Hey there,

 

I'm just back to web development after spending a few years in other projects. A couple of years ago I started working with procedured PHP programming, but since I stopped my contact with coding was minimal.

 

A few weeks ago I came with some good and fresh ideas, but after a long break there were a lot of changes. I hope you guys can give me a hand on some of my doubts.

 

1. Should I develop a CMS or just use one existent?

I think that develop a CMS is a better option because I don't need a fully functional CMS with hundreds of options, I just need a very basic one, and I'm not sure if downloading one and expanding it any easier than do one from the scratch and having full control (and knowledge) about it. But you know, I may be wrong.

 

2. I never did any OOP code, should I start learning it right now or POP is good enough?

 

3. Which Javascript library should I use? I can actually answer that, which is probably going to be jQuery, and maybe Scriptaculous.

 

4. Do you use Ajax on all your applications/websites?

 

5. Should I start using HTML 5 in all my pages, or it's not the time yet?

 

6. Do you have any useful tips/links or something to get me updated?

 

I'm sorry if some of my doubts are just plain dumb, but it's been a few years since I was aware of what was good in the webdev scene.

 

Thank you for your help.

1 - It would certainly help if you had your own CMS system, although it might not be suitable for production use. Depends on your coding skill level I guess. Building your own has a lot of advantages when it comes to customisation, but writing plugins/components for 3rd party CMS systems isn't that taxing so its really up to you. Personally I have my own framework system which I use on clients sites.

 

2 - If you plan on doing any serious development work then you really have to use OOP, at least for part of it. This forum is seems to have a lot of procedural coders so you're likely to get a wide variety of answers on this one. Most of my work is done in OO notation.

 

3 - Personal preference really, I use jQuery.

 

4 - My CMS system uses AJAX so yeah pretty much.

 

5 - Up to you, personally I don't do any HTML5.

 

6 - Most problems can be solved by RTFM and searching google, if you still have trouble try posting on stackoverflow or posting on here.

I'll chip in with a few answers here but i pretty much wholly agree with Jock.

 

1. It all depends on what you would be using it for. I'm currently, slowly developing a custom CMS as I've found that many of the good ones out there a too complex and offer to much. Sort of like buying all the ingredients for a roast dinner when all you want is a slice of toast. Creating your own you can mean a more direct use of resources. However with the quality of the ones out there right now you're getting highly extensive, very secure (well in comparison to what i'm building ), highly supported systems.

 

3. I also try to use JQuery

4. I would if i was you. Gives the user a nice UX.

5. Not as important yet but will become so. I've done a few sites using HTML5, some use frameworks so that they fall back gracefully in older browsers and some where designed specifically for new browsers.

I've purposly made it simple and easy to use as I'm sick of clients calling up asking for help. I also included a user guide too

I'm currently, slowly developing a custom CMS as I've found that many of the good ones out there a too complex and offer to much. Sort of like buying all the ingredients for a roast dinner when all you want is a slice of toast.

 

Those are probably the main reason I'm considering developing my own CMS. I want to create something that clients will be able to do it by themselves, also providing a user guide (via web and printed), and even video-tutorials. I really don't want clients calling every 15 minutes.

 

If you plan on doing any serious development work then you really have to use OOP, at least for part of it. This forum is seems to have a lot of procedural coders so you're likely to get a wide variety of answers on this one. Most of my work is done in OO notation.

 

As I thought, it's time to learn OOP. Anyway, this is the future, there's no need in postponing learning it.

 

Thank you very much for the help!

Those are probably the main reason I'm considering developing my own CMS. I want to create something that clients will be able to do it by themselves, also providing a user guide (via web and printed), and even video-tutorials. I really don't want clients calling every 15 minutes.

 

 

 

As I thought, it's time to learn OOP. Anyway, this is the future, there's no need in postponing learning it.

 

Thank you very much for the help!

 

If u ever need some help learning OOP feel free to ask me

If this is the future, where's my flying car?

 

If you're looking for a very simple CMS that clients can't get lost with, try Wolf.