Web site content management

[mears]

Hi all,

I have been asked to design and build a website for an estate agent/real estate. The customer would like to update the site with new properties by himself.

Is there an easy way around this. My knowledge is
html/javascript. I use dreamweaver MX to design and build.
I have thought about Macromedia contribute has anyone tried this out?

Cheers,

Mears

 

[Foamcow]

I have tried Contribute on a test basis (never in anger).
It seems very good, however even the new version had problems with a standards compliant CSS layout. Although Contribute 3 is supposed to be fully CSS complaint... it isn't

My guess is so long as you don't use CSS layouts then you should be OK and in this respect Contribute is an inexpensive and pretty good tool.

However you will still be making static pages. If this Estate agent has alot of properties on his/her books then they will have to manage alot of pages. In my experience it is often simple management where things like this come unstuck. It would require strict naming and filing conventions etc to keep on top of all the pages.

It might be simpler to build some kind of database driven site to make managing the site easier for the estate agent. SO they can't file it in the wrong place, lose a page or delete the wrong page by accident because they saved the page as "house2.html".

How about building your own solution with PHP/ASP and MySQL/Access. Depending on exactly what the client wants the site to be it could be a very simple exercise and good practice ;-)

http://www.foamcow.com

 

[mears]

Thanks,

PHP My/sql - I'm afraid I don't have any experience of any database lanuage. Is it easy enough to learn?

Are there any software programmes out there that I can use that will created the code for me! I don't know if I will have the time to learn PHP My/sql etc.

Cheers,

Mears

 

[ecobb]

Here's a program that manages listings for real estate web sites. You should be able to just get it and add it to your site. It's not free, but it's a lot quicker/easier than having to learn a new language.

http://www.interactivetools.com/products/listingsmanager/

Hope This Helps!

Ecobb

"My work is a game, a very serious game." - M.C. Escher

 

[Foamcow]

You use Dreamweaver MX. That has everything you need to create dynamic pages. For that matter you could use ASP and MS Access if you wished.

All you would need is a suitable webserver and database server.

There are numerous books available to help you learn PHP and MySQL. It isn't that hard to get the basics really. There is a learning curve, but you will reap the benefits in the end.

http://www.foamcow.com

 

[mears]

Thanks all for the info!,

One other option maybe Macromedia Coldfusion has anyone tried that?

Last question: php or ASP? MySql or MS Access?

Which is best, Which is the easiest to learn?

Cheers

Mears

 

[Foamcow]

I wouldn't say there was a best as such.

Having worked with both PHP and ASP I would always go for PHP, then again I have more experience with it.

MySQL and Access.. MySQL every time. Access is not really suited to large scale projects although it's plus side is that it is easier to use.

The other things to weigh up are:
[ul]
[li]PHP is essentially free.[/li]
[li]PHP runs best on Apache servers, the most popular webserver on the planet.[/li]
[li]MySQL is also free, although I believe there is a licensing agreement for commercial projects.[/li]
[li]ASP can be run under IIS, part of some versions of the Windows OS. The joy of MS licensing.[/li]
[li]You can also run a version of PHP under IIS. Not sure if you can run ASP on an Apache server.[/li]
[li]Open source projects such as PHP, Apache and MySQL tend to develop large bases of very knowledgable and helpful users who find and fix bugs and security issues. IIS and ASP, on the other hand, are strictly under the control of MicroSoft.[/li]
[/ul]

There are a myriad of reasons both for an against which technologies to use and they have been discussed at length on these boards and others.

So, personally, I would go for PHP and MySQL. But it is worth looking at alternatives as I don't think you can have too many strings to you bow. You may also find (as I have) that you have to dip into other technologies from time to time for some jobs.

http://www.foamcow.com

 

[ChrisHunt]

Whatever solution you come up with, it's going to have to involve a database. Your client does not want to add new pages to the site, they want to add new properties to their books.

Think about visitors' needs too - they're going to want to search the site for properties with a particular price/size/location, not plod through the whole lot.

If you've got no experience in server-side scripting or database programming, you may well be better off looking for a package on which to base your site - try the one Ecobb suggested, or Google for similar ones.

-- Chris Hunt

http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk

http://www.napitalia.org.uk

http://www.leicesteryha.org.uk

 

[ecobb]

There are tons of applications out there for managing a real estate web site. And you can probably find one in most any programming language you want. Remember, the people who wrote those apps. have already gone through debugging, and testing, and probably have features built in that you haven't thought of yet (but would realize you needed as you built the app.).

However, if you want to write it yourself, I would definitely suggest using ColdFusion. If you're already familiar with html, ColdFusion will be a snap. It's a tag based language, just like html, instead of a scripting language like ASP or PHP. In a sense, it would be like learning new html tags.


Hope This Helps!

Ecobb

"My work is a game, a very serious game." - M.C. Escher

 

[mears]

Thanks for all the replies,

Nearly choked at the price of coldfusion so I am looking at interative tools listings manager. I need a quick fix as the client will not wait for me to learn PHP/MySql. So the listings manager is fave at the moment.

I have bought a book on PHP/MySql Web Development by Luke Welling and Laura Thomson. So I will start down the road of learning. I always like to know the coding side of things as it always gets you out of a hole when automated programming goes wrong.

See you on the programming side for more questions in the near future.
Thanks again for all your replies,

Cheers

Mears

 

[smah]

If you want to learn PHP/MySQL, you might want to look at one of HP's free online courses:

http://www.hplearningcenter.com/course/course.jsp?courseId=2854

In this course, one of the assignments is to set up a real estate rental site that can be administered throught the web - quite basic, but a nice starting point (and fairly close to what you're after).

 

[mears]

Thanks for that,

I have enrolled in this.

Mears

 

[Gojira999]

i used "PHP&MYSQL For Dummies" and a bit of help on these forums - picked it up in about 3-4 days!