There are several low cost solutions available but all of them involve uploading massive amounts of PHP files and folders to the server and very few of them are actually fully WYSIWYG.

Like you I have been seeking a simple, efficient, easy to install and easy to use editor for the last couple of years. The first company who provide one of these will make a fortune. Not everyone needs a complex CMS system.

Agreed. I've actually approached several of the software companies that work for me on occasion knowing they have the required feature set in exisiting solutions, but those that have any interest at all are only interested in competing against the huge CMS. A simple password protected, click and edit feature would be hugely popular in my end of the web development industry.

Have you checked out the "Content Usage and Management" subforum here? Some of the content management solutions discussed there are fairly simple - and even open source. (Maybe these are the ones that need "massive amounts of PHP folders"?)

ETA:

If you've been looking, you've probably been here, but I've found it to be a useful site: [opensourcecms.com...]

[edited by: Beagle at 3:19 pm (utc) on Feb. 11, 2007]

Yes, I've been there and it is an excellent site if you are looking for a CMS but we are just looking for a simple page editor.

Most of the solutions there are full blown and generally quite complex CMS systems.

If you want to allow your customers to edit the pages without to much damage. You could create the pages using .dwt files, which allow parts of a page to be locked in an un-editable region and others open for editing. Dreamweaver,Frontpage both offer this feature.

Yes of course, but then clients would need to have a copy of Dreamweaver, Contribute or some other editor which they would also have to be trained to use.

I'm sorry but that's not the type of solution I need.

I'm still confused on why some of the open CMS options wouldn't be useful. Ones that are set up the way a CMS should be, only need know-how from whoever's setting up the system and overseeing the site, which would be you (right?), not from the people "moving the commas." That should be the main purpose of a CMS. A lot of people use WordPress as a CMS, even though it was originally meant for blogging - the process is much the same.

ETA: I feel like I don't understand what you're looking for. The complex part of a multi-user set-up isn't the page editing but the user access (setting who has the ability to change what), and that's what a good CMS should take care of. You have to have some way to restrict - and allow - access. A blogging set-up could do this, as well as some forum-connected things (amember comes to mind, although I've never used it).

The other feature that needs something out of the ordinary is allowing online editing. For people who don't know even basic HTML, the system has to be able to convert the code to a WYSIWYG interface while it's still on the server (as I understand it, which I might not). Besides CMS, blogging, and forum software, the only type of program I can think of that offers that is the kind some ISPs offer for their free webspace, which allows for simple online editing (in fact, it can only be edited online) but also really limits the site itself. A system that's meant to be multi-user allows the site to be as complex as you want while still allowing simple editing for the non-tech people who have access to it - because they don't have access to everything.

[edited by: Beagle at 5:46 pm (utc) on Feb. 28, 2007]

Setting up full CMMS systems takes time. Time must be paid for. Many of the clients who require a simple WYSIWYG editor are unwilling to pay for this time.

It's a hard life!