My collegue and I have just designed an international super-site that has several microsites underneath. We made the decision early on to keep the content separate from the markup and code. We did not use Dreamweaver templates to build the site, although we used DW to code it. It sits on an Apache server and makes full use of Apache's ssi (shtml) capabilities. All content is referenced via includes from simple text files stored in each microsite's content directory. Images for editable content are served from an images sub directory with generic names. We plan to give each microsite's content editor access to their content directory only. They can edit the text files & upload images, but they will not have access to other directories which contain markup, scripts and other code.
I am trying to figure out a simple way to have the users manage their content. The simplest way for us to employ content management on this site is give ftp access to each user and allow them to edit their text files and images, and upload to the server. This requires that the users are trained in ftp and image editing. I don't know how feasable this would be since the microsites' offices are located around the world. I would rather like to have something a little more slick, like Contribute with its interface, or another browser based setup so they can edit and publish the files easily in one application.
I have been testing Contribute functionality, but so far have not been able to edit the text files. I have also tried to edit them via includes in a master editing html page, but this does not work, as Contribute replaces the includes lines with edited text. I have looked into a few open source cms packages, but they all seem to be to complex for what I need.
I realise that there would be a learning curve for users on any cms employed, but I am just trying to find the easiest solution.
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanx!

Have you considered using a database as oposed to text files?

Its my experience that this is more typical and easier. What scriptiing language are you using?

Have you considered iCMS: www.iCMS2.com ?

iCMS sits between the expensive, complex CMS's and the lower end products that may not be effective. In addition, it provides some really neat features for a price that is very reasonable.

Regards,
J. Torres
iCMS Content Management

Edited by - hatch79 on 03 Feb 2004 12:20:50