I started work on my first CMS last weekend. I came up with the idea of editing pages from the front end. Instead of having a big back end to the CMS i thought that it would be better to edit page content while looking at the page. This is useful when you want to see what you are editing. There is something similar available called the FCK Editor. Mine is different to it in a number of ways.

The easiest way for me to explain the functions is to show it to you. I have supplied a URL below and a username/password combination.
URL: http://macaoidh.name/work/cms
username: guest
password: guestpass

Take a look at the pages. Notice the difference between them when you are logged in and logged out. It is very simple at the moment, but I have created a model that I can expand on. Here is a list of current functions:

• When you are logged in you can see the editing panel at the bottom of the page, which displays the log out link.
• When you are logged in you can edit the text on the page. This is currently only a temporary fix because I haven’t set it to update the database yet!
• The page content is currently being called from the database.

By the time my CMS reaches version 1 I intend for it to be a fully functional Content Management System. These are the functions that I intend to implement in the future:

• Make the changes while logged in update to the database. I am finding this quite difficult. It’s easy to create a form and update but when you include all of the JavaScript that I have in order to make the changes editable and viewable in the same page, it becomes more difficult.
• Create more functions for the logged in person, such as add users and more complicated editing options.
• Add the possibility of creating new pages from the front end. This should be easy enough – I just haven’t had enough time to add it!

I’ll keep posting weekly updates on the status of the CMS. Hopefully I can get it up to a state where it is sellable in a couple of months. If it becomes successful i might open source it! At the moment there is no point because most people would be able to create something similar by just looking at it!

Suggestions and some criticism welcome!