PHP and MySQL™ are software applications residing on most web servers. MySQL™ is a database and PHP is a very popular programming language.

One of the most popular web development concepts includes using a MySQL™ database along with PHP scripting language, hosted on fast and stable Linux servers. When a dynamic web page is requested, PHP can instantly process data retrieved from MySQL, blend the data with images and the HTML page layout, compress the entire package to reduce download time, and send it to the user's web browser in a matter of milliseconds.

Please contact Doug with your complete company information if you would like to obtain "Admin" access to the CMS Demo.

Reasons to use custom programming for your website: Widespread attacks continue against WordPress sites (May 11, 2010)

Publish an almost unlimited number of web pages in the PHP Virtual Sandbox

This CMS supports 600+ pages of content at etnews.org. The number of web pages which can be deployed using this system is limited only by aesthetics associated with automatically generated navigation links. Content should be organized in sections having fewer than 20-30 pages (side navigation links). Approximately 250 sections can be configured. Individual pages may have "child" pages which are automatically indented in side navigation links.

This content management system makes use of PHP's data compression capability and quickly compresses data before sending it to the user's web browser. Pages containing a comparatively large amount of data can be sent quickly ... several times faster than a comparable HTML document. Content currently displayed in your web browser was dynamically generated in a few milliseconds, on-the-fly, using database content and a few images. PHP scripting retrieved text and HTML content from a MySQL™ database table, assembled an HTML document, compressed the data to ensure fast download, and sent it to your web browser. Therefore, this web page does not physically exist but is created on-the-fly.

Database fields are used to define individual web pages

Dozens of fields are used to define each page of content. Commonly used fields include those used to define the META title, META keywords, META description, page heading, and page content. Additional fields facilitate flagging pages as hidden, log-in required, user level > 0 required to view content, and similar attributes. Most pages are defined as having either 2 or 3 columns (a links column and content column). Fields exist to include other files for individual pages (stylesheets, Javascript, PHP scripts, etc.).

The administrative aspect of this CMS offers global access to multiple administrators or authors. Please note however that web forms are generally not multi-user friendly (only one person at a time should engage in altering web content).

PHP Form Generator is integrated within the administrative area of the website, facilitating rapid development of forms used to add and change database tables.

Cron Jobs - Automated Server Tasks

This content management system comes with several configurable PHP scripts capable of automatically backing up the main MySQL™ database tables every night. On Sunday night, critical exports are emailed to me for "off site storage" purposes.

Changelog - Retrieving Deleted or Changed Data

Most of the forms used to alter or delete website content are configured to record both old and new entries when changes are made. In the event some content is erroneously altered, the original entry can usually be retrieved and copied from the changelog table.

Data Capture

Each form submission (and/or page request) can be optionally recorded in a MySQL™ database table. Contact form messages are e-mailed and then inserted into a database for future reference.

Data Export / Import

Page content, site statistics, and related data tables can be easily exported into various data formats and imported into other applications (e.g. MS Excel, CSV, XML). Similarly, filters are available to convert your data from MS Access, MS Excel, etc., into MySQL™ for use on your web site.

Content Search using MySQL™ Full-Text Search

Text content residing in the main database table is easily searchable using the builtin MySQL™ Full-Text Search feature. Matches for words consisting of more than a few characters will be prioritized upon return. Searches of data in auxiliary tables, such as product fields, can be optionally configured.

Error 404 pages and Google Site Search

Whenever a requested page is not found, custom error pages are displayed. The Error 404 page (file not found) will include a Google search box which may assist users in locating the desired content. Error pages are most often viewed in following a complete overhaul of an older website ... search engines may have indexed pages which no longer exist

Error Logging

The display of system errors is suppressed in the production environment. Errors which may occasionally arise are either inserted into a system log or added to a text log file.

Additional CMS Features

News Articles and similar widgets used to display special content can be configured with relative ease.

In a general sense, this content management system can become somewhat multi-language friendly. If the site is fully developed in one language, a copy of the database table can be made, then renamed by appending an abbreviation for another language (such as es for Spanish). When the request sent by the web browser indicates a Spanish language preference, then content will automatically be drawn from a database table named content_es instead of the original content table. A translator could work online on the content_es table, translating text from the original language into Spanish. Multi-language processing of web forms, such as Contact Us forms would however require substantial additional work.

Open Source Content Management Systems

If your web developer recommends using a popular Open Source application such as Wordpress, you need to be aware that search engines have difficulty indexing Wordpress sites, and that extra care must be taken to manually create relevant Google sitemaps. When your developer pushes you toward Open Source applications, they may be sending the message that they are clueless about web programming yet want to separate you from your money, and this leaves them with few choices (Joomla, Wordpress, Drupal, etc.).

Certain Open Source content management systems do however handle multi-language website development rather easily, following substantial programming effort that could otherwise cost tens of thousands of dollars to develop independently.

eCommerce

Aside from basic PayPal buttons, we generally avoid becoming involved in shopping carts because of the complexity. See eCommerce Sucks.