When Written: Feb 2006
When building websites for clients the need for the client to update and add pages themselves often arises. The term for this functionality is Content Management System or CMS. In the past many of us would sit down and write something for a client: after all a simple CMS system is not rocket science. In its most simple form text is added to a database whose records hold the content of the pages and the web pages display this content by querying the database. The editors are provided with a java or JavaScript HTML edit box so they can add text enhancements and change the formatting using styles, and everyone is happy. But things move on, and rather than go to the expense and time of coding your own, many designers are using an off the shelf solution and integrating into their clients web site. I spent an enjoyable few days researching, downloading and installing various commercial CMS. A lot of these are open source and run on PHP, however with a view of having to not only alter this but also to host this, I was looking for ASP or .NET solutions. There are dozens of these just take a look at http://www.aspin.com/home/webapps/content for ASP versions and at the extremely good http://www.opensourcecms.com for almost all of the CMS systems out there.

The opensourcecms web site allows you to try the various CMS packages without having to install them
What soon became obvious was that, whilst some of these offered almost unlimited capabilities with forums and email list servers being added with just the click of a button, what I was looking for was something that would not scare this particular client with an over complicated interface, and it was this which took some finding in the end. I finally settled on allinta (http://www.allinta.com ).Whilst not free at $79 per website, charging does at least mean there is some encouragement for the company to continue development and provide some support.

Whilst allinta may not be the most comprehensive CMS in the market its UI is easy to understand and it works well
I just loved the simple user interface, the simple set up and the ease with which one’s own web page templates could be added. Normally web pages are served from a database but if you only have Access then for performance reason you can use allinta to generate static HTML pages to build your web site. Should your client need a web form for the user to fill in, let them build one themselves, a few clicks in allinta and it’s done, the same with calendars and newsletters. The client doesn’t have to bother you about all this, leaving you to concentrate on that really cool functionality for their site that will really set them apart. If you need something more complex then Mark feels that doITlive (http://www.doitlive.com/ ) looks to be one of the best. This seems to be more aimed at the web savvy user who is happy with its considerably more complex interface. However its capabilities of building forums and the much more versatile authoring approval system, means that this could be a system for a webmaster to replace their copy of Dreamweaver to maintain the site once the templates have been build. There are three levels of license from the Lite for a single site at EU 150 through the ‘Pro’ for multiple sites at EU 300, right up to the unlimited sites ‘Dev’ version at a very reasonable EU 800
As with any web development these days, before you start to try and re-invent the wheel – again take a look around at some of the stuff is out there that others have written but, don’t forget, before you commit to using a product, take a look at their support forum and also do a search for security issues with any such product and if there are some, have they been fixed and how quickly? The search engines are your friend in this task so use them.
Article by: Mark Newton
Published in: Mark Newton