Is CMS even what I need?

January 21, 2009 2:29 AM

I'm redesigning the company website. It's fairly simple - no blog, no e-commerce, no client log-in - but I'm not a web designer or developer, and I won't be here to maintain it forever. Please help me figure out how to plan for its future.

The site is maybe 100-150 pages and is largely as a portfolio site. Say, eight categories, thirteen sub-pages in each category, one of which is a catch-all for archived projects, so the other twelve may be moved/changed. There's also pages like a list of staff, company profile, etc.

I'm comfortable with HTML, learning CSS, basic in Dreamweaver, and can read but not write JavaScript. No other secret programming or CMS experience. I'm also an intern in the interniest sense, and the only reason I'm not fleeing from this is that the old site was last updated in 2004 and is most likely actively losing the company work, and it's seriously unlikely that the directors will act on this at all, and my colleagues are thinking of it as print design. There is NO money for the project at all, for software or labour - for emphasis, I know I shouldn't be the one doing this.

Whoever is updating this will be fine with, say, adding a staff member to a static page, or adding a one-liner about awards to a project page. The bit that worries me is in adding new projects, or even more, adding a new category.

Is this a CMS issue? Is there a way to set this up to at least allow for all pages in a category to have the same addition to their sidebar if a new project is added?

I am happy to learn a moderate amount (and use lynda.com already) but don't want to take on something so much beyond my level that it will be doomed to failure when I hit an error message I don't understand - I can build and understand technical things visually or with my hands, am confident with information architecture and fine with design visually, have read a good bit on accessibility, but I hit a wall of frustration with maths or code problems.

I thought about going anonymous so I could be honest and ask the stupid small questions in non-technical terms, so please be kind because this is mortifying! And the site linked in my profile is a showcase of one-page half-assedness, not the extent of my ability, I promise.

posted by carbide to computers & internet (11 comments total)

L'esprit de l'escalier du preview: Meant to add, I've been looking at lots of CMSes and reading previous questions, trying to find the answer on my own, but I fundamentally don't know what I need for this and probably have an unhelpful link in my mind between CMS and blogging.
posted by carbide at 2:31 AM on January 21

Is this a CMS issue?

Given the number of pages, and the fact that there are categories and the need to present different types of content in specific ways, you'd have to be crazy not to use a CMS of some description.

The link between CMSes and blogging isn't entirely unhelpful. Blogs are really just a specific and (to a greater or lesser degree, limited) subset of CMSes. The problem with CMSes of the general kind is that they have to be everything to everyone, and that means that getting them to do exactly what you have in mind tends to have a bit of a learning curve attached. Having said that, CMSes are definitely getting better and easier to configure.

Is there a way to set this up to at least allow for all pages in a category to have the same addition to their sidebar if a new project is added?

Almost certainly. Whether it's a matter of setting something in the configuration, or whether it would require a bit of monkeying around with code in templates would depend on the specific CMS.

Please feel free to send me a MeFi mail if you want any help beyond advice in the thread - I'm sure I can spare an hour here or there if that would be of any use.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 3:19 AM on January 21

Wordpress would be the easiest route to go for this. You can create "pages" and eschew posts altogether. It'll handle your menus and categories for you. A slight learning curve, but not undoable.
posted by signal at 3:41 AM on January 21

Yes, Wordpress could be an answer. In the last few versions it's gone from blogging application to almost-CMS. And there are plenty of ready-made templates that can be adapted. WP worth investigating as a first step; if it doesn't quite fit the bill there are plenty of other CMSes to try.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 4:59 AM on January 21

Thank you both, that gives me something to dig into.

I had looked at Wordpress and couldn't decide whether it was remotely what I needed, but the learning curve certainly looks possible and the documentation looks pretty great. It's a good first step, as le morte de bea arthur (one of my favourite usernames, btw!) suggested.

Please feel free to send me a MeFi mail if you want any help beyond advice in the thread - I'm sure I can spare an hour here or there if that would be of any use.

That's super generous of you, cheers.
posted by carbide at 7:49 AM on January 21

eh, forget wordpress, portfolios are exactly what the cms indexhibit was built to handle—the backend interface is simple to learn and does most everything you want. all you'll really need to do is html + css if you want to customize the look of the templates.
posted by lia at 8:03 AM on January 21

I redesigned my company's site using Wordpress. It's perfect for this. You can do it!
posted by acridrabbit at 9:53 AM on January 21

You should look into Textpattern as well, it's also used as blogging software but tends to be more CMs orientated than wordpress. I found it easy to learn -- it took me a couple of days to get up to speed enough to integrate it into/convert an existing site.
posted by tallus at 10:25 AM on January 21

One thing about CMS:es like Wordpress (which is also what I would suggest, as it can do pretty much everything with the right tweaks/plugins, etc.) is that you have to have a plan implemented to update it with new versions/security tweaks, etc as they come out. Just make sure that there is someone in a permanent position who can update the files/update the databases responsibly (i.e. with backups), or that your hosting company is able to do so for you.
posted by gemmy at 10:26 AM on January 21

We might be jumping the gun in even suggesting a CMS unless the company's website is hosted on a proper server which allows dynamic serving. It might sound surprising, but I just worked on someone's 2004-vintage website and they were on a plan which included no server-side code at all, not even includes.

So, what kind of hosting does the current site have, and what are the file extensions, carbide?

As in, is it hosted commercially or in the company, if commercially hosted, what technologies are included in the plan, and do the files just end in .htm/.html or .php, .cgi etc?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 10:06 PM on January 21

AmbroseChapel, good point. I'm trying to find out - I know from digging around that it's commercially hosted, but in terms of file types, all I'm finding is JavaScript, HTML and Flash.

It definitely has a buried-in-the-back-of-the-cupboard feel to the whole thing so I won't go too far with CMS plans before confirming the hosting situation. I've found out (from the IT guy's best guess cross-referenced with the WHOIS for registrar) who the hosting company is, but their website answers more or less nothing, so I'll give em a call once I get our account details.

Again, thanks so much for all the advice. I'll report back on what I end up doing.
posted by carbide at 2:30 AM on January 22