Simple CMS - GREAT new tool I found that works with Xara

[lex]

Sounds interesting. At first, I thought this was "CMS made Simple", a relatively well-known free CMS, but no. There are so many scripts around that it is very difficult to keep track of them.

[onlye]

Sounds interesting. At first, I thought this was "CMS made Simple", a relatively well-known free CMS, but no. There are so many scripts around that it is very difficult to keep track of them.

Right you are lex.

And CMS is everything from an entire design platform to tools that work with your existing platform. I have looked at and tested a number of them. This one is as close to what I was looking for as I could ask. I want to use my existing design tools, Xara and WWB, and offer a simple to install and simple to use way for my clients to update designated sections of their website. This one does just that.

I downloaded and studied XT-CMS as a solution designed to work with Xara. I think it has some great promise and certainly does more than Simple CMS. But I had Simple CMS installed and working in less time than it took me to watch a single how-to video on XT-CMS. And I still didn't fully understand how to implement it.

If you have similar needs to mine give it a try. The single-use license is only $19 while the developer license is a mere $29. (with the developer you can use the software on multiple websites)

[lex]

Yes, I had a similar experience with XT-CMS. A solution that can complement Xara without taking it over is the way to go.

[behzad]

@Onlye, is there a way you can put together a youtube tutorial on this? Also once the client does their changes, can the xara designer load the xara file and work on additional design, text, pic etc...?

[onlye]

@Onlye, is there a way you can put together a youtube tutorial on this? Also once the client does their changes, can the xara designer load the xara file and work on additional design, text, pic etc...?

Sorry, I read your question previously but didn't reply.

The way the Simple CMS works;
1) Put a Placeholder in your Xara page.
2) In the Simple CMS online interface, you create Sections. A section can be a single line of text (Headline), Text area, image, video. There is an HTML editor provided to create and edit your section content.
3) Each section provides you with a snippet of javascript to paste in the Xara Placeholder.

You can then edit the text or image in the section via the Simple CMS interface.
You can have multiple placeholders/sections in a page or site
You can use a mobile device to edit a Section
A single install of Simple CMS will work with multiple websites

So you can update and republish your Xara website and not break the CMS sections. You can even move the CMS sections in your Xara website (just move the Placeholders) and then republish and it all still works.

If you would like to try it out I could set up a user login for you and you can create a couple of sections to test in a Xara website. Your feedback would be appreciated.