We have written a very basic CMS system (just like everyone else has) that we use on a handful of our clients’ websites. We wanted a CMS system that was:
- Easy to deploy
- Simple to re-skin when provided an HTML/CSS design
- Search Engine Friendly
- Easy enough that non-technical people could administer the content of the site
- Lightweight enough so that the system could be the foundation of a larger application or website
- Built using CakePHP and MySQL
After looking around the web for 5 minutes, and not finding anything, we decided to build it ourselves. So, here it is, Dingus CMS.
In order to install and use Dingus CMS:
- You’ll need a basic PHP/MySQL/Apache environment. (Note: PHP 5 is recommended and Apache needs mod_rewrite)
- Download the source.
- Extract the source into the document root of your website. Note that the app, cake, docs, etc… directories should be at the root of your site
- Configure the database connection in app/config/database.php
- Run the SQL in sql/dingus_cms_db_setup.sql
- Go to http://localhost and you should be up and running!
Note that Dingus CMS comes with built-in search and site map pages available at http://localhost/search.html and http://localhost/site-map.html
Finally, you may be wondering what a Dingus is. You’ll have to stay tuned for a full explanation.