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Version 5, 2005-04-06 20:49 Version 15, 2008-07-16 12:19
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Approval would also be filtered. If a user has approval, but then only has rights to Article Manager, but not Blockmaker or Calendar, then that user only sees Articles in his her group to approve. It would act more like a filter than a restriction, show the user with approval only the content they need to see. In essence managing the content better. Approval would also be filtered. If a user has approval, but then only has rights to Article Manager, but not Blockmaker or Calendar, then that user only sees Articles in his her group to approve. It would act more like a filter than a restriction, show the user with approval only the content they need to see. In essence managing the content better.
   
Currently Calendar items get posted accross groups? René has re-written the Calendar module to allow it to filter by category. In this regard, the Calendar should behave in the exact same manner as Articles, Blocks, Announcements or Webpages. Why Groups are brought into this seems a mystery. Categories should be the driving force behind ALL content. Currently Calendar items get posted accross groups? René has re-written the Calendar module to allow it to filter by category. In this regard, the Calendar should behave in the exact same manner as Articles, Blocks, Announcements or Webpages. Why Groups are brought into this seems a mystery. Categories should be the driving force behind ALL content.
   
  ++ Workflow
   
  A very important concept for general content management systems is workflow. In fact, as soon as you want to generate content in an enterprise manner, you need some kind of advanced process that controls who can do what and when.
   
  Workflow in phpWebSite right now is almost non-existant. You have approval, where you can either accept or delete something. And you have a timestamp, a edited-by and a created-by attribute. A couple of concepts are entirely missing:
   
  +++ messaging system
   
  similar to a task-list. you could give content a certain state. like:
   
  - draft
  - request for comment
  - soon to be released
  - public
   
  and write a message with every status-change. you could put it in a moderation-queue. every editor would subscribe automatically to that queue and could work on entries.
   
  +++ support for departments
   
  (categories, groups, call it what you will)
   
  Every department should have some form of editors / moderators which superwise the whole department. But not the whole site. Companies are usually department-driven:
   
  - a newspaper has a sports, a politics, a social department
  - a university has a technical and a linguistical department
  - a church has a members and a preacher department (I am making that up, but you should get the point)
  - a gamers portal has a software and a hardware department
   
  and so on.
   
  Right now, you are either god. Or nothing. Shades of gray would be great.
   
  (I think Typo3 does that)
   
  +++ embed different module content
   
  (asset manager)
   
  something like the swallow-hack, but on a larger scale. with a nicer interface. like a list of photos for example. on mouse over, it would show the thumbnail of that photo. On click, it would include the reference to that asset in the current document.
   
  (Typo3 does that)
   
  +++ version history
   
  similar to the Wiki-Module, but at a larger scale. I can envision for example
   
  - a drop-down box for earlier versions
  - if an earlier version is selected, all new stuff would be embeded within ins-tags, all removed stuff within del-tags
  - there would be meta-infos on some place of the screen (who changed what and when)
   
  (Typo3 does [http://www.carnet.hr/CUC/cuc2004/program/papers/list/b5_milovan_absbio.html not] do that, But Article Manager Does)
   
  +++ distribute content to different branches
   
  certain people would have the right to distribute content to different branches. They wouldn't be copied but linked instead. That way, global companies could use phpWebSite for a corporate company as well.
   
  This would also be useful on a smaller scale. Like on a university, where you would like your branch to show certain important announcements of the university site.
   
  (Typo3 does that)
   
  +++ multilanguage content
   
  as soon as phpWebSite would support different versions of the same content, we would also gain multi-language content. Basically "for free", as there is almost no additional effort involved.
   
  (Typo3 has that)
   
   
++ phpWebSite as an application frame work ++ phpWebSite as an application frame work
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Developing new modules is a tendious task. For the most basic functions, like showing tabular data in lists, there are a lot of different APIs that are incompatible to each other. You want to do a html-form? Choose one of three different approaches. The not-yet-scheduled 1.0 release of phpWebSite will be incompatible to the current apis but have a compatibility layer. Developing new modules is a tendious task. For the most basic functions, like showing tabular data in lists, there are a lot of different APIs that are incompatible to each other. You want to do a html-form? Choose one of three different approaches. The not-yet-scheduled 1.0 release of phpWebSite will be incompatible to the current apis but have a compatibility layer.
   
The APIs is not final, so technically speaking phpWebSite is still Alpha (not even Beta) -- far away from a productive release. Am I unpatient? Maybe. The APIs is not final, so technically speaking phpWebSite is still Alpha (not even Beta) -- far away from a productive release. Am I impatient? Maybe.
   
Fact is, no API means a discouraging of module developement. And applications are -- in a similar manner like ease of use -- what most people want to use software for. Fact is, no API means a discouraging of module developement. And applications are -- in a similar manner like ease of use -- what most people want to use software for.
   
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Including photo-uploads to a forum, for example, would be as easy as a single method call. As soon as the photo-upload in photoalbums would be improved, the forum-photo-upload would be improved as well. Including photo-uploads to a forum, for example, would be as easy as a single method call. As soon as the photo-upload in photoalbums would be improved, the forum-photo-upload would be improved as well.
   
No need to reinvent the wheel all over again. No need to reinvent the wheel all over again.
   
  +++ Development and the End User
   
  Remembering first that this should be designed with the technically challenged at best. The staff assistant. The department head. The person that needs content displayed on the web, but has no web design or html skills. So it needs to be intuitive. Users assigned to groups. Categories assigned to groups. Groups restricted to the categories assigned to them. Menus associated with categories. etc. etc.
   
  Development should always keep the end user in mind. Sometimes it is better to take a few steps back to see the larger picture. Since 9.2, there has not been a major change in the way content has been handled. (It could be even longer, but I started with 9.2.) Many of the management questions seen in forums about phpWebsite deal with the lack of intuitiveness concerning menus, categories, blocks etc. This results not in new modules being developed, but rather hacking existing modules to make them more intuitive not only to the content editor/manager, but to the viewer of the site.
   
  Menus should be category driven. Link manager sould be as well, but in a way that interacts with the content in a way other than just whats related. A menu should be links within the site driven by category. Linkmanager could be associated with a specific category, or even a specific page only. Every group would have access to link manager because it is a repository of links. You should be able to add categories to a link, without removing an existing category. In other words, no dropdown menu with multiple select. More like dropdown, select, submit. It could work that way when you delete a category for any piece of content as well.
   
  +++ Webpages
   
  We have already seen the success of Article Manager. PhpWebsite should either adopt it into the core, or add the features of announcements to web pages. Do not continue to run a module out there that is inferior in every way to a module designed by a third party.
   
  +++ Link Manager
   
  I still need this one explained. How do I associate Linkmanager with the rest of my content? How is it displayed? Why are categories assigned to it, when there doesn't seem to be a reason why? Really rather confusing.