Hybrid site?

[[Admin] osborn4]

Our denomination is about to redesign it's website.

I'd really like to see them go Drupal or Joomla. But we currently have a proprietary CMS from this company that's hosting it for $1200/year. And they current web master hates that CMS.

So she is afraid to try another CMS. Could a site be developed that is mostly build on a CMS framework, but allow her to FTP her own pages up, if she can't get what she wants in the CMS?

[Gene]

Yes. A link in a CMS page is still just a link, and can be to a traditional static page on the same site if desired.

However, some stuff will be more of a pain that way for the static pages. Anything that's generated by the CMS (e.g., menus) will have to be either created manually, or copied from what the CMS generates and updated manually if they ever change.

[worshipway]

Why does the webmaster hate the CMS??

Have they tried Wordpress OR Silverstripe?

If she wants to FTP manually.. what's the reasoning for wanting a CMS?

[[Admin] osborn4]

She hates the current CMS because the hosting company controls much of it, not leaving her the freedom to change it as she needs.

She does not want a CMS. She would like to just do an HTML site. I'm trying to direct towards a more open CMS because of all the reasons that folks like CMSs.

[greg4god]

I'll admit, I've never put a great deal of time into Drupal or Joomla (read: more than 20 hours), becasue trying to customize a template ended up being a pain in the rump to me (note, this is before I had a decent grasp on CSS too), so if she is like I used to be, more used to plain html, then initial setup may be more difficult for her. (however at $1200/year, if that is just for hosting, would have her switch to a lower cost provider and buy a program like Artisteer which does a really excellent job of letting you make a template, which while a little bloated, is still pretty rock solid template).

Also, in running a quick scan of the site, it is running ASP, which is something to consider. May have to completely switch hosting companies to run Drupal or such.

Also, how long have they had their site where they are at? Is there a newer version of the CMS that they may be able to upgrade to? I know where I work, most of our clients are on older versions of our CMS, that do not have as many features. Maybe something worth looking into.

One other side note, on the scan of the site, there were several pages that complained that the secure certificate for the page was registered to another domain (kipphouston.org). I'm not sure if it is tied to SDB, but did notice it listed as another client of the hosting company.

-Greg

[Arlin]

You can install xamp or wamp on your local computer and toy around a little with a cms.
Wordpress is very popular and probably the easiest to use, but also the most restrictive
Joomla is sort of a step between Wordpress & Drupal
Drupal is a very powerful, but more complex CMS. It probably do almost anything you need, but it has a very steep learning curve.

What sort of restrictions does your webmaster not like about your current CMS? Is it the layout? For layout, pure html IS probably the most flexibe and quickest/easiest path. But a CMS can add much automation, a friendly ui, and off load much of the content update work from the webmaster to others (staff, volunteers, even plain members).

[worshipway]

Originally Posted by osborn4

She hates the current CMS because the hosting company controls much of it, not leaving her the freedom to change it as she needs.

She does not want a CMS. She would like to just do an HTML site. I'm trying to direct towards a more open CMS because of all the reasons that folks like CMSs.

Okay.. you might want to look into Silverstripe..

It is a designer's favorite CMS

It is probably the most designer friendly CMS, you can set it up any which way you like.. but still have the perks of a CMS.