[WD&D] Digest for sitedesign@googlegroups.com - 13 Messages in 1 Topic

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• convert existing website to a cms like cmsmadesimple [13 Updates]

 Topic: convert existing website to a cms like cmsmadesimple

gbon <gerritbon@gmail.com> Oct 19 12:39AM -0700 ^

 
Hi group,
 
How much work will it be if I want to convert a site of about 45 pages
to a simple cms. There are 3 pages that change frequently.
 
This is the site: http://www.henkscherff.nl/PGGinneken/Welkom.html.
 
The site is everything under PGGinneken.
 
Thanks in advance! Gerrit.


 

Deb * Digital Mouse Designs <listmember@digitalmousedesigns.com> Oct 19 11:31AM -0500 ^

 
On 10/19/2011 2:39 AM, gbon wrote:
 
> How much work will it be if I want to convert a site of about 45 pages
> to a simple cms. There are 3 pages that change frequently.
 
> This is the site: http://www.henkscherff.nl/PGGinneken/Welkom.html.
 
 
How much work is a relative phrase, your idea of a lot of work or a
little work would probably be different than mine or someone else's. I
don't use CMSMS, I use Wordpress pretty much exclusively so I can't
relate to CMSMS, sorry.
--
Deb * Digital Mouse Designs


 

Joni Mueller <joni@jonimueller.com> Oct 19 11:57AM -0500 ^

 
I would port it to CMS Made Simple rather than Drupal or WordPress. For one thing, the backend is very user friendly, there's onboard file management, the blog can be driven by the news module since it doesn't look like there are comments on the blog itself. CMSMS also has a well developed blog module (CGBlogs) created by one of the CMSMS devs, so it's rock solid. The other blog module (Blogs Made Simple) is not so great, IMHO.
 
Designing for CMSMS is very simple; the Smarty system that CMSMS uses in addition to PHP makes it very easy to customize any page in the site.
 
There's a great user uploads section that lets you display documents for download on the site (WP doesn't really have a very elegant way to do this; Drupal does to some extent, but I won't recommend Drupal because it's got a steep learning curve, more so than CMSMS or WP).
 
Using Multi Language module you can have dual language on the site very easily.
 
http://www.cmsmadesimple.org
 
HTH.
Joni Mueller
Pixelita Designs
http://www.pixelita.com
________________________________________
From: sitedesign@googlegroups.com [sitedesign@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of gbon [gerritbon@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 2:39 AM
To: Web Design and Development
Subject: [WD&D] convert existing website to a cms like cmsmadesimple
 
Hi group,
 
How much work will it be if I want to convert a site of about 45 pages
to a simple cms. There are 3 pages that change frequently.
 
This is the site: http://www.henkscherff.nl/PGGinneken/Welkom.html.
 
The site is everything under PGGinneken.
 
Thanks in advance! Gerrit.
 
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ernest okojie <nestkojex@gmail.com> Oct 19 06:48PM +0100 ^

 
are there any good tutorials on CMSMS online?
 
 
--
Best Regards
www.kojexconsult.com


 

wakwak <customsitepro@gmail.com> Oct 19 11:22AM -0700 ^

 
To answer your original query on how difficult it is to convert a site
to a CMS (of any flavor) - It is not that difficult to copy and paste
your content into the site. I see your current site is built in iWeb
and is pure CSS. You will have to break the current site down into
zones and approach the CMS you use from there.
 
Look at all of the combinations of layouts that are currently on the
site. From a quick glance, I see that there is:
 
Header
Inset (sometimes)
3 floating sidebars and content
 
This is an simple layout to work with. I might suggest you add a
footer to the site. To be honest, I never have used CMS Made Simple. I
am a Joomla guy. In this instance I would start with a RocketTheme
template and modify it to suit to accommodate your 3 floating
sidebars. The Gantry Framework is a good fit. If you want to go open
source on the template, then go to http://www.gantry-framework.org/
Gantry also works in WordPress, if that is your favorite flavor of CMS
 
The only thing I have to worn you about is when switching over to a
CMS, there is a learning curve to get with the conventions of the CMS
and how they work. Once you get past that, it is not that hard.
 
Chris


 

Joni Mueller <joni@jonimueller.com> Oct 19 01:22PM -0500 ^

 
Here's a good one, showing how easy it is to port an existing design to CMSMS:
http://www.cmsmadesimple.org/uploads/media/mint_chocolate.htm
 
Joni Mueller
Pixelita Designs
http://www.pixelita.com
________________________________________
From: sitedesign@googlegroups.com [sitedesign@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of ernest okojie [nestkojex@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 12:48 PM
To: sitedesign@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [WD&D] convert existing website to a cms like cmsmadesimple
 
are there any good tutorials on CMSMS online?


 

Joni Mueller <joni@jonimueller.com> Oct 19 01:28PM -0500 ^

 
One more important thing that WakWak a/k/a Chris just jogged my memory on is that when porting to any new system, you should be careful to prepare 301 redirects (these are placed in the site root's .htaccess file). You will be moving from static HTML pages to dynamic PHP pages that likely will just have pretty URLs (e.g., www.mysite.com/contact.html will become www.mysite.com/contact/, and so forth). This is painstaking with a site of this size, but the way I do it is to use a sitemap generator to capture all the pages, then convert the results to a csv file (most sitemap generators have this feature), pop that into an Excel spreadsheet and use it to map the new pages. Make sense?
 
 
Joni Mueller
Pixelita Designs
http://www.pixelita.com
________________________________________
From: sitedesign@googlegroups.com [sitedesign@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of wakwak [customsitepro@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 1:22 PM
To: Web Design and Development
Subject: [WD&D] Re: convert existing website to a cms like cmsmadesimple
 
[snipped]
The only thing I have to worn you about is when switching over to a
CMS, there is a learning curve to get with the conventions of the CMS
and how they work. Once you get past that, it is not that hard.


 

wakwak <customsitepro@gmail.com> Oct 19 12:08PM -0700 ^

 
I might add, that once you choose a CMS to work with, learn that CMS
inside and out and stick with it. Become very proficient with it. When
a customer comes to you and wants to convert or have a site scratch
built in a CMS you need to be able to produce something quickly for
them. I have a custom Joomla core installation I built with all of the
goodies that I like to incorporate in every site I build. any
specialized components, plugins, or modules can be added on a case by
case basis.
 
Chris


 

Artist <sitepro@gmail.com> Oct 19 04:02PM -0500 ^

 
Most CMSes have an import function that makes this easy, like modx. The
work comes later when as a designer you adapt the design into the cms.
Though, Joni makes a good point about 301 redirects and offers a solution,
that is a bit of work.
 
-Doug


 

Joni Mueller <joni@jonimueller.com> Oct 19 04:05PM -0500 ^

 
The import function is handy, but there's no workaround for preparing the 301 redirects, is there, Doug? I'm all ears because I'm in the midst of that right now porting a site from a (sick) combination of Joomla! and WordPress to WordPress running Genesis and the AgentPress Child theme.
 
Joni Mueller
Pixelita Designs
http://www.pixelita.com
________________________________________
From: sitedesign@googlegroups.com [sitedesign@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Artist [sitepro@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 4:02 PM
To: sitedesign@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [WD&D] convert existing website to a cms like cmsmadesimple
 
Most CMSes have an import function that makes this easy, like modx. The work comes later when as a designer you adapt the design into the cms. Though, Joni makes a good point about 301 redirects and offers a solution, that is a bit of work.
 
-Doug


 

Sammy Noorani <snoorani109@gmail.com> Oct 19 05:55PM -0400 ^

 
Joni / Doug - what cms would you recommend for a business directory website? (like a mini yellowpages.com). Do you know of any cms that have a directory theme?
 
Thanks!!
 
Sammy
 


 

Joni Mueller <joni@jonimueller.com> Oct 19 04:56PM -0500 ^

 
WordPress has a Company Directory Plugin and so does CMS Made Simple. But WP may even have some company directory specific themes.
 
Here are some WP links to get you started:
http://tomuse.com/wordpress-directory-plugin-theme/
 
Here is a nice example of a CMS Made Simple site running the Company Directory module.
http://www.bcfarmfresh.com/fraser-valley-farm-index.html
 
HTH.
 
 
Joni Mueller
Pixelita Designs
http://www.pixelita.com
________________________________________
From: sitedesign@googlegroups.com [sitedesign@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Sammy Noorani [snoorani109@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 4:55 PM
To: sitedesign@googlegroups.com
Cc: sitedesign@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [WD&D] convert existing website to a cms like cmsmadesimple
 
Joni / Doug - what cms would you recommend for a business directory website? (like a mini yellowpages.com). Do you know of any cms that have a directory theme?
 
Thanks!!


 

Artist <sitepro@gmail.com> Oct 19 05:04PM -0500 ^

 
For a directory I have been pretty happy with phplinkdirectory.com (stupid
phone won't let me type dot coms right), but wsnlinks is more powerful and
modx can do even more as a full featured cms. But it takes a bit more work
the more features you want.


 

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