hi guys,

just got off my university portal project (version one deployed at www.aifpunipesa.com).
I've now turned my radar towards building a fast dynamic site maker.

FAST because you as a webmaster should be able to make your client's site out of it in less than 48 hrs!

DYNAMIC because your clients should be able to manage the site themselves just as they can manage their emails!
Create their own pages, delete or edit the ones you have put, create their own articles , news, threaded discussions etc.

BEAUTIFUL because you can simply download any of those nice css templates and customise it to be your client's page in minutes! Of course your can make your own templates!

POWERFUL because its going to be opensource! you too can improve on the code and let me know so i can add it in the next version.

ROBOTIC because am going to code an autoresponder into it. So your clients can send their own mass emails and newsletters and get their own responses!


I just created this thread so i can carry you along as i build it.

Its gon be fun!

today , am mapping out the database and the relationship between the db tables.
No php yet, just mental and pen work wheeebrbrr(mr. Bean sound)

I have done something like that before - i am yet to publish it online though. But ave been using it to build sites.

well thats so nice.
This one will go opensource.
Thats the main aim.

To enable webmasters shovel beautiful sites in minutes!

Mine too is open-source. Just to put up the site - that is what i am working on.

The interesting thing is that - there cannot be one single framework/cms that will solve everyone's problem, hence the need for diversity.

I was going to start a blog project for myself today, i looked at my framework, and was like - this is not too good for blogging yet, discarded,
i installed wordpress - later discarded it, picked joomla discarded, and finally settled for drupal 7.8 - and i am happy.
That is the advantage of diversity, i pick whichever one is the best for a given task.

drupal 7.8? Sounds improved. When i install wordpress, i get unwanted links, blog rolls bla bla bla, which i dont want.
Removing any of them could lead to a breach of licence agreement. This is same with most of those cms softwares.

Sencondly, by simply looking at such a site (or sometimes your address bar) you can tell what cms it is - drupal, wp, smf etc.

Nah nah,
i wanted to give webmasters something opaque. Site vistors and users cant tell what its made with. This helps the webmaster command some respect.
You have complete control over the entire layout of the site.
Its going to be completely dynamic. Whip up sites as fast as possible, everything can be changed.

Of all the drupal versions, this drupal 7.8 seem to be the best for blogging so far. It has all the fantastic features of wordpress and even more.

light (electric power supply) is an essential part of my programing life.
Since yesterday morning this essential part has not been there.
My two generators have lost the ability to produce this essential part.
Yesterday My transformer did a boko(fireworks) to deny me this essential part.
So work paused for now. Coder boning, PHCN smiling.

very good am encouraged. am also on my own cms open source to. but its kinda a framewor/cms evrything is from scratch will publish it when am done

alright,
all essentials back.
Now creating folders, with named but empty php pages. . .
At this point i expect this to be ready by end of the week.

Ymodulus:

very good am encouraged. am also on my own cms open source to. but its kinda a framewor/cms evrything is from scratch will publish it when am done

framework?
You bera be encouraged!
That thing will take half of your life!(to get to client installble standard).
Am taking my framework softly softly, hobby hobby.
Lol.

*now creating the user management.
Basically, i want only the admin and the client to be able to login.
The visitors can only enlist their emails for the news letter.

The admin is the webmaster who's got the contract
the client is the client company or person.

through with the user management feature.
Just coding the admin registration section.
Its taking longer than necesary.

rocking the default kalimba music in the background,
Softly.
Fingers sparing the keyboard
codes flying in the air.
php taichi.
You know how we chess
weightlessness

now dealing with the admin section css layout.
Who said php embeds seamlessly into html? Thats 98 percent true. Am batling with the remaining two now.

All my select boxes are carrying ghana must go bags! Lol. But thats just so you get what i mean.

But on a serious note,
Beauty of the app - one thing i wont joke with. I'll build you a beautiful app.
Satisfaction guarranteed.

You both have my encouragement (me being someone that have done something similar before).

I will say this once on this thread: At some point in your development, it will be good for you to know what you are developing
if it is going to be a framework or a cms.
The very fast dynamic site maker thing - can fall into either category. What i did in the end was a framework with an inbuilt
extensible cms. So it can work either ways.  Complete with an admin area.
But some pure frameworks do not have an admin backend, and they dont have any cms component in-built, those will come as
third-party extensions.

And of course, i dont need to tell you that whatever you do has to be extensible - we must be able to make plugins, modules,
templates for it.

Those are my advises for now. And you will need to have a website for it for download and documentation. That is the aspect remaining
in my framework. I have registered the site already - www.dhtmlframework.com - but no time yet to build the site for it.

extensible?
Sure, why not? We all had in one way or the other coded our own cms, but unfortunately i am the only one who could edit mine! Lol.

So right now , i want to build something that everyone understands, using standard conventions.
And very extensible too.

Build a site for it?
She's already a site maker, so she should prover her self and speed by whiping up her site for downloads.

Within the next seven days it should have replaced all my blogs and similar sites.

I admit i may have to install an already made wiki for her documentation.

But in latter versions a wiki should come with it.

Documentation?
This is something that gives me fear.

Challenge?
My greatest challenge is the css, not even php.

Missing Feature?
Am leaving out the email feature in version 1.0.

I'll add it in the rc next week.

*still perfecting her css.

Belive me dhtml. I must be honest with you though we have not met facially. But i must say i take you like a role model on this programming issues. Today i was discouraged but with your statement you just encouraged me. Now i am on the side of converting this framework of a thing to a cms. I have my reasons. I noticed that since i started this framework of a tin i have been tryin to code in other to suit all conditions but realise its not achievable thats y i support your statement that no framework can settle all probs. Sha let the work go on

@ymodulus thats a nice quick observation. Before you ever write your first code you must have listed all you want to have in your app. Then stream it down to the barest minimun functionalities.
Then start coding.

*Am almost through, just creating the about section.
*documentation untouched.

^^^Right on point. Never believe that you will actually do something that will SOLVE GBOGBO problems. Just pick the ones you want to address
finish.

My own framework has an inbuilt cms suitable for simple business sites, simple shopping carts. And it can do these stuffs faster than using all
them drupal, joomla stuffs. But if the cms is complicated, i will prefer drupal or joomla.

*now doing general site cleanup.

Good moderator i just finished a config class. Never really liked the way i made my config variables polluting the global space. Had to inter tweak them.

Good moderator i just finished a config class. Never really liked the way i made my config variables polluting the global space. Had to inter tweak them.

@ymodulus - chillout ,writing your program code is like cooking your meal. Mix your sauce any how you like, as long others arent in vited to eat!

You can code first, then refractor later.

*i deployed the cms on a client's site i quickly mocked up today.
Spent 6 hours trying to upload 6MB! Nigeria is in trouble, slow cyber cafe, half way into my MTN bundle it stopped browsing with so much MB still remaining!

I'll fix my zoom modem 2morow.
*documentation untouched.

Ymodulus:

Belive me dhtml. I must be honest with you though we have not met facially. But i must say i take you like a role model on this programming issues. Today i was discouraged but with your statement you just encouraged me. Now i am on the side of converting this framework of a thing to a cms. I have my reasons. I noticed that since i started this framework of a tin i have been tryin to code in other to suit all conditions but realise its not achievable thats y i support your statement that no framework can settle all probs. Sha let the work go on

well well well.
i think every developer using FW is facing this basic problem, i first thought of building my FW but time was one problem. i finally concluded on one thing.
that is working very well for me now. "i simply created some basic helper classes/components that i use with my fav FW". i minimize the usage of components in the FW that are not perfect for the job or something i extend the FW component to suit me.

I do that as well binkabir. So whether i am using drupal, joomla or whatever. I find a way to import my usual gadgets - such as php5mailer and my own personal library. Na all join na.

framework development? Mine is paused for now.

Back to OP.
*now coding the email feature.

The emails are going to be editable by the user, so i will incorporate that in the UI.
The user should be able to select whether the mails should be sent automatically or not.

*bigger task
the CMS should come with its own mass mailer. Not imported.

Should be able to select user mails and mass mail them.
Or select some users and mass mail. Or even email a single user!
Nice huuh?
Few days work huuh!

*dhtml:

I do that as well binkabir. So whether i am using drupal, joomla or whatever. I find a way to import my usual gadgets - such as php5mailer and my own personal library. Na all join na.

unfortunately i HATE with passion   JOOMLA, DRUPAL,wordpress and all these cms .
if i most use cms then fork-cms is my option ,
i love to see my code work for me and that is why i only framework even for informational websites.

php5mailer is not really very flexible can u look at the mail class inside spoon-library.com its very perfect.

phpmailer. Gosh good sha but not easily understandable as bankibir. I use a custom class i saw on online it had some errors so i just patch it up and have it updated. But wait i think theres a problem cuz. I think gmail account dont recieve mails. I dont really know sha

@binkabir just took the words out of my mouth. I hate with passion, all cmses.
If not, why am i scripting my own cms?
Soon i'll replace my personal blog with my new cms.

It is ok. I noticed you guys did not mention wrappers.

I used phpmailer5 in my framework, and have wrappers for it - i also created wrappers for phpmailer5 in
other cmses/frameworks in case i wish to use it there.

Then, i have not heard anybody mention session management - local file system or dbase.

Then cacheing issues? Is anyone using cache or not?

APIs. Any form APIs. What of dbase engines - MySQL, MySQLI or What?

Well said dhtml. When you talk about wrappers what do u mean i may ask? Well on session management belive me i use cookies for most stuff highest i encrypt the name the cookie and use one of those xss cookie request forgery protection script to protect it. And on db. Am actually thinking of updating my class but stop for some reason. Fine i am using chaining for my db class so if i want to select from table user i do this Db::select->('user')-where->('id=dual core')-query->; now the problem is that in side the class i use mysql statements but with the release of php pdo library which enables connecting and using many database types with one query statement am thinking of updating the class but i heard this library is php 5:1 bundled so am afraid of host compatibility.

Well said dhtml. When you talk about wrappers what do u mean i may ask? Well on session management belive me i use cookies for most stuff highest i encrypt the name the cookie and use one of those xss cookie request forgery protection script to protect it. And on db. Am actually thinking of updating my class but stop for some reason. Fine i am using chaining for my db class so if i want to select from table user i do this Db::select->('user')-where->('id=dual core')-query->; now the problem is that in side the class i use mysql statements but with the release of php pdo library which enables connecting and using many database types with one query statement am thinking of updating the class but i heard this library is php 5:1 bundled so am afraid of host compatibility. Also can you explain more when you talk about form api. I saw this in drupal 8 or 7 but didnt really get what it meant

A wrapper in this context is something dat acts as interface for some other functionalities. Dat dbase chaining stuff you spoke about right now - is some kinda dbase wrapper - by this context.

You can locate some session wrappers online that can allow you store session data into database. It is the prefered way to store session. The default is to save session data into local filesystem on the server.

Something else I assumed naturally that you guys will have done is - to readup documentation especially developer articles about the APIs and functionalities of some cmses or frameworks.

Lemme ask, I hope you know how to use php to evaluate the path where your framework/cms is located. Does not matter if it is offline or online.


Then what template engines are you using. None, smarty or what?