What's the best CMS? How does one actually use one? Which is better; CMS or actual webdesign?
CMS Tutorials,

What's the best?
First off, I assume you mean open-source cms. It depends. From my readings, drupal is. However, from experience, it all depends on who will be using the system. If a non-tech person, from my experience (and I haven't used every CMS out there), it's joomla. For a techie, drupal is better as it is more flexible and offers better customization than say, joomla. Joomla I believe did win an award last year though. So in a nutshell, it depends. Do some googling for "the best open source cms" for example.

How does one actually use one?
You install the product and use it. I don't know how to answer this any further. Joomla has a tutorial of how to use joomla 1.0 on its website, which I believe is joomla.org . Other than that, again, google is your friend here.

CMS/Actual design?
Again, it depends. If you aren't dealing with a site that has a lot of content, right off the bat, no need to use a CMS. If you have content then: If that content will be changing frequently and those changes are most likely going to be made long after you have done the site and by a non-techie, then you will need a CMS here. Otherwise, even if you are dealing with non-techies but content doesn't change or rarely changes, a regular site is the way to go.

I hope these help

hi my my2cent Joomla is indeed the best CMS i us it and is very flexible, the key ability to expand a project easily ,
constantly new stuff coming and people are constantly fixing stuff


IT Joomla CMS

yeah vibes,

I forgot to add there are tons of Joomla! extensions, both free and commercial for you to use to extend your Joomla App should the default installation not work for you.

Thanx a million!
I did some googling and Wordpress gets the most recommendations so I downloaded it, unzipped it and saw a bunch of .php files that only opened in dreamweaver (I was expecting a "setup.exe" file). The readme file says I need to have PHP & MySQL installed and also that I have to be online. Isn't there a CMS I can use locally and then upload whenever I'm ready?

hi ARTBOY what exactly did you download and yes u need to install a local server thats a replica of the way ur server will work online. s

It all really depends on what you want to do. Joomla is quicker for some jobs , Drupal is better for community web sites , wordpress has its own special points too - and there are a lot of others in between . I always advise that you first do your specifications before trying to choose an OS CMS to implement it . This should make a difference between a web site that handles visitors well and bloatware .

Thanx u guys!
I've finally installed WordPress, Joomla and Drupal.
I found wordpress the easiest to use (-joomla being the most difficult).
I still need some clarification on how to create themes for all/any of the 3, I tried building a theme for wordpress(by following the tutorials on the wordpress site) but it turned out pretty messed up.
I know how to use Dreamwaever, XHTML & CSS and have been designing static sites for a while but the increasing demand for dynamic sites made me turn to CMS.
When I eventualy get a hang of this CMS stuff how will I host it?
and how will my cliets use it hassle-free such that I don't get phone calls every week(or at all)?!

If you are a really lazy person like me, Use wordpress. Wordpress themes are the only thing that is plentier than garri. and they cost nothing. You can modify to your taste anyhow and anyhow and anyhow.


Joomla is cool for the average joe.

and Drupal is for the techies.

Funny the way I've been posting today. Never gave it a thought but once I hit the key, I cant seem to stop.

I still need answers,

c'mon people u really need to stop ignoring me. who knows how many people out there may benefit from your help. PLEASE!!!

Art,

Sorry, speaking for myself, I thought the issue was closed.

Be that as it may, I can't speak for wordpress. As far as Joomla is concerned, if you go to the template manager and click "edit html" and "edit css", you can make backups of those files, then modify the html/css of the originals, save and refresh your browser to see the effects.

Though there are many places to get free/commercial templates, Joomla's (and I bet others) aren't anything special. Just assume it is any regular css/html file that you are modifying to suit your needs.

I hope this helps.

While I was "off the grid", I familiarized myself with the CMSs I downloaded on my (not-connected-to-the-internet) computer, but how will I host it when I'm done building the site?

Artboy:

While I was "off the grid", I familiarized myself with the CMSs I downloaded on my (not-connected-to-the-internet) computer, but how will I host it when I'm done building the site?

PLEASE REPLY!!!

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Artboy:

PLEASE REPLY!!!

Take the original folder you downloaded i.e. how it was before your local installation. Replace all the modified files you changed, then upload them using your preferred FTP client. Use your browser the way you did on your local computer (only this time it is on the net) to get to the installation page. fill out the form just as before, delete the necessary folders, come back to say thank you to me or ask more questions

Thanx-a-lot!Somadino.
One thing though, what happens to the DB (i.e.: MySQL DataBase) on my system? Do I upload it to my host's server? or do I create a new one on the host's server with the same parameters?

Artboy:

Thanx-a-lot!Somadino.
One thing though, what happens to the DB (i.e.: MySQL DataBase) on my system? Do I upload it to my host's server? or do I create a new one on the host's server with the same parameters?

You could do the later, Then create an SQL backup (called dump) and upload it to the DB you created on your online server using Cpanel. Take note max file size via this method is 2MB

Hope that helps

Sorry i didnt mention the database. You go to your cpanel then create a MySql database. Note that you have to have hosting plan that comes with MySql (you may or may not include a user and password) just note the name that you used to create it. It is this name that you will fill into the form during installation.
@webmonk the size of the database depends on the hosting plan. it could be more than 2MB.
Again you may come back to thank me or ask more questions!

I am sooooooooooo gratefull rite now to you guys.
Is CPanel a CMS? and if it isn't too much trouble, can someone pls upload a screenshot(,of CPanel that is)
Thanx.

Cpanel or (Control panel) is not a CMS. To a large extent you have sufficient data to solve your problem the rest you could google or find out with trial and error. You dont want to be spoon fed, do you? You'll lose the sense of achievement, so get cracking and figure it out yourself - at least i did.
let me know if you are still at a brick wall.

There is unofficial cPanel guide to help you clicking any icon to prompt new window self-explanatory telling you what a icon do. It is visual cPanel user manual tutorial for you.

Link>>: http://www.cpanelguide.net/

Hope it is helpful to you.