Content Management Tools

[Mercule]

Well, I finally went out and bought my own domain name. Now, I'm looking to put up some content, I really don't want to spend all my time writing stuff and organizing, but I'd still like to do something with with power.

My host company offers easy installs of:

• PHP-Nuke
• Post-Nuke
• Geeklog
• Xoops
• Siteframe

I'm mostly looking to post stuff for my game (rules, classes, PrCs, campaign/setting info, etc.), throw in some links, an occasional poll, and maybe do a blog or rants section. I'd also like to allow some of my group to post things like character sheets and session notes.

Does anyone have experience with any/all of these? Any advice on which is best suited to what I'm looking at? Anything better out there?

Oh, and I'm a programmer at my day job, so it doesn't have to be too simplified -- just so long as I can spend more time posting content than getting the content to appear how I want it. CM is a pretty new pasture for me.

 

[Envel]

well, i like geeklog. sometimes it might seem bulky and unforgiving, but overall i like it the best. you can have featured articles, in you case maybe the latest maps/characters. if you figure out all the tricks it works wonders. i like the user management in geeklog. you can make some users an admin of somethin, without letting them be an admin of a bunch of things.

i have only gotten phpnuke to properly install once, so i haven't used it much from an admins perspective. it has forums already there i think, unlike geeklog.

i haven't tried the others.

incase you just glanced over the above paragraphs and skipped to the end: my final thought is geeklog (it is really easy after a little practice).

 

[Fast Learner]

I've had excellent experience with PHP-Nuke for a site (http://www.bgdf.com), but haven't used it for a small personal site. It might be overkill, but it's certainly easy enough to admin and use.

 

[mroberon1972]

Post-nuke, All the way!

 

[Halivar]

Content management?

Text editor + FTP.

Just call me the Diaglo of computers...

 

[Mercule]

Thanks for the input, guys.

As I'm playing with the various tools, I'm starting to like SiteFrame more than the others. Not necessarily because it's the one I think is best, but because it seems to be the easiet to use.

Post-Nuke or PHP-Nuke seem pretty cool for a news site, and I love how you can set up Blocks for things. They both seem to be set up more for a news site than an information resource site. If I could figure out how to set up a Block along the left for Classes, House Rules, etc, that let visitors drill directly into those topics, that'd probably do it for me. The Folders in SiteFrame do this, but it looks like PHP/Post-Nuke would allow for more customization of layout if I figured things out. The Categories and Topics are just killing me.

Also, I figured out how to drop heavily formatted HTML into SiteFrame easily enough, but Post-Nuke seems to vomit on anything more heavy-duty than bolding. At the very least, a class write-up needs to have a progression table.

 

[barsoomcore]

Text editor + FTP

You and me both. Everything else I've tried has only increased frustration while decreasing creative potential.

Now I don't do very complicated websites. But with a little PHP and a lot of CSS I can have my dynamic menus, my fluid layouts, and my data-driven pages coming through sweet and clean.

And I'm a Mac user with an English degree. They don't get much less technical than me.

 

[Mercule]

Eh, I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't just go with Notepad. That's what I used to use (okay, and FrontPage, but that's for the graphics), but I was hoping one of these would be easier. To be honest, I just hate doing the layout. I've got the technical ability to create pull-down menus, CSS, etc. I just wanted an easy-to-use templater -- and maybe something to manage the menus for me.

I'll keep poking at it for another week or two, then we'll see if I'm comfortable with one of them. There's _got_ to be a reason someone has built the tools.

 

[2d6]

Eh, I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't just go with Notepad. That's what I used to use (okay, and FrontPage, but that's for the graphics), but I was hoping one of these would be easier. To be honest, I just hate doing the layout. I've got the technical ability to create pull-down menus, CSS, etc. I just wanted an easy-to-use templater -- and maybe something to manage the menus for me.

I'll keep poking at it for another week or two, then we'll see if I'm comfortable with one of them. There's _got_ to be a reason someone has built the tools.

Notepad is so..plain. I like 1st page 2000, and it is free.

http://www.evrsoft.com/

 

[barsoomcore]

I have some very simple PHP scripts that do dynamic menus and drop-downs based on data and so on. I can pass them on to you if you like. They were used to create the Modern SRD Online, so you can get an idea of what they do there.

Let me know.