The Dark Ages

In the early days of the internet (up until about 6-8 years ago) if you visited a web page with your browser, there was a pretty good chance that the page you were looking at was actually an HTML document on a server somewhere.   If you changed the document, then the page was updated.  For smaller static sites that was fine, but as sites got larger and the need to regularly update the site became more critical, (both to maintain your Search Engine Ranking and to keep traffic coming to the site) there needed to be a way to move past having individual documents for each page in your site.

Enter the CMS

The Content Management System (CMS) is the tool you use to provide scalability and consistency to your site.  It is an application that runs on your webserver (in much the same way that a program would run on your computer)  This application is connected to a database that stores all of the content for your website as well as images and templates.  

Templates?

The templates are the structure of your webpages and contain standard HTML tags to form the basic layout of your pages.  The templates also have code in them called variables.  These variables are containers that can be replaced with your site content on demand.  

Sites typically have many templates for different areas such as: the home page, primary, secondary, listing and contact pages.  The idea of separating the content from the structure is an important one.  By creating a set of templates that can be reused over and over, you can easily maintain the site, and adding and modifying pages becomes a simple task.  

Within the CMS, you enter content into a form that is much like Word.   Add your text, images and create links without having to be an expert in HTML.  Assign the content to a template and you are done.  Modifying an existing "page" is as easy as selecting it from a list and making your changes.  Most modern CMSs maintain an archive of prior versions of your content, so you can always revert to an earlier copy.

How does my audience see it?

When someone goes to your site and requests a webpage, the CMS looks at the structure of the URL (the web address) and determines what template should be used and what content should be included in it.  Those elements are all combined and sent from your web server as if it's a single HTML page.  For instance: an address of http://www.yoursite.com/blog would pull together your basic site page (with menus, headers and footers), then create a list of your last blog entries.  An archive of prior entries would be placed in a sidebar and the page would be served.  

Do I need Special Software on my Computer?

Since the CMS runs from the web server, you can access it from anywhere where you have internet access.  Many have apps for connecting from a mobile phone or tablet.  Access to your content requires that you login to the CMS so your site is secure.  You can also give others access so that they can update parts of the site as well.  The site administrator can limit the pages that other users can modify or create workflows so that one person can write the content and another can approve and publish it.

Is it Expandable?

Absolutely.  Nearly every CMS can be expanded to provide additional functions.  E-Commerce, video streaming, subscriptions and Mailing Lists as well as Document Management are typical modules that are part of a modern website.  The CMSs that we prefer to work with are built in a framework that allows for easy customization of both the look and feel of your site, as well as the functions that it performs.

Which brings us to today.

All of the projects we build today use a CMS to support the site.  There are a number that we use since one size does not fit all.  Our go to CMS for most small to midsize sites is ExpressionEngine.  There is an awful lot to like about it for both developers and end-users.  It has an advanced multi-site module that allows multiple websites to be driven from a single installation.  This is real advantage with sites such as schools and Colleges which typically have a single site comprised of many microsites.  It's now built on a popular framework that makes advanced customization very easy.  We also support OpenText (RedDot) and Drupal for larger sites as well as Wordpress, and Concrete5 for smaller sites.

The Neighborhood Nook Store
I find myself in a Barnes and Noble on a pretty frequent basis for a lot of different reasons.  On occasion I’ve drifted past the Nook display and looked longingly at the Color Nook.  I love the idea of having all of my books in one place and available in a small tablet.  The iPad is great, but the portability of the Nook gave it the edge for me.  So imagine my surprise to find that this $250 eReader can be turned into a pretty capable tablet that will run every flavor of Android easily with very little effort.  Now it’s way past being an intriguing gadget.

I’ll provide links to the sites where you can get more information about expanding the capability of the color Nook.  The Android software is constantly evolving and new releases are available incrementally due to the efforts of a very enthusiastic community.  You can download the OS images from dev sites, then burn the image to a card.  Swapping the OS is easy due to a unique feature that the Nook has that most other platforms do not.  The Nook has a microSD card port built in, (which is not unique), however, this card is the first volume that the hardware looks at when it’s booting up.  This allows you to build a library of different Android flavors and switching OSs is as easy as changing the card.  When you power up the Nook with a bootable Android card in it you will launch from that OS.  Power down and restart and it’s back to stock.  Brilliant.

Early community releases are often a bit brittle and may require command line expertise to implement, but if you aren’t comfortable with that just wait a few weeks and you’ll find easier point and click methods will appear.
The pre-release Honeycomb version was available for the Nook weeks ago and works beautifully.  As a result we were able to test all of the projects that we have in production on the native browsers before the first Honeycomb tablet even ships.

As cool as this is, it’s important to note that the color Nook is an impressive eReader in it’s own right.  And most of these modifications can be done without permanently impacting the native software on the Nook, so it can pull double duty when it’s not being used for testing.

You can find more information on the color Nook at:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=860 (for more technical information)
http://nookdevs.com/Portal:NookColor (step by step instructions and more general information)

www.brainscienceinstitute.org]]> {categories backspace="1"}, 2010-04-20T23:50:00+00:00 http://www.willettassociates.com/index.php/comments/expressionengine_2_release http://www.willettassociates.com/index.php/comments/expressionengine_2_release#When:{gmt_entry_date format="%H:%i:%sZ"} Wow, it seems like it’s taken forever.  The ExpressionEngine v2 release is tomorrow.  Having tested the beta for some time now I’ll be glad to finally be able to discuss it in detail.  I’m also planning to put together some training on using Code Igniter with EE.  It’s refreshing that the developers at EllisLab have indicated that release 2.1 will be production-ready along with the acknowledgement that the current 2.0 version is still not quite ready for primetime.  It’s a huge jump forward though and one that will make the argument for EE over other CMSs such as Drupal and Joomla much easier to make.

Now we just need Brandon Kelly to fasttrack the Playa Plugin.

Complete with a new Content Management System, Event Calendar, and File Library.  Even the school store has a spot on the site.  The content is easily updated by a roster of Parent Volunteers who will change each year.