Making a CMS or Forum

maximuss

Hi, i havent been using PHP for too long and i want to gain more experiance, i decided that the best way was to create a website or something.

I want to try to create a simple CMS or Forum.

Does anyone know any good articles about creating your own CMS/Forum?

Can anyone give me any tips on doing this?

Thanks!

Piranha

I have a suggestion, if you don't know how to create one of those then start with something that is simpler. I am not saying this to irritate you, but to help you. When you do whatever you want to do then first design the web interface, the database and the programming structure and then start to program. I have learned the hard way that it is the way to go, it is not fun to do the same things 3-4 times just because you didn't do the simple work in the first place.

maximuss

Ok, thanks for the advice.. Its frustrating, i go on different forums and look at what problems people have, and then looks at the answers, i thought this might help me to learn, and iv been trying to learn PHP for abut 4-5 months yet it doesnt feel like i know a lot. When im creating a simple script i still need to google some things just because iv forgotten them. How long should i try learning PHP before i just give up?

Piranha

You should not give up. I understand that it is frustrating, and that it may lead to you giving up. That's why I suggest somewhat simpler scripts than the ones you are posting about here. What about a site that handles your music? With artist/group and song? It is quite advanced, but yet small enough that you don't need to put hours and hours redoing what went wrong. After you did that you will have a feel how to build databases, how to do database queries and how to program in PHP. And what you need now is probably experience, programming is actually more a way to think than it is commands.

And remember, every time you have to search for something or ask for advice you learn something new.

maximuss

Ok, thanks for your help Piranha. Thats a good idea, mite do that 🙂.

I have one more little question.. How do i unsubscribe from the forum thing so i dont recieve an email each time someone replies to a topic i have made or a topic im writing in? lol thanks.

maximuss

Nevermind i've done it. Thanks again for your help Piranha.

banzaimonkey

I'm also learning PHP and am taking the CMS route. 😉 I have to agree with Piranha, though. A CMS is a daunting task due to the scale and complexity. I've spent a great deal of time planning things out.

For now, rather than trying to create an entire CMS, I'm focusing on targeted scripts that perform very specific tasks for me. As an example, I'm writing one script right now that handles my site's navigation. Later, I plan to write other scripts for specific tasks, such as generating RSS feeds, compiling statistics, etc.

One of the most important things I've learned over the course of planning my software is that software is a tool; you should leverage your available tools to achieve your desired result. Don't use tools for the sake of tools. Use them to achieve your goals.

If you have a website, for example, the most important thing is not the software you're using. The most important thing is the content. Why are people visiting your site? What information are they trying to find? What tools do you need to employ to deliver to your viewers the information they want to see? Maybe you'll need to use a full-blown CMS, but chances are you'll just need a simple collection of scripts that manage information that is relevant to your viewers' demands.

In any case, I'd suggest you take a look at existing CMS and forum software and see how they work, how they're put together, and how they accomplish certain tasks. I also found a simple set of tutorials which you may find useful. 3dbuzz has some free video tutorials for PHP (you'll need to register to download them). I've also put together a small list of Sourceforge projects related to PHP scripting that you can look at for examples.

Piranha

I don't remember it exactly, but in your profile you can set if you want to subscribe to new threads where you post. Old threads (like this one) have to be unchecked in some list, can't remember where.

maximuss

Ok cool, thanks banzaimonkey. i'll take a look at them, another good site is www.phpvideotutorials.com for some video tutorials (as you probably guessed). I'll learn a bit more before i start my CMS, i havent a clue about classes so im gonna get to grips with them before doing anything else.

Thanks again guys.
(Good luck with your CMS banzaimonkey)

banzaimonkey

(Good luck with your CMS banzaimonkey)

Thanks. ^_ Good luck to you also. Btw, that's a great link. I'll have to check out some of those videos when I have free time.