CMS Launch

Part 2 of the video from yesterday shows a twist on the “content block” concept.

You’ll see me remove the site navigation, replace it with a content block, and give my client an easy way to update the main nav on the site.

CMS update video 2

I made a small goof in the early part of the video and called the unordered list a “menu” because I was looking at the id of the opening tag.

Despite some comments on the blog about the project being dead, it’s alive and well.

I do have to face the fact that the birth of this CMS has taken forever and a day.

Why?

Put simply, I wasn’t satisfied with the end result and started a complete rewrite… and I’m glad I did.

I’ve made significant improvements over the version that you see in the videos. Let me give you an example:

Content Blocks

One of the things I got back from the last round of beta testing was that potential clients wanted a system where they (or their clients) could edit multiple sections of their pages, not just the main content.

Perhaps this movie will explain very quickly what I’m trying to convey:

Click for demonstration movie

When you or your clients are logged in, you’ll be able to edit several blocks of content on the page and have them instantly reflected in the template.

I split out my longer recording into two shorter movies, the first one you can see at the link above, the second one I’ll post soon. It takes this concept further and shows you some of the implications of this feature and how you might use it to give your clients control over the navigation of the website.

Several folks have been asking to beta test, and one gent asked me today, which just happened to be fortuitous timing. So I’ll be working over the next 48 hours to get things ready for that limited test.