probably not.

c5 isn't a offline piece of software that lets you edit html.

its a building material for websites.

what you could do is take a site design, turn it into some templates in c5, and then buildout all the content using the cms.

You need to have PHP and CSS skills. And not everyone have this!

It seems to me that C5 is very good but there is important limitations for the newbies like me who don't have the skills (PHP, CSS), and either money to make it happen. That's bad. It isn't in the way it said about C5: make the world a better place!

Sorry, this is what I think.

as I said in the other thread, I think everyone who builds webpages should have at least basic php, html, javascript and css skills!

You're looking for another product, it's as simple as that. When you need a big truck you don't buy a Ferrari!

Just my opinion, don't take it personally!

I say this with the utmost respect for Remo as he's clearly one of our #1 volunteers - but no. anyone should be able to make a website. This is not rocket science. This is not advanced programming that it should take a CS degree to pull off. I don't think that everyone should be able to make a website as pretty and as functional as Remo can, but a basic site - yes.

This is very much our stated goal, we see content management as a human right - not a "programmers right." We don't want programmers to have to give up their flexibility because the system is so geared for end site owners that it's a mess (read: wordpress.) That being said, we also don't want to create some toolset that it takes an expert to setup and use for a basic site (read: drupal)

I recognize that so far we've been leaning towards the developer side of the equation. That makes sense for us strategically, but for the next few months we're going to be adding a lot of stuff to make c5 more appealing to casual web users. If you've got a business, organization, or just an interest you want to make a website for - you should be able to get started on your own. If you need some advanced help or some special plug-ins - you should be able to easily get in touch with Remo and his ilk...

But yes.

We get it. It's about bringing folks who need sites together with folks who can build sites in a sane way.
-frz

since you're talking about me ;-)

I know that I'm a very direct and honest person, don't take it personally.. Really! I just prefer this way since it makes communication much easier, people know what I think and want.

But honestly, I still don't get it. It's not rocket science, sure. But is a content management system a web design tool like Rapidweaver?

If you would be an interface between Rapidweaver and C5 it would be great but do you want to build your own design tool in c5?

no, what i'm thinking of is something closer to what wordpress does.

here's an example..

I have a friend, lets call him Joe (that's his name so it'll make this easier)..

He is in LA and he's doing some comedy stuff that his crew is posting to video sites like youtube.com and vimeo.com.. it should be funny, they're gonna go viral, yadda yadda - he wants a small website to support those efforts..

Should be half a dozen pages, mostly about the content, but with a design that fits what they're doing..

So he wants to play with c5, but what is the experience he gets now?

Well he messes around with the demo, the same demo that everyone else is, and thinks "gee this is pretty easy to change, but this doesn't look anything like what I want."

That's kinda where it ends for Joe.. He's got other things to do, and learning HTML/css isn't on the list. I think it might be good for him to understand the basic concepts behind a markup language, but he's certainly not going to gain the expertise to do what you can do, Remo..

Some of what I think he needs:

1) A easy path to get his own copy of the demo, which can turn into his own site.

2) A library of hundreds if not thousands of templates he can apply to the basic page types. There are masses of free/cheap templates out there already so while I certainly will be the first to say "great design is a process, not a product" - not everyone needs great design.

3) The ability to browse & add blocks without FTP and PHP skills. If he wants to add a Twitter block his page, he should be able to.

4) The ability to find and engage YOU for help, for money, when needed. Maybe this is a carefully thought out need: "I'd like to replace this logo and change this part of the page".. or maybe this is an emergency: "I added this block and now it doesnt work and i messed up this area of my site..." either way.. He should be able to click that help icon in the c5 corner, be redirected here, and be able to browse and engage smart freelancers like yourself to help..

That's the way it looks to me today.

Make sense?
No, last thing I want to do is make Homestead or some other drag and drop HTML generation tool.

I appreciate your honesty guys.

Thanks for all.

you must be fast on your keyboard, your message are always so long ;-)

So let's build a theme builder!

Select the layout, sidebar, columns, menu on top/left.. Change pictures/colors and there you go!

I've got your message where you mentioned a few things about your plans for the marketplace. Pretty impressive and if it works out of the dashboard it would be cool for sure, wonder who it's going to be!