Making a New CMS

Dynamic Website

[RussellC]

I currently have a static website that is getting to the point where I need a better way to add pages, change category headers, etc...

I have build intranet database systems before in php, but they never needed the text formatting differences from page to page that this will need. They were more for client tracking, etc... Basically what I want to do is make the site look exactly as it does now but generate it dynamically and then mod_rewrite the URL's so the structure looks the same as the current static site.

I know how to do this in general but what baffles me is the content entry on my admin pages. What if, for example, I need to add an image to the page in a strange location, or what if there is a contact form on a specific page. How do I encorporate those type of changes in my CMS backend?

So far I have decided something like this for the basic structure.

main_categories
ID, cat_name, url_name

sub_categories
ID, parent_id, cat_name, url_name, display

And then there will be a copy_page table with each page's info like title, meta, body etc...

Links to each category will look like content.php?category=widgets&cat2=blue-widgets and then I can take the url and turn it into /widgets/blue-widgets.html

Sorry for blabbing, but am I on the right track at all?

Thank you.

[coopster]

Seems like you are trying to fit your dynamics into a canned package and that doesn't always work. Does every page have to run through your CMS, including your administrative areas?

[RussellC]

Well I guess eveything dosnt have to be I big canned package. I can make certain static pages, like the contact forms and the index page, but on content pages I would like to have some flexibility with graphic placement etc... any good way of going about this?

[grandpa]

I did this thru trial and error. A homemade CMS works for some pages, not for others. For those pages where it will work I have created a table of products for that category. The table includes image information including alternate text, a position on the page for the product, and specific product information. For the admin side it's a simple matter of creating an interface to the table.

The downside to all of this is that any product group requires its own admin and backend process. So it is not a fluid and comprehensive solution. The upside is that I can add, change, activate or deactivate and set the page position for any item in the group.

The page templates I create are also product group specific. As you can guess, mine is a less than perfect solution.

[RussellC]

I guess the best solution is to just keep chugging away at it and figure out what I need as I go along. Maybe I can make a table with several templates of page layouts to pick from and choose which one would be appropriate each page. Thanks for the advice.