Re: Formatting question (CMS's)

Hank & Others,

Again thanks for all the great input, but basically this site is for a small
country church that already has it's ISP service set up.  They generate
their current church flyer in MS Publisher and that is the document they
then save as html to put on the web site.

Some one apparently donated a latest and greatest version of hardware with
the MS XP suite of software.  Further, the ISP is setup by donation as one
of those super-discounted no-frill non-profit sites and it will not be
moved.  The ISP will not be changed and it does not have those server side
tools available.  So I have to work with what they've have and work around
the fact that the folks generating the content are extremely computer
illiterate.

So the solutions must be client side solutions as server side solutions are
out.  Further, as I am donating this service to the church, I don't want to
get involved with this project tying up too many hours every month (they
publish the flyer monthly).  Given these parameters and given that the
client will not purchase any software (and neither will I for donated time)
are there any good suggestions?  Templates are welcome if you know of any
good ones.

The tools I have to work with are MS publisher and the MS XL Office suite on
the client's machine and FrontPage 2000 and the MS Office 97 suite on my
machine. Given these parameters and given that the client will not purchase
any software (and neither will I for donated time) are there any good
suggestions?  Templates are welcome if you know of any good ones.

Dusty



----- Original Message -----
From: "Hank Marquardt" <hmarq(at)yerpso.net>
To: "Dusty" <designsbydusty(at)tiadon.com>
Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 2:49 PM
Subject: Re: Formatting question (CMS's)


> Hey Dusty --
>
> Not having php & mysql on a unix host is uncommon, but not unheard of,
> but running a web service without even perl is pretty much inexcusable
> today -- you need a new host, plain and simple.
>
> That doesn't address your need for code to be written, but at least it
> gives you some options to use prewritten scripts.
>
> Hank
> On Fri, Aug 16, 2002 at 02:25:30PM -0500, Dusty wrote:
> > Unfortunately, the host in question doesn't support PERL. Neither does
the
> > host I currently use for my own site (my ISP). Basically, we're talking
bare
> > bones, here.
> >
> > Dusty
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Al Sessions" <al(at)oldforgefd.org>
> > To: <hwg-techniques(at)mail.hwg.org>
> > Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 2:35 PM
> > Subject: Re: Formatting question (CMS's)
> >
> >
> > > At 08:35 AM 8/16/2002 -0700, you wrote:
> > > >As for setting up a dynamic site, there are a number of good
alternatives
> > > >that you  can use that don't require much in the way of programming
> > > >knowledge. Movable Type was mentioned but requires a good host with
> > specific
> > > >perl modules installed.
> > >
> > > This isn't as big a deal as it seems, the required modules can usually
be
> > > installed freestanding. The docs explain this pretty well and, if
> > anything,
> > > they make it seem more complex than it is. Another nice thing about MT
is
> > > the community and personal attention the Trotts put into the product.
The
> > > initial install may be slightly more complex than similar products but
the
> > > feature set, IMO, justifies the additional time.
> > >
> > > I've helped develop a few plugins and the flexibility of MT continues
to
> > > amaze me. For someone in Dustys position it may be perfect, it can be
> > > installed with the bare bones and when/if the site is moved to a more
> > fully
> > > featured host the conversion to MySQL, export of the existing site and
> > > installation of additional modes is cake.
> > >
> > > >If you have that, great, it's cool software. Another
> > > >option, is Radio Userland. It's an inexpensive desktop application
that
> > you
> > > >can use for formatting and that will upload your pages for you. Radio
> > > >doesn't need any kind of dynamic capabilities on the server.
> > >
> > > What Radio does require is maintaining the files locally, this can
lead to
> > > difficulties when your working off site. More importantly, IMHO, the
cost
> > > doesn't justify the features, especially considering the free
alternatives
> > > and that it is a recurring fee. The docs aren't all they could be and
are
> > > scattered all over the place... throw in the Winer factor and I'd be
hard
> > > pressed to recommend Radio.
> > >
> > > >I'm working on a non-profit site right now and chose P-machine, a
> > php-mysql
> > > >program. All of these options use templates and don't require the
user to
> > > >know any programming. You can customize them with just the knowledge
you
> > > >describe. Another solution, I've used in the past is Post Nuke. It is
a
> > > >slight bit less flexible but offers lots of extras like discussion
> > boards,
> > > >calendars and extra modules.
> > > >http://movabletype.org/
> > > >http://www.userland.com/
> > > >http://www.pmachine.com/
> > > >http://www.postnuke.com/
> > >
> > > PHP and MySQL, from what I understand, are not available on the
server.
> > > That pretty much rules out Nuke variants and PMachine.
> > >
> > > BTW, this is not a criticism of either... I'm a huge fan of both and
have
> > > used them extensively. I would, however, be hesitant to say that
> > > programming knowledge isn't needed, especially in the case of
PostNuke. If
> > > you want *anything* that doesn't have the cookie cutter look of nuke
> > sites,
> > > your gonna be hacking into the scripting. PMachine is a little better
but
> > > the template system can be confusing and again, to avoid that generic
two
> > > column look your into the code.
> > >
> > >  From what I've read I think that in terms of a CMS she is likely to
be
> > > restricted to the flat file/Berkeley DB varieties.
> > >
> > > John Hiler has a nice overview of these, and other, products at
> > > http://microcontentnews.com/articles/blogware.htm
> > >
> > > -----------------------------------------
> > > Al Sessions
> > > al(at)oldforgefd.org
> > > http://www.fultonchaindesign.com/mt (personal weblog)
> > >
> >
>
> --
> Hank Marquardt <hank(at)yerpso.net>
> http://web.yerpso.net
> GPG Id: 2BB5E60C
> Fingerprint: D807 61BC FD18 370A AC1D  3EDF 2BF9 8A2D 2BB5 E60C
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