CMS Made Simple Demo Site

Now you can experiment on a demo CMS Made Simple site without downloading anything. Take it for a test drive.

Thought about trying CMS Made Simple? It's my favourite CMS (Content Management System). It's Open Source and it's Free!

Mark, a poster on the CMS Made Simple forum has very generously set up a demo site running 1.0.1 "Oahu". He invites anyone who wants to "play with it" to login and try it out. Thanks Mark.

CMS Made Simple Demo Site

Name: adman
Password: adman

Visit the CMS Made Simple Forum - a dynamic and helpful community.

Use Wink To Port Open Source Templates to CMS Made Simple

How To Change (Port) Any Open Source Template to CMS Made Simple Compatibility & Upload It

Would You Like Some Mint Chocolate With Your CMS?
Mint Chocolate welcomes you to the world of screencasting. This little clip is excellent. Made with Wink, it's done as a mini video. You see the cursor moving to each step in the sequence. A bit too fast for a slow granny though. Play it again Sam.

CMS Made Simple - Free Templates

I'm a big fan of Content Management Systems (CMS) and in particular, CMS Made Simple. Thanks Ted, Elijah and the gang. :) I'm also a big fan of Open Source, so when the two worlds come together with open source templates ported to CMS Made Simple, you've got my attention.

I'm not advanced (or game) enough to actually try them, but like the kid in the lolly shop... I still had to have them... the links... that is... so I can go window shopping... look but don't touch...

Thumbs Up:
The CMS Made Simple Site has a small but growing range of free templates - all open source and ported to CMSMS. Tech savvy people can add their own, so keep checking back for additions.

Thumbs Down:
As a beginner and born again luddite, I wish they were all viewable (only some are) as something bigger than a screenshot. Id like to see if I like the look of it first, before I decide whether or not to download it.

More Free CMS Made Simple Templates
Mark has done a great job porting open source templates to CMS Made Simple. View them on his site with a cool theme changer.
I can't find any instructions on how to download these from this site, though. Anyone?

Mark also has a template for CMSMS of the popular andreas04. As the original andreas04 is open source, I guess the CMSMS version is open source too.

Help...What Do I Do Now?
Okay, I found the holy grail of free CMSMS templates, but what on earth do I do next? I have no idea. Ah... a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

CMS Made Simple Made Really Simple

I'm using CMS Made Simple for two of my sites -








All Info About Tea & Coffee Lifestyle and
All Info About Unusual Travel.


Six Things I Like About CMS Made Simple

1. You can update from anywhere you have a connection. No FTP required.

2. Active and supportive forum. I don't pretend to understand a lot of it, but they're pretty patient with beginners

3. It's Open Source, free and collaborative

4. Smarty Tags (okay I don't know what they are, but they work and they're cool)- something to do with dynamic content

5. Web designers love it as clients can do their own updates

6. It can be used collaboratively by a group, with different user level permissions


My CMS Made Simple Wish List -

Disclaimer - Because of my luddite status, they may already have these things, and I just didn't notice....

1. More comprehensive Wiki... as instructions are pretty scant and a lot of assumptions made of prior knowledge... not good for born again luddites

2. More ways to add dynamic content

3. Not too keen on the news feature as you end up with the same info on 2 pages

4. I'd like to be able to write articles previously and have them "released" on a specific date. Can this be done?

5. More templates and a theme changer (like Blogger)

Granny Bytes Verdict on CMS Made Simple

1. If you are tech savvy you can do wonders and impress yourself and your clients
2. If you can do word processing you can use CMS Made Simple

Granny Bytes Advice for Fellow Born Again Luddites

1. Try it and ask lots of questions. Try it some more
2. If you still need help, pay someone from the forum to set it up or tweak it for you
3. Know what you want to achieve with your website before you start
4. Buy in plenty of beer, chocolates or whatever it is that keeps you going... it's a long haul