Easiest way to allow clients to update parts of their site?

Draeger

Draeger

Draeger

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A client of mine would like to be able to update parts of a website I have recently done for them.

At the moment, it would appear to be specifically the calendar on this page:-

http://www.glasgowkayakclub.com/Calendar.html

Whats the best and easiest way I can have them be able to update that part themselves?.

Not very familiar with allowing clients to update parts of their sites on their own, I was thinking perhaps getting them to use Macromedia Contribute, but I have heard various disaster stories about it?.

Are there a few more easier ways to go about this?.

Thanks.
 
im assuming you don't know php? if you did then you could just store the info in a database and have them login and edit the information online.

off topic: have you tested the gallery in firefox? it doesn't behave as it does in ie6
 
Mammalian said:
im assuming you don't know php? if you did then you could just store the info in a database and have them login and edit the information online.

off topic: have you tested the gallery in firefox? it doesn't behave as it does in ie6
Click to expand...

I know m8, the pictures dont fade in properly. Been trying to work out why for a while!!.

I dont know php, no. And I've never used CMS either. :(

Are there any easy ways to implement this?. I'm wondering if there's something within Fantastico in my Control Panel that will let me do this without too much hassle?.

Failing that, anyone got any further advice or links to any tutorials that are easy to follow for newcomers to CMS?.
 
You have a number of options open to you at this point.

As far as CMS's go, Joomla is a feature packed CMS and provides the most 'out of the box' solution. However it is very bloated and can be very frustrating to use. There is also Drupal which is a much more scaled down CMS and is very flexible. However, you will need some PHP knowledge to get a site up and running. The downside to CMS's is that all of the work that you have done to date will most likely be null and void as all CMS's come with their own templating systems.

You could learn PHP and implement the calender yourself. If you choose this option, Code Igniter comes highly reccomended. It is a set of scripts which do the boring and mundane "behind the scenes" work of most PHP applications. It comes with a calendering class which should get you started quickly. Alternatively, you could create your own calender scripts. However, as you say, you've little PHP knowledge so this option generally isn't advisable.

Finally, you could set up a maintainance agreement with your client whereby they pay you a set fee for updating the calender X times a month.

HTH,
Freakish_05
 
Yeah, so it looks I will need to just arrange to update it on their behalf then. Dont know if they will be happy with that, will need to see.

What about Contribute?. Can that be used to do what I am after on an existing site like this?.
 
How computer literate is your client? If they are quite competent in the basics I would use a HTML include for the calendar and show them some very basic HTML and an ftp client. It's easy for you and with Windows (assuming that's what OS you use) having a built-in ftp client it shouldn't be too hard for someone else to grasp I don't think.
 
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