Have you tried other CM systems out there and found them to be:
- Bloaty
- A Hassle to Configure
- Ugly
I did too. As an amateur web developer since 2001, I've tried out numerous blog/forum software out there in the wild, discarding them after trying them out for a while. In the end I wound up building my own solution each time (along with my brother) until no CMS software out there could tempt me any longer. Though this may not be what you need for your unique set of circumstances, it sure works well for me, so I figured I may as well roll this up and release it to the public.
Now that you know the backstory, here's some of the features and philosophy behind the set of templates/scripts that make up tCMS:
Features
- Easy Microblogging - (or linklogging) via an uncomplicated UI which allows embedding of video, music, etc. along with an RSS feed automatically generated for your friends to follow. This is my solution to the sharing aspect of (now defunct) Google Reader. See an example here.
- Versatile Blogging - with builtin RSS functionality and even drag and drop functionality for the truly old school. See an example here.
- Advanced Fileshare - Comes with builtin mimetype recognition, CSS styling and iconset.
Also, adding content to your fileshare is as easy as copying the file to the "fileshare" directory on your server, just like the good old days.
-
Standards Compliant - Validates as HTML (so make sure to add bad HTML when posting if possible and point out if I somehow missed something).
CSS3 markup is also sane and valid, with screen and print views already configured to avoid ugliness and maximize configurability.
-
Responsive Design - Looks the same across devices regardless of whatever lame browser you use, and degrades well on Internet Exploder, allowing you to get more info-missiles downrange.
Philosophy
- Ease of administration - No DBs, no frameworks, nothing complex needed. Do you have a webserver? Can it already execute PHP? GOOD 2 GO!
-
Off the Digital Plantation
- I'm concerned about my privacy on the internet due to the origins and ongoing actions of Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc..
My solution involves the time honored solution - own your data, as nothing guarantees privacy like private property.
-
UNIX "Everything is a File" Style - All configuration and styling is done by editing PHP config and css files.
This also means that there is no database required for your blog to function.
-
Simple Authentication
- All you need to do is to make sure to keep the "sys/admin" directory sits behind HTTPS server based authentication with .htaccess files or by specifying it in your config file (for lighttpd, etc.).
-
No Comments - Why worry about cropping spam and CP links out of your comments section? There IS a thing called email after all.