Possible to do this?

F

flboad

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 3, 2004
Messages
142
So recently I have been tasked with making our once dynamic website into a static site which is no big deal I’ve unhooked it from the database and changed some code. It runs great. The problem now is figuring out a way to easily update the content for someone who is non technical, and won’t easily understand web code.

So my question is. Is it possible to have a page that lists the pages you have on your page, make a selection via a radio button and when you hit submit it would open say a wysiwyg editor (pulgin in or something) and edit certain lines of code?

Of course I wouldn’t make this site live to the web, it would only be internal and this page would have password verification.


If you think this is silly than how would you do it?

Thanks
 
Dreamweaver Templates can handle this. You could go one step furthur and integrate Macromedia Contribute
 
Unfortunately we don't have Dreamweaver. Anything else you can think of?
 
If it is already dynamic and hooked up to a database, why change it? I mean you should have it now where you can do exactly what you want to do with it (or can modify some code to make that happen). But making everything static is going against what you are trying to accomplish.

I made a site with php and mysql that has a custom content management backend that the user can use to customize and change just about every aspect of the site without knowing anything about html. You could do the same... but not if it is static.
 
You could probably rig up some sort of PHP/CGI flat-file thing.
 
FlipperBizkut said:
If it is already dynamic and hooked up to a database, why change it? I mean you should have it now where you can do exactly what you want to do with it (or can modify some code to make that happen). But making everything static is going against what you are trying to accomplish.

I made a site with php and mysql that has a custom content management backend that the user can use to customize and change just about every aspect of the site without knowing anything about html. You could do the same... but not if it is static.
Click to expand...


I CAN"T agree with you more. Unfortunately it's not my say, The company that created the site is dropping it's maintance on the websites it created. And my boss is tired of paying to have someone fix all the problems that is has. So he told me that he doesn't want it to have any database and that he wants it "so you can just add it by typing, no database bullshit, you know what i mean to put it in" So like a good little slave i do as i'm told. BUT now the people who enter the information are complaining about not knowing how to update the page. Of course they don't complain to the boss they complain to ME. So you can see my dilemma :rolleyes:
 
I made a custom backend for my site that uses TinyMCE. I dont know of any pieces of software that do this outside of a complete CMS solution
 
TheDude05 said:
I made a custom backend for my site that uses TinyMCE. I dont know of any pieces of software that do this outside of a complete CMS solution
Click to expand...


This is very promising thank you for your suggestion. It seems like this is something that i may be able to work into an admin page, inorder to manipulate other pages
 
a CMS solution is going to require a database back-end of some kind.
 
flboad said:
I CAN"T agree with you more. Unfortunately it's not my say, The company that created the site is dropping it's maintance on the websites it created. And my boss is tired of paying to have someone fix all the problems that is has. So he told me that he doesn't want it to have any database and that he wants it "so you can just add it by typing, no database bullshit, you know what i mean to put it in" So like a good little slave i do as i'm told. BUT now the people who enter the information are complaining about not knowing how to update the page. Of course they don't complain to the boss they complain to ME. So you can see my dilemma :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Well, if you can build what he wants that does what he wants (using any tools that you are familiar with), I would say that you need to have a little chat with your boss. Just tell him that you can make what he wants but it isn't possible to do it his way without training someone on how to update it. Tell him that if he just wants to "type it in without any bullshit" that a static page is not what he wants. Tell him that there is all sorts of "bullshit" that one must learn in order to update a site. HTML, CSS, an FTP client of some sort, etc. Or, he could let you do what it is that he wants done, but he is going to have to loosen up the leash some before you can make it happen.

It is just like the client that I did the site for. Their #1 concern was that they could do it themselves. They wanted to depend on no one else, but they didn't want to learn either. There is only one solution that I know of for that situation... CMS.
 
depending on the language, you could do php includes. say for main page have a 'main.inc' file that only has the text that has to change. that way, the person who changes the content does not have to understand html/whatever at all...

index.php
PHP: 
<?php
echo "<html><body><p>".include('main.inc')."</p></body></html>";
?>

main.inc
Code: 
Blah blah, the company is great.  we do lots of stuff


so what gets outputted to the client is
Code: 
<html><body><p>Blah blah, the company is great.  we do lots of stuff</p></body></html>
 
if a DB is completely out of the question, i really think one Dreamweaver license, and several Contribute licenses will do the job.


If your boss is adamant about only using static pages but isn't willing to train anyone in HTML, and doesn't want to spend any money to make any of this work, then you need a new boss, because frankly, he sounds like a dumb-ass.
 
maw said:
If your boss is adamant about only using static pages but isn't willing to train anyone in HTML, and doesn't want to spend any money to make any of this work, then you need a new boss, because frankly, he sounds like a dumb-ass.
Click to expand...

Agreed. To the OP, I suggest explaining to your boss that staying with the database-driven version (which apparently worked just fine) is the most cost-effective solution. If he doesn't like that, get him to allocate you some funding for either some software or staff training.
 
Or the cheaper solution would be to hire a new maintenance staff or database administrator if the current one is always having problems, or just have someone rewrite it.

The only way I see it working on a static site is either using Dreamweaver and Contribute, teaching someone HTML, or using file includes, which will give you ZERO flexibility and will also still require basic knowledge of HTML.

A premade CMS is probably the best way to go, as there is always the creator and a community to support it.
 
take a look at FCKEditor. Simple, free, easy to integrate, and works well with static pages to PHP to CF.
 
If your manager doesn't understand the entire purpose of a CMS and wants to go completely backwards, then let him.

But seriously, start looking for another job.
 
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