Creating a module system for a Custom CMS - Best approach ?
i'm building a new cms which is using many themes completely designed for others (html themes, wp themes , opencart themes etc. )
And I want to build a very flexible module system.
Positions must be freely added and widgets must be added to positions (like opencart but more flexible)
Positions must be disabled or enabled automatically according to the theme
Widgets (say modules for big widgets) must have different styles according to the theme style.
And must have a very usable module management in admin panel.
for instance we have an announcement module. Admin adds announcements like a post in wordpress with featured images.
Each module can be enabled or disabled for every page or pagestyle.
We will need an admin panel page to manage their visiblity , position , viewing style (scrolled , marquee or any plugin usage like jcarousellite ) , and limits, thumbnail sizes etc etc.
and these must have some predefined different values for each theme
i did something similar for slider management but not managed from panel. a function working on the controller which is customized by parameters coming from theme.(And it's getting bigger by every theme :) )
Experts i need some logical help , how would you build a module system like this. How must i shape the admin panel for this .
i mostly like opencarts approach can anyone advise me better , to be inspired
And I want to build a very flexible module system.
Positions must be freely added and widgets must be added to positions (like opencart but more flexible)
Positions must be disabled or enabled automatically according to the theme
Widgets (say modules for big widgets) must have different styles according to the theme style.
And must have a very usable module management in admin panel.
for instance we have an announcement module. Admin adds announcements like a post in wordpress with featured images.
Each module can be enabled or disabled for every page or pagestyle.
We will need an admin panel page to manage their visiblity , position , viewing style (scrolled , marquee or any plugin usage like jcarousellite ) , and limits, thumbnail sizes etc etc.
and these must have some predefined different values for each theme
i did something similar for slider management but not managed from panel. a function working on the controller which is customized by parameters coming from theme.(And it's getting bigger by every theme :) )
Experts i need some logical help , how would you build a module system like this. How must i shape the admin panel for this .
i mostly like opencarts approach can anyone advise me better , to be inspired
Julian Hansen
Why re-invent the wheel when you have Joomla and Drupal that does most of this for you already?
I tend to agree with JulianH. This is mostly a non-value-added exercise. In my community of developers, Drupal would probably be the tool of first choice, followed by Joomla. It would depend on the availability of subject-matter expertise. If you build your own CMS, you will not be able to take advantage of open-source subject-matter experts. It's just you in the rowboat, against the sea.
Some cart discussion here:
http://drupal.org/node/1039328
Best of luck with your project, ~Ray
Some cart discussion here:
http://drupal.org/node/1039328
Best of luck with your project, ~Ray
Thank you both for your interests.
Hmm then i have ask you what if joomla or drupal or even wordress coders would think like this. We shouldn't have them in that case.
So i'm also using them for many of my projects. But i need another CMS which has flexibility along simplicity that they dont have.
I just cant give a joomla or wordress site admin panel to my customers and expect them to manage their site without my assistance.
I need to a simpler (and levelized) administration panel. So simple that only has homepage-products/services
These are already ok (completely as i wish to be )
I just need to add some weather , news, stocks , announcements,customers etc. info boxes (i call them widgets if they are just in a box on page at somewhere)
and customer feedbacks, detailed ingredients -for single product pages- etc. (i call them modules if they are completely decicated by a page url)
to express my self better i can show you some links that i studied on .
http://eksith.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/php-pluginmodule-system/
http://forum.codecall.net/topic/55077-creating-a-complete-basic-php-modules-plugin-system/
http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/meyers20041216.php3
btw i keep using joomla and drupal , my own cms is not opensource and not on sale and will not be ever .... it's just for building company sites faster and with minimal code and obeying my seo rulesheet... so the value of these effort is not the money but time in the long term and seo perfomance (Less customer phones :) )
Hmm then i have ask you what if joomla or drupal or even wordress coders would think like this. We shouldn't have them in that case.
So i'm also using them for many of my projects. But i need another CMS which has flexibility along simplicity that they dont have.
I just cant give a joomla or wordress site admin panel to my customers and expect them to manage their site without my assistance.
I need to a simpler (and levelized) administration panel. So simple that only has homepage-products/services
These are already ok (completely as i wish to be )
I just need to add some weather , news, stocks , announcements,customers etc. info boxes (i call them widgets if they are just in a box on page at somewhere)
and customer feedbacks, detailed ingredients -for single product pages- etc. (i call them modules if they are completely decicated by a page url)
to express my self better i can show you some links that i studied on .
http://eksith.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/php-pluginmodule-system/
http://forum.codecall.net/topic/55077-creating-a-complete-basic-php-modules-plugin-system/
http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/meyers20041216.php3
btw i keep using joomla and drupal , my own cms is not opensource and not on sale and will not be ever .... it's just for building company sites faster and with minimal code and obeying my seo rulesheet... so the value of these effort is not the money but time in the long term and seo perfomance (Less customer phones :) )
I will sign off on this question because we have different philosophies. I perceive more customer calls to be an advantage and I charge money for these calls. I respect and serve my customers, and I want their calls. They pay me to take these calls and get them the solutions they require.
All the best, ~Ray
All the best, ~Ray
Ray , I respect you (for all the knowlege you share at ee) and your approach on this subject.
But i cant charge for money for this kind of customers because of my sales strategy.
Some extra customizations like POS integrations and order management etc. will be available for cash but lite system is completely free.
I'm giving my customers 1 year .com domain and hosting package for free. (i am registering the domain and hosting at my server). After first year they only will pay for domain registration and hosting . Using CMS will be free forever.
So i want to minimize customer calls about usage support on this project.
On other deals (drupal,joomla,wordpress,m
Thanks again, bye
But i cant charge for money for this kind of customers because of my sales strategy.
Some extra customizations like POS integrations and order management etc. will be available for cash but lite system is completely free.
I'm giving my customers 1 year .com domain and hosting package for free. (i am registering the domain and hosting at my server). After first year they only will pay for domain registration and hosting . Using CMS will be free forever.
So i want to minimize customer calls about usage support on this project.
On other deals (drupal,joomla,wordpress,m
Thanks again, bye
Have you considered becoming a reseller / licensee of one of the many commercial and semi-idiot proof CMS systems:
moonfruit.com
webly.com
wix.com
mono.net
1&1
As they'll save you several man years of pain, and or being sued, for re-inventing someone else's patented wheel, as well as avoiding any PCI-DSS compliance issues /costs.
moonfruit.com
webly.com
wix.com
mono.net
1&1
As they'll save you several man years of pain, and or being sued, for re-inventing someone else's patented wheel, as well as avoiding any PCI-DSS compliance issues /costs.
Some insight from my side. I have built my own web framework (front and backend) for similar reasons to the ones you give above.
There are existing frameworks out there you could utilise to help with this (symfony, cakePhp, qcodo etc) that can help with the basics but you will still need to code your own functionality.
In my case I built everything from scratch - and it works for my clients but it took a long time and went through several iterations (8 at the last count) before getting to a point I am reasonably happy with it.
Trying to match the development effort of hundreds of contributors is not possible - so either you have to lower the standards of what you want to achieve or set asside a couple of years to perfect it or use one of the suggestions above.
There are existing frameworks out there you could utilise to help with this (symfony, cakePhp, qcodo etc) that can help with the basics but you will still need to code your own functionality.
In my case I built everything from scratch - and it works for my clients but it took a long time and went through several iterations (8 at the last count) before getting to a point I am reasonably happy with it.
Trying to match the development effort of hundreds of contributors is not possible - so either you have to lower the standards of what you want to achieve or set asside a couple of years to perfect it or use one of the suggestions above.
arober11 thanks for suggestions and resources you share
julianH : Great summary of my situation in last paragraph, your three possibility theory is quite true.
i'd choosen the
"set asside a couple of years to perfect it"
and that years -mostly- passed
i did already code the most of sections and using on some sites.
What i need is an approach advise for building the module system like opencart . But themes should change functions like wordpress ... I have a few schemes already planned and started coding one . But as this is a complex part of system i wanted to ask you , your advices. Do you know any tutorials on this subject like i'd showed some at #38286096
julianH : Great summary of my situation in last paragraph, your three possibility theory is quite true.
i'd choosen the
"set asside a couple of years to perfect it"
and that years -mostly- passed
i did already code the most of sections and using on some sites.
What i need is an approach advise for building the module system like opencart . But themes should change functions like wordpress ... I have a few schemes already planned and started coding one . But as this is a complex part of system i wanted to ask you , your advices. Do you know any tutorials on this subject like i'd showed some at #38286096
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
yes,happily you totally understand me :)
i did like the opencart way and started coding ... now i also will investigate other scripts to -maybe- combine them all with my logic
Thank you for understanding me .. cys
After 1 day i will close topic. Till then i'm open to cms advices to be inspired by and handling a module system tutorials.
Any suggester will share points with JulianH .
i did like the opencart way and started coding ... now i also will investigate other scripts to -maybe- combine them all with my logic
Thank you for understanding me .. cys
After 1 day i will close topic. Till then i'm open to cms advices to be inspired by and handling a module system tutorials.
Any suggester will share points with JulianH .