The overwhelming need to innovate is what is driving all businesses today. Change is inevitable and businesses often ponder about their need to innovate better. No one can appreciate this better than Web Based content businesses. Adding one feature can risk the integrity of the entire content management system!

Bitrix’s extensive research on application integration has resulted in one of the most well architectured and easy to use Content Management Systems (CMS) - the Bitrix Site Manager. This standalone application is pioneering innovative and comprehensive content management solutions for all web based businesses.

Every individual prefers to have his own unique site design and structure that differentiates it from others. The Site Template in Bitrix provides this gamut of capabilities for customizing your own user interface. Let’s say you want to change your site design based on a holiday season, the Edit Site option enable quickly and easily choose any template for any condition. In addition to this it also allows you to apply and showcase some flash based templates too.

The process for the template integration is simple. Use the basic template and place all the sliced images, forms, tables, etc. Transform every functional design element into a working component and step by step replace every image inside the images library. Then using the CSS editor, simply change the style and layout. Now apply the layout to the site and there you go ! Just add the content to the site and your site can be made LIVE without even a single change on any linking required.

This simple process will convert your PSD design into a ready to deploy template in less than 4-5 hours. This means you can change the look of the website on a daily basis for special seasons like Spring, New year, Christmas, etc.

Template Editing

Template Adding

Page Template Adding

To lean more or to test drive a demo, please click here.

It's the first post devoted to template integration. There will be a series of posts about integration.

As content continues to grow within a content management system, many times it’s important for the webmaster to create dynamic pages. Pages that draw content from other data sources. This is easier said than done in HTML – since all you need to do is add the code to each HTML Page.

But imagine if you have 30 pages that require dynamic content to be added – that too continuously. For example, user generated forms for each page. As a webmaster, you’ll go crazy trying to remember the nature of the code on each page ! Multiply this problem many times over when you are working with a database driven site.

This is where Bitrix Site Manager makes building and managing a website so much simpler and easier. Within the Bitrix Site Manager, you can seamlessly add dynamic content like news, articles, forms, blogs, etc just as easily as you would add static content. In fact, the Bitrix Site Manager has an intelligent engine that ensures your content automatically gets placed in appropriate sections once you decide to add content to that particular section. No more moving between the pages to edit any content.

Let's add this post to the news list:

Step 2 - Open the Control Panel, choose the news section

Step 3 - Add the post     

3.1. Specify the active period of the post and its name   

3.2. Add the preview of the post

3.3.  Add the text of the post

Step 4 - Press "Save changes" - the post is added

Let's see it in the public part of the site:

In the news list   

The post in detail       

The manager also allows you to make customized forms that can be attached to any page – new or old. So you don’t need to necessarily create new pages every time. Just make the form, link it to the page and its done !

Of course the advanced indexing engine running in the background makes sure each content item is being indexed in real time for the fastest and most efficient searching ever!

Adding a page

Name the page and change its properties like section name, visuals, etc.

Specifying the properties of the page

Adding the content of the page

To create sections, the user can use the create menu tool to quickly create a section, link it with the menu and set its properties. The menus can be edited within the page for easier site management. New sections in the menus will automatically show up across all the pages of that section.

Modifying the menu

Of course, the problem really arises when you need to delete pages. Especially if they are linked together, or to the menu. Bitrix Site Manager has a unique feature of deleting pages with only 2 clicks – and still retaining the menu linking structure!

The moment each page is saved, the internal indexing engine automatically indexes the content and updates the index table. This allows an instant update into the site’s content searching facility.

Editing the menu sections

Finally, one of the handiest tools is the automatic site map creation. Users don’t need to update the site map, or even request a new map creation. Based on the created site menus – the site map is created in real time.

Having worked with the MS Office throughout my professional life, I only have one complaint from all applications – why can’t they make the UI so intuitive and friendly like that of MS Office?

Well, the Bitrix Site Manager is successfully achieved just that … and more !

Just like a regular Windows desktop, there is a START button that takes me to any section of the site including the various control panel tools and shows the recently visited pages of the control panel. I can even store my favorite or bookmarked sections here for easier tracing. The best part about this design is that when I am working on a particular page or a section, then edits on this page are restricted only to this page or section. Just like in MS Office, files of a particular folder are only restricted to that folder. Changing the files will only change the content of that folder, not the directory.

The WYSIWYG editor is amazing. I can make edits right into the HTML and CSS using a simple pop up window. Almost any part of the code can be edited. Just like MS Word, I can copy text and paste it again to prevent writing it again; I can do exactly the same for similar web pages, sections or even categories. And its as easy as Ctrl C + Ctrl V !

One of the most versatile features of the Bitrix Site Manager is that I can secure my content for the specified user groups. So I can prevent unauthorized viewing to sensitive content on the site. This same engine also allows me to give my premium users access to privileged content. Just like Windows creates a hierarchy of authorized individuals, the Bitrix site manger can create such authorization for users, content creators, authors, etc.

MS Office has always been very user friendly. Part of this lies in easy and intuitive answers to a user’s problem. Like when you move your mouse over a button, a pop up window displays the action that would happen if you click that button. The Bitrix Site Manager has something very similar, as you move your mouse over any button, it intuitively tells you the action and result. This makes the entire experience of using the software all the more simple.

An intricate aspect of any well designed Content Management System is the ability to distribute the different functions of the site vis-à-vis designing, content and browsing. Basically the site needs to have 3 fundamental layers of control.

The Bitrix Site Manager’s well designed framework allows site managers 3 levels of functional control. The first and the simplest is the Browser Level Control. This level is for site users and site testers to ensure the site is easily accessible and content linking and navigation is correct.

The next level is the Content Level Control. This gives your content team the browser based editing functionality. So content creation is no longer restricted by text editors like MS word. Content can be directly written into the page – via the browser. This dramatically saves bandwidth and risk of information loss. 

The utmost control is provided by the Design level. This level is ideal for site managers and web masters to have a holistic control over the site, its navigation, content placement, colors, themes, etc.

Let’s dig a little deeper into each level.

 Browser Level:

This is the face of your site. All users and site visitors see this aspect of your site. They see the menus, the theme, the colors and the navigation. Your site tester can use this level to imitate a user and his experience on your site. This is extremely beneficial since the tester can do nothing from this level that will jeopardize the integrity of your site and its content. However, he can stress test the site for errors and navigational faults.

However, if required, the tester can be given privileges for basic editing. This allows him to make changes quickly without much hassle. This level of control is most suitable for every day edits like news, forums, blogs, etc.

Content Level:

In this level, you can control the site’s content directly from each webpage you visit. This Level is excellent for Content editors who can review content before publishing it online. Special components and modules can be exposed to increase or decrease the level of authority over the site’s content. For each content management function, pop up menus are displayed and they allow a very simplified content editing facility.

All this can be done directly from each page, so the editor does not need to go into the control panel each time for any edit or change.

Design Level:

This is a comprehensive level of control that allows the user complete content and design editing facility. Component configuring is possible with a single drop down menu and there are special component editing modules for the site’s extra features and functions.

Components can be easily copied and replicated to reduce section creation time. In fact, the CSS files can be directly accessed from this mode to allow editing on the site’s design elements as well.

The Debugger gives a complete report on the performance, components used, page generation time, SQL Queries fired, etc. The cache can also be renewed for components.

Control Panel: