Revision Histories

garvin

I installed a script on a few client's websites that allows them to update the content areas. Basically, I put a open and close tag surrounding the content I want to make editable, and the when they log into the script, it gives them the access to edit it.

So, now that I've give those clients the ability to edit the live site, I want something that would allow me to back up those pages, just incase something happens and they erase/lose everything they had been working on.

I am looking for something that I can install on a server, like a php script, that would monitor the site for any changes and then save those page revisions, much like the page revision feature on google documents.

Does anyone know of anything like that?

MySchizoBuddy

revision histories is something that Wiki's do very well

garvin

But, could a wiki really be effective as a Content Manager for a static, 5-page information website?

MySchizoBuddy

Why not?

WallPhone

I second the motion for a wiki.

Or you could write your script to save the file name with the date appended to it every time they open the file. But its harder for the end user to roll back than a wiki would.

MySchizoBuddy

i guess he is in the situation. I just need revision history. but i don't want the other things. like having to learn a wiki language. which all wikis have a different one.

garvin

I don't know if Wiki is the way I want to go. For some reason, I get the feeling that's a lot more complicated then I want. We just put up a few static pages for small businesses with no reason to grow any further then 5 pages. Wiki to me seems like it would be better suited for larger sites. Personally, I'd rather have something I could just add on, that would backup a directory once a week into a subfolder with the date as the name or something. That would ideally work better for me, rather then try to overhaul the entire site so that it could run on a wiki or a wordpress. Like I said, I already have a script that will edit the content. Now, I just need something to save the revisions, or atleast save a backup of each file once a week as I suggested in this post.

MySchizoBuddy

Actually wikis are dead simple and easy to install. give one a try. They install the same way as u installed vanilla, without nay hassle. they are really small too and not complicated at all. seriously. try one. Doku wiki even integrates with Vanilla. If u just want a backup. u can do that with a cron job or within phpmyadmin. create backups every day. Actually ur hosting company should provide u with a backup solution as well.

TomTester

Perhaps a weird idea, but why not use a vanilla BB, with a custom thread for each "page". Changes to the page would consist of copying the last post, pasting it into a comment, make the required changes, and save. The write a simple tool that retrieves the last post for a certain discussion (i.e. page) and inserts a cached copy into the client's site. On second thought... I second the Wiki ;)

garvin

can you guys give me some examples of people using a wiki for their website that doesn't look like the standard wiki-ran site?

edit // and, all though I know wiki most likely means leaving the other script i already have in place - i;ve already purchased the licenses for it, i can't really see a reason to stray away from it. anway i can use wiki to work the pages and just save the revisions so that i can still have this other script in place and used for editing?

MySchizoBuddy

DokuWiki comes with themes. http://wiki.splitbrain.org/wiki%3Atpl%3Atemplates Look at this template. looks awesome i think http://wiki.splitbrain.org/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=cache&media=http%3A%2F%2Fresources.neolao.com%2F_media%2Fphp%2Fdokuwiki%2Ftemplate_sandy.jpg Other wikis have templates too