Name:Anand Prakash
 
Comment:
Why don't you release easycmslite in flatfile and sqlite versions as well. It is so limited in its basic features that there seems to be no need of using a mysql database for it. This way your userbase may also increase as there are loads of web designers out there who have either host on free servers or do not purchase a database from their hosts. Also, there are many flatfile/sqlite cms's out there which provide many more features than easycmslite, so why would people want to use easycmslite?

 

Mods: Hi Anand, thank you for the suggestion, we will certainly look into it. However I can't imagine why anyone would get hosting without a database. I know in the past it used to be the case that hosting companies would charge extra, but if that's the case now, then change web hosts! I doubt we'll look into SQLite, but we may very well look into a text file only version soon.

About your question why would someone use this, rather than another CMS? The simple reason is that this CMS was made for our hosting clients who wanted a simple, quick and easy way to put up their own sites. These client's are lawyers (www.jadeaugustattorneys.co.za), linguists (www.frenchtranslations.co.za), Movie review sites using the movie plugin (www.find-movie-trailers.com) etc. They don't have ANY desire to learn the full feature set of bigger CMSs, they want it simple. This CMS was designed in consultation with them! What could they do, what couldn't they do, etc. So, in essence, easyCMSlite.com is not trying to compete with other CMSs out there which offer every feature known to man, but which confuses the non-technical, or non-web savvy user... Hope this clarifies a little...

Out of curiosity, what features would you like to see in easyCMSlite which are missing?

Name:Anand Prakash
 
Comment:
Features I expect in any decent CMS (as plugins or switch on/off features). 1. Blog/News (turn on/off comments, customise publishing dates, read more... button) 2. Gallery (gallery description, image description, slideshow option, some type of lightbox facility) 3. Event Calendar with day, week and month views These are a minimum list that I expect in a CMS. But as you can see, since I'm still looking around, it means I haven't still found the best I can use.

Mods:

Hi Anand, thanks for the feed back.

The plugins we are currently busy with are an events / calander plugin as per your number 3, and an SMS plugin to allow sending and receiving SMS's from your website as well as an e-commerce plugin.

I love your idea about adding a gallery plugin and will add that to the list. It will go well with the movie plugin we already have (www.find-movie-trailers.com).

I will look into the blogging / news plugin after the four plugins (gallery, SMS, events,e-commerce) have been done...

To answer your question about the database: Its makes it much easier to manage the system and to expand it in the future. For instance, the ordering of top and side navigation menus and sub menus. This would be much harder to allow the user to do if we were not using a database (not impossible, just harder). Also it makes writing plugins much easier to manage.

Actually, easyCMSlite is a mixture of database and flat file. We use the database to store nav menus, and settings, etc, but the page content is stored as a flat file. Thanks again for your feedback!

Name:Anand Prakash
 
Comment:
By the way, I really like the http://www.find-movie-trailers.com/ website. It is a really good plugin. But why are there underscore signs in submenus?

 

Mods:

Hi Anand.

The underscores are there because I wanted to get the plugin working and I haven't finished it completely yet (the underscores are ONLY there in this plugin, not in the general easyCMSlite content). This will get sorted out soon. In terms of movable menus, easyCMSlite already allows re-ordering of menus, although only within their categories for now. For instance, you can move a top nav menu left or right, and you can move its sub menus up or down. Side nav's same thing, but you cannot move a top nav into a left nav position. You also can't transfer sub menus into different top level menus, or make them top level menus of their own..

Having said that, please check out the whois for this domain: http://reports.internic.net/cgi/whois?whois_nic=easycmslite.com&type=domain.

The reason I'm showing you this is because developement on easyCMSlite started at about that time (June 2010), so we're not doing badly on a product we give away for free... Of course the downside is that we need to spend most of our time on paying projects.

I am glad to hear your feedback though. I will be finishing off one big project now and then I think I'll have a gap of about a week before the next big project gets under way, so I'll try to dedicate some time to easyCMSlite.

In your opinion, if I do get this week, what is the ONE thing I should be focusing on (either a plugin or changes to what's already there)?

Name:Anand Prakash
 
Comment:
I think since the basics are in place, the biggest priority should be the Blog/News plugin and the Gallery should follow that. How do I install it locally on my Xampp server? I'm getting the following error. Site error: the file D:\xampplite\htdocs\easycmslite\index.php requires the ionCube PHP Loader ioncube_loader_win_5.2.dll to be installed by the site administrator.

Name:Anand Prakash
 
Comment:
Ok. I have been able to download and activate ioncube loader. But now I'm getting errors of a different kind. I'm trying to install easycmslite in its own folder instead of xampp root. It is reverting back to xampp root and trying to find the files from there which is not letting the installation continue. What next?

Mods:

Hi Anand

At present you cannot install easyCMSlite into a sub directory, I'll see what can be done about that for early next week...

However, what you can do is setup a virtual directory. In apache's htdocs, create a folder and give it a name (in my example its easycmslite).

Now go to your httpd.conf file and add the following:

NameVirtualHost *:80

<VirtualHost 127.0.0.10:80>
     DocumentRoot "C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\htdocs\easycmslite"
     ServerName www.easy.com
     ServerAlias easy.com easy
     <Directory "C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\htdocs\easycmslite">
          AllowOverride All
     </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Next, find the "hosts" file. In Windows XP this is in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc. If there is no hosts file there, you can create one.

Add an entry like this:

127.0.0.10 www.easy.com

Save the file and restart apache.

Now you should be able to go to www.easy.com (or whatever you decided to call it - just make sure its the same in both httpd.conf and hosts)...

Let me know if you get this to work..

John

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