A Simple, Lightweight CMS

Looking for a super-lightweight web publishing tool?

Nowadays it makes sense to build a website using a content management system (CMS). It's more efficient than creating and uploading individual page files, and it means that the site can be updated by authorised users from any computer connected to the Internet.

Content management systems don't come any lighter than this: written in PHP with about 30 files and no database. The content is stored in text files, one per page, which means that no matter how many pages there are, page load time remains the same, unlike a CMS with content stored in a database that takes longer and longer to query as more content is added.

Simplicity means less features, but not everyone wants a fully-featured CMS. If the aim is simply to be able to publish clean, standards-compliant, fast-loading web pages without needing to go through a steep learning curve, le.cms may be just the answer. This website uses it.

Creating new web pages - simplicity itself

Adding new pages via the admin panel is a quick 3-step process:

(1) Create a new page, with a name, title, and meta description.
(2) Write or paste content into the new page, with or without HTML.
(3) Add a navigation button to the menu.

Done. Pages are easily editable and can be deleted if required. Similarly, navigation buttons can be edited, moved within the menu, or deleted altogether. It could hardly be simpler - except for this tiny micro CMS »

Of course there are limitations. The navigation menu is identical on every page (except that the current page is highlighted - a feature not typically found on other systems). At over 20 or so buttons the sidebar menu becomes too deep, so further pages need to be linked-to directly from within the content column.

Headings, lists, links, and images are added manually in the edit box, so a basic knowledge of HTML markup can be useful, unless the content consists purely of paragraphs.

Other benefits

The default page template is web standards compliant, valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional, and valid CSS. No tables are used for layout and the page structure is semantically laid out in four boxes: header, content, navigation, and footer, all enclosed in a single wrapper.

le.cms is very simple to install. The files are uploaded to a php-enabled Apache web server (PHP 5.1.2+), a password is set for the admin panel, and a few folders and files are given 'write' permissions. The site is then ready to go. The system works a treat and is too simple to contain bugs. And it's free.

Note! Some of the pages on this website are for demonstration only.

Download

Download le.cms Version 1.8 (27 Jan 10) here »
Download le.cms with extras Version 1.8 (27 Jan 10) here »

Other websites built by people who downloaded le.cms:

Everything should be as simple as possible, but no simpler (Albert Einstein). Less is more (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe).