website design for a club

vigos

Hi, I´m looking to design a website for a club. It will contain information about the club, training details, location, club news etc etc.

Now the question I have is that I will not be maintaining the website , so I would like to set up a website that could be easily maintained from someone with minimum technical knowledge i.e. no ftp´ing of files or editing html by hand.

I was thinking of using blog software like wordpress and then recently have been reading about CMS software.

Anyone have any opinions on using these for a club website design. Also how hard would it be for someone to use CMS software to do regular updates ( like club news) to the website.

Is any particular CMS better than the other?

aidan_walsh

vigos wrote:

Also how hard would it be for someone to use CMS software to do regular updates ( like club news) to the website.

Depends entirely on the CMS package, to be honest. Although for the most part I wouldn't think it would be much harder than creating a post on boards.

Spud83

I may get shot for this (or whatever the internet equivalent is) but why not just set up a Bebo page for the club. Once you have it as a public page anybody can view it using the user name as a web address. Myclub.bebo.com or _www.bebo.com/myclub_

Then you can use the profile for information about the club, and the blog for training updates and stuff.

John_Mc

The main objective of a CMS is to make the front end website easy to maintain and update, regardless of the technical ability that the Administrator possesses.

Are you thinking of doing this yourself or are you going to hire a third party to do it for you?

Goodshape

Best to decide exactly what information you want to display on the site, and how, before choosing a CMS or Blog software.

There's plenty of options available when it comes to CMS' (off the top of my head, Joomla and Drupal would be two popular choices), though for something as you described (essentially various static info pages and a bit of news) they'd probably be over-kill.

Something like Wordpress, which is essentially a CMS without so many features, may well suit your needs. There's a wealth of easy to install third party add-ons for Wordpress to expand or augment it's functionality. I have a feeling you'd spend less time adding features to WP than you would removing features from Joomla/Drupal.

Again though, figure out the website first and choose the CMS and add-ons to match. Rest assured the options will be there for you.

MrSquishSquash

Check out drupal( A open source CMS), it is pretty easy to install and it is very user friendly! Theres a load of features and would leave you with a nice club page with a little modification!

www.drupal.org

vigos

Thanks for all the replies. Now for some answers to the questions!

I´d rather not go the bebo route, as I would like to register a domain and have the website hosted plus it gives more control

I´m planning on putting the website together myself as the club doesn´t really have funds to hire someone to do it, plus it also gives me the chance to play around with this stuff. So once its finished ideally it shouldn´t be any harder to update the site than posting on any forums.

I think its good advice for me to figure out the site and then decide what software to go with then. But really it will be mainly static pages with some weekly news updates

I´m going to install wordpress, drupal and joomla on a free webhosting site I have to get an idea of the features they offer. I´m already leaning towards wordpress as it seems to be the simplest and will probably suit my needs.

WeeDiddly

MrSquishSquash wrote:

Check out drupal( A open source CMS), it is pretty easy to install and it is very user friendly! Theres a load of features and would leave you with a nice club page with a little modification!

www.drupal.org

I've already got it running for a cycling club I own. I wouldn't recommend Drupal as it has so many useless controls, you feel like you're sending a rocket into space. I made it, and changed colors a little bit but I wasn't bothered changing around too much, as I intend on replacing it with a better CMS when the winter comes, and everything has cooled down a bit. (www.mayowheelers.com)

mambo will do the job, but it will not necessarily be everyone's cup of tea. Joomla.org is a better cms, and it entails less trouble for installation, and otherwise, both in the short and long term. It has great modules you can use, and I had it for a while, but I got rid of it, thinking that Drupal was better, and it wasn't. Joomla is the best you can get, and if you do it right once, it'll be great. Feel free to PM if you need help!

vigos

actually am doing it for a cycling club as well, it will be for shannonside cc

steve-hosting36

Many of the hosting companies also offer sitebuilder type systems, which let you build a nice looking website from a range of templates, and then you can maintain the site, etc, using the same system. (There's normally no extra charge for these services)

HTH, Stephen

WeeDiddly

vigos wrote:

actually am doing it for a cycling club as well, it will be for shannonside cc

Welkl then you're thinking along the same lines as me. I would recommend Joomla, and install a calendar extension, followed by a Image gallery extension.

You would then have a basic CMS installed to suit your needs. PM if you want any help.

Nev

DJB

Hi there! I researched this a little while ago and decided to use www.expressionengine.com on www.trimgaa.ie. There's a little bit of a learning curve but it wasn't too difficult to set up. This CMS allowed me to really customise the frontend the way I wanted while still being able to hand over control to the client.

Rgds, DAve

doc123

Hi, i used joomla it's easy to set up and has loads of handy extensions plus you can have multiple users editing different sections which is useful within a club. http://www.kinawleygfc.com