Good content managing software?

lilbandit

lilbandit

I hate Meath
Hi everyone, hope this is in the right forum...
I'd like to set up a website for the school where I work, I thought about putting up a static site telling the public about the school but I feel that it could serve a more active role in school life. Several other teachers have approached me with request such as art galleries, news updates, forums etc. etc. Since I graduated I have also been thinking about setting up a decent academic resource for Irish teachers, I'd like to make this part of the school site if possible. Looking around hotscripts.com I think content management is the way to go and was wondering if anybody has any experience in this area. I will administer the site but hope to delegate as much as possible, allowing individual teachers and students to post material. Baring in mind that the school teaching staff are not technically literate people, the software needs to be relatively user friendly. I will probably have to train staff so access to the basic functions should be easy.
Ideally the software would:
  • allow posting of school news/events/reviews of events
  • allow posting of pictures
  • contain a bulletin board
  • allow teachers to update the site as needed
  • serve as a repository for school policies and official documents
Any suggestions appreciated!
 
There are many good content management systems out there, but they can start to get quite expensive. One thing to remember is that content management isn't a piece of software or a certain technology but a process where the software and technology are just an aid to the process. Are the teachers and administers really going to update their respective areas or does it just sound like a neat idea? In my experience, if there isn't already some sort of "analog" content management system already in place, then introducing a web based system ends up being fruitless.

It might be worth it to check out some cheap/free "blog software" and start playing around with it to get an idea of what is possible and what is available. Some common systems are:
Movable Type
Textpattern
WordPress

I know for a fact that textpattern allows multiple users, which you would probably need. A lot of hosts offer open source bulletin boards and forums. If yours doesn't, you can take a look at these (built with open source technologies):
phpBB
YaBB

I have never heard of a perfect content managment system, just those that feel the most comfortable to work with for your organization, which makes finding the right system a pretty large process of research.

Hope this helps. Good luck!
 
Thanks for your reply, I'll look into those. Funnily enough I was reading about blog software in Macworld the other day. I realise that the site will only be as good as the content that is posted on it, thats why the solution has to be user friendly. I'll be responsible for getting it off the ground and day to day running for a while though. To begin with, a nice system for announcing school news and announcements along with a gallery would be a good start. A forum would be a good way down the road as it would have to be monitored very carefully. Thanks for your advice!!
 
Postnuke works pretty well.......

There's also XOOPS and a scud of others.....go to sourceforge.net and type CMS in the search field and you'll see what I mean.

Take care,

C.
 
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