Editable Pages For Content Manager

1. Make a directory in the website. I name mine "admin." This directory will be password protected, or protect access using sessions.

2. I don't know how you organized your database, but normally the content for all the pages will be in a single table (in some cases a set of joined tables). To edit the content of a page, you need to populate a form in your admin system with the desired page content. So first you have a menu page which lists the pages (i.e. contact, home page, etc.). The items listed should link to the form that edits the page content and opens it up with the appropriate page content.

For instance, you can use the GET variable to send the appropriate page ID, like this:

edit_page.php?page_id=7

The edit page will contain a form with fields such as TITLE, MAIN_PHOTO, MAIN_CONTENT, LEFT_COLUMN_CONTENT.

The content fields will use the textarea form field type and usually you want to connect them to a WYSIWYG editor like TinyMCE or CKeditor. My preference is CKeditor. Using such an editor gives the content manager the ability to format text, create lists, add images, etc.

There is an eBook called Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL, published by Sitepoint. It isn't the best book about PHP/MySQL, but it does focus on the elements of a basic CMS.