[WEB4LIB] Re: how to get it all done

[Mike Beccaria]

Alnisa,

May I ask why you prefer commercial solutions over open-source CMS's? In your experience, what does Expression Engine offer that, say, Mambo or Drupal do not offer? I know that there are many differences in CMS's. I personally have not had the opportunity to deal with the commercial ones, only the open-source ones. I know I'm making a generalization, but have you noticed a difference in the products offered by commercial businesses versus the open source options aside from maybe customer support?

I'm curious. Thanks,

Mike




-------------
Hi Karen-

You definitely want a Content Management Solution (CMS). I took a
look at your current site, and looked up some backend information on
your current host.  Kanren.net, your current host does have you on an
Apache web server, and I spoke to their systems admin person and they
offer access to PHP4 and MySQL, and don't restrict CMS. It also seems
that they could help you guys some in selecting and installing a CMS
system, though there is probably a fee associated with that.

 From rapidly going through your website, I don't see anything that
couldn't be duplicated in a very good web publishing system, like
Expression Engine (EE) http://www.pmachine.com/expressionengine/
rather than a high end CMS.  No mistakes, EE is a CMS system, its
just not as extensive as say Plone or other high-end/more expensive
systems.

They don't pay me, but I recommend them a lot. Why, because about a
year and a half ago, we were managing a number of our nonprofit
clients websites-- some were handcode, some we had developed custom
CMS system for, others we were using Movable Type or some other
publishing system for.  It was a mess and a pain, and I often cringed
when clients wanted updates they couldn't handle themselves.  The
pMachine introduced Expression Engine, and now we've switched 10 of
12 web clients over to it.  The clients love being able to add and
edit articles at will, and I love that when they contact us, its for
something that's actually worth the money they'll be charged.

I forget who said it, but planning is really a key component--who has
access to what, if all staff can post, is there an official overseer
for each content area, do post go live immediately, or get staged for
review, etc., etc., etc.  Poor human management can cause a slew of
regrets.  That said though...

With an application like Expression Engine, you can have it installed
and running in about 15 minutes. Of course that's using a default
template,  so you'd then have to add time to move your current
templates into the system, decide how to break-up content, etc.  It
sounds hard, but could be done fairly quickly.

I could go on, about what to do and how, but you should really look
at a few different systems, demo them if possible; then maybe speak
with someone at Kanren if you have any questions about what will or
won't work on their systems.  Then if you need more specific help
regarding planning and structure send me an email. Any assistance, I
can write up in my free time or when I'm avoiding client projects is
available.

Alnisa