Good Content Management System, for CODING? Need some replies ASAP.

T

ThePentiumGuy

Senior Contributor
Joined
May 21, 2003
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Location
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It's time to update the looks of my site. I now have a server with PHP, ASP.NET, MySql, you name it.

I think I should start using CMS's... so the layout will be "Easy" and stuff. I'm not that much of a web designer, but what I DO want is some suggestions on how to make webpages for tutorials.

You can check my old page on my sig.

So I went and tried a bunch of PHP CMS's such as PHP Nuke and E107. They're GREAT - but unfortunately, the pages must be created in a forum-style manner (it has some built-in editor), and this is generally not good for putting out tutorial content...

I mean, e107/phpnuke - you can't even TAB the code. Even if you wrap in CODE tags.

What I'm looking for is a content management system (free) where I can upload files.....say, from dreamweaver/front page....

Am I looking at this whole thing wrong? Should I even be USING a CMS? Sorry if I seem confused, I'm sort of new to web development (besides basic, crappy HTML as you can see from my site). I'd like to step away from that and move to something more advanced.

Any tips?

-The Pentium Guy
 
Depends on what you want to do with your site other than just posting tutorials. CMS for just posting tutorials is a bit of an overkill, and will probably take some time to customize it the way you want it (I speak from previous experience here :)). What I went with for the resurrection of my old website is a collection of simple PHP pages, that all include the basic layout file and then the page specific information. For example appropriate tutorial is chosen based on the value of a query string, and the file with the same name is included in the page. All of this required about 10 lines of PHP :).
In the end you have to decide what else you would want to do with your website. RainbowPortal is a nice ASP.NET CMS.
 
Last edited:
I don't know PHP, but I'd be willing to learn it :). Thanks for the help. I'll give a look into DotNetNuke, in fact I'm downloading it right now. i'll give it a shot and see if it's good.. as long as it indents and doesn't screw up my *CODE* (by not indenting....etc) then it's fine.
 
Im not talking about using PHP in specific. I'm just trying to point out that you can build a simple system for a website like that very easily without investing plenty of time.
:)
 
mutant said:
Im not talking about using PHP in specific. I'm just trying to point out that you can build a simple system for a website like that very easily without investing plenty of time.
:)
Click to expand...

Yeah I know what you meant :D. But it is time for me to learn something besides .NET and Java.

Man, my connection must suck (768K) it's STILL uploading DotNetNuke (50MB).
Look at the time difference:
07:42 PM
09:20 PM

Nearly 1.5 hours uploading 50 MB.. wow :P
 
Yay. Done uploading. I read the instructions thoroughly, I created a database called dotnetnuke and a username/password. I made sure I could connect to the database

<?php

if ( mysql_connect('localhost', 'MYUSER', 'MYPASS', 'dotnetnuke') )
{
echo 'Yay!';
}
else
{
echo 'Crap..';
}

?>

And it echoes back "Yay". So the database is working fine. I can't get the ASP.NET thing working though

<add key="SiteSqlServer" value="Server=(local);Database=dotnetnuke;uid=MYUSER;pwd=MYPASSWORD;" />

That itself doesn't work. Not too sure what to put for the Server=(local); value.. Putting in

<add key="SiteSqlServer" value="Server=localhost;Database=dotnetnuke;uid=MYUSER;pwd=MYPASSWORD;" /> doesn't work either.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

-The Pentium Guy
 
Hey Pentiumguy!
I'm not too sure but it looks like
<add key="SiteSqlServer" value="Server=(local);Database=dotnetnuke;uid=MYUSER;pwd=MYPASSWORD;" />
Click to expand...
is for connecting to a SQLServer....

HTH
/Kejpa
 
Yeah, but the instructions ask me to fill those fields out :P.

Mutant:
Server Error in '/' Application.
Runtime Error
Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a <customErrors> tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This <customErrors> tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".




<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

<configuration>
<system.web>
<customErrors mode="Off"/>
</system.web>
</configuration>

Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's <customErrors> configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.




<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

<configuration>
<system.web>
<customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="mycustompage.htm"/>
</system.web>
</configuration>
Click to expand...

I turned this on:
<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

<configuration>
<system.web>
<customErrors mode="Off"/>
</system.web>
</configuration>

At the very end of my file. Not too sure what's going on here.

-The Pentium Guy
 
I dont know what kind of hosting your with(since you said you were uploading) but dnn requires a few special permissions to work. Such as db_owner in SQL-server on the 'dotnetnuke' database. Depending on the Operating System of the server, the users ASP_WP (XP, 2000) or NT_Authority(2003) needs db_owner.

The connection string will most likely not be 'local host' as the server, your web hoster should provide you with details for its connection string requirements.

Yeah, but the instructions ask me to fill those fields out :P.
Click to expand...

customerErrors mode="Off" - just makes sure that helpful errors are shown.
 
I think it would be best if you ask the Web Hoster that they will allow thoose permissions or not. Some Hosters advertise free DNN setup. The 'ASP NET' account needs db_owner permissions on a 2000 server as stated above.
 
Hmm. Apparently I have to use SQL 2000 instead of mySQL. I talked with the guy. I learned that the best thing to do is simply use CSS instead of going for a CMS. I"m learning it right now - pretty neat. Thanks for all your help guys. I'll notify you when my new website unveils itself.

-The Pentium Guy
 
mutant said:
How is CSS going to substitute for a CMS? Am I missing something ? :)
Click to expand...

The whole idea of a CMS is so that you dont have to touch the code. This means you will have to manually update the pages html everytime you update the page.

I second that, how does css replace a cms system?
 
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