you get used to it, you can hard-code your menu in the template and no need to deal with the menu manager.

Even the most simple sites will make use of the {stylesheet} and {content} and {metadata} tags, among others.  Users with no knowledge of what Smarty is or the role it plays in CMSms will not understand these "non-standard" (from an HTML-syntax point of view) items, and may be inclined to delete them, thinking they are simple placeholders in the template.

I'm with Calguy.  You have to have at least some basic level of Smarty knowledge.  The more you know, the easier your life gets, especially as you realize the power it unlocks in your site.

*snerk* You guys are funny.

Ok, now that I'm back from Spring Break (took the kids to play in the snow) I'm going to dive into some of this stuff.  I'll probably be back with more questions.  Thanks for helping me get started! 

Hi fawkes,

do not be too frightened off by what is written here. I re-entered the IT business
after having been away for some time, VAX VMS was my thing.

CMSMS is not to difficult to use, start with some standard layout,
you will learn how to handle the CSS in the process, the menu is made
with lists.
I learned a lot about the way PHP/HTML/CSS/Javascript make up for CMSMS
just by analysing how it was done this helps in understanding the more I learned
the more I like it.

Smarty is something you may want to learn later, I have not needed much of it
until now and I have sold 4 sites and build 8 testsites with CMSMS.

Wish you good luck and do not be afraid to ask!

Kind regards,
Jan

Smarty is NOT easier than PHP... if you already know PHP. 

Smarty is sort of... macros in HTML.  Not like a fullblown language, and very similar logically to PHP so you'll "get it" rapidly.

I'm not much further ahead than you, I installed the thing, converted my template, and had to learn a bit of Smarty to get it to really do what I wanted.

I'd say you'd be very limited with CMSMS without Smarty.  That being said... it's not like you have to sit down and learn a language for a week.  I think I've spent maybe a couple hours actually reading the manual, mostly I've just cutting-and-pasting other people's Smarty code and adjusting it. 

Really, it depends what you want to do.  Cause really, I could've just hardcoded my menus, but am thinking about using CMSMS for several things as web development is what I do, so I am specifically trying to learn it.

But if you only deal with the one site, you can convert your HTML/CSS over pretty fast.  You'll have to cut-and-paste the current pages into the database, which will be a boring job. 

But then it will be very easy to edit.  I would say the backend is a lot easier than Wordpress, in that I think I can teach this to folks who would have trouble with Wordpress.