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Writing content for Article Manager
updated by rck, 2004-11-15

The core competence of phpWebSite is managing content. That's why it's called a content management system. There are a couple of guides on how to install phpWS technically and how to work with modules.

Then, there's the actual content. I couldn't find a common practice guide on how to write content for phpWebSite. So I did one on my own. Enjoy!

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Images

Images
Images

Like for headings, I'd recommend the use of Article Managers facilities for images. The reasons are easy to understand, once you know them.

First of all, images are part of your site layout. We already talked about getting a consistent layout before, so it should be pretty obvious we're trying to get this right.

Secondly, the guided Article Manager takes care of image captions (neat!) and the alt tag. You can even add a link to a bigger image (to the photoalbum?) quite easily

Thirdly, images aren't only about alignment (left / right / baseline / whatever). But they are about borders as well.

While it was common practice to include a "border=0" to all images, border's aren't considered as evil anymore. In fact, they can make your layout nicer

Fourth reason, and I guess those four should be enough: Using the vanilla img-tag is saying goodbye to advanced techniques like css shadows for images.

Consistent Images

There's one thing to take care about before you upload your image to Article Manager. Please make sure, you've resized them all to the same width, as image size heavily affects your total layout.

I usually stick to a width of 250 pixels. That's not too small and still fits nicely on handhelds.

I also like to do a Auto Color on the image and a Save to Web as .jpg, where I try to keep the image below 10k. You shouldn't overuse images either, as they draw away the attention from the content.

Then, if you don't have interesting content to offer...

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  • No Subject

    Posted on 2004-11-15 01:43:11 By Anonymous

    Quote
    Fourth reason, and I guess those four should be enough: Using the vanilla img-tag is saying goodbye to advanced techniques like css shadows for images.
    Unquote

    Are you saying that Article Manager doesn't use the tag? That would be very interesting. I don't use the mod so can't check.

    [Reply ]

    • Article Manager img Tag

      Posted on 2004-11-15 02:41:03 By rck[110]

      The article manager uses the img tag. But it uses a template to encapsulate it: The section template.

      So, as soon as you want to add other tags around it or define the image as a background-image, you'll simply change your template. You can do that on a per theme basis.

      If you'd defined your image inline, with the img tag, you wouldn't be able to do so without changing the actual content.

      [Reply ]

      • Re: Article Manager img Tag

        Posted on 2004-11-15 03:44:26 By Anonymous

        1.
        OK, I get that. Is this any different than the way PageMaster operates images? I can control the img tag in my stylesheet and am using PageMaster.
        As I only needed one method of adding main content I chose PageMaster because of its add to Menu aspect which I didn't see in Article Manager and I didn't need multiple paging, was I wrong??

        2.
        I like clean html, I understand your references to Word and why you recommend the p tags etc but I can't help wondering... The majority of people *I know* that want a CMS don't want to know or learn about p or img. They know and use Word (or somesuch) and think it's perfect to be able to make a new paragraph using 2 returns when adding content, cause it's what they know, and it's economical to do updates in office instead of outsourcing. Isn't that (and organisation) really what CMS is about?

        hmmm, so, does this mean the CMS should change?

        [Reply ]

        • Clean HTML

          Posted on 2004-11-15 07:23:58 By rck[110]

          changed On 2004-11-15 07:31:01 Edited By rck (reason: )

          The majority of people *I know* that want a CMS don't want to know or learn about p or img. hmmm, so, does this mean the CMS should change

          What I am writing about is how to write content with phpWebSite right now. In the midterm, say for phpWebSite 1.0.0, I'd suggest a different way of entering content.

          While the approach here is perfectly valid and will give you very good results, it's quite technical. Shouldn't be to hard, now that there is a way how to do your html, to automate it with phpWebSite.

          And so, yes, I guess the CMS should change sooner or later. phpWebSite still isn't finished, though. "early adopters", like me, can do it the way I've described here.

          [Reply ]

        • Article Manager vs. Page Master

          Posted on 2004-11-15 07:29:45 By rck[110]

          OK, I get that. Is this any different than the way PageMaster operates images?

          No, both use the same approach here.

          because of its add to Menu aspect

          this is available in Article Manager as well.

          and I didn't need multiple paging

          Whatever works for your. You don't have to use multiple paging and will get the same results in AM that way. While Page Master looks a bit cleaner on the one hand, Article Manager has more features than Page Master and is improving all the time.

          Take for example the update to 2.9. We now have support for "Just blog it". That is, we can add content by a bookmarklet from any page on the web we want to. Also, the actual management component of Article Manager can do more things than Page Master. Just give it a try.

          [Reply ]

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