We're in the process of completing our new CMS but wanted some feedback..

Would you say it is better to have a 'basic' looking admin area and sell the features of the script or, to have a 'pretty' admin admin ad sell the features of the script?

Personally i couldnt give a shit either way as we only developed this for our own useage but looking at the bigger picture, the solution we hav just had coded offers way more than anything on the market atm so naturally, my bank account started calling :groucho:

Oh and we have a kick-ass domain for it too http://www.contentmanagementscript.com :groucho:

Hey man you should include sitedepth in u'r article :)

good luck :) that's capitalism at it's finest

But wouldnt that be like advertising the competition?

BOARDTRACKER is running wild tonight folks!

Where's PD at with his sig when you need him? :rolleyes:

Hey ... leave me out of this.

I have 4 different content management scripts that I mention to webmasters
who ask. Two are free, open source scripts, one is a unique dynamic script
I initially wrote for content sites, and the other is a typical commerical script.
Looking at what webmasters choose of the four, a pretty admin area sells
intially, but a basic, clear, easy to use admin makes them much happier in
the long run. They'll buy the pretty one, then bad mouth it on the boards and
have me install the plainer looking one that is easier to use and adapt to different
situations because the system design is logically correct.

Don't get your hopes up too high, by the way. Webmasters all want things
a bit different and unless your database was designed by a true data architecture
professional who really understands relational theory and did it right, you're
going to have a lot of work to do in order accomodate what would seem to
be trivial enhancements and changes. When you do encounter the first feature
requests (or complaints) that require the code to be reworked, consider saving
yourself a lot of money in the long run by redoing your database schema to
be absolutely solid rather than coding around logical flaws in the schema.
A real pro who can get the schema right will cost you some money,
but a oot less money than coding around an incorrect schema for the
next 5 years.

Raymor, gotta agree with you. For me, Content God ain't the purdiest CMS on the block; it's a work horse and that's the most important thing to me. One of these days, I really do have to get the GUI all gussied up. Guess I keep putting that off cause I'm more concerned with what's underneath the hood ... and cause I know the GUI will be a compartively easy thing to change around compared to assuring that the underlying code is solid, robust and flexible.