Web Interface needed

build one myself or use something that is available

[DoppyNL]

Hi all,

I'm working on a new internal software system that will need a webinterface to manage content on a server.

So, an employee puts content in a database and decides where to display what.
Then another system will connect to the main server and fetch what it needs to display and starts displaying it.

Now we need to make the webinterface and as I see it we've got 2 options:

1. Find a simple existing system that allows us to create the webinterface we need in a simple way.

2. Build a simple system ourselves.

Does anyone know of any existing php based system that we might be able to use?

[LeChuck]

Depends on the content you're going to insert.

If the person responsible isn't tech-allergic phpmyadmin may be what you're looking for. It just allows you to edit the mysql db directly.

[DoppyNL]

Multiple persons will be using the webinterface and most of them will probably be quite tech-alergic.

I know phpmyadmin and it will not do the job for wich I need this.

I'm looking for a system that will do about the following:
- manage database connection (default php database functions will do for the rest).
- access control for multiple users; what they may access is different per usergroup
- basic template (doesn't have to be fancy)

Yeah, I know, it isn't much. But if there is something out there that can be used very easily, then that would be easyer then making it ourselves.

Otherwise we would simply have to make something ourselves, wich wouldn't be a big problem :)

[LeChuck]

If your data is going to be used for automatic calculation, needs to be parseable etc I'd consider making a simple db front with lots of validation myself.

Especially with tech-allergic users.

[ergophobe]

I have a site that is essentially nothing more than a database interface. Depending on privileges, a person can simply view or can alter/create records. In this case, it's all about content and the site has no navigation or hierarchy to speak of. You could think of it as a search engine for my content. Generally speaking, nobody gets to a page by clicking on a link, except by searching first and clicking on a link within the search results. Nobody is there for a user experience, they're there to get a bit of information, so simple, fast, straightforward are the only real considerations. In a case like that, building your own is probably better because you can really customize search and you can keep it very lean and fast.

If you want them to be able to put content in categories, create new sections for content and so on and so forth, you should definitely look into off-the-shelf CMS systems.

[DoppyNL]

If your data is going to be used for automatic calculation, needs to be parseable etc I'd consider making a simple db front with lots of validation myself.

Especially with tech-allergic users.

We are planning just the thing :-)

A full CMS system is overkill. As it will only be used for data wich has a predefined structure. To manipulate that data, we will be making forms and reports to do just that.

`Searching` for content is also not workable here. We're not talking about articles or big pieces of text.
Would be most easily compared to a sportsclub that has an administration of their little players, where the are from and in what team they are playing on when they switched teams and stuff like that.

Looks more and more like it that something like this is not available on the net. Wich is understandable, who wants to develop a simple CMS that only covers the basics. At the time you're done building that you will immediatly start building more features in it.

More suggestions are welcome though.