Looking For A Starting Point

[jimbo]

I've been searching all day for a script or program that would manage articles. I need something that will perform the following functions:

allow a user with no HTML knowledge to be able to input text via a web form

automatically place a headline on the main page (maybe if a box is checked)

automatically create a discussion area for the article

The vb-world.net site seems to have some of these things; I assume you wrote all those scripts, or did you purchase them "pre-packaged"?

Could someone point me in the direction of somewhere I could locate scripts like this, or where I could find an outline of the steps I need to take to make my own? That would be most groovy.

Thanks!

[werehere]

John did mention that he wrote those himself I believe.

I know of a couple of wonderful ones, but they are not for the beginner to use or install.

Mitgard:
http://www.midgard-project.org/topic/174.html

Mason:
http://www.masonhq.com/

Zope:
http://yyy.zope.org/


All are free (released under the GPL I believe):)

Have fun with them.

[jimbo]

Those look like some intense applications, and I eagerly await the day that I need something of that scale. :)

As it is now, I only published the first article on my site this week, and plan on only having 1 or 2 per week. The problem is, the person who is doing the writing has no idea how to code HTML, wouldn't know a WYSIWYG if it hit her in the face, and associated FTP with "cabbage night"... ;)

Therein lies my problem. I need a way for her to type her article, hit submit, and have the proggie do the rest. Everything from putting the headline and a teaser on the main page to formatting the text.

Maybe I'm dreaming, but I haven't gotten to where I am by not thinking big...

I appreciate your input, but would you have any suggestions for a smaller-scale site?

Muchas Gracias

[werehere]

Really I have not found a pre-made app like you are looking for. Of course there are html replacers which will allow you to place tags that will be replaced from the content they enter into a control panel web form, but they will not do what you want.

There are some good news posting scripts out there that may come close to what you want, but probably not really what you are looking for.

Those I posted are for running huge sites like some that are running them now (espn, and other very large sites), but they are online management, and would do everything that you ask of course:)

I do understand what you mean by smaller scale though.

[WebStyles]

Newspro (http://amphibian.gagames.com/) is a great program! Very easy for novices too... You can put any HTML you want in the admin panel, and specify where the subject and body text should go. They just enter the text in a text box, line breaks are converted to <br>'s and everything. Make sure you download the preview plug in, it's really helpful. :)

[Menno]

Yes, newspro is very good, and I know someone making a complete site solution as well. Looks very promesing......

[RobRJ]

Originally posted by WebStyles
If it doesn't have to be PHP... Newspro (http://amphibian.gagames.com/) is a great program!

Been looking at Mason, Midgard, Zope and Newspro...

I'd like something that can be used by php3 pages (would that be an Include or some sort of parsing used by php???)... is there one you'd recommend for that? I don't mind getting my hands dirty with some coding, but I'm not sure what modules I can get installed on my server(s), as I use virtual accounts from my IHP.

I really like the idea of having a nice web interface for letting clients update articles whenever they need to without the fear of them doing damage through FTPing over the files.

I defer to you, the experts!

Thanks!
RobRJ

[RobRJ]

Found a solution to use Newspro with php include:



<!-- begin -->

<?php include("path/to/news.txt"); ?>

<!-- end -->



Looks like I may be implementing Newspro sometime in the near future... :)

Posted just to let others know what I found...


RobRJ

[werehere]

Thanks for posting that, it could come in handy:)

[redranger]

Just an FYI to anyone interested. I use PHPSlash (http://phpslash.org) to manage my site. There are about 6 others who help along with the site, each having their own access to the site.

I've also combined it with vB to replace the clunky message posting system the original had.

So far the system has worked great for me, even those poor folk that can't even tie their shoelaces can update my site relatively easily. Like me. :)

--red

[Menno]

The problem is, when you have virtual hosting, PHPSlash is not an option

[JimF]

Why is that? Do you need root access or something?

[Cheeze]

For what you're asking for, it's basically a news script, right?

Well, i'm working at a site and anything we do that relates to coding is hand-coded ourselves. One of those things is a news script. I could send that to you, if you want. It's not exactly what you want, so you will have to do some modification. I hope our coding isn't too messy. ;P

~Cheeze

[UserName]

I have been looking at Midgard & Zope for a while as possible solutions to a site I'm working on and it blows my tiny mind to try to figure them out - even the install part.

There is a user here in the vBulletin community named Ed Sullivan - he has modified the vBulletin script to make a site that has some of the characteristics of SlashDot - you can check out his site at:
http://www.magic-singles.com/cpa/article/browse.php

He has offered, in the past, to send out copies of the code (and in fact he was kind enough to send me a copy). You might want to contact him and take a look at what he's done. It sounds like it *might* be what you're looking for.

You can search for him in the member directory.

Take care, everyone!

[Mike Sullivan]

he has modified the vBulletin script to make a site that has some of the characteristics of SlashDot
Actually, it isn't a modified vB. It's a completely separate program. However, it ties in to the vB tables for membership records (for "replies"), smilies, and admin authorization.

Anyway, it's all web based, and there is no HTML knowledge needed for the users to submit articles, or for your helpers to edit them. The only HTML needed is for you to edit the way an article appears.

Umm.. yeah, so drop me a line if you need it.

[UserName]

Sorry, I didn't mean to give bad info about the origin of the script. You gotta remember, I'm a beginner when it comes to PHP! It'll probably take me as long to install the script as it took you to write the whole thing! haha. :)

Thanks again for sharing your hard work!

[Josh]

Here is something which went through the PHP-General mailing list...


www.terracottasoftware.com - The Terra Cotta system is a collection of website design and management tools, data architectures, and programming libraries. It is useful for the modular implementation and maintenance of web applications, and for resource sharing between them.

It is similar in concept to Zope for Python or Mason for
perl, but does not depend on being able to install Apache
modules or new scripting packages, and so is very accessible to webmasters on more "average" installations and hosting plans. It has an auto-installer as well, which makes it pretty easy for webmasters to download and install the system on their servers, as well as get new scripts for
the system.


I haven't tried it out or know much about it, but I thought it might be of some assistance...

~Josh

[UserName]

One thing you could try is this company:
http://www.codeit.com/codeit/zope_web.html

They offer two free weeks of Zope hosting, so that you can try it out.

They have been praised on the Zope.org mailing list.

[redranger]

Originally posted by Menno
The problem is, when you have virtual hosting, PHPSlash is not an option

Are you referring to the fact that you have to install PHPLib as well? If so, you don't need root access to edit the mod_php options needed for PHPLib, just make the necessary option changes in .htaccess

FYI, I run it on virtual hosting so it can be done :)

--red