Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Content Management Systems

[KWolf114 at aol.com]

         Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Content Management  Systems  Date: 4/23/2007 
9:02:25 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time  From: _sandfordm1 at wpunj.edu_ 
(mailto:sandfordm1 at wpunj.edu) 
 
 
On 4/21/07, KWolf114 at aol.com <KWolf114 at aol.com> wrote:
> I am  developing my first web site using Composer (not on a  server).  At  
what
> point would it be best to start using a CMS such as  WordPress  or Drupal?
> Would this be when I start using programs such as   Dreamweaver and the 
site is
> on a server?

Drupal requires a  server, because it uses PHP.  That being said, from
my limited  experience with CMSs:

You can install a basic Apache/PHP server on any  Windows machine.  It
doesn't need to be public; you can set it so the  website is only
available to the local computer, a firewall being the easiest  method
for those not used to configuring Apache.  Transferring the site  to a
public server would be fairly easy, as Drupal includes  that
functionality if I recall, and Wordpress probably does too.  XAMPP  is
very easy to install, and you can turn off the features you  don't
want.  It includes MySQL, which is good since a lot of CMS  products
need a database (not all do, but some).  It also has a control  panel
that will let you turn the server on and off at will, an added  bonus
if you're worried about it going public when you don't want it  to.
XAMPP is here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/xampp/

If you're  planning on using a CMS, I'd start with it right away.  Most
of them  won't use your HTML files as they exist now.  They'll either
need to be  converted (do any CMS products do this? Convert basic HTML
sites?) or redone  in the CMS.  Generally, the CMS will store the
webpage information in  something other than the HTML it will use to
display the page.

--  
Mark Sandford
Special Formats Cataloger
William Paterson  University
(973)270-2437
sandfordm1 at wpunj.edu




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