What should I do? Oh! Oh! What should I do?

What should I do? Oh! Oh! What should I do?

by W Page -
Number of replies: 8
Hi Everyone!

I am setting up a web site of about 10 to 15 pages consisting of different things. I really did not want to set up a CMS. I am hoping the Moodle community could help me out with the following:
  • Recommendations on OpenSource software that will enable me to
    • Assign ID and password to each person who is to visit the site.
    • Know if a person signed in and what pages they visited.
  • Recommendations on a OpenSource form script that will enable me to
    • Keep a record of who contacts me from the site and what the content of the message is.
    • Sends me an email with the message content in it.
  • Recommendations on some uncomplicated OpenSource CMS software that
    • Is not a big deal to install [Do not mind mySQL database]
    • Easy to configure menu
    • Remove me from the need for my two requests above.
The number of pages to me make it too small for a CMS. Also, some of the pages need to be full screen.  I expect this to be a temporary site. I am really not looking for a fancy solution. Just, a practical one. I dunno!! If someone can help me with the above it would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance to the Moodle community.

WP1
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In reply to W Page

Re: What should I do? Oh! Oh! What should I do?

by Martyn Overy -

Have you visited http://www.opensourcecms.com/ ? You should be able to try out a number of CMS , and look at the reviews and features of each one.  You could also look at the features of  Etomite .... Or, as an alternative, buy the book "PHP and MySQL for dynamic websites", by Larry Ullman and build your own! (Companion website is at www.dmcinsights.com/phpmysql/  where a cookbook of scripts can be found.

(P.S. I like the hummingbirds animation on your homepage! If you need any other (static) images of hummingbirds,try our image gallery , in the New Mexico folder.)

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In reply to W Page

Ang: What should I do? Oh! Oh! What should I do?

by Jens Gammelgaard -
Picture of Translators

Hello!

For such a small job, I would use: Mambo from www.mamboserver.com.

For the demanding enterprise task I use Typo3 from www.Typo3.org.

BR
Jens Gammelgaard
Moodle Professional

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In reply to W Page

Re: What should I do? Oh! Oh! What should I do?

by Dale Jones -
Mambo, PostNuke and PHPNuke would do the job admirably and they are all installable from cPanel/Fantastico so there's no messing about with config files or creating databases.  They're all feature-rich though, most of which you won't need; for a less "bloated" site I'd use Etomite (and frequently do! big grin)which is leaner and easier to manage for a smaller installation.  You'd have to set this up yourself though (Fantastico doesn't include it); give me a shout if you need a hand.

As Martyn suggests, opensourcecms.com is a good place to make evaluations.  I've mentioned the ones I've tried in no particular order; there are plenty of others (Drupal, Geeklog, Xoops to name but a few), many of which are installable with cPanel/Fantastico.

HTH
Dale

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In reply to Dale Jones

Re: What should I do? Oh! Oh! What should I do?

by Drew Buddie -

"You'd have to set this up yourself though (Fantastico doesn't include it); give me a shout if you need a hand."

I'd just like to point out that Dale is a very helpful, top bloke, who has already given me an incredible amount of help in trransfering my site to his server.  So between himself, Sean Keogh, Ray Lawrence and Marcus Green to name but 4, I have nothing but admiration for the benevolence afforded me by fellow British Moodlers.

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In reply to W Page

Re: What should I do? Oh! Oh! What should I do?

by W Page -
Hello All!

Thank you to everyone who has offered some recommendations about the situation. I should have added in my original post that 3 or 4 of the documents I am placing online are about 30 to 50 pages long. I really did not want to break them up into sections, although, it is possible based on how each document is organized and structured.

I did check out OpenSourceCMS. It really does take a lot of the strain out of looking for a CMS to suit ones needs. Problems I found were:
  • The size of the print after the document was saved and posted. Just too tiny.
  • No HTML editor so all formating was lost.
  • Inability to load and post large document [I may have to break them up into sections.]
I did look at Drupal and Mambo. I did not check out Etomite, Tiny Tiny CMS, phpNuke or postNuke (I am familiar with the last two). I will check them out today.

If anyone has any other ideas please post them. Also, if you remember any CMS which allows for sections of a document to be loaded and therefore automatically "paginates" the document please post as well.

Thanks again in advance for any and all help anyone can give me with this.

I should have started with a CMS from the beginning. sad

Martyn!  I am also going to check out the image gallery.

WP1
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In reply to W Page

Re: What should I do? Oh! Oh! What should I do?

by Ger Tielemans -

A heavy tool for all this is Typo3:

  • can integrate with OpenOffice.
  • can track users
  • can force style
  • can trim userrights (roles)
  • has additional moduls for extra functionality

For less heavy use: postnuke + additional modules

For leight weight fun: no tracking no, layout, just a toy to get an idea for a Moodle block: asCMS

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