Simple cms needed

Editing small regions in exisiting html website

[nickreynolds]

By and large I create my sites in boring old html using boring old Dreamweaver. I've used Wordpress a few times, but it doesn't normally fit the bill for what I need, so i'm a real novice with cms's.

However, very occasionally I need to build a site where someone else can do very limited ongoing changes. In these instances, the "someone else" is going to be an absolute novice. I have one such project on the go at the moment. The person wants to be able to add a few lines of text and upload a new picture about once a month. Wordpress or similar would appear to be a sledgehammer to crack a nut in this case.

I've seen cushy cms and this seems to fit the bill - you can create editable regions in your html and the person can login to edit those regions.

Is there anything else out there that is like cushycms? I found Freecms and tried that but there is an error in the code it generates to display your images.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

Over the last few years I have not been able to find anything that I like in this field. They are normally too complex to install or non intuitive for the user. Many of them are based on Flyspeck.

Actually the person who develops the right system for doing this will make a fortune. Wish I was clever enough!

[spadilla]

Have you looked into Surreal CMS? I've used it for a few really simple sites now and I really like it. I think the first 3 sites you setup using it are free. The only down side (if you consider it a down side) is that it doesn't reside on your server. But that's been fine for me actually.

[nickreynolds]

Ok I'll look at surreal cms. Ideally i'd like one I can use white label, but at a lower cost than their $25per month

[ergophobe]

Member review of Surreal CMS:
[webmasterworld.com...]

[spadilla]

It has a white label version (paid), but I it's only about $25 a month. So it might just fit the bill for you. The review ergophobe linked to is spot on from my perspective as well.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

I would be nervous of trusting a small company like this to be there forever more. Think of the nightmare scenario if you were hosting 50 websites with them and they went down the tubes. All of a sudden you have 50 clients asking you to sort their problems out and you could not charge them for your time.

I would prefer a locally installed system.

[lorax]

I've used Wordpress a few times, but it doesn't normally fit the bill for what I need

I'd like to hear why.

[ergophobe]

I would be nervous of trusting a small company like this to be there forever more. Think of the nightmare scenario if you were hosting 50 websites with them and they went down the tubes.

I had this question too and the same worries.

The way Surreal works is you actually keep your regular hosting plan and add a couple of tags to open/close an editable region that allows Surreal to get invoked. If Surreal goes down the tubes, those regions are no longer editable, but the page still sits on your server as it was at last change.

I'm still not sure I understand it exactly right, but that's how I understand it. You can see the original exchange here
[webmasterworld.com...]
Look for the exchange form Feb 2

[spadilla]

I swear it's beginning to seem like I work for this company - truly I don't :)

I would be nervous of trusting a small company like this to be there forever more.

I can agree with your thought, as I had the same thought myself. As ergophobe said, if they bite it you still have your file hosted on your server. Their css class for editable regions is also commonly used by other similar small CMS's such as cushy CMS; if nothing else, you could install cushy or similar product to pick up where they left off. There would be some client training involved etc. which will take time, but not the end of the world IMO.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

There would be some client training involved etc. which will take time, but not the end of the world IMO.

Not a chance I would be likely to take. ;)