How to implement a CMS into an existing site?

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I am trying to find a way to implement a content management system into a pre-existing website, without having to redesign the site at all. I know how to design websites with DreamWeaver, and I really do not want to use any CMS that requires me to install themes or do anything that takes me out of control with regards to the look and feel.

Optimally, if there was a way I could embed only the editable content of WordPress pages into a div in the body of my webpages, I would be happy.

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  1. CASE 2

    If you just want to use a CMS system but having more freedom in your design, you have several options.

    1. Create your own theme/template from scratch. Check out the documentation related to WordPress http://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Development and Joomla http://docs.joomla.org/Creating_a_basic_Joomla!_template
    2. Use a theme/template editor such as Artisteer;
    3. Install a very simple and streamlined theme/template and then modify it (some themes/templates are made with this specific objective in mind).

  2. CASE 1

    Do you have any experience with server side languages such as PHP or Ruby?
    If you do, the easiest way is to install a framework which supports the MVC (Model-View-Controller) pattern, such as CodeIgniter (PHP) or Ruby on Rails (Ruby). There are also many other frameworks you might prefer.
    Once you have the framework installed, you basically need to follow these steps (watch the tutorials linked below to have an idea about how to do it):

    1. Create a new class;
    2. Copy your pre-existing presentational code (HTML/CSS) into the View file;
    3. Copy your pre-existing content into the database;
    4. Implement the CRUD functionality to allow users to edit the content (both Rails and CodeIgniter feature an ActiveRecord class which is a convenient way to do this).

    I understand that it looks really difficult if you are not used to server-side code, but actually it’s not so complicated, and using a framework will give you a significant advantage in the long run.

    For example, this tutorial (free, but you are required to sign-up) explains pretty much all you have to know if you want to achieve the above using Rails:
    http://www.codeschool.com/courses/rails-for-zombies
    This one is instead an easy and clear tutorial on how to achieve a similar result using CodeIgniter:
    http://codeigniter.tv/a-4/An-introduction-to-Codeigniter-MVC