If you have been looking for an easy-to-use CMS system that doesn’t require a lot of overhead and can be easily managed, but haven’t been able to find one then this article is for you.
If you are like me, you may be looking for a light weight CMS system. One that doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of more common systems such as Zope, Mambo or a host of others.
That’s because, while these are great systems on their own, in some cases they are just too much. If you only require support for a couple users and don’t want the hassle that sometimes goes with such robust systems then perhaps you need something a little simpler.
I’m talking about using a blogging platform like Moveable Type but with one particular plugin. The plugin is called RightFields and it helps turn your stock Moveable Type blog into a full featured CMS system that just works.
How does it work?
It’s quite simple really. Moveable Type on its own is more or less a content management system, as are most blog platforms.
However for the average user it can be painful and time consuming to add or change fields. And in order to run a CMS system effectively you need to be able to add or remove fields on a regular basis.
That’s where this plugin comes in handy. With it you can quite easily add, remove or modify any field that currently exists.
What do you need to do this?
First, and hopefully most obvious, you will need Moveable Type. It is free for personal use, and they do offer commercial licensing with support.
Once you have downloaded and installed Moveable Type on your web server, I’d suggest installing Plugin Manager. While it is not required, it does make it easier to manage your plugins, including this one.
If everything went smoothly you should have a stock version of Moveable Type with the optional plugin manager installed. Now, simply download and install the new Field Manager plugin and away you go.
What does it offer?
First of all, the conversion isn’t automatic. You are prompted to choose the blog you wish to convert:
And then ensure you do want to convert the standard Moveable Type fields:
In addition to configuring settings for a specific weblog, you can configure the Default Settings for Standard Fields, Extra Fields, or Template Tags for the whole system. These will apply to any weblog that does not have its own specific settings.
Adding Custom Fields
Now it’s time to add custom fields. Before you define the fields and their settings, you need to specify how you want RightFields to store the data entered into the extra fields:
By default, Moveable Type’s own database is used, however you can opt to store the new fields in another SQL database. For this you need to configure the new database manually.
Once you have this decided you can start adding new fields. When you select the default storage method, RightFields will display three new fields under Extra Entry Fields. Enter a name for one of the fields to display settings for the field.
Three new fields will always appear at the end of the list, so to define more than three, simply enter them three at a time and save your changes to get three more.
As with many CMS systems, there are a variety of optional fields to suit your needs including straight text, text area, checkbox, file (for file uploads) and more. Simply add the new field, then give it a name and finally choose the type of field you want. You can also define the field width and the number of characters to display.
Custom MT Tags
Anyone familiar with Moveable Type also knows that MT uses many custom fields such as MTEntryKeywords and MTEntryTags as a representation of the entries keywords and tags. To avoid confusion, RightFields gives you the ability to create similar MT tags for your custom fields.
Simply enter the MT name you want (minus the “MT”) and the field name you’d like it mapped to. Once all your chages are complete, save them and you can begin using your new fields. For more information on using these custom tags check out the developers website.
In the end
RightFields can be a very powerful extension to your Moveable Type installation. Keep in mind, however, that like any CMS some thought and planning must be put into your custom fields before you start adding them. This will save you much time and frustration.
But if you have done it right, you will have a fully functional custom CMS system which rivals many of the free and commercial systems out there.
