Why i build my own CMS
Even there are lots of powerful open-source so called free content management systems available on the world, why i build my own system. Simplicity is what encouraged me write the whole CMS system from the start.
Why I started coding new cms?
I was thinking to develop a content mangement system from the scratch even there are lots of successfull and powerfull opensource systems like joomla,wordpress,drupal,dotnnetnuke are already available and thery are quite mature and lots of successfull stories with them. Actuall i wanted a very simple content management system, and extremtly easy to put contents. I was searching for a system that could allow me to create a post that contains lots of different types of elements like text, video, photo, code snippets, etc. Wordpress is a very powerfull blogging system but you have to put everyelement on a single texteditor. Putting every elements like text, photos, videos made me turn out. Imaging how difficult it is change a small senetence if your post contains 1000 words text, few vidoes and couple of images. So I thought I should start coding a new system that at least helps me to put contents on a different block so if any small changes i hav to made just edit a single block.
web-development.jpg
Problem with dotnetnuke
Dotnetnuke is powerfull contentmangement system, and I has both Community version and Commercial Version. I could use it since it closey match my match as regards to create and edting pages. I could create a page where i can edit the bloks within the content area without leaving that page. I really loved that page edting feature as you can easily know which block(module) do you have to change. In contrast with joomla i have to go to the admin module and figure out where that module is.
But why i didn't use dotnetnue, because its costy in regards to server maintaince, hosting on asp.net and ms sql server is quite exprensive than php and mysql just for a blogging site.
Problem with joomla
Joomla is a great content management system. Lots of friends of mine used them are quite happy. Actually i was never fully satisfied with almost all content mangemen system. Some lacks some featurs. Even I could not found commercial versions that suites my need.
I first tried the joomla to run my blog, but I quickly found joomla is not for blooging. It is rather heavy and the most distracting part for me is that very diffcult to exactly know where the modules created on admin part are going to sit on the users site. So after the first year, i changed my blooging site to wordpress as wordpress is mainly created for bloggers.
Not even with wordpress.
One good thing about using these popular opensource management systems is if you want to switch from one to another after few years, you could find some good tools to migrate your date easiy from one system to another.
I found a good php script which i modifed a little bit which fetched my data from my old joomla db and transferred them to wordpress db. Transferring from wordpress to joomla was so easier that i could transfer my whole site in 2 hours. Wordpress hosted my site for around 1 and half years. Initially i feel lot easier creating posts. Why i distracted from wordpress? Edting long posts cotaining rich elements like video, image, code sniipers became more difficult for me.
My wordpress site ran for 1 and half years. (Till the day before i am creating this post). This is my first post on my newly created system developed from scratch. You can imaging how it is motivating to use your own systems. I m feeeling much easier now.
Creation of another good content management system
So I decided to write my own content mangement system. At the same time I was the boss and also I was the deveoper. There is always a fun to work on your own ideas. You can change your mind later easily. No means to blame anyone if there are any changes later. Since I am the one who will be going to use the system completely and I also am the person who will be developing so there was no gaps between misunderstanding.
It ddint took a time for me to decide which language wil be going to be developed on. Inspite of I am a .net guy, i choose php as it is easily avaible and easy to host, and no more difficulties for an expert .net developer to even try a completely new language. So I thought easily i will do compltely on php and mysql.
Another good decision I made is, instead of wrting whole bunch of libaries on php, i just choose the framework that has good buch of usefull libraries. Code ignitor, even I was not a php guy, I have heard it before from my coworkers, as it is a very powerulll and easiy to use framework.
Now I found lucky that I choose codeingitor as it saved me lots of time and after a month (only few hours a day), I was able to transter this blog site on my own system