Is textpattern a....

mrE · 2005-10-03 22:50:41

I stumbled upon textpattern the other day and I’ve been checking it out, hoping that it’s the solution I’m looking for. I have read a few things in the forums and I have installed it and messed around with it a little bit, but I’m unsure if it’s exactly what I’m looking for. Maybe you can help me.

What I’m looking for is something that will allow me (the website designer) to design a site and allow the client to edit the content on the pages of their website. The website would be a very very simple site in terms of what it was capable of or what it did.

Example: let’s use <a href=http://hastetheday.com>hastetheday.com</a> as an example (after you click the “enter htd.com” link at the bottom). Fairly simple layout with some flash, right?
Let’s say I created a site like this, and I wanted my client to be able to log in and change only the content part for any of those main pages- including being able to add graphics if they needed to- without having to know html.

Is textpattern a CMS like that- or is it strictly news-article oriented?

I’m trying to understand how it works and if it’s exactly what I think it is.
If textpattern is what I think it is, then where should I start to learn what I need to learn? I’m sure there are a million web pages with information- I’m just not sure exactly which ones are relevant to my situation and which ones are not.

If textpattern is not capable of this, does anybody here happen to know a good alternative? Currently I use php-update (http://php-update.co.uk) but quite honestly I don’t like it very much and I’m looking for a better WYSIWYG-type of an editor. It would be so much better if all of my clients just knew how to use Contribute or Frontpage or Dreamweaver to edit their own site and could afford it, but this isn’t a perfect world am I right?

Last edited by mrE (2005-10-03 22:54:30)

zem · 2005-10-03 23:24:54

TXP Magazine has some examples of sites built with Textpattern. That’ll give you an idea of what it can do.

The FAQ gives a brief explanation of how things fit together.

Neko · 2005-10-03 23:28:27

> mrE wrote:

Let’s say I created a site like this, and I wanted my client to be able to log in and change only the content part for any of those main pages- including being able to add graphics if they needed to- without having to know html.

Yes, you can. You can build the site in the way you want and allow clients to update any page of the site, not only a “news” section, but the entire site. To achieve a similar result it’s all about planning: you need to learn and understand how TXP works (just by practicing or asking here, the forums are full of people ready to lend an hand to those in need) and you need to train the client afterwards. For some particular tasks TXP won’t handle them “out of the box”, but you can pretty much always figure out a “tweak” or a work around. That’s the power of TXP, its flexibility.

If by “graphics” you mean the layout… well, usually a little understanding of HTML is needed (not always, again, it’s all about planning). If you mean publishing images that’s easily doable.

Feel free to ask specific questions if you want.

mrE · 2005-10-04 02:05:05

Uh… well I am a web designer… so I do know HTML pretty well. lol. but the client doesn’t necessarily know HTML. most of my clients don’t.

When I said the client being able to add graphics, I simply meant: is there a way for them to insert a graphic easily using the TXP interface for updating the content on a page? It’s a simple question… but maybe it’s a hard question to answer when I don’t understand how this “program” works.

So let’s say I have 1 week to learn how textpattern works and make a pretty simple site that my client can update on their own with a gallery and everything. Would it be realistic to say I could be at that point a week from today? I learn pretty fast if I can see how a certain thing works.

Last edited by mrE (2005-10-04 02:06:56)

mrE · 2005-10-04 02:25:57

grr… I’m getting errors saying the database I was using for the installation of textpattern can’t be connected to… is that a hosting problem or something?

nardo · 2005-10-04 02:26:12

mrE – with images, your client would first go to the CONTENT/IMAGES tab – upload and add caption, category, etc

THEN go to the WRITE tab and insert the image there – but note your best option here is the plugin upm_img_popper

suck it and see anyway – you won’t be wasting your time as textpattern is a great clean small cms – and if it ain’t for this project, you’ll be ready for another

mrE · 2005-10-04 02:29:32

thanks nardo for the information. you answered my question very easyily.
is nardo your real name? is it short for lenardo? I know someone with that name… went to grade school with him. I’ve never heard the name anywhere else.

zem · 2005-10-04 02:42:35

I’m getting errors saying the database I was using for the installation of textpattern can’t be connected to… is that a hosting problem or something?

Most likely you’re using the wrong database name, hostname or user name.

mrE · 2005-10-04 02:44:02

Nope. It’s working now.
I already had it installed. I had it working. I was editing things and messing around. The installation went good 100%.
But for a moment the database was unavailable. Not sure why.
Not a bandwidth problem, because the rest of the site worked. So yeah.

Walker · 2007-01-01 16:56:29

Ok, that was hilarious.

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#1 2005-10-03 22:50:41

Is textpattern a....

#2 2005-10-03 23:24:54

Re: Is textpattern a....

#3 2005-10-03 23:28:27

Re: Is textpattern a....

#4 2005-10-04 02:05:05

Re: Is textpattern a....

#5 2005-10-04 02:25:57

Re: Is textpattern a....

#6 2005-10-04 02:26:12

Re: Is textpattern a....

#7 2005-10-04 02:29:32

Re: Is textpattern a....

#8 2005-10-04 02:42:35

Re: Is textpattern a....

#9 2005-10-04 02:44:02

Re: Is textpattern a....

#10 2007-01-01 16:56:29

Re: Is textpattern a....

Board footer