CMS Newbie

[kcelsi]

Hello,
I am a web designer and have never used a content management system before. Get Simple was recommended to me because I need something basic for small business websites. I am still uncertain as to how these systems work. Could you give me a very brief overview of how this can be integrated into the website that I already have?

I have a site that is hosted by Blue Host. I would like to add one page where the client can add some simple things like promotions, news, etc on their end. I would like the page to look similar to the other pages I have created (same header, nav bar, etc). How does this work? Can I use Dreamweaver for this? How will the client access the page to edit data? I'd just like to get a basic understanding before I download. Thank you.

[Carlos]

GS has a nice admin panel that lets the user easily edit pages. Install a test site and try it, or check the demo.

As for adapting your current static template, see this post:
http://get-simple.info/forums/showthread...3#pid31743
and links in the following post (#3)

[kcelsi]

Okay. So would I need the new template for just the page that I want the client to edit or would I need to rewrite the rest of the site that will not be editable?

[jyoz22]

How many pages do you already have designed? It seems to be counter-productive to use the CMS for only one page... in case they were wanting to make changes to the other pages as well...

I personally would create a layout template for each page you already have designed. And manage the content of all pages through the CMS.

I think once you get started and see how easy it is to use, you will probably use GetSimple for your future projects.

Okay. So would I need the new template for just the page that I want the client to edit or would I need to rewrite the rest of the site that will not be editable?

[Carlos]

Okay. So would I need the new template for just the page that I want the client to edit or would I need to rewrite the rest of the site that will not be editable?

You could do it like that, create your theme with one template.php file (to be used by your user-editable page). That file would more-or-less be like the rest of your html pages, with all the DW tags, but instead of the actual title, content... you would insert GS template tags (<?php get_page_title(); ?> , <?php get_page_content(); ?>, ... Take a look at those links in the wiki.

You will probably need to install GS in a subdirectory of the site.

[shovenose]

Hello,
Just like Carlos said, you could install GS in a subdirectory, then quickly convert the one page you want the user to edit, to a template. But that seems counterproductive and a waste of time.
Why not just make the entire website using GetSimple CMS?
You can't use Dreamweaver to directly make/edit a GS template, however if you compare the source code of the default GS templates "innovation" and "cardinal", the one I made here for the purpose of getting people just like you started on building sites with GetSimple CMS, http://get-simple.info/extend/theme/yourtheme/509/, and the code Dreamweaver puts out, you should be able to figure out how it works.
If you want, you can make each page a seperate template, then when you make the page in the admin panel you can select which template that page uses.
The client would then simply go to example.com/admin (well, obviously replace the domain with the real one) to edit the content in their site.
If you need any help don't hesitate to post further, and thanks for trying GetSimple CMS!

[Carlos]

You can't use Dreamweaver to directly make/edit a GS template,

Why?
Can't DW manage php files?

[shawn_a]

You can totally use DW to make templates.

[Timbow]

I was doing this job this afternoon, of making a new theme from a static page. I noted down how I did it so I have a step by step tutorial now. I will post it in a new thread.

[MukeshRoy]

Please post it in a new thread. And let us know here, your threads name then we can check it. I think this post will be help me a lot. I'm waiting for see your post. I want to learn how to making a new theme from a static page.

[Timbow]

Please post it in a new thread. And let us know here, your threads name then we can check it. I think this post will be help me a lot. I'm waiting for see your post. I want to learn how to making a new theme from a static page.

It's here:
http://get-simple.info/forums/showthread.php?tid=4246