Presentation on itPage, an open-source content management system (CMS) for the Lasso Professional language. Presenter is Eric Landmann of Iterate LLC, Madison, WI, given at the Lasso Developer's Conference, Oct. 1-4, 2009, Amsterdam.

1. Eric Landmann, Iterate LLC
support@iterate.ws
landintraktv
iteratews

2. It Peyj
as in “What is it?” as in “page of a book”

3. an open-source
content management system
for

4. ~ Feature Set~
front end and back end
~ ItPage in Action ~
some sample sites
~ Characteristics of an itPage Site ~
~ Administration ~
~ How It Works ~
terminology
page assembly logic
~ Installation ~
system requirements
~ Resources ~
end-user and developer

5. Front End Features
• Galleries
• Testimonials
• Multiple templates
• Clean URLs
• Flexible navigation options
• Rotating stories
• Portfolios
• Built-in search feature – works without any extra effort
• Robust image support, including native .swf and
automatic conversion of video to Flash video
• User-management system
• CSS-driven means pages load quickly
• jQuery used for several elegant features

6. Back End Features
• Create, edit, and store page content
• Easily activate/deactivate pages or entire heirarchy nodes
• Modify site heirarchy (nested-set architecture)
• Image library contains images for the entire site - photos, PDFs, video
• File library contains downloadable files
• Password reset feature for users
• SEO tailoring on site-wide or per-page basis
• Image conversion hooks directly into ImageMagick
• Admin is extensible by adding datatypes
• Queries written in SQL for MySQL datasource
• Site custom tags are automatically loaded
• Tooltips provide admin help
• Site-wide or page-specific control of meta information
(keywords, description, author)
• All tables are UTF-8

8. http://www.bonjourbarber.com/

9. http://www.cafefair.com/

10. http://www.capitalk9s.org/

11. http://www.climbingcentral.com/

12. http://www.coffeeforcafes.com/

13. http://www.destreeconsulting.com/

14. http://www.greencountyhabitat.org/

15. http://www.guernseyrealestateco.com/

16. http://www.hestadlaw.com/

17. http://www.hootcom.com/

18. http://www.luttiglaw.com/

19. http://www.steepnbrew.com/

20. • Easy to administer
• Media-rich
• Nestedset heirarchy
• Multiple menuing options
• Graphic or dynamic menus
• Flexible templating system
• Site default template and stylesheet with page-level override
• Several provided stock layouts
• Gallery template ready to use
• “Mostly” CSS-driven
• jQuery features enhance user’s experience
Slidermenus
Thickbox
Tooltips
FlowPlayer
• Feedback to user via error system

21. • Over 70 custom tags
from Tagswap
ItPage tags provided
• Extensible and modifiable – All Lasso source code provided
• itPage is fast
SQL queries and minimum of page/include calls
Graphics size-optimized

22. • Admin access is
– Controlled by user privs
– Superadmin and admin standard, modifiable at code level
– Other user levels (e.g. “Member's-only” area) easily supported
– Automatic timeout/logout
– Admin logins are written to logfiles

23. • Content pages
– Everything attaches to a content page (galleries, testimonials, etc.)
– Whether it shows up is determined by the template
– Assigned to a heirarchy level
– Active/inactive

26. • Manage Heirarchy
– Nestedset heirarchy (xs_cat tags)
– Add/modify/delete nodes and subnodes
– Reorder/move
'

27. • Galleries
– Elegant gallery feature based on jQuery Galleria plugin
– Working template and stylesheet provided
– Unlimited ability to add galleries
– Gallery and content on same page

29. • Testimonials
– Most requested feature
– Text required, can also have image and attribution
– Content page can display one random, or all

30. • Stories
– Rotating story, similar to testimonial
– Text required, can also have image and attribution

31. • Portfolios
– Same entries/groups concept
– Image is required, headline and caption are optional
– CT/template usage allow for varied layout and column display

32. • Image Library
– Common interface for all media
– Upload uses one simple form
– Image formats: .ai, .gif, .jpg, .tif, .png, .psd
– Movie formats: .avi, .flv, .m4v, .mov, .mp4, .mpg, .mpeg, .swf, .wmv
– Hooks into ImageMagick, ffmpeg, flvtool
– Media types available for upload adaptive depending upon utilities
– Directory read-based (no database interaction)
• Existing graphics can be dropped into folders
• Deletion of image deletes all derivative files as well
– Automatic conversion and display of all media types
– “Check Usage” feature shows there an image is used
– TV icon for video, admin video viewing page

34. • File Library
– Common interface for all files
– Upload uses one simple form
– File formats accepted (controllable through siteconfig):
.csv, .doc., .graffle, .gz, .indd, .log, .odp, .ods, .odt,
.pdf, .pps, .ppt, .qxd, .sit., .sitx, .svg, .swf, .txt, .xls, .zip
– Directory read-based (no database interaction)
• Existing files can be dropped into file folder

36. • Maintenance
– Available to Superadmin only
– View logfiles
– Cache reset
– Could be expanded (database backup)

38. • System Settings
– Available to Superadmin only
– Server settings
– Installed utilities (ImageMagick, ffmpeg, swfdump)
– Default SEO tailoring
– Default stylesheet and templates
– Mailserver account
– Domain name and VH directory

42. 1 Call the URL handler (urlhandler.inc)
2 Include the siteconfig
3 Build various lookup maps and arrays
4 Look up content ID for the current path
5 Call detail.lasso to assemble the various page elements
• Dropdowns/navigation
• Portfolios/testimonials/galleries…
• Main image and video
• Text fields
• Header/footer
• Include the template
6 atEnd handling (modify header JS and stylesheets)

43. http://www.itpage.ws/wiki/logic

46. Control debug mode through siteconfig:
Var('svDebug' = 'Y');

49. System Requirements
• Lasso Professional 8.5 (Lasso9-compatible soon!)
• ImageMagick 6.4 or greater
• PassThru
• MySQL 5.x
Optional supporting utilities:
• ffmpeg (video)
• swftools (.swf files)
Installer
• Sets up the database with test data
• Installs default templates

50. Wiki http://www.itpage.ws/wiki/
• Installation instructions
• Screencasts
• Tag listing
• Template examples
• Terminology
Google Group http://code.google.com/p/itpage/
• Subversion code repository
• Talk list
Demo Site http://demo.itpage.ws/
Promotional Site http://www.itpage.ws/

51. Demo Site – Play around!
NOTE: Demo data resets every day