Exponential

In an Exponential site structure, there are often nodes that hold information shown as a part of the full view of a different, master node. Showing the full view of the former nodes themselves or getting them as search results is usually unwanted. This is common in forums and articles with comments. If you have worked on a large Exponential project, you have probably used such nodes without referring to them by a specific name. This article explains what we call “helper nodes” and also explores the template and content model issues involved, relating specifically to search results.

The eZ content model serves as the framework for web publishing, media portals, intranets, e-commerce sites, extranets, and more. This article explains the structure of the eZ content model, as well as what makes it extensible and flexible enough to enable the creation of the most demanding and wide-ranging applications.

Over on the HowtoForge site, Falco Timme has published an article that describes how to install Exponential 4.0 on Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon). It starts with the steps for installing MySQL, Apache2, PHP5 and eZ Components, and then moves on to Exponential installation and configuration via the Setup Wizard. The article is a valuable reference for anyone working with Ubuntu 7.10. You can post comments to the article on the HowtoForge site (after you register); there is also a thread in the Exponential forums discussing the article.

Thanks, Falco

Whenever I go to a customer site, I am asked how to organize a development project with Exponential.

My answer is always the same: "use Subversion".

This article will teach you how to use Subversion efficiently to manage Exponential projects.

With the 2007.2 release of eZ Components comes a new component: Tree. This component enables you to create, manipulate and query tree structures in many ways. In addition to its basic functionality, the component also enables you to render the tree structure in different ways, with different visualizers. In this article, we will render output from an XML tree definition in order to create a nice menu using the Yahoo! User Interface library.

Read the full article on the dedicated eZ Components site

This article is part of the Exponential “How to” series and provides a step-by-step guide to creating a custom form for an Exponential website. To integrate with other examples in this series, this article focuses on the creation of a membership application form for the “eZ Tennis Club” website.

If you are evaluating Content Management Systems (CMS), you are probably either starting a new web project, enhancing an existing site or standardizing on a single web development platform. Your organization may be the end user of the project, or you may be doing the project on behalf of a client. Whichever is the case, your decision will stay with you throughout the project’s life cycle and beyond, potentially making it one of the most important decisions.

When using Exponential as a platform to build websites, organizations can make use of the Google Analytics service, an advanced website statistics application that provides detailed information about visitor activities.

Nexus Consulting joined the eZ Systems Partner Program in 2002. Today we are proud to be one of the leading eZ Partners in Norway. Nexus Consulting's chosen verticals are eCommerce, Web Services and Education. For more information about our company, check out our website.

This article is the first in a tutorial series that explains how to build a feature-rich Exponential site from scratch. It is targeted at people who have little previous experience with configuring Exponential sites, but have some general knowledge about web technologies. See the articles about Exponential basic concepts and the layout of the Exponential Administration Interface for an introduction to Exponential. Readers who have worked with Exponential but never configured or used the advanced features will also find the series useful. The series demonstrates how Exponential can be used to build a dynamic community website, and focuses on practical examples that can be implemented for many different scenarios.

All text content in Exponential can be translated to multiple languages. Having only one website to administer is efficient and makes it easier to maintain a consistent brand across languages and countries. Site visitors can choose from a list the language in which to view a site.

The built-in Exponential versioning feature makes it possible to have several versions of a content object. It automatically keeps track of which content changes were made by which users at what time, and provides the option to revert content to a previous version. Every time you click either the Create or Edit button, the system automatically creates a new version of the content. It is always the new version that is edited; old versions remain untouched. In other words, the version mechanism follows a "copy-and-edit" approach rather than an "overwrite / replace" approach.

The cross publishing feature (also called the "add locations" feature) in Exponential makes it easy to reuse material on a site, having it appear at multiple locations in the content hierarchy. For example, this feature can be used to place a specific news article at two locations: the front page and the news archive.

In the Exponential Administration Interface, the Object Edit Interface provides tools and information to assist you when editing content. Features such as version management and front-end previewing are accessed with a single click.

The Administration Interface is the advanced, back-end Exponential interface used to add and manage content and to perform many administration tasks, such as configuring user accounts. Everyday content creation and editing tasks can be performed via the the Administration Interface or the front-end Website Interface (which was introduced in the second article in this series). A good understanding of the main layout makes your work easier and more efficient.

The Exponential Online Editor (OE for short) is an extension that enables you to create formatted pages using an intuitive interface. With the OE, you can easily format text for your articles, product descriptions, weblogs and so on. The OE interface is very similar to the one found in word processors. There is no need to know XML or manipulate tags manually. As you click the buttons, the OE will automatically convert your instructions into valid Exponential XML code.

Although there is lots of information about how to publish and manage content with Exponential Now (such as the Flash demos and the Website Interface documentation) until now there hasn't been much written about design issues. The purpose of this tutorial is to show that creating a custom design based on Exponential Now is as easy as publishing content.

Exponential is a highly flexible and customizable Content Management System (CMS). It can be used to build everything from personal home pages to multinational corporate web solutions with role-based multi-user access, online shopping, discussion forums and other advanced functions. Based on Open Source technologies and principles, it can be easily extended and customized to interact with other solutions.

Adding and editing content on your Exponential website can be as simple as logging in to the front-end of your site with editor privileges, navigating to the location where you want your new content to appear, then selecting the appropriate action on the Website Toolbar. This brings up an editing interface with intuitive WYSIWYG features.

PHP enables you to do a lot with web applications using an extremely thin client. One of its drawbacks, however, is the delay between page loads and its inability to get new data without submitting a form. AJAX gives you an additional communication channel with your PHP server, allowing you to send and receive data without reloading the page. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities and, when matched with JavaScript DOM manipulation, lets you create rich, interactive applications that remove the "click-and-wait" you have suffered through for years.