Club website help required!!

[coffeejo]

Up until now, my cycling group's been using the free version of groupspaces.com, but they've just changed their pricing structure and we now have a choice of a free but very basic site or paying for what we're using now.

Before we stump up the cash, I've volunteered to go away and see if I can come up with an alternative for a similar price.

My default software of choice is always WordPress and I'm currently ploughing through the myriad of plugins to see if there's anything suitable but I'm hoping that someone here will have a bright idea...

The following features are deal breakers...

• Easy to administer, even for the less technical savvy members of the committee
• Events calendar with the ability for club members to RSVP on the site rather than by email
• Email list, preferably one that automatically updates whenever someone registers on the site
• Looks modern and pretty etc

Any thoughts? Anyone? (It doesn't have to be WordPress...!)

 

[david1701]

I love wordpress, but a google site might suit you better? If not I'd be using google apps alongside the website...

 

[Arch]

My site is a googlesite, and I've found it quite easy to set up. I don't kow if it has all the features you list like calendar and email list, since I don't need them, but it's been pretty painless to set up and get going, and it's free.

Now, apparently, I need to master metatags....

 

[MattHB]

If you're still stuck by the summer hols Jo id be happy to build you a bespoke solution. Will have to wait until then tho as I won't have time in this final teaching term.

I hate wordpress tho, but I'm a coding purist

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

wordpress is latin for exploit my server its a terrible cms

 

[david1701]

wordpress is latin for exploit my server its a terrible cms

wonderful from the end users pov though, I mean they can actually use it I know this because I've taught my sister how to update her own website so I don't have to

 

[gaz]

wordpress is latin for exploit my server its a terrible cms

There are good CMS's from a server point of view?

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

imho it depends upon who you classify as the end user. I must spend 60% of my week addressing server issues caused by exploited wordpress applications, I have seen wordpress end user email addresses sourced by spammers, I have seen wordpress used to send spam to end users email accounts. I have seen the site modified to infect end users pc's and redirect end users to different content..
Wordpress is great for people who simply wish to get content up, with little interest in how things work and fuction, this is why many wordpress installations are exploited, because the users in general do not care as such the application is rarely patched and updated once installed, or take care to ensure the permissions of files are secure...... but imho it is a poorly designed and constructed cms.

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

lol gaz .. theres is a good cms from a servers point of view it would be bespoke, with low resouce usage... The problem with most free cms's is that in order to make people aware of an issue you have to make it public, when you do this you also give people the opportunity to write exploits for the system. No free cms is perfect but wordpress seems to be the one I fix the most out of all of them.

 

[gaz]

lol gaz .. theres is a good cms from a servers point of view it would be bespoke, with low resouce usage... The problem with most free cms's is that in order to make people aware of an issue you have to make it public, when you do this you also give people the opportunity to write exploits for the system. No free cms is perfect but wordpress seems to be the one I fix the most out of all of them.

I would bet that you fix wordpress the most due to it's popularity, rather than the others being coded to a better standard.

We have a custom CMS at work, and it is one of the worst things I have ever used in my life but it is secure and stable. Note that I'm a web developer, so I know both sides of the coin.

 

[david1701]

Coders vs users lol

 

[wobbler]

Sorry to elbow my way into your thread Jo.

Is there anything like Dreamweaver for making simple websites, that does not cost an arm and a leg?
I have no idea how to write code. I can use DW a little to just drag and drop or click on an icon and away you go.
Is it wysiwyg or something?
Any help gratefully received.
Rich

 

[coffeejo]

If you're still stuck by the summer hols Jo id be happy to build you a bespoke solution. Will have to wait until then tho as I won't have time in this final teaching term.

I hate wordpress tho, but I'm a coding purist

That is a fantastic offer and I'd love to take you up on it, but the deadline for paying or not paying groupspaces is the start of next month. Typical!

 

[Paul J]

Have a look at weebly.com as it's free

 

[wobbler]

Have a look at weebly.com as it's free

Thank you