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Super Mario · Jan 25, 2006, 04:33 AM

I just found out this CMS thing exists. Are they easy to use? How is security? Are they 100% customisable? Which one does macnn.com use if it does?

Super Mario · Jan 25, 2006, 11:33 AM

Pretty please aka bump?

besson3c · 11:23 AM

Check out http://www.cmsmatrix.org for reviews and ratings of the available CMSes...

Mine are home grown, and I'm pretty sure MacNN's are too. It isn't too hard to write them using PHP and MySQL. If you are looking for something as simple as possible and completely tailor made for your needs, this would be a good route to explore.

andi*pandi · Jan 25, 2006, 02:04 PM

all that site is, is google ads.

besson3c · Jan 25, 2006, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by andi*pandi

all that site is, is google ads.

Sorry, it should be a .org, changing the URL now.

besson3c · Jan 25, 2006, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by andi*pandi

all that site is, is google ads.

Sorry, it should be a .org, changing the URL now.

Tomchu · Jan 25, 2006, 02:10 PM

I'm going to give a bit of an odd suggestion ... WordPress.

Yeah yeah, I know it's called "blogging software", but the template system is *so* powerful and *so* easy to learn, that you can turn a WordPress-powered site into anything you want to (within reason).

Tomchu · Jan 25, 2006, 02:11 PM

[Deleted]

Tomchu · Jan 25, 2006, 02:15 PM

[Deleted]

Super Mario · Jan 25, 2006, 02:22 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Sorry, it should be a .org, changing the URL now.

I have been comparing CMS on there for the last day using the compare tool. Mambo and Joomla look very nice but neither perfect. I think Macnn doesn't use a CMS system or maybe I am wrong. Do any mods know? The link on the front page to the design company has a story how they put the new macnn design into action. It looks like normal html and css etc and not php mysql.

Who is using Mambo or Joomla?

Super Mario · Jan 25, 2006, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by Tomchu

I'm going to give a bit of an odd suggestion ... WordPress.

Yeah yeah, I know it's called "blogging software", but the template system is *so* powerful and *so* easy to learn, that you can turn a WordPress-powered site into anything you want to (within reason).

I downloaded it but still looking for the right hosting service. Not dot mac of course. Every site I have seen with Wordpress looks the same. Can you show me some examples of Wordpress being configured very uniquely in an original design?

Super Mario · Jan 25, 2006, 02:30 PM

I have to say what I want to do. I want to make a music fansite with news of my fave bands whenever I hear something and a section about making music on the Mac. I want to host some samples of my music too. I want to add a volume control knob and a dial to change between my songs. Does the dial have to be created in Flash only? Can any other program create the dials and knobs? How will be the best way to do this?

Judge_Fire · Jan 25, 2006, 02:34 PM

You might want to look at Zope and Plone, but they're not for the faint of heart. I'm just migrating (parts of) an Intranet system away from them, because we wanted more flexibility to add components made with PHP etc. If you're into Python scripting, you might like them.

I'm looking into Drupal currently, but just started. I'm mostly interested in a product that won't go away too soon, but that's always hard to tell.

I think you could like SMF, which can be modded quite heavily. Besides, it's free.

J

Chuckit · Jan 25, 2006, 02:45 PM

Zope is not a CMS; it's a Web application framework.

MacNN uses a custom CMS.

WordPress can be configured however you want. Take a look at it and see. That sounds like the best fit for what you want.

Tomchu · Jan 25, 2006, 03:39 PM

Originally Posted by Super Mario

I downloaded it but still looking for the right hosting service. Not dot mac of course. Every site I have seen with Wordpress looks the same. Can you show me some examples of Wordpress being configured very uniquely in an original design?

orderedlist.com is pretty nice

I'm borrowing a lot of that design for my next blog, but only in terms of colours/layout. I'm writing my own code, and I'm making it a liquid, em-based design.

Super Mario · Jan 25, 2006, 05:02 PM

Looks good. I also want to put a song list and volume jog dial in the sidebar. Does only Flash do this or can I download a template or another app to do this?

besson3c · Jan 25, 2006, 05:15 PM

Originally Posted by Super Mario

Looks good. I also want to put a song list and volume jog dial in the sidebar. Does only Flash do this or can I download a template or another app to do this?

Check out my site: http://www.netmusician.org

I use Flash for the media player controls, and pull the path to the mp3 file and the ID3 tags from a MySQL database.

Flash is handy because it is the most ubiquitous piece of software in existence. It makes a great wrapper for Quicktime content, and won't require any additional plug-in downloads. I'd definitely use Flash for your media controls.

Super Mario · Jan 25, 2006, 05:39 PM

That is very much how I would like my site but with more sidebar navigation. I like the music player controls. Great so I am understanding how to pull this together. Is anything other than Flash capable of making the jog dial controls? It has to be a round one like a tuner on an old radio.

besson3c · Jan 25, 2006, 05:42 PM

Originally Posted by Super Mario

That is very much how I would like my site but with more sidebar navigation. I like the music player controls. Great so I am understanding how to pull this together. Is anything other than Flash capable of making the jog dial controls? It has to be a round one like a tuner on an old radio.

You might be able to do it in AJAX or within Java, but that is sort of out of my league...

jersey · Jan 25, 2006, 05:58 PM

I love drupal. It's 100% customizable, and the community is good too.