Online page editing! pls help

[Bernini]

Hi all,

Our company has a very static website and my boss would like to edit (in a very, very simple manner). So, the idea on online editing came to mind...though i have no idea of where to start..

I was going to start with ftp to get the pages..but then i got lost!

Any ideas would be very helpful!

Thanks
B

 

[Olavxxx]

hi,
There is only one "simple" way of doing this:
php + mysql backend.

Your pages can gather data from MYSQL, based on variables.
Then, you need some WYSIWYG editor (What You See Is What You Get).

I found that

http://www.fckeditor.net

is a great editor.
If you search this forum, there is a thread there about it.. (which I'm in).

It took me some time setting it up, but it works great.
Only one problem arrised:
When deleting all content from the editor, there is still a <p></p>, which then makes the fckeditor halt!

you can however fix this:

if (strip_tags($row['content']) == "")) {
  $content = "";
}
// generate interface

dirty trick, but it does it's trade.

I think you have some 50+ hrs for this project, if you are o.k. skilled. If you have already done this kind of project, you might get it in less hrs.

What is hard, is to get the interface to be easy-to-use, as programmers have a tendency to make things too complicated.

You have to think about:
How will you represent the data?`
How will you represent options?

I think that a glance at forum-systems like phpBB, vbulletin, etc. might help you a bit in how to represent the data for editing.

I would however make a "clone" of the visiting site, and then make a link on the content: "edit".

You could also make a link "delete".

Maybe the delete should just flag it as invisible?
eg. ("UPDATE... SET visible = '0' WHERE pid = '"$pid"';")

just my two cents.

I think flatfile editing would be much more work to integrate, as then the content is not dynamic, but static, as you said.

One other way to go, is to edit with a CLIENT editor that has built in FTP. I however think that would be too advanced for "dumb" users.

I think they will only be able to edit the content, if it looks like the application "word" and the layout looks like theire own webpage.

Olav Alexander Mjelde

http://www.volvo-power.net

Admin & Webmaster

 

[Bernini]

Hi there...thanks for your reply..yes i've read your thread..

I was more looking for something on the line of Macromedia Contribute! I mean they choose the page, its loads on the WYSIWYG editor and they edit...then any extra images will be uploaded!

To convert everything to mysql would be a hassles..since i'm not the one taking care of the webpage..i'm just being used to update the pages..hehe!


Thanks
B

 

[Olavxxx]

Well, I guess Macromedia Contribute costs $$$$$.
Maybe they should consider a custom CMS, or maybe some sort of opensource CMS?

There are CMS with WYSIWYG functions, but I think they might be hard to implement with the design your company wants as a profile..

Olav Alexander Mjelde

http://www.volvo-power.net

Admin & Webmaster