Hello all,

I have been hand coding websites for a couple of years after getting a degree in web design. I have a new client who was using Volusion, an Ecommerce solution, and had a very basic plain webpage and wanted an upgrade.

I worked for two weeks trying to modify their templates to the way I wanted the page layout to no avail eventually as Javascript slideshows would not work correctly within the application. I also tried to just upload my HTML page into the application via FTP and that of course didn't work either.

So I have researched a bunch of CMS software, and this client is not computer savvy so I know they will need a simple easy to use Client interface to make some changes like adding text, pictures, maybe video.

I would lie to know how Couch compares to Wrodpress in these areas:

1. Simplicity and Ease of use for Clients as far as editing
2. Compatibility with Javascript/Jquery and fade/slideshows, dropdown menus etc.
3. Server requirements, the Client is on GoDaddy and would like to stay on it having prepaid the domain for several years. Does Couch require Pache/Linux? What about PHP and version?
4. What is the learning curve for the designer in comparison to Wordpress? I have to have most o the pages up next week.

Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

[KK]

Hi Deckard,

I'll try and answer your questions regarding how Couch compares with Wordpress -

1. Simplicity and Ease of use for Clients as far as editing

IMHO, Couch is much simpler for end-users to handle for two reasons -
1. The admin panel is much much simpler than Wordpress.
2. The designer/developer is at full liberty to expose all (and only those) elements that need to be editable. This makes it difficult for the clients to 'break' things which in turn improves their confidence.

2. Compatibility with Javascript/Jquery and fade/slideshows, dropdown menus etc.

Couch, per se, does not change a single byte from your original markup.
So, if an HTML design works fine without Couch, it will continue to do so even after getting ported to Couch.

3. Server requirements, the Client is on GoDaddy and would like to stay on it having prepaid the domain for several years. Does Couch require Pache/Linux? What about PHP and version?

Couch requires IonCube loader to work (although the coming version will do away with this requirement). This is the only component where I have seen people having problem with hosts. GoDaddy does support IonCube so this should not be a problem. Rest of the requirements are really frugal and should pose no difficulty (http://www.couchcms.com/docs/requirements.html)

4. What is the learning curve for the designer in comparison to Wordpress? I have to have most o the pages up next week.

I've seen people get their sites up in a single day
We have a tutorial where we build a complete site from scratch. You can find it here: http://www.couchcms.com/docs/tutorials/portfolio-site/
I can safely say that if you could only browse through that tutorial (without actually setting up a test site) you'll know almost everything that is needed to work with Couch.
I think that is as simple a learning curve as it can get.

Please feel free to let us know if you have any questions.
Thanks.