WordPress, my new favorite Blog/CMS platform
Mar 27, 2011 Web and Product Reviews, Website Addons and Upgrades, Website Coding
Since the days when open source CMS applications began coming out, I’ve always been a bit unsure about which ones were the best to use for what. At the beginning, none of them were really very good, but now they have evolved and improved so much, there are now too many good ones to choose from.
Drupal versus Joomla
For the last few years, two of the most popular CMS platforms have been Drupal and Joomla. You can even see many job offers today looking for people who can develop using Drupal or Joomla. They are definitely among the most popular, that’s for sure. However, I don’t like either of them, and find their admin systems, especially, to be clumsy and overly-complicated.
Website Baker
My first favorite CMS was one that was not well-known at all when I first started using it. After trying out all the most popular ones, though, and then giving Website Baker a try, I was hooked instantly. It was so much simpler than all the others, and I found, as a programmer, that I could do pretty well anything I wanted with it to create custom functions and modules for customers. Best of all, though, was the admin system. It was so simple, almost anyone could just log in and start editing pages instantly. It also had the ability to allow an editor to use multiple menus and edit multiple sections on a page right out of the box.
Unfortunately, Website Baker is not being supported very well these days, and production and updates are few and far between. I still like it a lot, but it’s now not my only recommendation for a CMS.
Another thing that Website Baker can’t do is enable you to add a blog to your site. Well, there is a simple addon for allowing people to comment on pages, but it’s as simple as it comes. Instead of using Website Baker for the blog part of the site, I would use Website Baker for the CMS, and then just used WordPress for the blog part of the site. That required two different logins into two different administration areas, so it was a bit inconvenient to have that kind of setup.
WordPress - the best solution for a blog and CMS
In the last year, I’ve been doing a lot of freelance work for a local company. When I first started, they told me that they wanted to create CMS sites for customers using WordPress. At first, I didn’t think that was going to work out so well, but when I started to learn more about WordPress and how it could be used as a CMS, I gradually started to convert. As a programmer, and by adapting the skills I learned while working with Website Baker, I was able to become quite proficient at using WordPress in a short amount of time.
The best thing about WordPress is that it can be used to both manage your blog and manage your website content. Of course, since it was first developed as a blog platform, that is where its main strength lies (WordPress is by far the most used blogging platform), but its CMS features are also good for doing what most people need done.
To learn more about WordPress, I recommend checking out the offical Wordpress site at http://www.wordpress.org.
In my next article, I’m going to share some information about some of the things I do when I’m developing a WordPress site. Stay tuned.
Tags: blog, CMS, content management, open source, Wordpress
How to scale SlideShowPro movie to fill browser window
Apr 23, 2010 Website Addons and Upgrades, Website Coding
Here is a challenge that has stumped many users of SlideShowPro over the years, and it’s something that I have managed to figure out just recently with the help of a lot of research and trial and error.
The situation is this: you or your client wants his slideshow to appear in a browser window and take up 100% of the width and 100% of the height of the browser window, no matter what size, and have the slideshow resize in real time as the browser window is dragged and resized.
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Tags: browser window, flash, full screen flash, scaling, slide show, slideshow, slideshowpro
Low cost templates instead of costly custom graphic design
Nov 24, 2009 General, Website Addons and Upgrades
Recently, a customer asked me how much it would cost him to get a new design for his site. There was a time when I would have told him that it would probably cost him at least $1,500 to get a decent design from a reputable Web or graphic design company. But now things are much different, and there are many cheaper options out there.
When I first decided that I wanted to go with the new company/website name, Site Fixers, one of the first things I thought about was how I could get a pretty decent looking website up there that would give the appearance of quality without the high cost that usually goes with it. Then I remembered seeing banners in the midst of my Internet searches that were advertising cheap templates, so I decided to look into it some more.
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Tags: cheap templates, graphic design, templates
Converting a static website to a CMS site – part 1
Nov 10, 2009 Website Addons and Upgrades, Website Coding
Yet another website upgrade that is becoming more and more popular these days is giving someone the ability to edit their own content themselves. This kind of site is usually made up of: (a) an administration section for making changes to page content; (b) a database for storing the content; and (c) the live pages that the public sees after the content is grabbed from the database. It’s called a CMS, which is an acronym for Content Management System.
It’s easily understandable why someone would want to have their site changed, or even produced from the beginning, to be self-editable. For one thing, it eliminates the need of having to go to a website programmer whenever even the smallest changes need to be made. It can also give a website owner a feeling of control over his site, since he is now able to edit his own content, and add his own pages.
Giving the administrator the ability to edit the content of her own site does not come without its problems, however. If the administrator is able to make her own changes to her site, and given too much power over what can go into the content area, it can adversely affect the look and feel of the site. So, usually, we will have to impose limits on what the administrator can do, by removing buttons and functions from the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor that is typically used for writing and editing content for the pages.
Now, to get started in converting a static website to a CMS site, it’s usually a good idea to fix up the code first. There are actually some really messy, careless coders out there, so the code might be a nightmare for you to work with if you don’t fix it up first. Some things to look for:
- Code that is not indented properly. Many programmers care a lot more about how much money they can make than about how clean their code is. You’ll often have to start from the beginning of the document, and indent everything properly, so you get a good look at the structure of the site, and make sure all the tags are opened and closed properly.
- Attributes that are not in quotes.
- More code is used than is necessary. Some programmers like to nest multiple tables inside each other to do something that often requires no table at all. You shouldn’t have a problem with using tables when they are needed, but often they are over-used.
It’s not necessary that you fix another programmer’s code before converting it to work with a CMS, but it will sure make things easier for you, and you’ll also end up with a cleaner looking site.
Now, you should have a nicely indented, clean looking HTML page for you to start adding your PHP code to in order to get it communicating with your CMS. But which CMS should you use? Now that is a good question. There are so many good ones out there now, it’s not an easy task to pick one out. A lot of people have their favorite one. Some of the more popular ones out there now are Drupal, Joomla, and CMS Made Simple. I recommend doing your own research, though, to find out what people are saying about them. A good site to go to for your research is Open Source CMS. At last count, they had 114 open source CMS applications listed and rated on their site.
Personally, my favorite CMS to use is one that is not nearly as popular as Drupal or Joomla. It’s called Website Baker. I like it, mainly, because of it’s simplicity. Compared to Drupal and Joomla, its code is much lighter, containing less bells and whistles, but still has everything that is needed for a solid CMS. My customers are also able to learn their way around the administration area of Website Baker really fast, which is quite a different experience compared to the other big CMS applications.
In part 2 of Converting a static website to a CMS site, I’ll show you how you can use Website Baker to convert your HTML page into a powerful CMS site that you and/or your customers will be happy with.
Tags: CMS, content management system, programming, web development, XHTML
Adding Live Chat to your site
Nov 10, 2009 Website Addons and Upgrades
Working as a Website Programmer for almost 10 years now, I have learned not to get too comfortable with what I am doing for customers now, and to always make sure I keep up to date with new trends in Web Development.
For me, the first time I really noticed the need to remain current was when programming trends turned toward using stricter XHTML standards in place of the older ways of doing HTML with unclosed tags, unquoted attributes, and other sorts of messy styles, and when CMS sites and Blogs (a type of CMS) started to become more available and mainstream. Another big change was the rise of the use of PHP and MySQL in place of ASP and MS SQL.
Today, I have my own small Website Update company, and my main services are in the development of XHTML templates, updating and upgrading websites, developing custom PHP/MySQL applications, and converting sites to CMS sites, among other things. These are currently the services that customers seem to be in need of the most these days. However, in the last year or two, I have noticed a new trend that seems to be catching on faster these days. It is the appearance of a Live Chat button on all kinds of websites, and it is becoming more common.
I can understand why we are seeing these buttons more and more. It is yet another way of allowing a customer to communicate with a company to get the help they need, and usually, the connection time is really fast. I have used these Live Chat buttons on many sites myself, already, and I have found them to be even better than calling, and, of course, a lot faster than email.
After doing a lot of research into the Live Chat button phenomenon, I have managed to find one that is really good, and the best thing of all is it is open source (free to download and use). It is called Mibew Messenger.
The list of features is quite generous and includes the following:
Main features
- Unlimited operators, chats, and users
- Priority queue of visitors
- Differing buttons on same website
- Reconnect automatically if the internet connection goes down
- Agent and visitor “Typing Indicator”
- Agent photo
- Chat transcript emails
- Sound and Visual alerts
- “Leave a message” when you are away
- Unicode support for multiple languages
- Quickly convert text to hyperlinks in chat
- Not blocked by pop-up blockers
Operator abilites
- Web-based Operator Console
- Canned messages for speed and consistency
- Track where your visitors clicked from to get to your website (refer URL)
- Chat conversation history with search
- Linking to previous visits, instant access to previous chats
- Reassign/Transfer chat ownership
- Mark/Highlight nuisance visitors
- Administrator can view active chats
- Information about visitor: first message, address, browser
- Administrator can take over the chat
- Customize chat with your Logo, Name etc.
In order to add this to your own website, first, you will have to make sure that the server where your website is hosted meets the minimum requirements: PHP 5 or higher and MySQL 5 or higher installed. You will also need to have an extra database available, and have your database server, name, username, and password handy for installing the application on your site.
After you know that the application can run on your server, it is time to go to the Mibew Messenger website to download the latest version. You will need to download that, unpack it, and then upload the files to the Web server on which your website resides. You should create a separate folder for holding this application, and upload all the files to there. Installing it is then a simple matter of navigating to your website and typing in the exact path to your Mibew Messenger installation directory. You will then be able to install the application by adding in your database information and then installing everything at the click of a button.
Of course, the application is not much use if you don’t place the Live Chat button somewhere on your site. There is a special code you can get once you log in to your Mibew Messenger installation that you can copy and paste anywhere on your site where you want the Live Chat button to appear.
Now, it is time to allow the application to start working its magic. All you need to do is log in to the application backend by navigating to your folder and then wait. If you are logged in, your Live Chat button on your site will change from OFFLINE to ONLINE, and if someone clicks on the button, you will get a sound and visual alert, and will see a new person in your chat queue. The best way to test it out is to try it on two different computers. Load up your website at the page that has your chat button in one browser, and log into your chat application in the other one. Then click on the chat button in the first one, and see what happens.
You can find more instructions about the use of the application at the Mibew Messenger website, but the best way to learn how to use it is to try out all the features yourself. I’m sure you’ll love it, and that it will be a great addition and benefit to your website and business.
If your current Web server does not meet the minimum requirements for installing Mibew Messenger, there are many great, reliable, cheap hosting companies available for you to choose from. On my own website, I always have a few hosting companies that I like to recommend to everyone. Just go to my site and read the summaries I have for them, and see if one of them might be a good choice for you. You can even use coupon or promotional codes that I have listed there for an even bigger discount. Also, if you are having trouble installing Mibew Messenger yourself, I would be glad to do it for you. Just check out my rates and services at my website, which is sitefixers.ca.