UNIX-based "Template" Software for Web Design? 13
jedinite asks: "I work for a large company looking to expand our web development offerings to cover lower-end sites. We are looking for a template-based program which we can offer our customers where they can "point and click" to develop their own website over the net. Basically, the user could provide a few graphics of a specific size, cut and paste some text as content, drag and drop a few links, and have a very basic website which they create & maintain themselves.
I'm having serious trouble finding a package such as this which runs in our UNIX environment (we're mostly a Solaris/Apache house, but have some Linux/BSD boxen as well). Does anyone have any comments on or experience with any software package or module which performs this desired functionality? Anyone know of a software package for UNIX-hosted 'template web design'?" This is an interesting approach to the thought of homepage design. Thoughts?
HTML::Mason and other (Score:1)
I am not aware of any package that does exactly what you need, but HTML::Mas on [cpan.org] could help you roll your own solution in Perl. You could also have a look at Perlfect::Template [perlfect.com].
Interesting approach? (Score:1)
PHP and Fast Templates (Score:1)
Best to roll-your-own with Perl (Score:1)
I use this for all my sites, putting a set of variables into a flatfile database, and using Perl regular expressions to replace tags in an HTML template. Its essentially a quick n dirty approach that i keep extending as i make new sites, but it gives me exactly the results i want.
You could get an off-the-shelf tool, but typically you'll find that off-the-shelf tools support everything except the one function you really need.
You'll also have to spend time learning the tool's syntax, and if youre going to have to provide support to your clients, you'll probably want a good understanding of how it works at a fairly low level.
Zope, PHP and others are also valid approaches, but if you ask me, time spent learning perl is time well spent, and after Perl, PHP is a breeze.
Not being a Python man, i can't really comment on the merits of Pyhton/Zope but Zope certainly looks like a very functional and complete product for lots of web publishing tasks.
Web based template software (Score:1)
It is developed and runs on Windows using ColdFusion. They may sell the entire concept to you to rebrand for your own. I believe Allaire has a ColdFusion server that runs on Unix now.
The NoMatterWare template has a very Windows look and feel, and I've found that ColdFusion doesn't always look as good in Unix environments (especially text), but I'm sure with a little effort you could remedy that. If your customers are Windows users, they'll love it.
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$which weed
Servlets and XML (Score:1)
I recently attended a coference on EJB and CORBA. I met a guy who does customized home pages. He starts with a generic XML template. Based on user preferences, he has servlets (using a SAX compliant tool; look here [google.com]) parse the user-defined template and insert whatever info is needed.
The coolest thing about this is the fact that it's all very lightweight. Also, the process is infinately scaleable (if you want to go full blown EJB and CORBA).
Mail me for an example...
Here's my [redrival.com] copy of DeCSS. Where's yours?
Perl (Score:1)
Python with htmlPARSER module (Score:1)
You can find htmlPARSER here [heimat.de], and Python here. [python.org]
www.editthispage.com (Score:1)
AXDTK (Score:2)
If you have Perl skills, then you may be interested in the Apache XML Delivery Toolkit. It's a suite of modules that help you with the following:
- Delivering XML to web browsers in a desired format.
- Delivering the same page in different styles
- Delivering the same page to different media (e.g handhelds (WAP), browsers, tty's, etc).
- Developing a consistent style across your site.
It's all built around mod_perl, and it works in much the same way as Cocoon does, except that it's built in Perl, not Java.
If you're interested, take a peek at http://xml.sergeant.org/axdtk/ [sergeant.org].
Turnkey or roll your own (Score:2)
Most of the large players have either built their own tools or contracted with integrators to have tools built for them.
Platforms such as Midgard [midgard-project.org] (based on PHP) and Zope [zope.org] (based on Python) make it radically easier to develop such tools.
There also are any number of open-source Slashdot-like environments such as Squishdot; some browsing around in Freshmeat.net will churn them up quickly.
How about Zope? (Score:2)
It's an open source web application server and it would make the job you're referring to a snap.
Some sites which use Zope:
www.zope.org [zope.org]
www.technocrat.net [technocrat.net]
appwatch.com [appwatch.com]
www.codecatalog.com [codecatalog.com]
Hrmrmrm (Score:3)
1) ColdFusion (my personal choice even though it's a bit slow) www.allaire.com (commercial)
2) PHP (And w/ 4.0 Zend) www.php.com
3) Zope www.zope.org
4) iHTML www.ihtml.com (commercial)
5) MetaHTML www.metahtml.com/www.metahtml.org (commercial and GNU versions)
I have used all of these on Linux with sucess in each. All of them could allow you to create templates that replace "blank spots" in web pages with user-entered information from a database.
What you are asking though seems a little bit different -- you seem to be looking for a prebuilt approach like a tripod, geocities, xoom, or AOL "home page wizard/generator"
You might have a look at www.cgi-resources.com. They have a VERY good listing of CGI's and I believe I've seen a categor for page wizard scripts.
~GoRK