CMS Made Simple Forums

Hi,

I'v been away for a while doing Joomla websites among other things. But for more 'basic' sites I still did not know what to do. I use dreamweaver/contribute f.e. but misses the 'active' bit like newspostings.

So know i'v come back to see the new 1.0.xx version of cmsms. And I must admite, I'v set up a site and converted a template within hours. And it looks much more professional and complete now. So I feel happy with it.

However I think it is not really simple anymore. Especially for 'beginners'. I think you must keep your original idea intact, be simple.

Anyway. Keep up the good work.

Hi Gasoline,

As a user who became engaged in the development of CMS Made Simple because of its simplicity (but not contributing very much to the code itself) I'd be interested in hearing what you find is no longer "simple". I agree that is one of the most important factors to consider for CMSMS and would appreciate a discussion on this issue.

• What is in there that doesn't have to be in there, if we now only think of the newbie users?
• What that is included in 1.0 could be easier to understand for a beginner?

It's not easy to both keep it as simple as possible and still allow for popular demands to be met by allowing for modules etc. to be added. But a discussion on the issue is important indeed.

It seems to me that the philosophy is in place for a simple system, since add-on functionality is handled by modules. The base installation of CMSMS seems to be simple enough in that it does what most people expect a cms to do out of the box. By this I mean that it:

1. adds, deletes, and reorders pages.
2. it allows people to either edit by hand or to use a wysiwyg.
3. it ships with a sample template, so people can easily see how to modify it for their purposes.
4. it handles all sql to the database other than setting up a database and an initial user.
5. it's easy to update.
6. with the news module that ships with it, it allows a "blog-like" function for quickly expiring information.
7. it handles a number of navigation menu styles that automatically update with changes to the site.
8. it handles user and group permissions for sites with multiple authors.

I'm missing some things and I'm not using the right terminology for others, but I think this is "basically" a sketch of what any user needs/wants in a simple cms package, and CMSMS does this. In terms of keeping it simple, I think what we need is a number of slight improvements in what exists, rather than a hemorrhaging of basic functionality. I don't think the base install is bloated at all, or that it suffers from scope creep.

I think the basic install, in order to make it "simpler," needs more of what the 1.0.x had for a goal, which I think was stability. For example:

The "adds, deletes, and reorders pages" functionality (including how it works with the navigation menu) needs to be diamond-hardness rock solid. Right now it's still possible to force errors, so this, in my mind, should be addressed in the next release, (I think it is being addressed) and I think it (and any other errors people have found in the base) should take priority over any new functionality. I don't think the base install tries to offer too much functionality at all, but a few areas of the core functionality need a bit more debugging. I would argue that error messages cause more feelings of "complicated" than do menu items in an admin section.

It might also be better in the long run, oddly, to include a little MORE functionality with the base install. For example, add-on modules address such things as database backups, but since every site should have backup capability that's simple for beginners, we might consider making db dumping part of the base install and extending, rather than decreasing, the functionality of the base install. 

The second question about what could be easier to understand for a beginner is great and some important steps have been taken. Things like the commented templates are huge, since they make it very easy to design a site with its own look. The wiki documentation is also coming along, but it obviously needs more contribution, and especially contribution from users who have had trouble, so that they can explain how the installation/whatever made sense to them eventually. Users, especially users who aren't contributing any money or php to the project, like me ... lol, have a responsibility to work on some aspect of the project, and areas like the online documentation are a great place to start.

This project is really coming along nicely and I think its right on target in terms of functionality offered in the base install.