Programmingthomas.tk to launch with DumbCMS v0.2

I will be relaunching my personal site on July 1st 2011. It will be using DumbCMS v0.2 and my blog will be transferred to the new site.

DumbCMS update

I have shifted the update cycle slightly, and the following information is important: v0.1 FINAL will not be released at all, instead skipping straight to v0.2 FINAL on July 1st because I have sort of deleted the entire set-up for v0.1 on my computer and frankly it used a really nasty system (pages were requested through AJAX and the Admin section was plain nasty). The v0.2 release will allow for proper file management and multiple admin users, making it ideal for hosting a multi-user blog.

Unfortunately adding media to the system will be an issue because of PHP upload limits, but the admin center will automatically receive new files and process them when you login.

DumbCMS 0.2 preview

DumbCMS 0.1 and 0.2

The current version of DumbCMS at the moment 0.1b, however this is the BETA version on 0.1, as there is still some work to be done on the current version, using the current methods for its development. However, I don't like the way that the system currently manages content, so I am going to rebuild it, making it easier to use.

This means that the final version of 0.1 should be up by about the end of June, but I'm not promising anything because it is literally a one-man project, and then 0.2 should be available within a week of that. There will not be a beta for 0.2 as final code from 0.1 will be carried over.

Although at the moment all versions are effectively in beta towards version 1.0 final, which I intend to release on the 1st January 2012. Here is the planned release cycle for DumbCMS:

• July 1st 2011: 0.1 FINAL
• July 15th 2011: 0.2
• August 1st 2011: 0.3
• August 15th 2011: 0.4
• September 1st 2011: 0.5
• September 15th 2011: 0.6
• October 1st 2011: 0.7
• October 15th 2011: 0.8
• November 1st 2011: 0.9
• November 15th 2011: 0.9.5 (security and bug update)
• December 1st 2011: 1.0a
• December 15th 2011: 1.0b
• 1st January 2011: 1.0 FINAL

I am currently unsure over what features will actually be in 1.0, but I have got some sort of road map figured out in my head up until 0.5.

There is also the potential for DumbCMS.Net which will be an ASP.NET version.

DumbCMS 0.1b Finished

I have finally got round to finishing the preliminary version of DumbCMS at http://code.google.com/p/dumbcms/, however the following things are now targets:

• Get decent file manager
• Proper tag management on blog
• More color schemes (currently only has brown)
• More design layouts
• Better page management

DumbCMS 0.1b Launch List

OK, here is a list of planned features for Saturday's release of 0.1b:

• Pages with full HTML editing in admin
• Blog with post date, title, content and tags
• Blog view
• Color scheme picker
• Statistics logger:
• IP of visitor
• Which browser they are using
• What date the visited
• How many times they have visited
•  Everything stored in a MySQL database
• Fades between pages; accessed via AJAX
• Runs on PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, jQuery and simple HTML
• Extensible; it wouldn't be difficult to redesign it to suit your site

http://code.google.com/p/dumbcms/

DumbCMS - when I get the code up, helpers are wanted!

DumbCMS 0.1b is all set for release on Saturday, and I am going to need some people with experience to help me out. I don't really need pro-PHP/JavaScript guys because I don't want to look too bad, but it would be nice for some people to work on some parts of the project. DumbCMS 0.1b won't include the following, so I'll need the following work done (and I could do most of it) before version 0.2b:

• Proper blog view with RSS feed generation
• Template design
• Color scheme design - at the moment you can just select from some predefined color schemes

DumbCMS Progress

I have almost finished work on DumbCMS - a new CMS that I am building. It will be released on Google Code by the end of the week, if not earlier. I will aim to get the files needed Zipped up and put in the downloads section first before adding all the source code up in full. The development of the project has proved to be surprisingly easy, it is just basic PHP and JavaScript - the only thing that has really proved difficult has been building up the admin options - these are actually quite complex and need to be protected from intrusion.

The plan will be that all the files are uploaded to the server and the user then runs a script (install.php) which will configure the database. Once that is done users will be able to modify their site from admin, or edit the source code for other pages.

At the moment the system will be able to log a huge variety of data on visiting users: you will be able to see which IPs are logging in, what browser they are using, what time of day they are browsing, which pages they are visiting and how many times they do so. This is all managed through an SQL table, and is also relatively easy to code. Note that admins will be able to turn off this feature because it could quickly fill up the SQL database limit, but if you wanted the insight it is always there.

When it is released (probably on Saturday), it will be released as version 0.1 beta, with the plan being for a full version being released by the end of June 2011. Whilst it won't be as feature rich as other CMS systems, it will be designed for people that want to be able to control the HTML side of their site whilst still being able to manage things such as the design.

At the moment everything works through two pages: index.php and page.php. The index file simply takes in the a parameter of which page the user is on and then uses an AJAX request to page.php to get the page content from a database. The advantage of working like this is that there can be complex jQuery animations between each page (OK, maybe not complex, but it slides and fades and looks quite cool!).