[thelist] can someone build a 100-page website with only HTML/CSS skill?

[Will]

I'm with erika. Flat html with includes should be fine.  The only thing that
seems like it might be a headache is renaming of pages and updating links.
That can certainly be handled by a global find and replace but that's always
a little scary. I think if you have backups going and really spend some time
considering what should be included, you'll do fine.

Normally, I'd say CMS all the way but if your girlfriend isn't interested in
learning one and you're not interested in helping with the server side of
maintaining it, flat html with includes will do just fine.

That said, if she wants to start a web design career, perhaps learning a CMS
is a worthwhile thing to do.  Drupal, Wordpress and Expression Engine are
three popular ones that may or may not fit the bill.

Will



On Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 8:39 PM, Erika <ekm at seastorm.com> wrote:

> Zhang Weiwu wrote:
> > How do you think? Should we start with CMS or with plain old HTML? I am
> > thinking the place for HTML-based website nowadays are those websites:
> >
> >    1. do not update frequently (thus the HTML-skilled ones can do the
> >       updates);
> >    2. mid-to-small size. But how big is "mid"? Is a 100-page website
> >       "mid-size" or "big-size"?
>
>
> I agree with your assessment of when to use HTML.  I would call a
> 100-page website "mid-sized."
>
> I don't understand whether you are building a site, or redesigning an
> existing site.  Your "management requirements" suggest it's a redesign,
> and item #3 (renaming/moving files without breaking links) is not
> something I've had much experience with.
>
> CMS makes content management easier, but as you note, it is going to
> require maintenance.  Creating CMS templates is not quite as
> straightforward as splitting an HTML template into server side includes.
>
> One thing I have found difficult is to understand and communicate the
> difference a CMS makes in maintenance, to clients.  If you are managing
> a CMS-driven website, your costs need to reflect the time and effort you
> spend maintaining the CMS software, not to mention training people to
> use the CMS.
>
> On the other hand, if it is you or your girlfriend who will be doing all
> the site updates, I think 100 pages can be managed reasonably well with
> HTML, CSS and server side includes, especially if your directories are
> well-structured.  I built and managed a 50+ page site, without includes.
> The only thing that was difficult about it was maintaining the menus
> (and includes would have solved that).
>
>
> Erika
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