best CMS / myspace script

[jayzee]

Hi,

I am sure people have asked similar questions before and quite often I am sure beaty is in the eye of the beholder in these situations, But I have been reading around about CMS systems as I would like to use one to base a site on.

I am currently unsure which is the best for my needs or if I really need one at all!

I do not want to make a copy of myspace but was wondering if they used anysort of CMS system as the core of there system and if they do is it any good?

I am a web designer and use php/mysql to build sites currently, both simple and complex, what I suppose I am looking for is a system that I can quickly install and set up for both types of site which I can learn to make life easier in the future.

OR would I be best off just building everthing from scratch as I do now?

J

[henry0]

If you can build it go for it
I have done mine by embedding an img editor from SPAW
boosted with iBrowser although integrating iBrowser in SPAW is not a real piece of cake :)

Others will go with tinyMCE.

Doing it yourself has a huge advantage, you may easily modif it and you know which script does what

Good luck

[jayzee]

thanks for the suggestions.

If I had more time i would maybe build it all myself, just a bit hectic at the moment with other work and was hoping that i could in the future make use of a CMS to make my life easier.

I am not neccessarily looking for content managment as being the primary reason. just a good starting frame work for sites complex and simple, although cms, blogs, forums, ecommerce and the ability to build customer featues/functions are all features that I would like to see in some way.

I have had a play around with easy publish before, and it is sort of what I am after, just the speed/server load issues have kept me away from taking it seriously.

I have read around a bit more now and there seem to be quite a few people using joomla which seems to be designed by developers that left mambo (another CMS I have heard banded around).

would myspace have used similar starting point, or would it have been started completely from scratch.

A few months ago I came across a phpmyspace script which someone had built with xoops (and tried to sell to people even though it was based on an open source package). so people at the least are using CMS systems to replicate big sites like myspace.

Is a CMS system capable of running a site like this with high volumnes of traffic?

if it is possible,is it always going to be an uphill struggle?

[henry0]

I do not and never will use or simply acknowledge the terminology defining a CMS as a site builder, it should be as its name implies a “Content Management System”
And not a “miracle click site builder” a la “et voila”.

One) Build site frame
Two) Create a system (first on the paper: List site/management requirements) such as adding pages, adding rows within pages, creating dir, editing etc..
Three) Script a template system OOP oriented that will create real files from a template-for-dupli and not on the fly built files.

This is your basic own CMS; not a one size fits all but one performing up to your expectations.

With this in mind most very large sites use CMS system a few probably utilize some purchased or free scripts but I really think that most do use a custom made system.

If you decide to look for a system “pre-made” do not over do it and search for a basic system that you may tweak to your needs

[jayzee]

I am not looking for a miracle system that solves all my problems, just a system I can use as a starting point for most sites big and small and that has been well thought out regarding db access, sessions, templates, etc.

I was reffering to it as a CMS as general term and realise this term doesn't really fit a site builder style setup, although if you look at alot of CMS systems they do try and offer as much as they can in features some not necessarily CMS

as you suggest tweekability is definitely a must as I need to be able to make it do what I want and reasonably simply.

an advantage would be if other people had already built mods that could then be tweeked further for my use to save time.
Or easily built by myself if non exist.

I have had a look around at quite a few but am a bit overwhelmed by the choice.

I need the ease to be able to build a 4 page site with a simple cms system to allow a client to be able to do basic tect changes through to a large custom built site that I can program to do what I want when it comes to form processing and functionality along the lines of a datingsite/myspace style site/portal news site.

I know I am asking alot, just want a good starting point.

thanks

J

[henry0]

You could read The PHP Anthology; Sub Titled: Object Oriented PHP solutions.
The source code is availalbe online and the solution they implement as an example will do fine as a base for your dev project.