The 'How We Do It' Blog

We have two go-to Content Management Systems (CMS), b2evolution (overview here), and Silverstripe (overview here).

Both are open source applications, and with a strong developer community behind them. And each has its particular strengths which makes one better suited for some solutions and one better suited for other solutions.

Where b2evolution Shines

b2evolution is designed to work straight out-of-the-box and immediately upon installation. Everything including a home page is automatically created and all a user need do is log in and add their own content. Pages can be created and modified to some extent without needing to know any code.

Once installed, anyone can, in theory, log in immediately and create any combination of multi-page websites, blogs, photo galleries, forums, and online manuals/books right then and there without knowing a line of code. I say ‘in theory’ as there is a learning curve, as with anything new and unfamiliar. But even then, b2evolution has the option of installing sample data that helps people navigate their way and learn as they go. The sample data can be easily deleted or simply overwritten with real content. (Even so, we are most happy to install and set up a b2evolution-driven site on your behalf, with your content, and of course offer full hand-holding support all the way!)

The default looks are aesthetic as well as functional, and the software is search-engine and mobile-friendly from the outset. b2evolution is for people who don’t want to mess around with styling, and who just want to get on and write, blog, showcase photos, or create a community forum.

Many hosting providers, including us, include the ability to install a wide range of software with a couple of clicks. b2evolution is one such software, and thus can be installed and set up by anyone regardless of technical ability. (Nonetheless, we provide full support with our hosting accounts should people not feel confident doing this themselves.)

At its simplest, b2evolution requires no more than to pay for a domain and hosting account, and to have the willingness to learn and use it. For more outlay, we are of course more than happy to set up a fully-working self-managed site populated with your content. We are also most happy to continue managing it on your behalf for a negotiated ongoing fee.

Where Silverstripe Shines

Silverstripe’s strength is that any bespoke site can be made editable, no matter how specialised or technical the requirements. (Future posts will showcase examples of these.) This is because Silverstripe is a ‘framework’, a set of coding tools that enables a developer to turn any static site into a site that can be managed by anyone, regardless of skill set. This allows far more flexibility with design too, as Silverstripe slots into the site rather than is the site. This means we can either design a site from scratch to your exact requirements, or adopt an existing design — we then add Silverstripe to make the entire site self-manageable.

This allows incredible control across the entire site — there is no compromise on design or function as there can be with b2evolution, as any aspect of the design or usability can be made self-editable. Silverstripe has proven its worth when needing to add and update slideshows, highly stylised image galleries, and downloadable files such as minutes and other documents  — the user simply logs in and uploads the files, and Silverstripe makes sure they display where and how they need to.

Silverstripe is a tool for professional programmers with a deep knowledge of PHP, javascript and MySQL, and thus not something ‘just anyone’ can set up and create an editable site with. However, once a Silverstripe site has been developed, it is incredibly easy to maintain yourself — you can even create additional pages yourself if necessary.

Once set up, a Silverstripe site is very easy to manage — in fact we rarely hear from anyone with a support query, and even then those are requests for something new to be added rather than calls for help.

If you’d like to explore further the possibility of using b2evolution or Silverstripe as a CMS, or to seek a quote, please do get in touch! We pride ourselves on offering genuine no-strings-attached advice, and if we don’t think something is appropriate we will say so. If we think a different solution will work best for you, or even another service we don’t offer, we will say that too.

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I’ve mentioned b2evolution as one of two Content Mangement Systems (CMS) we use a few times now (the other is Silverstripe) — and no doubt will be mentioning it a few times more!

François Planque, the creator of b2evolution, wrote a post on May 4th, 2019 titled Why we make b2evolution (vs. WordPress, Joomla and Drupal) which covers why b2evolution was designed the way it was, making it better-built and designed overall — all of which I completely agree with.

Like François, I’ve tried plenty of CMSs over the years and been disappointed by all of them. The ones that promised super-simplicity were exactly that — too simple and unable to cope with more sophisticated and complex sites. (And a key reason for why we also chose Silverstripe, the subject of next week’s post, as our other go-to CMS.) Others were more sophisticated, yet lacking in other ways. Still others were just outright nightmares to work with.

In his article, François summed b2evolution up best with this sentence: “No other CMS (content management system) is as integrated as b2evolution. No other CMS is as easy to maintain.”

I wholeheartedly agree, and this post is my take on that statement, and with my reasons for choosing b2evolution over the plethora of alternatives out there. Mind you, I’m not so blinded that I can’t recognise b2evolution’s deficiencies — of which, for me, there are two which I’ll also cover.

Advantages

Plugins (or rather, a lack thereof)

The more famous CMSs that can cope with complex sites — WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are the best-known — look very slick and professional on the outside but are absolute horrors to maintain on the inside. They rely on too many third-party plugins for maximum functionality, whereas b2evolution has everything — and I mean everything — built right into the core software.

Take WordPress for example, probably the most popular CMS out there. It began as a dedicated blogging platform, but over the years more and more things were bolted on to make it more like a CMS. Unfortunately, adding ‘things’ to software for which it was never intended has consequences. Worse is when adding those ‘things’ relies on external, independent developers to provide them by way of third-party plugins. For WordPress especially, many of its ‘best’ features are only available as installed third-party plugins. Even making a WordPress site search-engine friendly requires a third-party plugin!

There are a few problems that come with relying on third-party plugins for key functionality. One is that the quality of the plugin is completely down to the proficiency of the developer, and some developers write incredibly poor code. Some deliberately write (free) plugins with the sole intent of compromising your site and infecting it with who-knows-what!

Another common problem is that some plugins may clash with others. Fixing a site that has broken because of a plugin clash is an absolute nightmare — do you hope one or another developer issues a patch quickly, or do you uninstall one of the plugins? In which case which one stays and which one goes?

And absolutely the worst problem is when an upgrade to the core software breaks some or all of the plugins you rely on, and round and round you go again with patches, clashes, and fixing breakages.

What would be an external plugin for other CMSs comes already built into b2evolution’s core, though documentation is available for those wishing to develop their own bespoke ones. The few external b2evolution plugins that are available to install are intended for users of older versions of the software that need the feature but don’t wish to upgrade for whatever reason. New b2evolution plugins are routinely bundled into the core software by the development team and are easily activated within the software with a single click. And because they are part of the core code, and added by people who actually work on the core code, they never break any other part of the site.

Maintenance

Maintenance of a b2evolution site couldn’t be easier, with no plugin clashes to worry about, and with plugin updates automatically carried across with core software updates. One upgrade installation upgrades everything, in one go and without fuss or breakage.

Multiple Websites on the One Installation

Admittedly this isn’t needed by most people, but is an incredible feature nonetheless, and unique in the world of CMSs. One installation of b2evolution can literally handle any number of completely different websites and domains. Which means a single upgrade propagates immediately to each and every one of those sites and domains. And all accessible by one login! Absolutely ideal for anyone with a blog on one domain and a completely unrelated site on another domain — combine the two (or three, four,…) within one installation and one hosting account!

Completely Integrated: Built-In and Ready to Go

b2evolution comes with a site-builder, a blogging engine, a photo gallery, online manual/book documenting software, and forum software built-in and ready to go. Better still, because of the ability to run multiple websites with one installation, any number of each and every one of these can be set up in the one installation as described above. Case studies here show the different ways a b2evolution installation can be moulded for specific requirements.

Internal Messaging Software and User Levels

Anyone who creates an account on a b2evolution installation can message anyone else with an account and who allows themselves to be messaged. This is particularly useful on a site with forum activity, for example, where some conversations between participants evolve into private ones, or an administrator needs to be contacted privately. It’s also a handy way for collaborators on a book project or several editors of a large blog to keep in touch with each other.

Users can be further assigned permission levels that allow degrees of accessibility. A user could have administrator, moderator, or editor permissions for example. Other users could have special access to private sections of a site — a good example of this is where a blog is mostly public, but paid subscribers are entitled to access private content.

Again, I stress that all of this functionality is built-in and ready to go with every installation. This is not the case for many other CMSs out there, such as WordPress, which require any number of plugins for the same functionality.

Disadvantages

Themes/Skins

This is definitely the most common criticism of b2evolution in the community. A ’skin’ or ‘theme’ is a collection of files that change the appearance of a site without touching the content. Compare one of our b2evolution sites, The Jujube Tree Nursery, with this very Broad Ribbon Designs one, for example. They have different home page and internal page ‘looks’, and this is because each uses a different theme. However, you may notice similarities as well, especially concerning the look of the blog on each. (The look of the blog can be changed too, but I stuck with the default version for both as it’s the best for my purposes).

These similarities are due to a lack of off-the-shelf themes together with a lack of flexibility in modifying them without some serious coding. Developers can still create their own bespoke looks, as they can create their own plugins, of course. WordPress and others definitely have the advantage here with themes, and whole markets exist that cater just for this alone.

eCommerce

A lack of built-in ecommerce ability is a lesser criticism in the wider community, but very much a major one for me. b2evolution shipping with a built-in shop would be my every dream come true! While I get around this problem by simply installing separate, dedicated ecommerce software, this isn’t ideal as it requires separate logins, databases, and behind-the-scenes tinkering to make the two installations appear as one. Without question WordPress is superior with its WooCommerce plugin (albeit a third-party plugin at that!) which not only does do a good job, but more importantly is accessible via the same login as the main WordPress one.

Learning Curve

I’ve included b2evolution’s steep learning curve here as some people would definitely name that as a criticism. But I regard this as an unavoidable consequence of the software’s incredible power. b2evolution, as shown above, can handle a wide variety of situations and complexity with ease. Some incredibly sophisticated stuff has even been added with experienced and seasoned web developers in mind (and can be otherwise safely ignored without consequence!).

But this sophistication does come at a cost: firstly knowing how to access this functionality, and then knowing what to do with it once you do find it. This can be intimidating or even overwhelming to a newcomer, especially one without much web development experience, which is why there is an option to include sample data with a first-time installation. Exploring the sample data and set-up is a great hands-on way to get up to speed on the software while learning as you go. Alternatively we can set up an installation and populate it with enough real content to hand over to you, with full support always available.

On that note, if b2evolution appeals to you as a solution for your own web site(s), or you’d like to explore further the possibility of using it, by all means don’t hesitate to get in touch!

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Disclosure: Optimate Group Pty Ltd has an interest in The International Alpaca Reference Library.

Background:
A long-time client (Ian) rang out of the blue and asked if I’d like to set up an online library for alpaca breeders, and I said ’sure!’. Ian knew what he wanted, but was very happy to leave all the implementation to me — we have worked with each other for years and he trusted me implicitly to git ’er done. (This eventually evolved into a partnership: Ian’s contribution was to source all the articles and mine was to put everything together.)

Analysis:
The site was to be the definitive reference site (library) for all alpaca-related information and scientific research, and would rely on funds from sponsorships, donations, and running advertisements for ongoing maintenance.

Ian provided links to a plethora of alpaca-related articles and research papers via Word docs. I needed a way to collate those links in a way that was ordered and logical, as in a library, and which didn’t breach copyright or was plagiarism. These articles also needed to be found easily with a search function. Writing the software from scratch was possible, but was not a viable option owing to time and costs involved. And because this was a site for alpaca breeders, and this was around the time the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal was in the news, we thought it worth adding an online community/forum for the intended readership, which was guaranteed to protect people’s privacy.

The Approach:
The obvious and only choice for me was the excellent Content Management System (CMS) software, b2evolution. It took no time to install and within a day I had the basic structure fleshed out. This included a custom home page, two library sections, a page which recognised all supporters, a page which recognised all advertisers, and a forum. I also added a page advising how people could sponsor, donate, or otherwise advertise on the site, and linked that to an OpenCart ecommerce installation for taking payments online. (The lack of inbuilt ecommerce functionality is the only downside to b2evolution in my mind, but even that is now a promised feature on its way I hear!)

The software comes with a ‘manual’ interface, which made the collation of articles a breeze. I could create any number of categories and sub-categories, each of which then displayed a list of relevant articles or papers by title and a text snippet. Clicking on a title displayed more information again, such as the author, date of publication, name of publication, and a larger text snippet. A link to the full article or paper was provided for people to follow if interested.

b2evolution made it very easy to organise and display sponsors’ and others’ advertisements. The same ads were displayed together on the aforementioned sponsors and advertisers pages, further displayed by category within those dedicated pages, and were further again displayed individually in dedicated positions on all other pages. It was also a simple matter to have ads appear in a randomised order, which ensured all advertisers had an equal chance of being in the number one (or only) spot for any given page view.

In Conclusion:
Having access to the wonderful b2evolution CMS saved countless hours of time in development. Using that time to build the site, rather than its foundation. was far more productive and rewarding. Indeed, it took much much longer adding the content than setting up the site itself — and that site was a rather involved and sophisticated project in the grand scheme of things.

The only aspect b2evolution couldn’t handle was the ecommerce requirement, but that may soon be a problem of the past, and our go-to ecommerce software OpenCart more than adequately fills that role in the meantime. Apart than that, b2evolution readily handled every other need we could throw at it, with plenty of room left over for even more large-scale upsizing if required. For example, the forum never really took off despite our best efforts — Facebook probably won out in the end — but if it had, one idea we had was to offer regular/popular/informative posters their own blogging platform on the Library site. And we could do this for any number of guest bloggers without b2evolution breaking stride, it really is that powerful. I’ll be writing more about this software — you may have gathered by now that I am quite enamoured of it!

Please get in touch if you’d like a similar set up for your own needs. We can make it as simple or as sophisticated as you need from the outset, and the beauty of a powerful CMS like b2evolution is that the site can grow as you grow, without any compromise in performance, as this case study has shown. All support offered should you wish to maintain the site yourself, or we can do this on your behalf, whether fully or in part, in whichever way works best for you.

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Disclosure: Optimate Group Pty Ltd has a financial interest in Alpacas on the Go.

Background:
Alpacas on the Go is online herd management software. It needed an online Help/How-To Manual (which is now here).

Implementation:
Rather than use valuable time developing an online Help Manual from scratch, we reached immediately for the excellent open source software, b2evolution. (This is the same software this website, and several others of ours, are built with. And yes, it is written in lowercase!)

This software is incredibly sophisticated and feature-rich (and admittedly requires a learning curve), but this is what makes it so powerful. It so easily handles multiple blogs, photo galleries, forums, newsletters, email campaigns, and (who’d have thought) manuals straight out of the box with one very easy installation. It is definitely our go-to Content Management System (CMS) where any or all of these are needed.

With this software installed, we created a structure, or Content Hierarchy, comprised of ‘chapters’ that matched relevant sections within the program. A  Conventions page was created as a visual guide — by way of example, one convention listed on that page states: ‘Words in fixed pitch font indicate an action you perform, eg click or select or enter.’

Screenshots to help users follow along were included everywhere possible, with no detail left out no matter how small. Examples are here, here, here, and here.

Some pages could logically go into more than one chapter, and this was easily done with b2evolution. Such pages existed as a single copy, but could be assigned primary, secondary, and any other locations via cross-posting. Any changes made to the single copy automatically propagated throughout the manual and there was no fear of information becoming asynchronous.

In Conclusion:
Because of the well-developed and well-supported b2evolution software, we were able to build a useful and powerful online resource quickly, limited only by the time it took to do the things that can’t be automated: structuring the layout, preparing screenshots, and writing the Help content. Having a solid framework ready to go — we didn’t even need to muck around with a design as a fully-workable one came pre-loaded —  saved a lot of time that was better spent on content creation. It was a lot easier to prepare than the ubiquitous PDF many fall back on, and is also easier to access and search. Users can even ask questions about the program anywhere within the Help, for others to see, and which helps drive improvements.

Please get in touch if you’d like an online manual set up for your own needs. We can install and set everything up to your requirements, including the search engine optimisation. We can also do the tech writing if so desired. Or, if you prefer to do this yourself via Word documents and the like, format and post the content on your behalf.

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Disclosure: Optimate Group Pty Ltd has a financial interest in The Jujube Tree Nursery.

Background:
The Jujube Tree Nursery is an online nursery specialising in the jujube tree. The history is here. This particular site was built to replace another site on another domain. We chose to use the b2evolution Content Management System (CMS) to build the site for several reasons I’ll cover in future posts, but primarily for its excellent blogging engine.

With the site built, and now being indexed by search engines, it was time to add that blog to further rank the site.

Analysis:
The tree appeals to exotic fruit tree enthusiasts, and enquirers often asked for information on how to grow and care for them. People who enjoy exotic plants are typically also well-read self-learners with deeper horticultural interests in general. The blog’s purpose was to not only answer growth and care questions, but to delve deeper on related topics such as soil science, plant nutrients, and botany that could also be of interest. I also planned to draw on my background in biochemistry and soil microbiology to explain more fully topics that were often glossed over or mentioned briefly in the ‘mainstream’ garden genre.

A weekly posting schedule was decided upon. This both enabled more content to be published more quickly, as well as provided more content for search engines to index more quickly.

The Approach:
This was going to be a very broad and deep section of the site, but ultimately this was a site that sold jujube trees, so some basic information on the species was a natural starting point. The first few posts covered some history and basic information on both the tree and the fruit, followed by planting, potting and climate information. By then the trees were entering dormancy and that became a good reason to focus more on subjects like soil science, which could help people better understand and prepare their own soil over autumn and winter prior to winter deliveries of bare-rooted stock. Posts have mostly been seasonally-driven since.

In Conclusion:
The blog was added in February 2019 and has since grown into a comprehensive resource for more than just jujube trees, and which attracts a sizeable readership. Some readers are semi-regular commenters, while others have made contact privately. Most are anonymous but the server logs attest to their numbers. I must admit that this blog has also become a very rewarding intellectual output for me personally, and some people have told me how evident that passion is, which is just amazing feedback to have!

Please get in touch if you’d like your own blog set up. We can install and set everything up to your requirements, and can suggest categories and topics that would be of interest to your readers. We can additionally do the research and writing on your behalf, or simply format and post on your behalf if you’d rather send your own writing via Word documents or emails.

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