Web Developers: How do YOU go about content management systems?

[giggity]

Hello

I'd like to know how you web developers handle content management behind your clients' websites. I understand fully that for a majority of clients, they end up emailing you and asking for you to change things for them anyway, but maybe that's because the system you put behind there is simply too complicated for your client to bother to take time to learn.

I, personally, like to create a content management system from the ground-up in PHP and create the back-end based on the content of the site, rather than the other way around. This way, there are no features in the back-end that lead to nothing actually useful for the client, and the website cannot be screwed up by the client deleting pages accidentally.

The only problem with this is that it takes a lot more time, but it's still faster to me than having to create plug-ins to accomplish features I want (I find pure PHP easier than learning an entire framework).

How do you like to handle content management? Do you create your own CMS, use a pre-existing CMS (if so, which one?) or do you simply make html pages and edit them yourself when clients email you? (or any other ways?)

Thanks

 

[Blackout]

If you want to provide CMS functionality for your clients then would it not also be useful to create a site with a wordpress backend?
Create the actual theme and html etc from the ground up and then allow your clients to manage certain parts of the site (text, pictures) from the wordpress system?

 

[nexxus]

If you find it faster to code from the ground up than using a framework, that's great. My opinion couldn't be further from that.

I've personally found it to be incredibly tedious to slog through a clump of essential stuff that has already been done far, far better than I could ever dream to do. Social / O auth, password management, emailing, error logging, admin, security, data migrations, routing, session / token control, etc. Someone's written a plugin to do all that stuff for the framework of your choice. I've done it the hard way and I couldn't really be bothered to do it again and keep up with every time Google or Facebook changes the way they authenticate.

The benefit in using frameworks though isn't just speed of development though, it usually means a set coding standard, thousands of eyeballs inspecting the code for issues, support, etc. A whole lot of considerations you hadn't even thought to consider have been taken into consideration.

 

[Thor]

If you find it faster to code from the ground up than using a framework, that's great. My opinion couldn't be further from that.

I've personally found it to be incredibly tedious to slog through a clump of essential stuff that has already been done far, far better than I could ever dream to do. Social / O auth, password management, emailing, error logging, admin, security, data migrations, routing, session / token control, etc. Someone's written a plugin to do all that stuff for the framework of your choice. I've done it the hard way and I couldn't really be bothered to do it again and keep up with every time Google or Facebook changes the way they authenticate.

The benefit in using frameworks though isn't just speed of development though, it usually means a set coding standard, thousands of eyeballs inspecting the code for issues, support, etc. A whole lot of considerations you hadn't even thought to consider have been taken into consideration.

True

 

[scudsucker]

The benefit in using frameworks though isn't just speed of development though, it usually means a set coding standard, thousands of eyeballs inspecting the code for issues, support, etc. A whole lot of considerations you hadn't even thought to consider have been taken into consideration.

Laravel FTW. Honestly, it takes away 90% of the ****fest that is PHP and at the same time gives you a decent modern MVC + ORM which is well supported and constantly updated.

Also it makes PHP actually fun.

 

[neo_]

Laravel FTW. Honestly, it takes away 90% of the ****fest that is PHP and at the same time gives you a decent modern MVC + ORM which is well supported and constantly updated.

Also it makes PHP actually fun.

+9999, for the use of Laravel.

I use Laravel for smaller projects that don't often need updating. Simple authentication with basic page management is all that's needed, and so using a CMS can be overkill, sometimes.

With that said, I always prefer to use a CMS. WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal are all no-go's for me - my experience with them has been much less than satisfactory. ProcessWire is my go-to system, and my clients love it. There's also Bolt, which is pretty cool - it supports SQLite, and so is very easy to update/transport.

 

[nfbs]

I would stick with a CMS rather than write one myself with a framework. However IMO learning a framework is much easier than learning a CMS.

Just choose very carefully. There are many CMS systems that are written in PHP. Each with pros and cons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_content_management_systems

The best one will depend on your need.

 

[_kabal_]

In house cms for sites that require it. For webapps which have little user defined content, I would use Wordpress and its json api

 

[rward]

If you find it faster to code from the ground up than using a framework, that's great. My opinion couldn't be further from that.

I've personally found it to be incredibly tedious to slog through a clump of essential stuff that has already been done far, far better than I could ever dream to do. Social / O auth, password management, emailing, error logging, admin, security, data migrations, routing, session / token control, etc. Someone's written a plugin to do all that stuff for the framework of your choice. I've done it the hard way and I couldn't really be bothered to do it again and keep up with every time Google or Facebook changes the way they authenticate.

The benefit in using frameworks though isn't just speed of development though, it usually means a set coding standard, thousands of eyeballs inspecting the code for issues, support, etc. A whole lot of considerations you hadn't even thought to consider have been taken into consideration.

Same as above.

I use wordpress with html5blank as my starter theme.

 

[Thor]

Same as above.

I use wordpress with html5blank as my starter theme.

Also use that theme as my starting point