Why am I not able to really learn any CMS?

[nik_jain]

Basically everytime I try to code a site in an existing CMS I find out that I spend 99% time trying to google out how the CMS works, how a particular thing is done and less time coding. I end up not using any CMS at all and just code my site in Core php.

Now I have an idea for a site that whose development I think will really be speeded up if I use an exisiting CMS, instead of trying to implement every goddamn feature myself.

I feel I am doing something wrong in the way I try to learn a CMS. or maybe I am just not using the right CMS.

I have tried reading books / video tutorials / online tutorials etc

Can anyone relate? Any tips / suggestions to offer ?

I am most familiar with wordpress btw

 

Thanks

[gizmola]

The point of a CMS is not to provide functionality so you do not have to code.

 

The point of a CMS is so that 'end users' who are not programmers can do things like add content and sections of the site using an interface that hides the details of site functionality from them, and makes it efficient to publish new material.

 

Of course there is a learning curve to CMS applications just like there is to any complicated application.

 

Wordpress is like a Frankenstein monster. I understand it's very popular but that doesn't make it a good CMS. It made some really wise decisions in the early days that lead to its popularity --- namely providing sexy functional UI for the end users.

 

The fact that it has never had the best architecture for developers to expand upon isn't important to the people using wordpress in most scenarios.

 

We'd really need to hear more from you about what you need a CMS for in the first place, especially since you have a self professed history of coding everything from scratch.

 

Speeding up development these days tends to mean starting with a framework and making use of components in the modern PHP world where standard PSR-0 component libraries can be easily added to your project saving you person-years of time.

[nik_jain]

 Thank you! actually I struggle in the same manner with frameworks as well . Recently I tried learning zend and yii 2

 We'd really need to hear more from you about what you need a CMS for in the first place,

Site Features:
1. Basic Search
2. Post page
3. 'browse/filter' page . Basically narrow down posts using category / date etc.

 

Regular stuff..

Wordpress way:
create post, post_type using csv row, import and use existing search, comments functionality.

Core PHP way:
Create database structure -> import csv
implement every goddamn feature myself. be it comments to post, post_page , search functionality etc.

The issue with frameworks/CMS: the trouble starts when implementing something not in the book/docs means googling too much...

Say in wordpress I had to implement a form that anybody could post to, this proved tiresome. Not difficult, but trying to figure out how to implement required googling..

[QuickOldCar]

If these sites are your own and have the ability to make your own cms...to me that's the right path to take and not rely on others work or if they will exist one day.

Sounds more like you need to make your cms reusable.

 

There are people that specialize in certain cms out there and spent lots of time learning it.

You should learn how to make plugins,widgets and integrate custom pages within any theme.

Another good way is to make your own theme with it's own functions.

 

https://codex.wordpress.org/Developer_Documentation

https://codex.wordpress.org/Writing_a_Plugin

https://codex.wordpress.org/Widgets_API

https://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Development

[gizmola]

There are basically 2 modern php5+ frameworks right now that have most of the mindshare.

 

Symfony -> http://symfony.com

 

Laravel -> http://laravel.com

 

Both of these frameworks have a lot of similarities, excellent documentation, tutorials, and highly active communities that support people.

 

My suggestion to you would be to take a look at both of them and try building a small test app with them to see how they can help you.

 

I don't want to put the cart before the horse, but they also both have CMS components available, but before you get in over your head, I'd urge you to try and build a basic app first so you're clear on the basics like routing, db/orm/models, views/templates, session/security etc.  You'll find state of the art support for search solutions any number of different ways.

[nik_jain]

 

If these sites are your own and have the ability to make your own cms

Thanks.

I have thought of this before, but having heard several times that coming up with your own cms is a bad idea, and not knowing how to build my own CMS I didn't follow through with it.

 

Symfony -> http://symfony.com

 

Laravel -> http://laravel.com

 

Nah, both of these change for too rapidly for my slow mind.

 

I also had a talk with a cousin of mine, he suggested that whatever framework I choose, I  should spend a LOT of time with it, so I guess I'll try spending a couple of months with yii and see how it goes..