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March 11th, 2009

pkContextCMS: a sneak preview for the worthy


We've built a lot of sites over the past few years that emphasize a smooth transition between browsing and editing. Frequently-used administrative stuff doesn't have to be hidden in a clumsy, generic back end application. And the editing experience doesn't have to be ugly or involve a steep learning curve.

In the past we solved these problems with sfSimpleCMS, a widely used CMS (Content Management System, as you probably know) for Symfony 1.0. But as much as we've appreciated sfSimpleCMS, we've also accumulated a growing list of frustrations with it. And at the same time, Symfony 1.2 and Doctrine have come on the scene, offering exciting new possibilities that sfSimpleCMS doesn't really leverage.

Enter pkContextCMS, our own CMS offering. Features of pkContextCMS include:
  • Editing takes place "in context." sfSimpleCMS followed this principle for editing slots; we extend it to adding, removing and reordering subpages
  • Easy version control for the contents of every "slot" (editable piece of content)
  • "Areas," continuous columns in which editors can add a variety of slots of different types (managed media slideshows interleaved with rich text, for instance)
  • Editing privileges for specific parts of the site can be easily assigned to specific users
  • All slot types, including the standard rich text and plaintext types, are implemented as Symfony modules with all the flexibility that implies
  • New slots can implement custom data storage via Doctrine column aggregation inheritance. (English translation: "oooh, cool!")
The first beta release of pkContextCMSPlugin is now available. If you check it out, we strongly recommend that you literally check it out... in the subversion version control sense of the phrase. Our cmstest demo project is by far the friendliest way to install the CMS.

Our media plugin, already in use on an upcoming client site, adds even more capabilities via video and slideshow slots and will also be released soon.

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pkContextCMS is a big deal for P'unk Avenue and we're excited about it. It's an open source project, released under the MIT license, and we plan to embrace contributions from the community at large.

This first post is technically oriented, because at this stage pkContextCMS is most easily appreciated by those with the technical skills necessary to work with it. But we have big plans for it which will be far more easily appreciated by a wide audience. And we look forward to sharing those with you as they unfold.