Coding a PHP/MySQL CMS

[jbiggs77]

OK, so after starting and receiving comments on this thread, I have decided to code up my own CMS.

I bought Kevin Yank's book and am trying to get started. From those of you that have done this before, what pointers can you give me? I just want to get a basic system together that I can reuse for several different sites. I also want it to be search engine optimized.

What things should I have in mind as I begin? Tips, tricks, etc. appreciated.

[Tim]

Well.. My tip would be:

Think 10 times over all aspects of the future system. Build a clear impression for yourself on what you want the final product to look like, write down some development and testing phases on paper, plan the whole thing, and then start developing.

[Blue Cat Buxton]

I agree with Tim.

Time spent plannig isnt waisted time (however eager you may be to get cracking witht the coding).

Map out your control panel screens and write down the database tables, fields and a mapping on how they are going to interact (if you are planning on more than one table).

It takes much more time to make changes to add a function once you have started, than if you had planned for it from the start (speaks from bitter experience)

[r2d2]

Echo Tim and Blue Cat, and would also say that when you are coding, remember to set your code out well and use comments etc.

Definitely worth spending time planning. Decide what you want so you can code it first time, without having to go back and make changes, or worse still end up having to redesign whole parts of it to allow new features.

[MarkB]

Make as many of your functions reusable as you can.

Use a template system.

[Emancipator]

as somebody who wrote a very complex content management system ( www.moviesonline.ca ) my biggest sugggestion is before you start WRITE down what you are going to do keeping in mind search engines, easy cross referencing tables, and EASE of use.

I initially spent about 2hours on my CMS but over the last 3 months of my sites life I have been continually expanding, tweaking and improving it.

[jbiggs77]

What things should I keep in mind to make it search engine optimized?

[r2d2]

For me, I made it possible to have URLs like '/article/keyword' rather than '/article/32' so you can get keywords in the URL and get the article from the db using the keyword(s), rather than an id number.

[Emancipator]

i didnt worry too much about keywords in the url, i just make sure they are spider friendly.. but R2 is right in his ways.

[Percept]

i didnt worry too much about keywords in the url, i just make sure they are spider friendly.. but R2 is right in his ways.

Having the keywords in the url certainly is a plus so if possible, try to implement it.

[jbiggs77]

What is needed specifically to make them spider friendly?

[Emancipator]

try and limit your use of php variables. google can spider them but since i got rid of them my indexed content on google went from 2,000 pages to over 100,000 pages in 3months time. So go with nice clean urls, for example

instead of this
http://moviesonline.ca/details_news.php?id=1746

use this
http://moviesonline.ca/movienews_1746.html

[jbiggs77]

Emancipator, I really like the look of your site, is that phpBB you are using for the forums?