CMS for work
Our project has been using the S.Builder 3.7+ content management system for almost a year now . I can not say that S.Builder is a completely unknown system in the Russian market, but among developers it is less popular than, say, “Bitrix”, “Joomla”, “Drupal” or “Wordpress”. In the article I will tell you how this commercial CMS has attracted us. But for starters ...
Like all developers, I have “my own” engine, written in collaboration with my colleague. The engine is quite simple, designed for small and medium-sized sites, it is easy to work with it, it contains a couple of good concepts ..., but we did not make our site on it.
')
Because, like every “engine”, it has a problem with the perception of it by other users.
By “engine” I understand the system for publishing dynamic pages without any special problems with the administration interface. "Patches" and "fenki" on which are usually developed in the course of the next project. The result is a very flexible, but not very friendly system, similar to the framework.
Those. making the site on your engine, you have to update it yourself - always. It is not so much the availability of administrative tools as such, but their "friendliness" to the ordinary user. After all, with the training of customer personnel and the writing of an intelligent user manual, even large companies have problems. What to say if the developer is a programmer, a designer, and a usability expert?
In other words. All changes of third-party specialists will go through you. For example, you hired a proofreader to edit the text content of the site. The proofreader has a fixed price for a certain amount of corrected text. (It is assumed that editing the text will be CONVENIENT, otherwise the price may either rise dramatically, or you will have to look for a new proofreader.) No one will understand the “raw” system, which has primitive possibilities for correcting the text. You will be asked to send texts in Word format, and in it will give. It will end up in that you yourself will insert and format text into the site. And now we will add here third-party authors and other pleasures of life - and here we have already organized a small personal working Hell! Your freelancers do the work and get paid, and you lose money and get another item on the urgent list.
What has been said above is that the capitals are true, but they are rather difficult to notice if you are developing a site and not using it. When creating a resource for developers, the main criteria in choosing a CMS are: familiarity with the solution, ease of changing templates, configuring ready-made modules, the ability to integrate their developments into the system’s body (or at least the co-existence of their development and CMS), then the host and user come to the fore completely different tasks: the ability to work with a CMS to a mere mortal, the availability of technical support (for mere mortals who need a little bit to correct the site) is possible spine and the cost of expansion of functionality.
Therefore, it is obvious that for a cost-effective site, the clarity of the system is much more important than its “steepness”.
For the development of each site on any CMS you have to pay. Whether you pay with your money or with your time is completely irrelevant.
Consider where the board goes when buying a commercial CMS. The price for the distribution includes: certain features, initial technical support and free error correction by installing small system updates for a considerable time. If you need CMS specialists, template designers or developers, you can find them among the system partners. In most cases, you can even come to seminars or courses on working with the system.
What does the site owner pay for free CMS? Time to deal with the system for extremely meager manuals. Time to find designers or developers who can do what you need in your system for extra money. “Support” through the forums. (Are you sure that your problem will interest someone so much that he abandoned all his affairs and started working on it? And how correct is the answer?) Well, the main trump card of any free CMS is a large amount of plug-in It’s turning into a site owner’s nightmare with the next perekchelkivanii kernel version. The creators of the plug-in may not react in time, but may not react at all to the fact that the new plug-in kernel version does not work. Can your business wait for Vasya Pupkin to rewrite the plug-in?
It turns out that using a free CMS consumes as much money as a commercial one, just a little under a different sauce. We decided to pay the money in one cashier, it is more convenient.
I probably will say the incredible, but Nomagic.ru is a “pet-project”, and not the main concern of each of its participants. Translators translate articles not only for us. Ivan Nikitin conducts many courses, not counting short-term projects. And your humble author is currently bringing one software product to the market. As you see, each of us, with all our desire, has practically no time to “fuss” with the system. Therefore, the choice fell on the most "understandable" system with good support service.
In terms of its functionality, S.Builder has a standard gentlemanly set of modules, allowing to make both a business card site and an online store. In the current version of the system there are no “Web 2.0” elements, such as: “tag cloud”, “blog” and other trifles that have come to us in the last couple of years. The fact is that a major change in the version of s.Builder was not carried out almost 4 years ago. It would seem - the obvious negative system? It would seem so not so!
The development of each control system passes through different paths, someone presses on functionality, someone on usability. Agree, the user does not really need the functionality that he does not know how to use?
The CBS group has taken the second path of development. In order to integrate your layout into the system for the first time, you need no more than half an hour! (Compare the speed of integration with Wordpress, or "Bitrix").
And if you consider that the new version of the system, according to a company representative at the exhibition “Search Engine Optimization and Website Promotion on the Internet”, really comes out in the first half of this year, the functionality issue will also be tightened.
Well? Closer to detail?
Despite the fact that the main system code was written several years ago, the administrative part of the CMS makes extensive use of the AJAX capabilities. Drop-down menus, context menus, contextual invocation of section contents, organization of the necessary script operation time (for example, when the site is reindexed by an internal search system) are the details that make working with the system close to the desktop application.
Graphically, the administrative part looks somewhat outdated, but no less convenient for it.
The logic of the visual controls is very close to the logic of the Windows controls, i.e. If you see items arranged in folders, you can move an item from one folder to another via the system buffer using the context menu, or place only a shortcut in a new position, or change attributes. Everything is very logical.
Actually, this internal logic and allows a simple secretary to perform work on the site editing without special training.
By the way, an advanced visual editor will come to the aid of the secretary allowing you to edit the page “lively” using the context menu (and the special features of the IE browser) and the control panel “ala Word”.
Help files or a request to the help desk will help you to understand the standard modules.
You can make a request to the support service through a special form in the CMS interface, and get an answer in the same place. For those who want to get an answer immediately - there is user support over the phone.
Training seminars are regularly held in the company's office, and soon in Moscow, on the basis of the Specialist training center, courses will be opened on working with the system. In general, everyone will find a way to communicate their liking.
All system templates are built according to the principle of replacing {HERE-SUCH-BLOCKS} with the necessary functionality in this place. Madly simple. In this case, you define the names of {THESE} blocks yourself, then in the template interface, associating them with the necessary functionality. By the same principle, mock-ups of internal elements are also created. In this case, you do not need to know something in PHP.
For example, the menu. You are invited to HTML (code is entered into a special window editing the template, which is easy to find not ryastaya in different folders of the system) to set the "start menu", "normal item", "highlighted item", "end menu". (written from memory, the names are not accurate)
In fact, the user does not see that this will be from a programmatic point of view, the main thing is that he will see what he has asked.
Well, especially for geeks, who are immeasurably small in real life, arbitrary PHP code can be inserted into any template, i.e. You can extend the template process to any level of complexity.
Inside the system, it is possible to create and then use named pieces of HTML / PHP code, which can then be used in any site template. Plus, it is in the ability to store all your code in the CMS in a hierarchical form, which greatly simplifies managing the complexity of the system.
Using the modules of the system, you can build any site, but unfortunately, not all new trends in web design are already supported by the system automatically. The tag cloud, modal authorization windows and other pleasures of life will have to be implemented by yourself. Some modules do not provide automatically defined features, such as a link to a previous article in the section. These are of course little things that you can easily realize yourself, but of course these are unpleasant little things.
Fortunately, the developers are constantly working on “fitting” the functionality of the modules to modern needs. Almost every 1-2 weeks there is a new minor update of the system. (By the way, the installation of updates occurs through the CMS interface.)
For me, this is not a minus at all, because I mainly use IE. (Although I have both Opera and FireFox for test purposes.) Minus was born due to using advanced features of IE in the visual editor of the system. Well, you have to pay for everything. Those who want to take advantage of the delights of working with CMS from FireFox will have to wait for the release of the 4th version of the product.
Yes, most of the addresses of the pages of your site will be full of ampersands, if you do not register the rules for mod_rewrite by hand. The question is why do this? Thank God it's not 1997 anymore, and search engines perfectly index pages with any number of parameters. And users save bookmarks not at all manually. A good path to understanding is certainly important, but recently there has been a substitution of concepts. For some reason, it is considered that the path: "site.ru / news / 152 /" is better than the path: "site.ru / news.php? P = 152". If it really seems to you that there is any difference, please answer me at the URL: “What is this news about?”
Such is the experience of using us.
Original article on Nomagic.ru, 20/01/2008
Why we did not make the site on our engine
Like all developers, I have “my own” engine, written in collaboration with my colleague. The engine is quite simple, designed for small and medium-sized sites, it is easy to work with it, it contains a couple of good concepts ..., but we did not make our site on it.
')
Because, like every “engine”, it has a problem with the perception of it by other users.
By “engine” I understand the system for publishing dynamic pages without any special problems with the administration interface. "Patches" and "fenki" on which are usually developed in the course of the next project. The result is a very flexible, but not very friendly system, similar to the framework.
Those. making the site on your engine, you have to update it yourself - always. It is not so much the availability of administrative tools as such, but their "friendliness" to the ordinary user. After all, with the training of customer personnel and the writing of an intelligent user manual, even large companies have problems. What to say if the developer is a programmer, a designer, and a usability expert?
In other words. All changes of third-party specialists will go through you. For example, you hired a proofreader to edit the text content of the site. The proofreader has a fixed price for a certain amount of corrected text. (It is assumed that editing the text will be CONVENIENT, otherwise the price may either rise dramatically, or you will have to look for a new proofreader.) No one will understand the “raw” system, which has primitive possibilities for correcting the text. You will be asked to send texts in Word format, and in it will give. It will end up in that you yourself will insert and format text into the site. And now we will add here third-party authors and other pleasures of life - and here we have already organized a small personal working Hell! Your freelancers do the work and get paid, and you lose money and get another item on the urgent list.
What has been said above is that the capitals are true, but they are rather difficult to notice if you are developing a site and not using it. When creating a resource for developers, the main criteria in choosing a CMS are: familiarity with the solution, ease of changing templates, configuring ready-made modules, the ability to integrate their developments into the system’s body (or at least the co-existence of their development and CMS), then the host and user come to the fore completely different tasks: the ability to work with a CMS to a mere mortal, the availability of technical support (for mere mortals who need a little bit to correct the site) is possible spine and the cost of expansion of functionality.
Therefore, it is obvious that for a cost-effective site, the clarity of the system is much more important than its “steepness”.
A few words about the "paid" and "free" CMS
For the development of each site on any CMS you have to pay. Whether you pay with your money or with your time is completely irrelevant.
Consider where the board goes when buying a commercial CMS. The price for the distribution includes: certain features, initial technical support and free error correction by installing small system updates for a considerable time. If you need CMS specialists, template designers or developers, you can find them among the system partners. In most cases, you can even come to seminars or courses on working with the system.
What does the site owner pay for free CMS? Time to deal with the system for extremely meager manuals. Time to find designers or developers who can do what you need in your system for extra money. “Support” through the forums. (Are you sure that your problem will interest someone so much that he abandoned all his affairs and started working on it? And how correct is the answer?) Well, the main trump card of any free CMS is a large amount of plug-in It’s turning into a site owner’s nightmare with the next perekchelkivanii kernel version. The creators of the plug-in may not react in time, but may not react at all to the fact that the new plug-in kernel version does not work. Can your business wait for Vasya Pupkin to rewrite the plug-in?
It turns out that using a free CMS consumes as much money as a commercial one, just a little under a different sauce. We decided to pay the money in one cashier, it is more convenient.
Why S.Builder?
I probably will say the incredible, but Nomagic.ru is a “pet-project”, and not the main concern of each of its participants. Translators translate articles not only for us. Ivan Nikitin conducts many courses, not counting short-term projects. And your humble author is currently bringing one software product to the market. As you see, each of us, with all our desire, has practically no time to “fuss” with the system. Therefore, the choice fell on the most "understandable" system with good support service.
In terms of its functionality, S.Builder has a standard gentlemanly set of modules, allowing to make both a business card site and an online store. In the current version of the system there are no “Web 2.0” elements, such as: “tag cloud”, “blog” and other trifles that have come to us in the last couple of years. The fact is that a major change in the version of s.Builder was not carried out almost 4 years ago. It would seem - the obvious negative system? It would seem so not so!
The development of each control system passes through different paths, someone presses on functionality, someone on usability. Agree, the user does not really need the functionality that he does not know how to use?
The CBS group has taken the second path of development. In order to integrate your layout into the system for the first time, you need no more than half an hour! (Compare the speed of integration with Wordpress, or "Bitrix").
And if you consider that the new version of the system, according to a company representative at the exhibition “Search Engine Optimization and Website Promotion on the Internet”, really comes out in the first half of this year, the functionality issue will also be tightened.
Well? Closer to detail?
pros
Interface
Despite the fact that the main system code was written several years ago, the administrative part of the CMS makes extensive use of the AJAX capabilities. Drop-down menus, context menus, contextual invocation of section contents, organization of the necessary script operation time (for example, when the site is reindexed by an internal search system) are the details that make working with the system close to the desktop application.
Graphically, the administrative part looks somewhat outdated, but no less convenient for it.
The logic of the visual controls is very close to the logic of the Windows controls, i.e. If you see items arranged in folders, you can move an item from one folder to another via the system buffer using the context menu, or place only a shortcut in a new position, or change attributes. Everything is very logical.
Actually, this internal logic and allows a simple secretary to perform work on the site editing without special training.
By the way, an advanced visual editor will come to the aid of the secretary allowing you to edit the page “lively” using the context menu (and the special features of the IE browser) and the control panel “ala Word”.
Support
Help files or a request to the help desk will help you to understand the standard modules.
You can make a request to the support service through a special form in the CMS interface, and get an answer in the same place. For those who want to get an answer immediately - there is user support over the phone.
Training seminars are regularly held in the company's office, and soon in Moscow, on the basis of the Specialist training center, courses will be opened on working with the system. In general, everyone will find a way to communicate their liking.
Lack of template engine (plus for developer)
All system templates are built according to the principle of replacing {HERE-SUCH-BLOCKS} with the necessary functionality in this place. Madly simple. In this case, you define the names of {THESE} blocks yourself, then in the template interface, associating them with the necessary functionality. By the same principle, mock-ups of internal elements are also created. In this case, you do not need to know something in PHP.
For example, the menu. You are invited to HTML (code is entered into a special window editing the template, which is easy to find not ryastaya in different folders of the system) to set the "start menu", "normal item", "highlighted item", "end menu". (written from memory, the names are not accurate)
In fact, the user does not see that this will be from a programmatic point of view, the main thing is that he will see what he has asked.
Well, especially for geeks, who are immeasurably small in real life, arbitrary PHP code can be inserted into any template, i.e. You can extend the template process to any level of complexity.
Customization for specific needs
Inside the system, it is possible to create and then use named pieces of HTML / PHP code, which can then be used in any site template. Plus, it is in the ability to store all your code in the CMS in a hierarchical form, which greatly simplifies managing the complexity of the system.
Minuses
Some modules might have a richer set of features.
Using the modules of the system, you can build any site, but unfortunately, not all new trends in web design are already supported by the system automatically. The tag cloud, modal authorization windows and other pleasures of life will have to be implemented by yourself. Some modules do not provide automatically defined features, such as a link to a previous article in the section. These are of course little things that you can easily realize yourself, but of course these are unpleasant little things.
Fortunately, the developers are constantly working on “fitting” the functionality of the modules to modern needs. Almost every 1-2 weeks there is a new minor update of the system. (By the way, the installation of updates occurs through the CMS interface.)
Work only under IE
For me, this is not a minus at all, because I mainly use IE. (Although I have both Opera and FireFox for test purposes.) Minus was born due to using advanced features of IE in the visual editor of the system. Well, you have to pay for everything. Those who want to take advantage of the delights of working with CMS from FireFox will have to wait for the release of the 4th version of the product.
No built-in CNC rules
Yes, most of the addresses of the pages of your site will be full of ampersands, if you do not register the rules for mod_rewrite by hand. The question is why do this? Thank God it's not 1997 anymore, and search engines perfectly index pages with any number of parameters. And users save bookmarks not at all manually. A good path to understanding is certainly important, but recently there has been a substitution of concepts. For some reason, it is considered that the path: "site.ru / news / 152 /" is better than the path: "site.ru / news.php? P = 152". If it really seems to you that there is any difference, please answer me at the URL: “What is this news about?”
Summary.
- Content Management System S.Builder, convenient and easy to use, both for the developer and for the site owner.
- The system version 3.7+ is functionally not the most advanced due to its age.
- The system allows you to create and manage a site of any complexity.
- The system can be adapted to specific needs, using PHP snippets that can be stored within the system, and used in templates.
- There is no automatic rule support for mod_rewrite.
- The CMS version 3.7 administration system works only under IE.
- The functionality of some modules may be disappointing without providing “pleasant” but not vital functions.
Such is the experience of using us.
Original article on Nomagic.ru, 20/01/2008
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/19144/
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