Lines of Code
ucms.php - Why Make Your own Content Management System?
Making your own Content Management System (or CMS) may at first seem dangerous (from a security point of view) and complicated.
There are after all a wide range of content management systems already out there.
Many of the 'free' or open source content management systems have started as small projects designed to 'just publish' a website and evolved into vast systems with many plug in extras. Each one has particular strengths or benefits and if one suits your application, then there is good reason to use it.
However, placing a content management system onto your public web server opens up that server to any of the vulnerabilities (documented or not) associated with the system. Also, the more complex the content management system, the more possible it will be for you as a novice with the software to configure it in such a way as to open up a potential exploit on your server.
If your only goal, is to simplify the process of creating static web pages and getting them up onto your public web server, you don't need a content management system living on the server.
If the content management system (or it's data) does not live 'out there' on a public server, then it is possible to alter it without fear of damaging any server security model. It can also be possible to back up the content manager and any sites it is looking after as easily as you would any document or folder, not forgetting that when a site is published, you still have at least one copy sitting on your local machine.
The simplest form of content management holds the base pages in some form of database and if needed, generates the links in menus, adds style instructions and generally lets the author get on with adding the content.
With the content management performed on a local system, it makes sense for the system to also automate the upload of the finished pages to a public web server.
Using a database and language that you are familiar with, allows the content management system to be expanded to allow for different styles of page or types of content as needed.
This is what I have done with the ucms.php system. I chose to use a linux based host as it is freely available (and can even be run within a virtual machine under windows or OSX), the php language and mysql database, as I have some experience with them and there are a wealth of pages and examples of their use on the web.
You could of course pick a different set, there is no reason why a windows base with VB and an Access data base could not be persuaded to manage your pages and upload them to a remote site.
For sites with mostly static content, by managing them on a local machine, you remain in control of the pages, and the tools used to create them. You also always have a copy of the latest version of the site should there be any problems with the public web server.
If the pages your system generates are mostly standard html, if you need to move to a new web server, altering your sites to suit a new environment should not be difficult.