CMS with DIY templates

[brigham]

I did search the forums and found nothing pertinent.

I volunteered to put a website together for a local non-profit. I have the design, but now I need to set it up to be easily editable by non-programmers in the organization. Most CMS require that one use their pre-built templates. CushyCMS seems to allow for freedom and ease of use for any design provided by the end user.

Are the any CMS available which will allow me to keep my present design (simple div tag layout with CSS) by simply adding markup?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[grinningdog]

Have a look at www.quickersite.com - there is a free (limited) version for non-profits and it can use any template or has a built in system. It has a great way of using Artisteer templates too.

There are lots of free templates too at www.quickertemplates.com

It's Classic ASP but don't hold that against it! It is streets ahead of any CMS I've tried (I've tried hundreds)

No axe to grind - just a satisfied user

Bob

 

[ah-blabla]

Most CMSs allow you just to add their own markup as required to an html page to make a theme. I know Joomla does this, and it is one of the easier to use CMSs. A more simple cms is SkyBlueCanvas, which however lacks many of the features Joomla has. Note however that making a template for any cms usually requires some background knowledge of the CMSs workings, if you really want to make a good page.

Here's the Joomla template guide:
http://docs.joomla.org/Tutorial:Creating_a_basic_Joomla!_template
Note: a Joomla template also requires you to make the installation xml files, as well as adding markup to the html, but it isn't that much of a problem.

 

[brigham]

Thanks to both for replying. I stumbled on Textpattern and have decided to stick with that. The markup is straightforward and the learning curve is easy to round. It's probably my favorite CMS at this point. I can easily recommend it for anyone running his/her own site.

However, it doesn't have a built in WYSIWYG, thought there is a plugin that gives similar capabilities. This definitely is not intended for non-coders and might pose challenges if building a site for clients who want any kind of control beyond simply posting new articles/videos/images/whatever. It panders to coded templates pretty heavily. This is great if you don't mind tinkering with code, but most people just want a drag and drop WYSIWYG.

Still, I think I will enjoy using Textpattern.