Advice needed. How can assigned users update a section of a website?

[DoverPresby]

How can I set up just a section of a webpage to be updated by other people? It's a church website and ideally I'd like staff or others to be able to login to the website, add news items or photos and update the pages without disrupting the layout? I'm not exactly a newbie, I can create sites & pages in dreamweaver, forms, etc. but I'm not a full-fledge techy. So be kind. I don't want the staff trying opening up pages of html or WYSIWYG and trying to modify a page on their own. I don't know that much - yet- about PHP or PHPnuke. Is that a possible solution? Can a section be added into a dreamweaver page as a module? I've also heard about some open source software called Xinha, which performs these tasks I'm looking for, but it needs assorted software on the server, which I don't see, such as Subversion software... SQLite... also Python, couple others. Hostgator have anything that can be added on to help? Any suggestions? Thanks.

[khodges]

You need a content management system (CMS). There are may open source (free) CMSes out there. I use one called Website Baker, which is "easy" to use and fairly robust. An example is my site, www.newsomehighsports.com. The most popular open source cms right now is probably joomla!, which is more robust, more flexible, and therefore more difficult to install. It does have the advantage that Hostgator will install it for you automatically off of fantastico.

[Goddess Dix]

Originally Posted by DoverPresby

How can I set up just a section of a webpage to be updated by other people? It's a church website and ideally I'd like staff or others to be able to login to the website, add news items or photos and update the pages without disrupting the layout? I'm not exactly a newbie, I can create sites & pages in dreamweaver, forms, etc. but I'm not a full-fledge techy. So be kind. I don't want the staff trying opening up pages of html or WYSIWYG and trying to modify a page on their own. I don't know that much - yet- about PHP or PHPnuke. Is that a possible solution? Can a section be added into a dreamweaver page as a module? I've also heard about some open source software called Xinha, which performs these tasks I'm looking for, but it needs assorted software on the server, which I don't see, such as Subversion software... SQLite... also Python, couple others. Hostgator have anything that can be added on to help? Any suggestions? Thanks.

you can certianly use a cms, and there are a billion and two out there. each one is going to have a learnign curve and config to deal with...which one is best is going to be different from project to project.

if you have one you like, contact hg and ask them if iwhat you need for it is already installed. some things will be on the server that aren't on the lists.

if you're already comfortable in dreamweaver, you could also go the dreamweaver/contribute route, which has worked out pretty well for me for some clients updating their sites. get them to purchase contribute (about $100 I believe), which will respect the dreamweaver templates. you can lock down the nav and such with dreamweaver, and they can use contribute more or less like a word processing program. you can also set up what they can do and cannot that way.

[keyreviews]

You could also create folders to place specific page in, then allow FTP access to a specific folder.

[Goddess Dix]

Originally Posted by keyreviews

You could also create folders to place specific page in, then allow FTP access to a specific folder.

the concern was regarding how the non-tech church staff are going to be able to edit content.

[hostfad]

Could you show us a preview of your site, then we can make an informed decision about what content management system would be best for you.

[Goddess Dix]

Originally Posted by Serra

Contribute is running about $150.00, but its a very good solution.

i've got maybe 3-5 clients that actively use it, and it's worked out well for them. It allows me to do a full-blown dreamweaver templated setup without having to do a CMS theme when, for them, CMS would be overkill.

For me, I'd go CMS if lots of people will need to make lots of updates, you'll need to pull the info several different ways, etc. If you just need non-techs to do updates to static content, DW/Contribute is a great choice.

For a combo of the two needs, I have even been known to look at Wordpress with the right combo of plugins or some of the more simple CMS. It really depends on how it's going to be used. Don't give yourself feature-creep when you're window shopping, or you'll live to regret it!

[DoverPresby]

Wow, you guys have been great with the ideas. I'm looking at all of them. Yes, the concern is non tech church staff doing simple updates without having them accidentally disrupt layouts, etc. A church calendar being updated is no problem, but I imagine a news section on the home page would be updated often by staff, maybe recorded sermons on the home page, certainly a photo gallery, things like that. Thanks again everyone, really appreciate it.

[Goddess Dix]

Originally Posted by DoverPresby

Wow, you guys have been great with the ideas. I'm looking at all of them. Yes, the concern is non tech church staff doing simple updates without having them accidentally disrupt layouts, etc.

if you're wanting to take a look at differnt cms, you can go here and test drive some and read comments by others before install. i've found that site very helpful when evaluating cms options.

and if you want to try contribute, they have a 30-day trial download as i recall.

good luck!

[slapshotw]

There's also this one-- really, really simple:

http://www.snippetmaster.com/index.php

[richinri]

You took the words right out of my mouth. Don't waste any time getting snippitmaster.com's program. It uses html comment tags which means using it will still allow pages to be validated. It is simple, free to very reasonable, automated setup and will do exactly what you want!