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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”
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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