Brix: What’s In It For Me?
Posted by Ben Chinn on July 24th, 2008Paul posted a piece here yesterday introducing the brix CMS which we have released as open source. This is exciting news for the developer community, but what does it mean for the rest of us who may only access a CMS as a user? I’ve been using brix while it’s been in development and have appreciated some great features which I’d like to briefly describe here and which may be coming soon to a web application near you.
A Flexible Multi-Template CMS
Like many CMS brix allows you to run your site off a template that displays different content on each page. In the case of brix, you can set up multiple templates and associate each page of content with any template you choose. You can even have a template that contains other templates. This means that a single site can easily contain pages that have different layouts and designs providing maximum flexibility while maintaining the efficiency of a templated site.
File structure and page edit pane. Click image for larger version and description.
Tiles
In brix every piece of dynamic content is controlled by a tile and each tile is represented by simple tag in a page or template. No messy code, no java or php or xml to clutter up templates and pages, just HTML and tags like <brix:content> or <brix:tile id="foo">. This means that any page can contain any piece of dynamic content, and that content can appear anywhere on the page. In the brix demo there are tiles for display of the current time, and also for a form into which you can enter a ticker symbol and get the current stock quote. You could have both of these bits of content on a single page together, or on different pages surrounded by text or images or whatever. Because dynamic content is a simple modular piece you can use it where you want, how you want.
Creating a new tile in brix. Click image for larger version and description.
Menu configuration panel. Click image for larger version and description.
Snapshots and Prototypes
Ever make a mistake in a CMS? Or want to save the content and configuration of your site before trying out some changes? Snapshots allow you to save the current state of the CMS as a timestamped snapshot including all content, files, and configuration so that you can restore the site to that state later on. A prototype is a snapshot that you can name and that is shared by all sites running the same brix. This feature is great for creating “themes” to be easily installed through the CMS.
WebDAV Access
As good as any CMS can be, it’s still a web based application and the web is not the best interface for editing content. All files and content in the CMS are accessible via webDAV so that you can work in a desktop based text editor rather than a web browser text area. This feature alone makes brix many times more efficient than any other CMS I’ve used.
Those are just a few features that have made brix so great to work with. Although it was a thrill being one of the few people to be able to get my hands dirty working with this tool I’m even happier now that it’s been open sourced and others will have the opportunity to explore, experiment and find useful applications for brix. If you’d like to know more about brix or have any questions about it leave a comment and let me know.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
As another integrator who has worked with the brix system, I am in a unique place to comment early on the software. To elaborate on snapshots, another core, cool faculty is the ability to store the entirety of a web site, that is images, code, styles, html, navigation content, absolutely everything as one single xml file. This means not having to keep track of miscellaneous files and organization, just one file. You can take snapshots at any time, so therefore keep and maintain an entire website at various release or design phases for future reference.
For the webdav functionality, this is another invaluable enhancement, especially for developers. This allows the designer, coder, or content manager to use their editor of choice, including all of that platforms functionality on top of what already exists for brix. So before anyone need lament using a new system, s/he can interface whatever software currently used, and make changes directly to the website’s server within the editor they are using. No copying over, just hit “save”.
The tiles aspect of brix might seem overwhelming, so a simplified analogy: legos. Say you were to build a brilliant navigation structure which in lego amounted to a cool tower, one so awesome you wanted to use it and insert it in several places. With tiles, you can take your lego tower and put it anywhere, you can tweak it say adding spires or anti-aircraft turrets (or subpage navigation or specials areas) then make that into a tile that can be added anywhere in the html with just a simple single tag. Like legos, tiles fit anywhere you want them in the site, even within each other, and they can reference templates and pages for content, making them even more flexible.
These add up to a system that is flexible, embeddable, easily saved and restored, and interfaced with any number of web programs.