Content Management with Mambo Scottsdale Community College 11/29/05 by Sean Tierney Content Management with Mambo Sean Tierney

Content Management with MamboScottsdale Community College 11/29/05by Sean Tierney

Content Management with Mambo

Sean Tierney

www.LightsOutProduction.com

legaltech at gmail.com


My Background

• Self-taught (no formal CS training)• 10 yrs in Web• Primary experience is in ColdFusion apps• After various corporate jobs… • Now own and run “Lights Out Production”• Launching Grid7 developer co-op shortly


What is Content Management (really)?• Visual consistency• Searchable• Manages media assets conveniently• Authoring tools• Organization is decoupled from presentation• Consumable in different formats• Varying levels of role-based access• Scheduled deployment capability• Ability to syndicate material and consume other feeds• Ability to view changes historically• Takes care of “plumbing” like navigation and page creation• Caching capabilities


What is Open Source?

• Free as in:– “speech”– “beer”

• Developer can:– Read– Redistribute– Modify

• Faster bug fixes• Draws on collective intelligence of community• Promotes spin-off uses and advances industry


An Entirely OSS Solution

• PHP• MySQL• Apache• Linux• Mambo (Joomla)


The Basics of Mambo

• Two-minute install process• Template-driven design• Static vs. Dynamic Content Pages• Menus• Media Manager• Users & Roles• Components (backend)• Modules (public-facing components, multiple pages)• Mambots (page controls, occur on a single page)


Advantages of Mambo

• Free• Intuitiveness of use• Masks the complexity of adding advanced features• Extensible through components (mamboforge.net)• HUGE, helpful developer community • OSS means flaws are fixed relatively quickly• Inline editing easy to grasp for non-administrators• Galleries of pre-built designs to start from


Disadvantages of Mambo

• Its prevalence makes it a prominent target for hackers• Some other frameworks are more customizable but with

the cost of simplicity• Non SEF Urls (can be mitigated w/ 404SEF component)• Certain features unfinished (versioning management)• Independent instances means no global control over

many sites at once

• Alternatives -> www.opensourcecms.com


Beyond CMS: How to best position yourself

• Mentors and trusted “weather vanes”• Having a strong foundation in the “principles of flight” vs.

chasing the latest “jet engine” technology• Be an “index” rather than a “book”• Architects and Brick Layers – titles aside, which position

is more likely to be commoditized?• Strength in peripheral supporting skills (communication)• Play! Side projects outside of work are the best way to

learn new stuff and develop contacts


Extras: Tools of the Trade• Sourceforge is your friend• Google Desktop - the 24/7 “helmet cam”• Basecamp for collaboration• Read blogs and keep your own• iTalk for archiving meetings• Treo (or other PIM device)• David Allen’s “Getting Things Done”• Listservs• User Groups• Podcasts – ITconversations.com- for the conferences you couldn’t attend• Del.icio.us, Digg, Forums, O’Reilly books• Subversion, Beyond Compare, Single-click VNC, Eclipse, Anagram, Visual

Mind, Xenu Link Sleuth, VPC, Trillian, Shoutcast, Bloglines


Questions?

• Technical details of the framework…• Experience as small business owner…• Career suggestions…• Interesting projects I’m currently involved with…• Technologies to keep an eye on…• What else?

• Presentation will be available on:

www.ScrollinOnDubs.com

Documents

Content Management with Mambo Scottsdale Community College 11/29/05 by Sean Tierney Content Management with Mambo Sean Tierney