[thelist] Re: Custom CMS

[Jay Blanchard]

I know I am late to the dance on this (Thursday was the week from hell) but
I just wanted to say that I have done custom CMS and for the most part was
able to have the client use web based forms for updating information,
including links to things like WORD doc's, spreadsheets, PP presentations,
etc. (Those things were updated 'live' in their native tool, the CMS
controlled the link to those items, basically). As far as content that would
be parsed into templates(HTML), it was stored in a database and updated
dynamically dependent upon access level (author, editor, admin, etc.)
through web based forms. There were only a few tags that had to be taught
(<em></em>, <strong></strong>, <u></u>, <ol></ol>, <ul></ul>, <li></li>) as
the rest were handled by the CMS or the templates, inlcuding the <p></p>
tags. On th web based forms were new 'articles' were entered or edited this
list of tags, with examples, are made available in a pop-up 'help' box.
Training takes 15 minutes.

It is not WYSIWYG though. But it does allow the 'article' to be previewed.
In each case the system was learned, accepted, and used quickly and users
often commented on 'how easy it was to use'. Yes, some still cut-n-paste
from WORD into the CMS, and a couple complained about not being able to
upload everything that they did in WORD and have that put into the template.
For the most part it was very acceptable.

>From a cost standpoint it is fairly easy to imagine not having to license
100's of copies of FP or DW. From a maintenance efficieny standpoint it is
also cost & resource effective.

Jay