Where is this project headed?

[youcantryreachingme]

Hi Xander,

a quick question - where is this project headed? I note in your reply to my support request that you are busy on a thesis. Is this a hobby project that's become popular but you won't have time to build it further? Is part of your objective to limit the functionality to just *content* management (and hence it doesn't need much further work)?

By way of feedback I think this is an excellent system for what it does - it really does separate out the content management from anything else. Critics will say "what's the point of that? I need functionality x, y and z and you don't deliver it!"

There are 2 ways to go with that: 1) You don't deliver it. This is designed to meet the needs of small sites with a single level of administration access, or 2) you start considering how to extend the functionality (add-ins, plug-ins, modules, extensions, what-ever-you-want-to-call-them).

I would think there is a core set of features that could be added which most users will want to see.

Some ideas:

1) user accounts (with passwords stored in database in md5 format)
2) differentiate copywriting role from publishing role
3) keep all versions of page edits and allow rollbacks
4) schedule content with "go live" start and end date/times
5) add a property to web pages to specify which template to use (so you can use any number of templates throughout your site - for example, blue theme for product category 1, red for category 2)
6) a news feed which runs off your pages. when you create a page you flag it as "send to the news feed" and you provide 1 or 2 "summary" lines (2 new fields against the page). you can then drop a variable in your homepage template (assume we can specify which template to use for each page, as per above) to "display blogroll" which will show the last N summaries with links through to the page
7) a template variable that produces an RSS feed from the blogroll just mentioned
8 ) a module that iteratively loops through all files in a given subdirectory (to create lists of similar items like products, or display a gallery of images, or a javascript slideshow, or a random quote - which is really another piece of content that might include HTML such as links - each time the page is displayed) - ideally with pagination controls (except for random quotes)
9) a site search engine (that works with all the above!)
10) the ability to configure the css class and id values for the menu items (so that you can choose your own javascript to animate the menu) ... I've part-way coded this already (which raises the question - do you want to integrate changes from other developers such as this one?), see here: http://katsmeow.com.au/compact

There's a few ideas to get going - but it brings me back to the question: what's your vision?

Cheers,

Chris.

[Xander]

Hi Chris,

It's a fair question to ask . And I would be lying if I would tell you that I haven't thought of it myself (of course I did). The thing is that I started to develop CCMS out of my own need for just a content management system my "clients" (acquintances) could use. At the start it didn't have a menu manager nor image manager. I'm writing this to indicate that overtime I've started to really appreciate the idea that others are using something I created (it doesn't hurt admitting so, right ?)

So I've developed new features, a new website and want to do more IF and only IF it offers me something in return. And that means not money, but a feeling of working on something that has potential, is adopted and is appreciated. It's really something that keeps me going when in need of distraction.

Given you that as a background I'll now elaborate on my plans. First I want to finish my thesis, get my degree and enjoy my free time . Then I would really like to work on cleaning up the CCMS project website wise (wiki, forum, support articles, etc). Then once the feedback comes in I want to continue developing CompactCMS, BUT with my core thought (mission statement if you please) in mind: CCMS should never exceed consisting of more than one page (!).

This automatically excludes some of the features you mentioned. Other functions such as a search engine do not seem like something that a CCMS would require (at least not the one I have in mind). On the other hand features such as user management (with levels) is something that could be useful (an extra collapsible fieldset with admin options) and so would an archive of previous versions of pages.

I'm going to rewrite some code (use a e.g. DB class) and then want to work on module management. These modules should be developed by you - the community - while I maintain the core package. I've already started working towards such a solution with the adoption of the module field in the database. It now is set by default to "editor" which in the admin is echoed in the Edit link:

<a href="<? echo $module;?>.php?file=home">Edit</a>

This - in the future - should allow anyone to create a module that opens a page in the editor window that could be virtually anything.

Enough written. I admit I haven't got it all that clear yet (as you might notice from this message), but the fact that I'm writing so much at 1.30am tells you something about my motivation. It's there, and I'm both willing and curious to see what this project can become. Luckily I'll be doing a second masters' degree next year, so that will allow me one more year of variable working times .

Hopefully I've made things a bit more clear, and if not: do not hesitate to follow up!

Cheers,
Xander.

[youcantryreachingme]

Enough written. I admit I haven't got it all that clear yet (as you might notice from this message)

No - actually it seems clear that you do have a vision for where it's headed. I think the pluggable module idea is a logical choice. The challenge will be deciding how to distinguish CCMS from any other option available out there, and then trying to ensure it stays that way as 3rd parties develop modules.

To the rest of the readers out there - can we have a quick poll? What is your interest in CCMS? Strictly as an end-user (use it for your own site)? Or as a developer (use it to build other people's sites)? Or as a contributor to the CCMS project (create new features/modules and integrate back into Xander's releases)?

I think a second challenge will be to future-proof the code design as much as possible. Technologies change. I think it'll be worth investing as much thought as possible into designing how the modules will interface with the core so that if possible, you can revise the system's functionality, look and feel without requiring *any* change to the 3rd party modules.

For my part I have somewhere between 2 and 5 sites that I plan to redevelop in the next 4 to 8 weeks and I want to see whether I can use CCMS for all of them. This will mean adding features though, which will also mean overlap with your future plans for providing an interface with modules.

Chris.