Web site management software -- reccomend?

[nell1]

Hi,

We develop around 20 sites and are looking for some software that will allow our developers to work on sites on our inhouse development server in an organised way. At the moment there is no access/checking facilities in place so that everyone knows who is working on what project etc.. Would be usefull to be able to lock files while a developer is working on them etc..

At the moment getting into trouble with people overwriting other peoples work. V fustrating!

New to the area of project management software, something basic will do and as cheap as possible.

Many thanks for any assistance!

Nell1

 

[cjowsey]

Nell1,

You don't need project management software for this, you need configuration management or version control software. There are many products out there, most are relatively expensive and nearly all are necessarily complex. They have to be complex to cater for multiple versions of multiple products all in different stages of development, testing and release. If you are new to this area, be prepared for a reasonable learning curve before you dive into selecting and setting up a product. Once they are up and running, it can be a big job to reconfigure them.

I recently asked the same question as you in the Visual Basic 5&6 forum looking for very cheap version control software for VB and got pointed at Perforce (

http://www.perforce.com).

They have a two user license available for no cost.

Some well known product names for you to review are:
PVCS
Visual Source Safe
CVS
ClearCase

Think carefully about your entire software lifecycle before making a decision as release management and packaging are areas that need to be considered, not just developer control. Think also about the people in the process. You will need somebody to manage the product and the environment. Maybe that should be the same person who controls your development standards or the person who manages your release process. Without a person to help the developers and keep them on the roght track, you are in danger of buying and installing an expensive white elephant.

Regards,
Clive

 

[bull3t]

Now Clive is on the right track.

We use CVS in our development environment, and for the price, you just can't beat it.


I am available for consult if you need assistance with this issue.
You can email me at alp@perryconsulting.net .
I specialize in Slackware distro, and have Sair/Linux GNU certification plus over 6 years experience in Linux to boot. I manage over 100 servers in an enterprise world-class environment tied to major corporate names such as LLBean and AOL (using RedHat for these applications).
I wrote a Linux distribution back in '97 called "Thinux" targeting the so-called "thin client / thin server" market at the time.

 

[norwood]

You may also want to check out Macromedia Contribute. For $99 it is the best value for money out there. It is limited in what you can do but has basic check-in/out capabilities for webpages and you can manage multiple sites.

daniel