[TYPO3-UG Australia] Totally new to TYPO, content managers and programming and guess what... needs help....

[Paul Sanderson]

Hi Cate,

Cate Deans Smith wrote:
> Hi David
>
>   
>> I'm totally new to TYPO, content managers and programming. Any chance a
>> green newbie like me could actually get a site up and running or am I just
>> dreaming?
>>     
>
> Im not so far ahead of you, and I think you can do it ... the critical
> aspect is TIME :) if you have time to spend learning, trolling email lists,
> websites, trialling things, finding snippets - then its possible to do. If
> you don't have time, then TYPO3 is probably not a good choice.
>   
True, especially if you want TYPO3 to work from the get-go, without
anything in the project budget for technical support, if you aren't
already an experienced implementer.

When planning projects with some of the web design agencies I work with,
we always discuss the possibility of other CMS options. If the site is
simple, one feature and layout design and control (the look) isn't
important, then other, simpler, CMS's may do the job more easily. That
means too, that these designers don't need to include developer costs
since they won't either need services from someone like myself or the
many other TYPO3 developers out there, or else, add the time it will
take to understand the system for themselves.

By the same token, in making this decision, we take into account how
flexible a client might want the site to be in the future. As a
developer, I consider TYPO3 offers the best platform for future feature
development of any CMS, as it's open and well documented API which
allows me to get the job done. Many CMS's that are easy to implement for
web designers, who aren't interested in becoming programmers (read
Kasper's forward in the TYPO3 Book), just can't have features easily
added to them. That's when people turn to TYPO3. For long-term
flexibility and return on investment for any of your clients TYPO3
offers the greatest likely-hood that the site can grow and change
without having to throw it all away and begin again.
> For example: I started my site about 6 weeks ago with a layout already
> planned in Dreamweaver, a good understanding of css and html, a good
> understanding of cms's in general. It has taken me about 150 hours so far of
> trolling and trialling to get just the basic layout to work.
>
> Then I lost the lot when the database corrupted (mental note: do not be put
> off by the time it takes to backup a bit site - do it regularly, or at least
> before you upload and install extensions!)
>
> I estimate it will take me a few hours today to catchup ... ie, 150 hours of
> research for 3 hours of work!
>
>   
>> If I am dreaming then are there other content managers out there which are
>> easier to set up and use? Or am I dreaming about this too?
>>     
That's the great thing about Open Source Software, there are always more
options. It's a very broad spectrum of choice which admittedly can also
be overwhelming in itself. TYPO3 doesn't profess to be easy to implement
for those who haven't had much experience with it. It's developers,
though they are always wanting to bring down the threshold of time
required to learn enough of the system, to make it useful, are also
aware that sacrificing too much to so called 'ease-of-use' also has a
cost. TYPO3 does what very few other CMSs can do in that respect, given
it's for websites that need a professional level of functionality. For
websites that just need a simple and easy to use, without custom
functionality, a simpler system might be a better choice.

Though Mambo/Joomla and many other open source CMSs are excellent
products, they do well what they were designed to do, but they're not
easily added to if there isn't a pre-existing feature. In TYPO3 if
someone has developed a shop or a feature, there is a very good chance
we can reuse and add to most, if not all, it's functionality without
having to throw it all away (and the content it contained as well) and
start from scratch. For these and many other reasons, I don't develop
for other Open Source CMSs for that reason.
> There are cms's that are more simple to get up and running (although any
> little thing like version of php can throw a spanner in the works :) ) so it
> just depends on how much extensibility you need.
>
> If the site really needs full control - go with typo3. If it doesn't, maybe
> consider Mambo, or any one of the hundred others available.
>
> Just my 2 cents worth.
>
> Cate Deans Smith
> diess - Performance through Synergy
>
> cdeans at diess.com.au
>
> www.diess.com.au
>  
> +61 7 3342 5261
>  
> P.O. Box 203
> Springwood Qld 4127
Best regards,
-- 

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