I have a potential client whose current site is in Weebly. They are looking for a modern site, but will need the ability to do the following easily. I’m guessing I can do it in TCMS (I haven’t built anything with it - or hardly any websites - in a long time), but I am looking for suggestions (and validation that I can do it).
The ability to add/delete categories and the ability to add photos & information for each category. The top screenshot below shows six categories, each with five items.
They might have as many as a dozen categories, all of which need to be on the same page. If they sell out, the category would disappear (but not leave a blank space behind - that is, the categories would rearrange themselves to fill the page).
Each category could have between one and thirty items - obviously all 30 would need to either scroll or drop down to a new line. Clicking on a thumbnail would enlarge the item (They are currently using a slideshow/carousel and using static JPG images for the photo and text - so the main image rotates- but it would be much better for SEO to have all of this as text)
A slideshow with the ability for them to add their own photos. Similar to the second photo below.
The ability to add/delete videos. I can talk them into purchasing a Vimeo Plus account - so hosting the videos won’t be an issue
Although (I think) this sounds like a perfect use for TCMS, I’m posting this on RW4ALL in case people have other recommendations. I’ve never used Poster - might it be a candidate, too?
Morning, it’s the “if they sell out the category would disappear” bit that I think you’ll struggle to get with anything off the shelf in the stacks world, as the entire system is going to have to be able to handle online orders and manage inventory, so it knows when it’s sold out and so can make the category disappear.
This is assuming I’m understanding your needs correctly, which to me seems to be a fairly simple e-commerce solution with the ability to add lots of images per item? Although, I don’t know of any selling platform that removes an item once sold out. Most just set availability to zero.
TCMS will certainly do what you want. Using Categories and Tags you have an infinite choice of how you organise the data.
Personally, I would use a single category and separate the types of content with tags. Makes it easier to build.
Then, if a tagged subject has no content it simply doesn’t appear - with no blank spaces.
You can make the category list as short or long as you want - normally each would open up in its own page when clicked but doesn’t have to. It depends on how much copy there is to each tagged item.
Similarly, adding images to each tagged item will create a slideshow for you which can open up automatically in a lightbox - thus keeping the user on the same page.
In admin, the client can add text and images easily - all you need to agree is the names of the tags and make sure they allocate content accordingly. Pretty simple to understand.
Adding video can also be done the same way - whether self-hosted or served from Vimeo etc. I agree that using Vimeo is best - all you need to do is add the url in admin and you’re done.
I think you should take a different direction and find an eCommerce solution that meets all of their needs now and where they think they are going. As they are already using Weebly, they will have a high expectation of what they can do themselves online, and are presumably comfortable with a monthly fee.
IMHO the best way, i.e. the least amount of work for you and the best solution for the client, is to use Wordpress with one of the many eCommerce solutions.
A quick Google came up with this 8 minute video at https://youtu.be/W6_offn7-uo where Elementor is installed and a live product is setup from scratch and built into a working page. (In it 1 image is used, but you can see the Gallery section section in teh settings).
Elementor is a super powerful and flexible page builder but you may find an off the shelf solution such as this one:
You may be able to build what they want with RW, but it’s going to be a lot of work and debugging, updates, more debugging, etc…
One of the powerful things about creating a WP site is that you can quickly setup (at no cost to you) demos of various solutions, and sit with the client and get their feedback before you start building. Doing it this way, you will soon find out the full requirement and what they expect.
Thanks, everyone. I should have been a bit more clear: the client is not actually selling anything through the website. They are selling garden sheds, garages, etc. - and with the cost starting at $6,000, all sales are done in person (but, they need to be able to show inventory).
I am inclined to go with Gary’s suggestion and: a) look at Elementor, or: b) recommend he contact someone who is already proficient with Elementor (I have a former Rw guy in mind- he now builds beautifully Wordpress sites). Over the past few years, I’ve hardly built any sites (my job function has changed), but I’m thinking it might be time to finally learn Wordpress.
I’ve moved away from wordpress. So much bloat and needs real effort to keep it safe. My eyes are only on TCMS and Foundation. So powerful. Also for the challenge that you face.
Both RW and WP share the same inherent problems in that there are 1000’s of addons, plug-ins, etc., available for users that most users don’t have the knowledge to choose wisely and usually base their decisions on them being free, cheap, reduced in price, come from your favourite dev or are part of a thinly discuised or (blatently obvious to those with any sense) marketing campaign.
Free insequre bloated crap stuff is catnip to both RW and WP users.
Consequently, there are many RW and WP sites that are built with basically any old tat, and both are bloated. If you check out an Elementor Pro created page, you will find no evidence of this “bloat”.
Regarding WP security, if you avoid falling into the addon/plug-in trap, to use every free plug-in possible and setup a secure username/password you will not see any issues. In addition, WP auto updates (with a nice email notification) for all plug-ins so there is nothing to do. Contrast this with the barrage of RW updates that require a full republish + FTP followed by a site test to check nothing is broken and teh site is secure after the last update.
So with some simple steps, I would say that a TCMS site would require a great deal more effort to keep it safe with all of the updates that have to be applied by the web creator.
