Software Information

How to Make Own CMS


Every day millions of new web documents emerge on the Internet, and the amount of web management tools is growing simultaneously. These tools are usually referred to as Content Management Systems, CMS for short. If you have a web site and still do not use any CMS, you will definitely face a choice to buy or to develop an enterprise content management solution in the near future. What would you do if you wanted to develop a CMS, your own software that has a WYSIWYG editor and perfectly meets all your requirements and security standards? Can this task be fulfilled? Which ROI should you expect? You will have to answer all those questions all by yourself. Your chance to success can be increased if you gain an understanding of basics of a web content management system.

There are two models of any Content Management System. For visitors, the CMS displays web site content. Let us call it a site presentation mode. In admin mode a web master or a site administrator can update content and manage structure and templates. Here we speak about the insides of the website, i.e. the web site's admin mode.

Every page of the site is a web document that has its own address. The web site is a set of such hyperlinked documents. To make the web site user-friendly links to other documents and web services are displayed in various navigation bars and menus according to their logical interconnection. That is how the site structure is created. The document structure presupposes some categories of documents, identical by their logical architecture and presentation.

So, in admin mode the CMS presents the interface with categorized documents and the interface for document structure. The former will contain web document templates determining their logical architecture and presentation. The latter, structure interface, enables to update content and add, edit and delete documents, as well as set related pages. The way your CMS assigns the document structure of your web site is up to you. The simplest and the most common way is to make a hierarchical structure tree. We all saw it in site maps. However, we should keep in mind that the web site may require another language version in the future. Accordingly, the site will lie as the root, and language versions will be its branches.

The document structure interface allows managing web document attributes (name, URI, pointer to template, etc.). An attentive reader shall ask "And what about the document contents?"

As said above, the document template determines document presentation and its architecture. So, the document is not the data. In order to get some data and then put it as content into a web document, the system needs a template. As a result, a next interface for content query can be generated for example, name field, summary field, and WYSIWYG editor for the text body and image upload field.

It is clear that presentation can be done not only in HTML, but XML also. If you use XML in templates, you can manipulate Flash documents and update Flash sites.

This article can't cover all the questions that can arise during Content Management System's implementation. When assembling

a programming core for your web solution, you should be certain to think of template pointers syntax and development of other

Internet services and modules. However, XML Sapiens Specification, developed by Red Graphic Systems, gives a detailed explanation how it works. This XML Specification is available in English and Russian at www.XMLSapiens.org. To study the example of a web content management system visit http://sapid.sf.net, SAPID Open Source CMS available under GNU license. You can also use it to create your own web site, all for free.

About The Author

Anastacia Davidenko

If you have a web site and still do not use any CMS, you will definitely face a choice to buy or to develop an enterprise content management solution in the near future. Your chance to success can be increased if you gain an understanding of basics of a web content management system.


MORE RESOURCES:

ChattahBox

Facebook Co-Founder To Leave For Own Software Startup
InformationWeek, NY - 1 hour ago
Now, he plans to launch a software startup, according to reports on the Valleywag.com Web site. The Silicon Valley publication said that CEO Mark Zuckerberg ...
Facebook Cofounder Leaving To Start New Company NewsFactor Network
Facebook co-founder quits Siliconrepublic.com
Facebook co-founder calls it quits ITWeb
LinuxInsider.com - VentureBeat
all 51 news articles


ZDNet

Sales of RealDVD movie copying software halted by judge
Dallas Morning News, TX - 4 hours ago
Software to do that has existed almost as long as DVD discs, but this is one of the first efforts by a mainstream American company to try to make such ...
RealDVD Sales Suspended In Tinseltown Showdown CRN
RealNetworks Halts Sales of RealDVD PC Magazine
RealDVD sales suspended under court request ITworld.com
Forbes - ZDNet
all 29 news articles


Patterson Cos. acquires supplier, software maker
CNNMoney.com - 1 hour ago
based Patterson said it was acquiring software company Odyssey Veterinary Software LLC. Patterson shares fell $1.20, or 4.1 percent, to $27.67 in afternoon ...
Patterson Companies Acquires Leading, Value-Added Distributor of ... MarketWatch
Patterson Cos. acquires Columbus Serum Bizjournals.com
Patterson buys Ohio veterinary company Bizjournals.com
all 23 news articles


Callidus Software Names Jimmy Duan Senior Vice President of Mid ...
MarketWatch - 7 hours ago
There are tens of thousands of companies in the mid-market segment, which represents a great opportunity for Callidus Software. We are pleased to have Jimmy ...
Callidus Software Schedules Third Quarter 2008 Financial Results ... Business Wire (press release)
Callidus Software Names Jimmy Duan Senior Vice President of Mid ... TMC Net
all 19 news articles


Visual Analytics Achieves Protection Level 3 Certification for its ...
MarketWatch - 5 hours ago
The certification allows the software to operate under DoDDIS, which is managed by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Under the certification process, ...
Tableau Software and AHIMA to Offer Visual Analytics Software to ... MarketWatch
all 19 news articles


Dividend.com

SAP Announces 2008 Third Quarter Preliminary Software and Software ...
MarketWatch - 3 hours ago
announced today that after a preliminary review of its 2008 third quarter revenues, it expects third quarter 2008 US GAAP software and software-related ...
Europe's largest software company SAP warns on profits guardian.co.uk
SAP's Third-Quarter Revenue Growth Trails Forecast (Update2) Bloomberg
SAP: first to hit the buffers ZDNet
Reuters UK - guardian.co.uk
all 156 news articles


TopCoder Joins Lineups for SD Best Practices and Software Business ...
MarketWatch - 3 hours ago
TopCoder, Inc. today announced its participation in two premier software industry conferences scheduled for the end of October. In Boston, TopCoder will ...


Snap-on Announces New Diagnostic Software for Navistar(R) Engines
MarketWatch - 1 hour ago
NAVPAK replaces the current Navistar MD32 Master Diagnostics Fleet software. Technicians using NAVPAK will benefit from a PC-based application that supports ...


Given Imaging Launches RAPID(R) 5 Access Software
CNNMoney.com - 7 hours ago
Given Imaging Ltd. (NASDAQ: GIVN) today announced the launch of RAPID 5 Access, new software that facilitates physicians' reading PillCam videos anytime, ...
Given Imaging Launches RAPID(R) 5 Access Software MarketWatch
Given Imaging Launches RAPID(R) 5 Access Software International Business Times
all 11 news articles


Healy Hudson Teams With IBM for Software as a Service Solution
MarketWatch - 4 hours ago
have signed a five-year, five million euro Software as a Service contract. As part of the agreement, IBM will support Healy Hudson's e-placing solution ...
Healy Hudson Teams With IBM for Software as a Service Solution International Business Times
IBM Invests £2 Million in Scotland for New UK Services Business ... International Business Times
all 22 news articles

Software - Google News

home | site map
© 2006