<wmmeta name="Title" value="WebMake as a CMS" />
<wmmeta name="Section" value="01-intro" />
<wmmeta name="Score" value="70" />
<wmmeta name="Abstract">
WebMake's content-management features, and shortcomings
</wmmeta>
WebMake is, arguably, a Content Management System, or "CMS" [CMS].
To be more specific, it's oriented entirely towards generating a relatively
static site, such as a weblog, a news site (without comments or
personalisation) or a typical informational site.
It does not have any dynamic, database-driven, features suitable for ''live''
sites that update frequently with dynamic data; nor does it have support for
''personalisation'' features, where the site displays different data based on
what the user presents in their HTTP request. (Of course, using WebMake does
not preclude using PHP, mod_perl, Mason etc. to provide these, however.)
Here's the relevant details of what it can do.
WebMake's CMS Features
======================
- **Separation between content and layout**
Since, logically, content and layout are entirely separate tasks, they
should be easy to keep separate in the CMS.
WebMake uses "content references" [refs] to include content into pages, and
implement templating. This allows you to separate the content text from
the template layout HTML; the template designers just need to include
a content reference, such as ##&wmdollar;{body}##, instead of the
text.
- **No requirement for text editors to know HTML**
Only the layout staff should really __need__ to know HTML, so the staff who
provide text content can do this without HTML knowledge.
WebMake provides "Text::EtText" [$(ettext)], which provides an
easy-to-edit, easy-to-read and intuitive way to write HTML, based on the
plain-text markup conventions we've been using for years.
- **Generation of pages automatically, using metadata from content items**
It should be possible to generate index pages, sitemaps, navigation links,
and other text automatically, based on properties and metadata of the
pieces of content loaded.
WebMake supports this by "allowing any content item to carry arbitrary
textual metadata" [$(metadata)]. Perl code can then be used to dynamically
request a list of content items that have a particular set of metadata,
and any page can refer to another content item's title, description,
abstract etc. without itself needing to parse the content text.
- **Flexible URL support**
It should be trivial to rearrange a site, if required, totally changing
the URLs used in the site's pages.
WebMake supports this by using "symbolic URL references" [$(url_refs)],
which can be modified by changing one line, causing references to that
URL throughout the site to change.
- **Edit-In-Page Functionality**
Most CMSes boast a nice, browser-based user interface to creating, naming,
uploading and filling out content items and media.
WebMake now provides a "CGI script" [webmake.cgi], which allows a certain
degree of web-based maintainance and content editing. It's not quite as
foolproof as some of the bigger CMS systems, but it's a start!
Auto: [webmake.cgi]: $(cgistart)
What WebMake Is Missing
======================
- **Database Support**
It would be nice if WebMake could load content from a database. It
currently cannot, although there's nothing in the architecture that would
preclude this; there just has not been a need, just yet.
Unfortunately, this may not be possible -- "this IBM software patent"
[ibm1] details a mechanism whereby a server can dynamically rebuild its
pages, based on changes to objects in a database. WebMake could run
afoul of this if database support is added (although there are a few
points where this could be avoided).
- **XSLT Support**
This will definitely arrive -- as soon as a good XSLT engine becomes part
of Perl, or at least becomes easy to install from CPAN. It's on my list ;)
- **Workflow**
There's currently no logic to support workflow. This would not
be difficult to add, though.
[ibm1]: http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US06026413__
[CMS]: http://www.camworld.com/cms/
[refs]: $(content_refs)
