[thelist] CMS System feedback

[Paul Bennett]

Dan Robinson wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I am soliciting comments, suggestions and criticism for a web based
> CMS for
> some time and am trying to determine whether or not it would fly as a
> commercial product.  The product is provisionally called VStreet and
> is in
> a "pre-beta" state (not alpha, but not quite beta yet)....

Dan, I have been trialing a lot of open source CMS systems (more for my
own curiosity than anything else) and can tell you your product will be
competing in a flooded market. Try (and these are only the PHP ones)
postnuke, phpnuke, EZPublish, Xaraya, PhpCms, Phpwebsite, and (Python
based) Zope (and the free Blogging engines: Drupal, PMachine, Movable
Type etc etc). Some of these products (not all) are VERY well developed
and would take only minor tweaking to use for a variety of purposes.

> I am currently targeting small to medium sized web
> design/services/production businesses ("web producers").  I believe they
> will be interested because: .....

They can do this with free systems if they choose to as well. Any webdev
business worth their salt should know about the free systems available.
(just a warning)

> I am currently identifying a small number of web producers who would
> serve
> as beta customers.  Once I have established that there MAY be a market
> for
> this product, and finalized the beta features (with the beta
> participants)
> sites could be deployed in about ~4 weeks. (well with the holidays etc a
> little later :) ).  Folks interested in finding more about VStreet or
> providing constructive comments/criticisms are invited to contact me via
> the list or directly via e-mail.
>
> Oh and by the way - I currently have two sites up and running using the
> software (and have been up for months) - they are www.vstreet.us

there is nothing on this site that I can see. Is that the right url?

> and
> www.berkeleyska.org (Caveats - the url redirecting thing is currently
> annoying and is NOT related to VStreet.  I am NOT an HTML
> jockey/Webxpert/Graphical Design person

so how have you developed this CMS without knowing even HTML? Or are you
not the main developer?

> so problems with the look and feel
> of the sites are entirely my fault - not VStreet's.  The sites will
> probably not look the way they were designed to look if you don't use
> IE -
> again me, not the software

why would a plain vanilla html site not work in my Mozilla browser?

Anyway, overall, if this thing works and you can sell it, then go for
it. If people can derive value from it (a lot of people will not know
about the free solutions) and create a market in your area then make the
most of it.

--
Paul Bennett
Internet Developer
Teltest Electronic Design
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Phone : 64 4 237 0767
Web : http://www.teltest.com
Wap : http://wap.teltest.com
Email : paul at teltest.com
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