Content Management Systems (CMS) that play well with a PDA

June 19, 2007 11:32 AM

I really like CMS systems such as Joomla and DotNetNuke that allow me to host information I want to access remotely (blog posts, news, serial numbers, etc...). However, since I have my PDA with me all the time and not my notebook, I would really like to use a CMS that I can access via my PDA. My screen size is 320x240 pixels. Most of the CMS systems I have ever seen don't translate well to a PDA screen. Are there any out there that do? I am looking for a system that I can host on my own servers. Thanks!
posted by DerekTheGeek to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Maybe CMSimple? It's about as bare-bones as it gets.
posted by MsMolly at 11:49 AM on June 19, 2007

The content management itself is much harder to get right, so perhaps you should try writing templates for the CMS interface rather than using a completely new, different, and possibly not as good CMS system. Caveat: I have no specific information about writing templates for these systems, or if it's even possible for the management interfaces.
posted by beerbajay at 11:55 AM on June 19, 2007

It is possible to write templates for the admin section of Joomla. Have you tried running it through the Google mobile filter or using Opera Mini?

Google Mobile.

I'm going to take a look at Joomla on my PDA, now... this is a great idea.

On looking at it, it's not really usable after running it through the Google filter. For some reason, the links to content sections don't actually link to them.
posted by bristolcat at 12:15 PM on June 19, 2007

My personal site is run on Drupal and I use an RSS reader to access the different portions of the site.
posted by unixrat at 12:31 PM on June 19, 2007

I've been on this idea since I got a Treo a month ago. I haven't found anything yet, though.
posted by rhizome at 2:54 PM on June 19, 2007

I think Xoops has a theme specifically for small screens, but I haven't looked at in in a long while. May be worth checking out. Also, the option of using something like this plugin modified for your specific needs (It's for MMS). On that train of thought, maybe what you need is a plugin to one of these existing CMS things and not necessarily access the entire admin area.
posted by IronLizard at 3:23 PM on June 19, 2007

I'm a big fan of ModXCMS. It's a bit rough around the edges right now (late beta-stages) but gives you the ability to write your own templates with a fairly extreme degree of customization. I've not done layout for mobile devices but I'm pretty sure it would be do-able.
posted by Alterscape at 6:30 PM on June 19, 2007

I looked into this again this morning and found some interesting stuff. I'd like this to work with Joomla so I'm focusing on that.

Here is a brief tutorial for getting Joomla sites to work with mobiles: http://calgarycmssolutions.com/content/view/44/46/

Here is another brief tutorial with a link to a simple plugin for Joomla (looks like the plugin site is currently down):
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,55527

But those are for the sites themselves. The admin interface is a different matter.

Searching Joomla's forum for "mobile admin" didn't bring up any relevant results, however. I'd look there some more and ask them. Maybe you will be better off looking for a different CMS after all.
posted by bristolcat at 6:25 AM on June 20, 2007

Thanks for all the responses everyone! BristolCat, I like your idea especially since it involves Joomla, which I think is an awesome CMS system. I found another article that deals with formatting Joomla content to a small PDA screen. Check it out at Make Your Joomla Site PDA-Ready. The solution involves a PDA template and a Joomla extension called PDA Mambot. The only issue I am finding is the site which hosts the PDA template and the PDA Mambot appears to be down, at least for the time being. Anyhow, I thought it best to mention it here as an option.
posted by DerekTheGeek at 7:29 AM on June 20, 2007