SchwaCMS - MadPilot's new CMS

[madpilot]

For the past couple of months, I’ve been locked in my room, hacking away at a (probably not-so) top secret project - which I have just pulled the big switch on. So ladies and gentleman, let me introduce you to SchwaCMS (http://www.schwacms.com). It’s a hosted CMS product that has taken ideas from many years of toiling away on other peoples’ CMSs.

I’m pretty excited about this release. It’s built on a custom PHP framework, and is hosted on my very own hosting box - it almost feels like MadPilot is a real web company now! (It’s only taken 8 years :P)

Go check it out: http://www.schwacms.com

Big ups to Grant from Speak (http://www.speakinteractive.com) for the design fu.

[heist]

naice - is schwacms.com built on schwa cms?

[madpilot]

naice - is schwacms.com built on schwa cms?

Sure is. Dog food is yummy

[heist]

Sure is. Dog food is yummy

excellllllent i dig it.

btw the bullet points on the homepage look a bit out of wack, FF3 PC

[Al]

The 'e' in your logo is upside down *a-cough*

Awesome work man.

[tuna]

So myles tell us what does "schwa" mean, whats the back story! Sexy type BTW

[temp]

btw the bullet points on the homepage look a bit out of wack, FF3 PC

Bah!

you people have been brainwashed by the internets!

bullets go in the margin!

bah!

[KennethDreyer]

This forum sucks.

[madpilot]

Looks quite interesting. Is it possible to transelate the whole site?
The demo should have more subpages, menus and stuff..

At the moment the admin area is English only, however the front end can be in any language you like. Multiple language support is slated for the next release.

[madpilot]

So myles tell us what does "schwa" mean, whats the back story! Sexy type BTW

A schwa is the most commonly used sound in the English language - it's a soft vowel, like the a in sofa. It also sounds awesome.

What can I say - Grant likes Gotham

[kay]

A schwa is the most commonly used sound in the English language - it's a soft vowel, like the a in sofa. It also sounds awesome.

Can you still pronounce it properly after 5 beers? Is this something that needs to be tested at the next Port80?

[madpilot]

Can you still pronounce it properly after 5 beers? Is this something that needs to be tested at the next Port80?

I would wager that the common slur is a schwa. So yes. I'm planning on doing preliminary tests tonight.

[heist]

Bah!

you people have been brainwashed by the internets!

bullets go in the margin!

bah!

say whaaa ?

... and they don't show at all in ie7

[tuna]

Bah!

you people have been brainwashed by the internets!

bullets go in the margin!

bah!

YES Jeffrey Croft...

but they look fug ugly.

[temp]

YES Jeffrey Croft...

but they look fug ugly.

Brainwashed!

[heist]

Brainwashed!

i have literally never before seen bullet points outdented on purpose, online or off

[madpilot]

If Mark Bolton says it, it must be true: http://www.markboulton.co.uk/journal/comments/five_simple_steps_to_better_typography_part_2/

[temp]

i have literally never before seen bullet points outdented on purpose, online or off

unpossible!

I've seen you read books and such.. you would have seen in it print, but it doesn't stand out so much offline.

[jordanbrock]

unpossible!

I admire your pigheadedness. You're wrong, but go you :)

[jordanbrock]

PS Awesome work Myles.

[tuna]

If Mark Bolton says it, it must be true: http://www.markboulton.co.uk/journal/comments/five_simple_steps_to_better_typography_part_2/

He's British - they are not known for being sensible ;)

why you would hang bullets out for the world to see is beyond me..

[ashul]

I so claim that 'e'

[jexley]

I already seen me some schwa, because I get secret code names and shit handed to me early for awesomeness. I've already felt the awesomeness yet have NOT had a solid enough chance to throw around the name. Beer is needed, oh yes.

Oh and Grant, you ARE pigheaded. Go grab your supermodel, mutant telepath girlfriend, play some piano softly like in that song you did for the Garden State soundtrack, and design some awesomeness that all lines up on the same goddam part of the page while she gives you awesome watches. You've earned it champ.

I'm going to go brew some bacon-infused vodka.

[madpilot]

I so claim that 'e'

You've been watching too much Mr Squiggle!

[ashul]

You've been watching too much Mr Squiggle!
lol you forget i have only been in australia for just over 10 years thanks to the tube and wiki i can now say i have seen mr squiggle

back to subject your demo did not have template management or where you upload css or js from is that all in the full version?

also added a new page but was not obvious how it shows or you add a menu to navigate to it on the front end - also have you tested with ie8? not sure if it is meant to work the way it does might need to compare with ff3

looks simple will be good to see the full version one day - maybe have a port80 openhouse and a demo of locally developed apps

a

[temp]

Schwa has some pretty impressive tech tricks (some nice SEO stuff, and the demo which has it's own database per-session), but it's hard to compare it to eduka cms, portal master 2000, ebizPublish-o-matic or whatever the others are.

There are so many CMS products that I can't tell them apart.. and a lot of them aren't content management systems, they're web page editors.

Anyhoo because I'm pigheaded, and I like hanging punctuation, and I give free advice, I'm gonna offer a suggestion to you guys:

Stop telling me about the features, just make your CMS *different*.

If I were to launch a CMS tomorrow, I would use GFMS (Grant's Fish Marketing Strategy) to attract customers. My CMS would be the only CMS that comes with a fish. When you sign up, a truck arrives from Kailis or whatever and the driver drops a trout on your doormat (with a little note saying "hey lolz4you@hotmail.com, thanks so much for signing up").

That would be truly remarkable.

[tuna]

Stop telling me about the features, just make your CMS *different*.



BUT..BUT.. schwacms has a cool type and stuff.. isn't that the main draw card.. :)

[temp]

BUT..BUT.. schwacms has a cool type and stuff.. isn't that the main draw card.. :)

yeah that plus it has a cool name :)

"schwa" has become some sort of catch-cry in the office, it's good comedy

[ashul]

If I were to launch a CMS tomorrow, I would use GFMS (Grant's Fish Marketing Strategy) to attract customers. My CMS would be the only CMS that comes with a fish. When you sign up, a truck arrives from Kailis or whatever and the driver drops a trout on your doormat (with a little note saying "hey lolz4you@hotmail.com, thanks so much for signing up").


Perthix had a great way of saying thanks a huge and I mean huge fruit basket with a personal - read: handwritten - note of thanks from the MD - Leaves a lasting impression - sadly that MD left and now there is no more fruit :(

Whereas with the GFMS technique - it might be deemed a tad too fishy? Though it could get the right sound out as I am sure the client will say: "ooh schwaaa look a fish.."

Don't get me started on the "what did the blind man say when walking through the fish market?"

A

[madpilot]

lol you forget i have only been in australia for just over 10 years thanks to the tube and wiki i can now say i have seen mr squiggle

My work here is done...

back to subject your demo did not have template management or where you upload css or js from is that all in the full version?


The system isn't autonomous (or documented!) yet, so I will still be involved in the template creation initially (I can take a sliced XHTML/CSS page and turn it into a template REALLY quickly). This was done on purpose, because there is still some key features that need to be added, and the API will change internally a few times as I'm working on it. Eventually there will be docs explaining how to setup a template (once the API has settled), and then I'll worrry about allowing people upload them during the demo.

The target audience for this CMS is designers and general "non-developer" web people who do web stuff, but don't have the know-how or time to build a CMS. It fits a particular segment of the market (at the moment), and there many features that are missing (either slated for release as needed, or left off on purpose), so it's not a "do everything under the sun CMS", but I think it has (or will soon have) a large enough feature set to appeal to a decent audience.

But Schwa is like 5 minutes old, so I'll probably change my mind on what is in and what is out as I get more data :)


also added a new page but was not obvious how it shows or you add a menu to navigate to it on the front end - also have you tested with ie8? not sure if it is meant to work the way it does might need to compare with ff3

Yep - all the main functions have been tested in IE8 - by default a menu item should be created, and after you save, it should redirect you to the new page - might give you a call at some point to see what you did.


looks simple will be good to see the full version one day - maybe have a port80 openhouse and a demo of locally developed apps


That's a good idea!

[jexley]

I second the notion that Meftos is a pimp for putting his stuff out there, and Grant does have that long list of faults but did make me snort juice out my nose with the fish thing.

I seriously want to schwa you both.

[ashul]

Yep - all the main functions have been tested in IE8 - by default a menu item should be created, and after you save, it should redirect you to the new page - might give you a call at some point to see what you did.


will drop you an email tomorrow with my usability issues off-forum - have had another go and now I know what went wrong..

[tuna]

Myles do you want me to glance over the CMS in total for you, and look at all the issues, beyond the demo.

[madpilot]

will drop you an email tomorrow with my usability issues off-forum - have had another go and now I know what went wrong..

Myles do you want me to glance over the CMS in total for you, and look at all the issues, beyond the demo.

That would be brilliant, on both counts! That is what this forum category is for right‽

[temp]

That would be brilliant, on both counts! That is what this forum category is for right‽

whoah nice interrobang

well played :)

[jexley]

I only just got that.

[hambodevelopment]

I'd love to see an AWIA event where a third party designer reveals a PSD design for a site (perhaps a charity), and the various CMS vendors then compete to see whom can produce the site based on the design in the fastest possible time - weighted against various 'quality' indicators...

I'd definitely put my hand up for that event.

A

How about supplied XHTML/CSS templates instead? After all we are measuring the CMS development time and not the developers front end coding speed or skill.

A CMS should be chosen based on the needs of the user of course!

I'd be interested in developing something in ExpressionEngine for said event.

[ashul]

I agree with Hambo - it makes more sense to build from that base - the other alternative is to take a site that is already online and replicate it on your CMS.. Regardless of the challenge - I would not be up for it - but will dob someone from the eduka team instead if they agree..

On another note (sorry to hijack your thread Myles) - does anyone locally have a shopping cart system that they sell as SAAS?

[tuna]

On another note (sorry to hijack your thread Myles) - does anyone locally have a shopping cart system that they sell as SAAS?

Ashul can you put this up as a separate thread please.

[heist]

Regardless of the challenge - I would not be up for it

ha to be honest i agree - don't think "everyone recreate redcross.org in your cms" is particularly useful. then we have a bunch of websites that all look the same and we're still sitting at not being able to tell one CMS from another.

and i know it's not true - temp says make it different, but i reckon they're already different... even if you try pimping yourself as a one-size-fits all there's still gotta be someone in particular you had in mind when you developed the thing.

so tell me who that was. show me a case study that exhibits you in your CMS niche - that's gonna make you stand out far more than six links to identical looking sites with different CMS menus.

[ashul]

Ashul can you put this up as a separate thread please.
ok moved - http://forums.port80.asn.au/showthread.php?t=13101