writing a content management system

ringo747

ringo747

ringo747

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1 Feb 2006
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hey guys, have to write a pretty advanced content management system for a uni project this year and am looking for any good books on the topic.. i know there are loads of web resources out there but i want a guide that will help from start to finish and will document any issues in cms design.

Anyone got anything that will help?

Cheers
Jonny
 
Sounds like you want a guide with all the answers :confused:

If you don't realise how odd your requirements sound....."Hi, I want a book that will document everything" :D
 
a content managment system isnt exactly 'everything'! Same as there are books on 'building ecommerce sites' i was just looking for something similar only dealing in cms design. If not possible what would the next best thing be?
 
I know - sorry - it just sounded funny :D

I remember reading some good articles on CMS design, but nothing detailed enough for a uni project. I'll see if I can remember any books, though I don't tend to do books much....for a CMS you need to consider modularity and security...especially security within modularity - I reckon those are the two main bugbears of the major CMS systems :)
 
if you google "building a CMS" , you will find plenty of tutorials even on the first page, using various technologys like XML, PHP, Java
 
cheers for the help guys.

i am building a one off CMS. I have messed about with opensource cms in the past such as joomla, moodle etc. When exploring the hierarchy you find folders like templates, includes, admin, themes. A book which documents this kind of stuff is useful.

I know that I am going to be using php/mysql and i also have to include some ajax and also rss feeds too. I just dont have a clue where I would start with the implementation! It is only at the requirements analysis part now so i guess nearer the time it will become clearer.

I have found a lot of articles on things like setting up datbases, managing users etc but this info is just so high level

Will have a browse around and see what i can come up with anyhow.

thanks again
 
Most CMS systems have a "back end" for admins where non skilled people can maintain the content of the website easily. then you have a front end which then displays the appropriate content. Figuring out the content you want managed, the database structure, and site structure is a good start
 
you need to plan out exactly what you want to do. you don't need a book, as a book won't know your exact functionality, and your logic behind solving this problem.

what functions do you need?
who is going to have access to these functions?
what technology are you going to use to achieve each of these functions.

draw page flow charts to represent what use each function in your CMS will have.

for every function, will you need database integration to power it. if so, design the tables and how they interlink with each other.

my advice for build would be, start with the things that are going to give you the quickest results...that way you won't get bored with it, and you'll make yourself work towards your goal.

also, AJAX is the way forward :)
 
yeah, but if you're writing it for a uni degree, i doubt they're going to be too happy about using other people's code
 
How in-depth does this CMS have to be? You could just do a form that submits info to a text file that is displayed on a page which can be edited, that's managing content ;)
 
markeh said:
How in-depth does this CMS have to be? You could just do a form that submits info to a text file that is displayed on a page which can be edited, that's managing content ;)
Click to expand...

lol, i dont think that would get too many marks!

All I know at the minute is that it will have to be pretty advanced... the admin should be able to log in, create new articles, edit articles, export articles to rss feeds, if modifying an article then modify the previously output rss feeds, create new users, change page structures, upload files etc etc

PHP/MySql is going to be the main technology used and I think i can fit in the use of AJAX but doing asynchronous server calls to update page content rather than waiting for the server to throw back complete pages at me.

RSS feeds should be ok to do as PHP is meant to have good XML libraries.

I am not sure about structuring the system though. I have an idea of what each component will be/do but the overall system is still pretty complex in my mind.

Dont know if this is making sense here though!
 
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