Easy way for clients to update their own content

This is a common request from my clients. The solution is to use a CMS like Wordpress, Drupal, or Joomla. I prefer Wordpress for the slick admin interface and the simple template interface.

There are lots of free, simple open source Content Management systems out there. Another one I've heard of is CMS Made Simple. What you use really depends on what you need to do. As decibel.places said, Drupal is great if you need more features (but it's also more complicated so if you have simple needs you should look into another option).

There are two other things to consider here:

1. adding this facility will mean you can charge your clients (who want it) more cash;
2. all online WYSIWYG editors are crap, without exception, so you'll occasionally be called in to fix stuff anyway;

But yes, get them a CMS and charge them more money. Both for having to theme a CMS (which takes more time than just writing HTML) and for training.

I would also recommend Drupal for most purposes, but that's because I'm a huge Drupal fanboy. In the end, use whatever CMS/blog software works for the project.

Make sure you have a look at: http://php.opensourcecms.com when you're making your decision. It includes demos of most CMS software.

It kind of sounds like I need a CMS but it kind of doesn't. It sounds like most of you are talking about creating pages and themes in a CMS but I would create all my designs and themes custom outside any CMS. The client doesn't need to have any involvement with that. They only want to change some text once in a while (and maybe a few photos but they haven't asked for that yet). So I'm figuring if I make the text area of some of their pages come from include files with no theme elements, all they'll need to do is be able to update that those text files, which may include some paragraph, bold, and underline tags behind their scenes, but nothing about site templates or themes. Basically, I need something just like this page, where I can hit "edit" to edit just my message, and what I write/change has no connection to the theme or operation of the rest of this page (but I do have a few simple tools like bold, italic, and link). Then the client would just hit save and his text changes would save to the file for that little area and therefore update his message, but he couldn't mess with the rest of the page. If they need a more complicated change like to the template then they'll definitely need to contact me. Does that make more sense?

Theme-ing a CMS isn't that big of a deal IMO - at least easier than what you are talking about, plus it gives them plenty of flexibility if they decide to expand.

Having includes are possible, but doing something custom is more work then using something that is already done.

...and for you Drupal fanboys - I still think Wordpress is a better solution, as I can create a full Wordpress theme in under an hour based off a coded template if I'm really digging into it. Plus, I find the admin area less confusing.

We're not saying that the client should be able to edit the CMS' theme, but that to use a CMS you will have to theme it.

Unfortunately, it's not possible to create HTML pages separately and have them magically work with the CMS of your choice. You have to use the CMS' theme system.

So I'm figuring if I make the text area of some of their pages come from include files with no theme elements, all they'll need to do is be able to update that those text files, which may include some paragraph, bold, and underline tags behind their scenes, but nothing about site templates or themes.

Sounds like you're leaning more towards writing your own mini-CMS to just deal with a few pieces of text. What I don't advise trying to do is install some CMS, then try to hack its innards just to display a few text fields, that would just be a waste of resources and time (you'll have to understand how the CMS works, plus none of the documentation will be geared to what you're trying to do).

Most CMS are an all-or-nothing proposition. You either use one for you entire site, theme it, get modules for it etc. or build everything yourself. There may be CMS's out there which are flexible enough to do what you want, but I've not heard of one so far (not saying they don't exist though).

Actually a CMS like WordPress or Movable Type Professional sounds like the perfect solution to your client's request. Drupal is also good as an open-source CMS but has a longer learning curve on the installation side, IMO. Do not think of them as blog software but as a true content management systems with widgets and plugins that allow you to easily meet customer's needs.

Setting up your custom banner, navigation menu, sidebar features and widgets are all easily done in each of them and access to those design elements can be restricted to your access only - insuring your future employment potential.

You can set up your client with access to only certain text segments on specific pages which they may go in and tweak to their heart's content.

If you don't provide it and they're talking to friends whose web developers do provide it on their sites, you may find yourself without a customer altogether. Particularly if the friend provides a demo of how easy it is for him/her to edit the text via Wordpress, Movable Type or Drupal or any of the other good CMS's out there. Joomla and Expression Engine come to mind.

Good luck.

Most CMS's are great, and as pointed out, there are different ones for different needs.

That said, CMS versus own code also depends on requirements, and if your client only wants to change the odd bit of text here and there, then using a full CMS for the entire site may well be over kill, even if using the most simple CMS.

You say your pages are all in PHP, so presumably you have some PHP knowledge.
IF you already use a database, then IMO the texts the client wants to change could be in a database table, and code your own simple admin area with logins.
Query the text out of the DB into a textarea, then update it back in the DB when the client has finished editing it and clicks the form submit.

Again it's "horses for courses" and if the client will change massive amounts of text, then maybe storing it in the DB isn't a good idea.
Another approach is storing the text in files, and including them in PHP.

Again a simple admin area where the client would get the text from the file, edit it, and clicking submit would overwrite the original file.

A simple ACP isn't hard to make, could be easier in the long run for you and your client to use rather than a CMS, and would (arguably) be a faster site too.

I just added a project to administer a scrollable list of links without a database, storing the html in a js file.

The constructor is for a list of links, but could be adapted to other types of content...

I prefer to use the Wordpress also.. Wordpress is much more user-friendly compared to others.

Resources like the one you mentioned here will be very useful to me! I will post a link to this page on my blog. I am sure my visitors will find that very useful. Wordpress is indeed very useful !

I guess I should post a follow up. Somebody pointed me in the direction of Snippetmaster. They have a free version which works perfectly fine for limited simple editing. It worked well enough for me that I thought it was well worth the cost of purchasing a pro license. Definitely worth checking out for allowing others to edit sections of your code but not letting them touch (destroy) the rest of the code.

Agreed with "fifeclub", I have also used free version of snippemaster and I really liked it. Although I have not yet bought the pro license but even then I am quite satisfied with free version performance too.

this means you are adding something extra to the site.. so be sure to confirm from him, that how much and will allow it?

fifeclub did you ever figure out how to build a web site that the user can easily update a small portion of? I have a request from a writer (very not computer savvy) who wants to update his site whenever he publishes new work.

I just finished reading this entire thread. I am not familiar with the more technical aspects mentioned, but what it says about Drupal and WordPress CMS is still valid as I write today.

I would add to this thread's flow of thought that if you go for a CMS, it will always require maintenance. Whether you choose Drupal or WordPress, the plug-ins used to make it run will require regular updates. The core CMS itself will also require to be updated once in a while.

Another observation in the Drupal vs WordPress debate. I began developping a CMS prototype for my web site www.savoiretcroire.ca using Drupal. It required a lot of learning to get there, but once I got the hang of it, I really liked Drupal, and would have chosen it.

As I tried to rebuild my prototype after it had broken, I realized I did not have the level of expertise to even understand some of the fine points of documentation.

That's when I turned to WordPress. The challenge here was learning to work with the template, and changing from the logical approach that I really liked in Drupal to a completely different approach. Once I understood however the basic principles of WordPress, I felt home in it.

I came across this site searching for a way to do this. It seems the OP probably does need the info anymore, but if anyone else comes across this thread another I found another idea and its similar to the database storage idea. It will probably not work for everybody, but if the client wants to update content themselves you could store the content in text files. Using PHP you could pull that info into the fields in the html. Then on your hosting site just give your clients access to only change the files where the text files are and the logon to do so. Just inform them of the files that will change the proper content and as long as they arent silly enough to put in tags they should be fine. And for the security issue, I believe the hosting site will be safe enough.