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Various pre-sales questions

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Various pre-sales questions
And my apologies the title is not more descriptive.

We wish to develop a website and need a content management solution for 600+ articles now with 300+ new articles being added each year.

Site structure is:

domain.com/category/subcategory/article/

In about three years that will change to:

domain.com/category/subcategory/furthersubcat/article/

We note the use of LinksSQL at http://www.pressbox.co.uk/ for content management.

Were we to roll with LinksSQL, features we need to incorporate into our (ideal) system - how much of this (examples much appreciated) can LinksSQL do out of the box:

* Multi user add/editing system - for pre-assigned content creators. No public users can ever add content.

* Ability to add content without using HTML
- Double carriage returns be translated so paragraphs are enclosed by <p></p>?
- www.foo.com and oink@foo.com - URLs get surrounded with correct <a href=""></a>

* Conditional formatting - depending on "Category", a different stylesheet (and template if possible) is used.

* Five levels of user:
- Admin
- Content-creators - can view all and add pending Admin approval
- "Gold" content viewing with username/password. Ideally URL for public and private categories are the same but depending on whether user is logged-in, different content is displayed.
- "Silver" content viewing with username/password. As "Gold" but less content is displayed.
- "Public" - can view all categories, without login, though no premium content is displayed.

* Notify user by email of new article in a specific category or sub category

* Import current article list (stored in MySQL database) into correct category/subcategory in new system

* The principle of static pages is fine but the practise silly (IMHO). We like the idea of doing this dynamically, but wish to strip out query strings with mod_rewrite.

Additionally we would like Category and Sub-Category names as part of the rewritten URL. Ideal example:

http://www.oink.com/category/subcategory/pagetitle.html

Is passed correctly to LinksSQL as (or whatever):

http://www.oink.com/index.php?category=STRING&subcat=STRING&article=STRING

We assume this will work with LinksSQL. Please confirm this assumption is correct.



Thank you in advance.

David
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Re: [forefront] Various pre-sales questions In reply to
Hi,

Quote:
Multi user add/editing system

You could either use the built in editor system, or use the regular Add function if you still want to validate articles submitted by your editors. Only logged in users could submit, and you would not allow users to signup. You create user accounts for your editors.

Quote:
Ability to add content without using HTML

This could be done with Globals. There are a couple of posts on the forum on how to translate \n\n into <p> or <br><br> tags. You really want the data in the database to be in text (so you can use it for other things, possibly email, or for print).

Quote:
Conditional formatting

This is built in to Links SQL. Each category can have a different template, or even different template set.

Quote:
Five levels of user:

If you are hiding content based on the user logged in, you need to move to an all dynamic system. This would be a bit tricky, and probably best done as a custom modification. If you don't care about the category counts (i.e. there are 5 links in this category), then it would be very easy to do, and could be done from the templates.

Quote:
Notify user by email of new article

Currently only a site wide newsletter is supported. It would take some modifications to make the newsletter category specific.

Quote:
Import current article list

Shouldn't be too hard if it's in MySQL.

If you have mod_rewrite installed and want to do it all dynamically, then we can make the URL's look however you like.

All in all, it's not a "out of the box" install, and would take some modifications to do exactly what you describe here. Not too difficult though. If you are interested in a quote, just send me an email.

Cheers,

Alex
--
Gossamer Threads Inc.
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Re: [Alex] Various pre-sales questions In reply to
In Reply To:
>>>If you are hiding content based on the user logged in, you need to move to an all dynamic system. This would be a bit tricky, and probably best done as a custom modification. If you don't care about the category counts (i.e. there are 5 links in this category), then it would be very easy to do, and could be done from the templates. We don't mind about category counting, no.

My email to you on the rest, as suggested. Thanks
David
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Re: [forefront] Various pre-sales questions In reply to
Here are other examples of using Links SQL as a CMS system:

http://www.anthro-globe.com
http://members.anthrotech.com
========================================
Buh Bye!

Cheers,
Me
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Re: [Heckler] Various pre-sales questions In reply to
In Reply To:
Here are other examples of using Links SQL as a CMS system:

http://www.anthro-globe.com
http://members.anthrotech.com

Thank you; nice examples clear those query strings though ;-)

Does your system accomplish some (all?) of the points I mentioned such as "priviliged" content via login and emailing of new posts?

Any tips you care to share about your development?

Did LinksSQL fill your project spec. 100% - what quirks did you discover about the system you would change?

Thank you.
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Re: [forefront] Various pre-sales questions In reply to
Quote:

...Clear those query strings?


What do you mean? Don't have any clue what you are talking about! Tongue

Quote:

Does your system accomplish some (all?) of the points I mentioned such as "priviliged" content via login and emailing of new posts?


Most of the stuff you requested is accomplished through those two sites using Links SQL. Didn't you take the time to look at the sites? Wink

And keep in mind that those sites are powered by v.1.13, which is way older than the current version of Links SQL, which is more robust and the ease of modification is quite high with the plugin system in the current system. Basically, you won't have to finagle with the nuts and bolts/raw codes to get things to work.

Quote:

Any tips you care to share about your development?


Yea, use the forums for modification ideas and consult the Resources section of the Gossamer Threads site (in the SUPPORT section). If you don't have any database design or scripting experience, there may be a learning curve with developing and implementing your system.

Quote:

Did LinksSQL fill your project spec. 100% - what quirks did you discover about the system you would change?


Yes, it did, with a moderate amount of code hacking within the scipt (no plugin system for earlier versions of Links SQL).
========================================
Buh Bye!

Cheers,
Me
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Re: [Heckler] Various pre-sales questions In reply to
>>>...Clear those query strings?
>>>What do you mean? Don't have any clue what you are talking about!

Whether you have any clue or not, your site uses them.

A query string in a URL passes queries via the HTTP GET method to your script/s - they appear on your website as "?" and "&" in your URLs and affect adversly your search engine placements, hence my comment.

>>>Didn't you take the time to look at the sites?
Yes. But if looking at the end result would have revealed the back-end technology I wouldn't have needed to post the question in the first place.
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Re: [forefront] Various pre-sales questions In reply to
Uh...buddy, I do know what a QUERY STRING is and your comment was quite ambiguous! I was asking for clarification what you meant!

Are you referring to "dynamic" pages in search engines? If so, dynamic pages are indexed by top search engines, and the sites I referred to and many others I maintained are well placed in search engine indices (even with dynamic pages)!

Well, your questions surrounded mostly "front-end" end user based issues, which the sites referenced should give you indications of what is possible with LINKS SQL.

Best of luck!
========================================
Buh Bye!

Cheers,
Me
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Re: [Heckler] Various pre-sales questions In reply to
>>>Uh...buddy, I do know what a QUERY STRING is and your comment was quite ambiguous! I was asking for clarification what you meant!

Then state that and don't further extend my original ambiguity ;-)

>>>Are you referring to "dynamic" pages in search engines?

Yes

>>>If so, dynamic pages are indexed by top search engines

By some - absolutely not by all. Query strings in URLs do affect adversly search engine rankings and the results you experience will not be as good as if you used "static" URLs, which are simpler for users in any case.

Thanks.
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Re: [forefront] Various pre-sales questions In reply to
Well, what are you worried about then...you have the choice of using dynamic or static pages with Links SQL...use the static pages if you're so concerned.

I was only trying to help you, which I will cease doing from now on.
========================================
Buh Bye!

Cheers,
Me
Quote Reply
Re: [Heckler] Various pre-sales questions In reply to
>>>I was only trying to help you, which I will cease doing from now on.

I appreciate your input and am perplexed you took umbrage at any part of our dialog.

Neverthless, I apologize should this be the case.