How do I code a webpage so my customer can update content on their own easily?
We have a website begin developed by a guy that is more graphic then coder and now face a programming hurdle we are unsure about. The website is for a property management company that rents apartments and houses with a fair amount of turnover and they need to be able to update the "properties" page of the website will all their current available units that are not rented. This is a daily need. With that said, how or what do we use that will allow them to update the information, almost on a daily basis, that will not require webmaster level time or assistance? We thought about displaying an embedded PDF on that page but they have a few thousand units so looking long-term a content management page is probably better off. Any help is greatly appreciated. thank you
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In that case you may want to explore the use of a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor. Something in the lines of Adobe Dreamweaver. This way you can have the editor pull the file via FTP, edit, preview, and the upload. All with one tool.
Note on the CMS: You don't need to rebuild a site to introduce a CMS, but you will need to "integrate" it into the CMS which could be a lot of work.
Note on the CMS: You don't need to rebuild a site to introduce a CMS, but you will need to "integrate" it into the CMS which could be a lot of work.
ASKER
Would it be worth hiring an asp guy and building a form that would be a "no brainer" for my client to update? We just want it to be easy for them and no work for us. I need a magic bullet here for someone who struggles with the tabs in IE so the WYSIWYG editor will be too complicated.
If your client struggles with the IE tabs, then he/she may struggle with the login page before the content admin page.
Being said that, the answer would be Yes. Creating a login, plus a form page to modify just a listing of properties should be a no brainer.
Just make sure you think of the BIG picture. You may need in the future more people or more access to 'other' site sections. Make sure you layout the foundation and leave the door open when developing this app to be able to grow and add features without having to rebuild all over again. As your developer to make sure this small app can grow in the future and explain hi/her what could grow.
Being said that, the answer would be Yes. Creating a login, plus a form page to modify just a listing of properties should be a no brainer.
Just make sure you think of the BIG picture. You may need in the future more people or more access to 'other' site sections. Make sure you layout the foundation and leave the door open when developing this app to be able to grow and add features without having to rebuild all over again. As your developer to make sure this small app can grow in the future and explain hi/her what could grow.
ASKER
Is it possible to get bids for this project in here?
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I guess cheaper than Adobe Contribute would be FREE: http://www.thefreecountry.
But Kjudd expressed interest in actually developing a form-based page to control entries in his site.
But Kjudd expressed interest in actually developing a form-based page to control entries in his site.
A free web page editor would potentially expose the (not so swift) user to real code, whereas Contribute uses a more Word Processor like approach.
Form based works fine too.
Form based works fine too.
ASKER
I will try to price this project out and if it's not to cost prohibitive go with a hidden "updateform.php" page that updates the "properties.html" page and tables the information. I think that sounds like the easiest unless anoyone else has a suggestion?
"how or what do we use that will allow them to update the information, almost on a daily basis, that will not require webmaster level time or assistance"\
You have to be VERY VERY careful here, because if the designer is your average geek that uses some MySQL database, or worse, his own database, you will find yourself stuck with needing a webmaster to do ALL the updates on your site for ever !! You should have asked this question BEFORE hiring this guy.
You have to be VERY VERY careful here, because if the designer is your average geek that uses some MySQL database, or worse, his own database, you will find yourself stuck with needing a webmaster to do ALL the updates on your site for ever !! You should have asked this question BEFORE hiring this guy.
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I haven't hired anyone yet. Just waiting a few days here to see if anynone else comes up with any ideas not already mentioned. I have a MYSQL server in place so if it came to that we would be ok but im surprised that there isn't a simpler way to accomplish this. Someone has to have had this issue prior.....ya know.
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Thank you very much for your time and input on my question!
Kjudd,
One more word of advise: Please make sure that whoever works on your form page project, takes extra care on the form validation. "SQL injection" is a serious vulnerability issue if this is not done properly.
Regards,
One more word of advise: Please make sure that whoever works on your form page project, takes extra care on the form validation. "SQL injection" is a serious vulnerability issue if this is not done properly.
Regards,
ASKER
The sites already created so im really looking for a 1 page element or a way to display tables that can be amended by a non-techinical person locally and then uploaded via ftp.