Mindfly Website Design Studio

There are many articles out there outlining the benefits of using a CMS and this one will probably be quite similar, but since we here at Mindfly have recently launched our own CMS called Boogaloo, I thought I'd tell you why you should think they're as fabulous as we do.

1. The obvious benefit of a content management system such as Boogaloo is that you can add, edit, update your content as much as you want. No need to bring in any outside help, no need to know HTML or other languages. No need wait on someone else's timing. It's got a graphical interface that allows you to add text, links, lists, images - pretty much anything you want. You'll also end up saving yourself some money in the long run by updating the site yourself instead of paying someone else to do it (though we'd be more than happy to do them for you in a snappy manner anyway!).
2. Another great aspect of Boogaloo is the flexibility. Sites can broken down into three parts: design, structure, and content. Each section can be tweaked or adjusted independently of each other. A new design can be implemented without having to adjust the structure or content. Or the structure could be adjusted to add new features or improve the usability and functionality without any changes to the design or content. As websites typically have a shelf-life of two to three years before they start looking dated and neglected, being able to reskin it (or make a new template) versus throwing the whole thing out and starting over can significantly help to reduce costs as you are allowing your site to evolve over time.
3. Content management systems also typically allow you to configure access restrictions by creating different roles for the people you may have editing your site. Typically admin roles have access to everything, whereas an editor role might have more limited access and lack the ability to delete. Boogaloo does not come with this feature out of the box, but we could do it upon request.
4. The menu structures are dynamic. Whenever a new page is added it magically appears in your menu. The reverse applies as well: if you delete a page, it is removed from the menu. No need to add a link to the menu of every single page as was done in the old days (and actually probably still being done on some sites today!). Dynamic menus save time and reduce coding errors (I am notorious for messing up at least one internal menu link per site if I have to add them manually).
5. Updating the site is so easy it encourages faster, more frequent updates (which search engines love!).
6. Boogaloo sites are set up in such a way that makes it hard for you to "break." Since we designers put all the code where you can't see it, all you have to worry about is your own content making both our lives easier and less stressful!

The creation of Boogaloo was two-fold. We needed an ASP.NET CMS that was quick and easy for designers to learn and implement the design of their choosing with absolute control of the underlying HTML and it needed to be easy and intuitive for our clients to navigate and use. It's still a work in progress, as all things of this nature are, but it's still pretty super swank, if I do say so myself. So ask yourself this when you're considering a new site: is Boogaloo the way to go for me? In most cases, I would probably tell you yes!

Even though this method is documented fairly well (and to be honest I don't remember where I got this code snippet) I often have people argue that they don't use asp.net themes as they break when rewritting urls.  The problem stems from the fact that when the them renders by default the link tag created uses a relative path such as:

    <link rel="stylesheet" 
type="text/css" href="App_Themes/rustyswayne/a_normalize.css" />

and what you really need if for it to read:

    <link rel="stylesheet" 
type="text/css" href="/App_Themes/rustyswayne/a_normalize.css" />

You can get around this problem by Overriding the Render routine in your page. I usually do this in a BasePage class my pages inherit from:

    Protected Overrides Sub Render(ByVal writer As System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter)

    Dim ctl As Control
For Each ctl In Page.Header.Controls

    If TypeOf (ctl) Is HtmlLink Then
Dim linkTag As HtmlLink = CType(ctl, HtmlLink)

    If (linkTag IsNot Nothing) And linkTag.Href.StartsWith("~/") Then

    If Request.ApplicationPath = "/" Then
linkTag.Href = linkTag.Href.Substring(1)
Else
linkTag.Href = Request.ApplicationPath & "/" & _ 
linkTag.Href.Substring("~/".Length)
End If

    End If

    End If

    Next

    End Sub