I'm trying to get a page setup where I can update & add stories, pictures, videos & advertisements easily, without reprogramming. I'd like something similar to Indystar.com or USA Today.com. Those both have a standard setup with new data added throughout the day. I'd also need to be able to search past articles, etc...

Can anyone point me in a direction?
Do I need totally custom written code?
Or is this something that can be found "off the shelf"?
Any been there done thats?

danke,
-sean

Sean,

You may be best off with a CMS. I'm in the process of putting a website up for my homeowners association and I'm using Joomla. So far, I have about 35 minutes of work into what you see here:

http://briarwoods.org/

Up front learning curve can be a bitch, but once you figure it out, it's easy. It is especially good when you have multiple people submitting content, news, stories, etc.

It also has modules to control ads.

Check out
http://www.joomla.org/

A good blog package will do it easily.

Check out Wordpress.
MovableType is also popular.

You might try CityDesk, a bit of software intended to do just what you're asking: allow you to add new "editorial" content (articles, etc) without doing any programming. Intended for writers/editors, the ones who generate the content, not web people.

Joomla and Citydesk both look promising. Joomla has a great price, too! I'll do some research in the next couple days if I get a chance.

Any other ideas?

Paul, how did you link to the National Weather Service's data?

There is a module for Joomla called Z Weather. Just enter some parameters and go.

Thanks Paul, I'm diggin' Joomla right now.

One more Q:

Do you guys know if I can make a version for mobile devices with any of these programs? If not, do you know what will work?

Sean,

I don't have any experience with it, but you could try WAP4Joomla.

You need to install this separately on your server and edit the config to point to your Joomla install. Then, you need to redirect visitors to your site to the appropriate content based upon browser.

Let me know if you need any help.

It doesn't seem like you guys need it, but if anyone ever needs some more in depth assistance with web related stuff. Feel free to drop me a PM or email.

I second the suggestion of JOOMLA.. I've used it to implement a number of customer web sites and its easy to implement and pretty easy to pick up and administer.

The Community support for it is HUGE and there are lots of plug in modules ready to go for FREE!.

Doug.

Sean,

I was looking for another component in the Joomla extensions directory this morning and came across the iJoomla Magazine Component. It costs $49.95 but may be worth it for you. I'm thinking about picking it up to have in the toolbox.

It has gotten great reviews at the Joomla Extensions Directory

My favorite so far is PHPNuke.
http://www.phpnuke.org/

Thanks again for the info guys. I can't wait to get this thing moving.

Nukage! Good stuff. If you are still evaluating, and the quality blog platforms are too simple, and you prefer .net to php (like me ) then take a hard look at dotnetnuke