How to Set Up a Gift Website?

falzbro writes "I'm considering giving my parents their very own website for the holidays. However, it's harder than anticipated to find any type of Content Management System whose intended audience is a computer illiterate family. I personally use Drupal for content and Gallery for photo albums, and frankly can't stand PHPNuke. The only features required would be a blog of sorts and a photo album. I can't be the first one in this predicament, can I?"

Comments

Are the computer illiterate worthwhile?

[Thinkit3]

If you don't know what binary is...do you even deserve to live?

In all seriousness

[swordboy]

It really sounds like you are looking for AOL.

Re:Have you considered...

[switcha]

Duck, my ass. It couldn't get easier. iPhoto lets them (technophobes) assemble pictures in a logical manner (albums) then click a button to upload to a webpage with built-in slideshow. The maximum brain trauma involved is picking a frame style and 2 or 3 column layout. Totally mom-proof.

I tried iBlog the other day, and if I gave a crap about telling the world anything, I would use that. Very easy and about a 4/5 on the intuitive-meter.

However, I'm gonna assume that the reason the submitter is giving them a website is because he can't afford a Mac plus .Mac as a gift. It's a shame.

Re:.mac .mac .mac iBlog, Backup, Virex, iPhoto, iD

[techno-vampire]

Mac/PC is a bit of a holy war. but instead of arguing it, I'm going to point out just what type of person each is best for. When Apple was designng the Mac, they surveyed artists, and set up an interface that worked the way artists work. If that's how your mind works, fine; us it, as it's best for you. If you're not artistic, as I'm not, it's wrong and feels like it. For me, a PC is better, because it comes closer to working the way I want a computer to work. My point is, find out which one feels right and stick with it. As you're setting up a site for your parents, let them experiment a little with both, and find out what makes them comfortable, then get them that.

MovableType + Gallery

[Saeger]

My girlfriend used to work on her art website the oldfashioned way: shuttling files through WS_FTP and editing the basic HTML with notepad.exe. Eventually the site grew too large and unwieldy for her to manage so she asked me to do something.

I set her up with a MovableType blog - even though her webhost provided a ready-to-use blog called Bloxsom - so she could keep people up to date and interact with the other artsy-fartsy bloggers. I also setup an art Gallery for her to more easily manage and show off (and sell) her photography.

She says she'd never go back to the way she did it before because of all the time the web interfaces save her. I imagine these kinds of CMS's will only get more popular as time goes on; and I for one am GLAD to see the barrier to entry being lowered for people would rather spend their time taking pictures than fucking around with archane nuts and bolts.

(PS. please don't mod this up - don't want a /.'ing ... and I'm not using reverse psychology you ... you sweaty, basement-dwelling, cocksucking mods. crap. now that would be a mod up out of revenge, so here's a link to goatse.cx and tubgirl - nobody mods that shit up).