XARA and CMS V Serif

[thebigman]

Hi
I have had a look at SERIF and they include CMS to edit pages. Does Xara Have the same????
Thanks

[gwpriester]

No. Xara web products are designed for intuitive WYSIWYG web site design. If you want to go back to the old days of hacking HTML code then Xara products are not right for you.

Having started writing HTML code over 15 years ago, when it was the only way to create websites was something I am glad to leave behind.

[thebigman]

So if you want to make a site for someone who knows nothing about web etc and wants to update info you would not recommend xara?? What would you use then Joomla etc???

[pauland]

So if you want to make a site for someone who knows nothing about web etc and wants to update info you would not recommend xara?? What would you use then Joomla etc???

If you are skilled in using HTML and CSS and comfortable with CMS systems give Joomla a go. If your web skills level is low I wouldn't go anywhere near Joomla. If you are a newbie to all this stuff expect a considerable learning curve.

What are your skills?

[thebigman]

Skills are not too bad but not brilliant. But have to make a youth social site so that an admin person can update news etc from their office and not have to get me to update every other day. Serif has an object built in i think so i thought xara must have the same sort of thing. It saves a lot of time and effort.
??

[pauland]

I would investigate serif. Some people on talkgraphics use simpleCMS with Xara, but it's not truly integrated. There are a number of CMS based offerings out there that can be driven from customisable templates. Xara software is about custom design and generating websites that reflect the design, while CMS driven sites are about customised templates connected to a database.

You will need to invest some time finding your feet.

[mwenz]

thebigman,

People who generally are using Serif's WebPlus in conjunction with CMS abilities are often using Pulse CMS in an iFrame. I suspect one could also use Xara for the same. The built-in CMS "capabilities" are rudimentary at best and I believe are tied to Serif's server. So that leaves using an iFrame.

Really, if a site is going to have frequent content updates, install Joomla (free), ExpressionEngine ($) or WordPress (free) on your local computer. Use Xampp to be able to test and run your work on the localhost system (your computer). Start out with a good template for any of the above systems or modify one of the installed versions. There are several platforms for modifying and building one's own unique site that are typically based on the 960 grid size.

If you go with Joomla or one of the others mentioned, pick a good host that offers linux as a hosting option. You may not need to learn mysql or deal with it much using phpAdmin, but you may need to at least use it for clearing out your test data once in a while. It isn't difficult to learn any of the above. But it does require a bit of dedication and determination. The respective user forums are a great help--so go read some of the threads before beginning of you go this route.

I would heartily recommend using a "dedicated" CMS approach for anyone making a site that relies on dynamic data over a semi-static html site building software. I am writing this with just a skosh of experience. I am in the process of building a WebPlus site the customer desires to have Blogger loading into an iFrame. While it works and is fairly easy to implement, it is a kind of cludge approach. The blog page is slower loading than if the site was a modified WordPress theme, it is static width and offers little customization in an iframe.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

Take care, Mike

[Albacore]

Have a look at "Cushy CMS" like Serif's your pages are hosted on their server. There is a free and paid service with the free one having a few restrictions have not tried it with a Xara generated pages only DW and GoLive. Like you it was for a Youth Club which didn't mind paying for the service which is not a lot of extra money considering that they were hosting it. Have a look at the video and then you can make up your mind: http://www.cushycms.com/en/static/demo

[thebigman]

Well thanks for all the reply's. Now not sure what to go with. I thought maybe there was a more advanced addon similar to the Serif one that i could install on a server and integrate into a web page for news etc. Probably is. Will have a look round. Thanks again.

[pauland]

As soon as you allow multiple users to update a web page things necessarily get more complicated. Let us know how you get on - for better or worse.