Going it alone
 

Hi I run a comedy website and have been looking to build my own CMS for months, after a similar time looking for someone reliable to build it I got told, 'why don't you do it yourself' and thought why not.


I guess I am asking, can it be done? Or should i leave this to the professionals?

A day and a half into it and i'm still understandably ropey on even the basics of a php system so i am looking for hints and tips, whats the best way to go about a DIY website. I got the book PHP and MYSQL by Larry Ullman (2003 version) which seems to be ok, but i am worried that the php he is teaching me is no longer supported. Am I right?


Other than that i am looking to start at the very basics. Get a form field sorted to put news articles into, once that is done look to the future.

ANy help advice and humourus tips would be gratefully recieved.

Thanks

Tim :-)

p.s. this is the website:
Such Small Portions: the Comedy Digest - Live comedy reviews, Stand-up Comedy, DVD and Film reviews

2003 was a long time ago, indeed. Haven't read that book, but you should get a new one, especially with the newest OOP, because that part has changed quite a bit.

To answer your question: Ofcourse it can be done.

Don't build your own, while it is physically possible, it is extremely unlikely at your skill level. A CMS is one of the most advanced projects one can take on.

Building a CMS for your own personal use is a great way to run into problems. You'll run into databasing issues, scalability, reusability and application design. All of these problems are very necessary to run into and tackle as you move forward in becoming a better developer. If you feel you're up for making a basic CMS, be sure to do proper planning up front and stick to it. I recommend using PHP5, so pickup a book teaching that. The one that I recommend to new developers is php|arcitech's Zend Certification Guide. It's a lot like a textbook and will really tell you what you should know but are never told in the generic books and especially on the internet.

In my opinion, start of with something simple like a blog and work from there. Its the typical thing to build... if you want to do it right (imo, for the most part)... try out this tutorial.. its long but its good, it'll be quite the challenge for you but everyone needs a good challenge. :)

An Example Zend Framework Blog Application - Part 1: Introductory Planning - Maugrim The Reaper's Blog

It's always cool to make your own CMS. I once made myself one too, procedural coded.

The thing where I've learned the most from is looking at other CMSs en see how they did things. Once you get your own basic structure of how to do things, you can extend easily.

Yes, ofcourse, it may take a few weeks, but I think it's definitely worth it.

Good luck!

P.S. When i started with the CMS I couldn't even code PHP, only ASP. :-)

also if your not a book person for about $30 a month you can learn php from videos, there are two places that provide them.

vtc.com and lynda.com

they have a huge collection of video for software i mastered photoshop by looking at the videos.