mambo joomla drupal

condra

Firstly -For the record:
Ive experience with basic Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash,
No php/sql or database stuff. -yes- im one of those people who did a 6 month course. moving on, theres nothing to see here..
Please dont flame me if any of my questions are dumb. I am trying my best.


OK to my post...

Ive been up all night drinking bottles of Rolling Rock, trying to get my head around this whole free CMS thing. It has raised so many f&*king questions.

Firstly - Id really appreciate if anyone could tell me whats best- mambo joomla or drupal?
I guess people are gonna say "that depends" but Id like to choose one and stick with it.
The plan is toultamatly be able to extend my design skills to be able to make sites with basic ecommerce, forums, and perhaps private member areas.
Right now, Im thinking Mambo, but only because there seems to be plenty of resources for it available with regards to forums and tutorials.

Ive downloaded the files and theyre all php pages.
When I open them in Dreamweaver they dont display WYSIWYG style. Im trying to edit the aesthetics of the template if that is possible. Ive tried renaming the files html but that not helped.
Im thinking either I have to somehow put comments around the php <<!! or something, or perhaps I need some sort of Dreamweaver plugin for mambo or something. Am I even warm??

Anyways, if someone could tell me anything usefull about these open source CMS things I would be very greatfull.

I feel this is the start of a long boring but ultimatle valuable adventure for me.

Gordon

It really does depend though!

To edit that kind of thing on Dreamweaver (which is really not a great idea as I can never get Dreamweaver to render any HTML correctly!) you have to set up something. Firstly you have to make sure that the site is set up on the manage sites part of Dreamweaver. This includes your test server. Then you have to turn on Live Data - view - live data. Just use the Dreamweaver help manual for using dynamic pages, or live data.

However, the best way is to learn php and edit from the source files in wordpad to be honest. It's a steeper learning curve but much more easier to cope with once you have understood the basics. Dreamweaver is a pain in the butt.

I use a program called MAMP (PC users have proggys like XAMPP) that emulates an apache server with PHP on it. You drop the php files into a specific folder contained within the application folder and it enables you to view pages as if they are a website. http://localhost/ for example.

Sorry for the quick confusing reply, I'm in a rush!

Rollo Tamasi

there is a specfic local enviornment for mambo/joomla. The mambo one is called MSAS while Joomla is JSAS

I have used both mambo and joomla and it would seem that joomla is the more progressive of the two and is sure to have more features in the near future over mambo.

You don't need to edit any php pages to design a layout for mambo/joomla, you just create a layout using css & dreamweaver . Here is a tutorial on how to create your own mambo/joomla template.

What i would recommend you do is to look more into joomla and to download free templates and re-edit them. You will learn quicker from looking thru the code and the layouts.

I have never used drupal.

condra

WOW!

Cheers lads- very helpfull.

Firstly Gordon- your post wasnt confusing at all. I downloaded MAMP and was able to view mambo locally - localhost8888 or something like that.
One thing is, I cant get past the admin section. Maybe its something to do with permissions or something. ARGH- so close but so far.

Rollo thanks for the link. I did the full tutorial.
I also downloaded the mambo extension for Dreamweaver, so Im getting closer.

I have a couple more ponderings, if anyone cares to help me out. I still dont have my head fully around this.

Say I make a template in Dreamweaver which has left content, centre content, and right content.
Then when the client applys that template online, they are given options what to content to put in each section?
What about adding new content? If I want my client to be able to move things up and down in the main content do I use table rows?

Thanks again. This is all quite exciting. :eek:

Rollo Tamasi

womoma wrote:

Say I make a template in Dreamweaver which has left content, centre content, and right content.
Then when the client applys that template online, they are given options what to content to put in each section?
What about adding new content? If I want my client to be able to move things up and down in the main content do I use table rows?

pretty much as far as i know. i have a tempate that i bought on the net for a joomla website a while back, pm me your email addy and i can send it onto you, i'm not using it at the moment so there should be no issue with you using it instead.

condra

PM sent. youre a legend. thanks.

The Muppet

W.A.M.P. is the windows version of M.A.M.P.(mac) it is available from wampserver.com.


I have been investigating which CMS to use on some of my sites recently and I am leaning towards Joomla as it appears to have better support. for instance there is a Wysiwyg editor that appears to actually work available for it.

I have installed both Joomla and Mambo but not gone any further that that so my opinion is based on articles I have read rather than any practical experience.

Thanks for the link Rollo Tamasi, very useful.