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An Introduction to Concrete5 CMS — Part II

Sufyan bin Uzayr — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:00:32 +0000

In the previous article, we took an introductory look at Concrete5 as a CMS. In this follow-up part, we shall learn about the salient features of the CMS and learn to accomplish common tasks using its admin panel.

IMPLEMENTING Concrete5

The Dashboard

Just like WP, Concrete5 also has its own Dashboard. Once you login to the admin panel, you will see it. The Dashboard gives you access to site updates and traffic stats. There is also a widget that lets you search the official documentation for help. Finally, a basic but nifty note taker widget is also available.

Adding Users and User Groups

You will need to navigate to the Users and Groups tab in order to add new users and/or groups. The process is simple – you simply need to specify a username, an email address and optionally upload an avatar image. In order to create groups, you need to mention the group’s name and description. User privileges can be specified after a group is created. If you intend to create a temporary group, you can also set a date and time for automatic deletion of that group.

Managing Appearance and Layout

Concrete5 offers many themes in its repository, both paid and free. In the Theme Options page, you can see a list of all the installed themes and templates. With each theme, there are options such as ‘Inspect’, ‘Preview’, ‘Customize’, ‘Install/Uninstall’, and ‘Activate’. Inspect lets you verify the integrity of the theme files (compare it to MD5checksum) while Customize allows you to manually modify CSS and other style sheets.

The default page types (or templates) are Blog Entry, Full Width, Left Sidebar and Right Sidebar. Full Width offers a simple one column layout. Blog Entry page type is automatically activated for the blog section of the website. You can merge the Sidebar page types to create multiple columned pages. Special pages such as Sitemap.xml and Contact forms have their own separate types and templates (yes, Concrete5 offers native support for Sitemaps and Contact forms and you do not need to separately install plugins yourself).

Plus, Concrete5 makes it very easy to edit the meta data (such as HTML tag) without the use of any code. In the Attributes section, you can simply specify the text for pre-defined meta tags.

Addons and Plugins, Maintenance and Tweaks

Concrete5 comes with pre-installed addons such as support for embedded SWF files, RSS feedburner as well as native support for video playback (AVI, WMV, QuickTime/MPEG4, FLV, Youtube URL). However, you can easily install additional themes and addons from the Add Functionality tab. Themes and addons can either be installed by performing a search (which queries the default repository and any custom repositories that you specify), or by uploading a ZIP file from the admin interface or via FTP. (alternatively, you can also provide the URL to the theme or addon).

Concrete5 offers automated backups that you can schedule (the file is saved on the server itself). You can also encrypt the backups if you so desire, using the System and Maintenance Tab.

Overall Settings

In WordPress, how do you make your website load faster? By using a caching plugin, perhaps? In Concrete5, you technically do the same – but in this case, you don’t really use a plugin! Concrete5 comes with inbuilt caching support for faster page loading. You can setup caching in the Sitewide Settings section. By default, basic caching should suffice for a regular website. However, for the blog section and other dynamic content, you may consider activating Full Caching. You can also tweak the admin interface and add or remove the toolbars. Needless to say, such native functionality goes a long way in making the CMS nimble and light-weight.

Still not happy with the goodies? Concrete5 also comes with a basic email settings management section. You can either use the Default PHP Mail() Function, or the External SMTP server (in the latter case, you’ll need to provide additional settings). However, as far as my guess goes, you’d probably prefer reading your mails in your desktop mail client and/or GMail account and thus, Concrete5 need not be bothered with the same.

You may also block or whitelist users and visitors on the basis of IP addresses for the sake of security (mischief?).

Thus, on a concluding note, Concrete5 is an awesome CMS if you are looking for easy customization along with security for your website. If you wish to try it before downloading, you can visit the demo site here. And finally, you can explore additional features of Concrete5 in this video:

concrete5 – scrapbook and page type defaults from concrete5 on Vimeo.

An Introduction to Concrete5 CMS — Part I

Sufyan bin Uzayr — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:59:31 +0000

When we talk of CMS, the options are plenty. For a start, we can opt for some of the biggest names in the game – WordPress, Drupal or Joomla! However, in this article, we shall take a look at one of the fastest growing and light-weight CMS, that is, Concrete5. Since this is Part I of the two-part series, we shall be familiarizing ourselves with the CMS by taking a look at each of its menus. In the concluding part, we shall delve into deeper details.

A BEGINNER’S PRIMER TO Concrete5

Overview

Concrete5 is an extremely easy to use CMS that has a fairly simple mode of operation and can be employed to power various genres of websites, including blogs, portfolios and enterprise sites. It comes with a WYSIWYG Editor and in-context editing toolbars, along with drag and drop support, native Flash support as well as Youtube, Google Analytics and Google Maps integration. Not satisfied yet? Well, Concrete5 also offers native SEO in the form of clean URLs, RSS syndication and pre-formatted dynamic HTML tags.

Getting Started

To begin with, you will need to download Concrete5 from here. If you are not into coding or manual installs, fear not – there is also a one-click installer file.

Once you login to Concrete5, you will be presented with the sample page of the website and a toolbar on top. Concrete5 boasts of its WYSIWYG abilities and thus, you won’t take time in noticing that the entire page and all of its components can be edited simply by selecting and/or clicking on them. Neat, isn’t it?

Interface

If you have been a WordPress user, you won’t take much time in getting used to the admin area of Concrete5, except for the few additional features that are otherwise not part of the native WP installation. The major tabs in Concrete5 are as follows:

Sitemap: This section gives you access to, well, the Sitemap! Also, you can have a bird’s eye view of your entire website including taking a look at files and scripts. Note that you cannot modify any files/scripts from here.

File Manager: File Manager lets you update the files and directories. You can upload, download and modify or remove files and directories. Further more, you can perform functions such as backup and/or restore. Interestingly, Concrete5 lets you set attributes and access permissions on the fly! Just select a file for modification, and its attributes and access permissions shall be highlighted by default!

Reports: This section contains data collected via forms and logs. By default, Concrete5 creates a log of daily activity (and a special log for error messages). Of course, you can specify the frequency of maintaining logs as well as alter the time limit for which data from logs and forms is to be retained.

Users and Groups: Users and Groups let you manage the user accounts associated with your website. Just like WordPress, in Concrete5 as well, you can sub-divide the user accounts into groups such as Administrators, Editors, Contributors, Subscribers, and so on, thereby restricting the level of access that each user group has to the website’s content.

Scrapbook: Scrapbook lets you maintain a record of your notes for personal reference as well as sharing them with other users. The content you save in Scrapbook does not go public on the website (unless you install a script that makes it publicly visible). Personally, I find the Scrapbook ideal for keeping reminders and making notes while developing the website. You can also selectively provide access to users or user groups for each Scrapbook. As long as the available system memory allows, you can have an unlimited number of scrapbooks.

Pages and Themes: This section lets you tweak the look and feel as well as layout of your website. You may compare it with Appearance menu in WP. Concrete5 comes with 3 pre-installed themes, while more can be downloaded from the website itself. The number and quality of themes in the repository is good, though obviously Premium/Paid themes do not match those available for WordPress.

Add Functionality: Nothing too grand here — you can install custom themes and addons or plugins (extensions) from the admin panel itself. Alternatively, you can also FTP the required files and they will automatically show up in this section.

System and Maintenance: This section provides options such as backup, cleaning cache files, updating Concrete5 and other site-wide settings.

Sitewide Settings: You can tweak the security of your website here by specifying rules for user login, comment moderation, etc. Further more, you can also setup features such as RSS feed if you are hosting a blog.

With this, we come to the end of Part I of this two-part series. I hope you’ve liked what you’ve seen about Concrete5 so far. In the next part, we shall take a closer look under the hood and learn how to accomplish general tasks using Concrete5. If, however, you can’t wait for the next part, feel free to give Concrete5 a spin yourself by downloading it from here. Be sure to let us know your experiences in the comments!

Ten Alternatives to WordPress as a Blogging CMS

Sufyan bin Uzayr — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:00:37 +0000

We all know that WordPress is an awesome Content Management System cum Blogging Platform. In fact, it is also the most popular blogging tool all over the internet. Name any other CMS – WordPress eats them all out for lunch!

However, as a web designer/developer/enthusiast, being knowledgeable about an extra CMS doesn’t really hurt much. In fact, it always helps to have an extra CMS among your tools of trade.

In this article, we shall take a look at some of the worthy alternatives to WordPress as a blogging tool.

But before we go any further, here is a disclaimer: this round-up solely mentions CMSs that are/can explicitly be used as blogging tools. Therefore, wonderful choices such as Joomla are left out. Of course, Joomla can be and oftentimes is used as a blogging platform, but the CMS itself does not cater to blogs in particular.

So, without further ado, let us take a look at some of the worthy alternatives to WP.

Drupal

Who hasn’t heard of Drupal? No, seriously, who hasn’t? Drupal is arguably the closest competitor to WordPress, both in terms of usage and community activity. Drupal has been around for quite some time, is backed by a plethora of themes and plugins, and has a very loyal user base. For years, Drupal has held the reputation of being ‘the developer’s CMS’. However, of late, Drupal releases have laid emphasis on ease of use, and the latest version of Drupal comes with a WYSIWYG Editor and an enhanced level of abstraction.

Movable Type

Movable Type is a CMS written in Perl. So if you have to use a PHP-based CMS, Movable Type should not be on your list. Otherwise, if you are planning to power a blog or a magazine website, Movable Type is surely a worthy option. It is available both as open source as well as commercial options.

Textpattern

Textpattern is another worthy blogging tool. It boasts of a very active and friendly community base and is backed by active development. Furthermore, Textpattern aims to strike an ideal balance between usability and extendability. As a designer, you will never run short of options to tweak your blog and as a blogger, you will always find your blog safe and sound.

Expression Engine

Expression Engine is a rare breed of blogging tool cum CMS options. For a start, its tagline is awesome – Publish your Universe! – not that the tagline matters in deciding which CMS to use. :-)

On a serious note, Expression Engine packs all the features that you can ever seek in a blog, and also provides you with amazing support. Plus, its user base, though comparatively smaller, consists of many leading names from their respective fields. On the downside, Expression Engine is not a free software.

Habari

Habari is a robust and versatile blogging tool that is under steady development. While the number of themes and extensions is fairly limited as compared to WordPress, Habari is loved and used by many loyal fans, and is surely a CMS to consider when looking for WP alternatives.

Wolf CMS

Wolf CMS is a PHP-based open source CMS licensed under GPL v3. To be on the safer side, don’t bother considering Wolf CMS for super large websites. The CMS has been built keeping ease of use and simplicity in mind – and it does just that! It can surely power your personal blog, or your portfolio, but it is definitely not meant for a large news site.

b2Evolution

Just in case you don’t already know it, WordPress evolved from b2. And so did b2Evolution! Does this make b2Evolution a long-lost cousin of WordPress? Perhaps.

But if you are looking for a blogging tool that can be used to power multiple blogs in one installation (and, just in case you’re bothered, shares the same lineage as WP), b2Evolution might suit your purpose. The CMS supports all the basic features you can seek in a blog, and is also backed by a decent sized plugin repository.

Geeklog

Geeklog is a blogging tool that supports multiple syndication formats, trackbacks and other features that are required in a blog. Just like WP, Geeklog is also fast growing into a CMS rather than just a blogging tool. However, it lags way behind WordPress in terms of community support, availability of themes and, above all, ease of use. The extensions repository is good, and Geeklog overall seems to be a secure CMS, though its user-friendly element can definitely use a makeover.

Concrete5

Concrete5 is a popular CMS that is rising in terms of both usage and application. While it is more of a full fledged CMS and is thus better comparable with the likes of Joomla rather than WordPress, Concrete5 comes with dedicated settings for a blog, including native support for RSS feeds, Sitemaps and scheduled posts.

Zazavi

Zazavi is a relatively newer player in this field. It features a WYSIWYG Editor and a drag-and-drop interface that is extremely easy to use. Simply type in your post, use the Editor to format it, and off you go! With Zazavi, you can get a website up and running with virtually no coding skills required whatsoever!

With that, we come to the end of this round-up. Of course, when looking for alternatives to any software, the options are many. In such cases, personal preferences also play a vital role – what works for you, might not work for the other person, and vice-versa. For instance, I’ve so far used Movable Type and am happy with it, though some of its users have felt the urge to migrate to Melody CMS, a fork of MT.

Knowing an extra CMS or two doesn’t hurt, but at the same time, it makes little sense to sacrifice productivity for the sake of it. if WordPress works well for you, and you are extremely happy with it, there is no point in leaving it for any other software. However, even in such a case, we can explore a new software just for the fun of it, can’t we?

Have you used any/all of the above CMSs? Got a CMS you think deserves a mention here? Do let me know in the comments!

Featured image is from Shutterstock, copyright by Marco Rullkoetter.

5 Simple Ways to Get Your Work Out There

Carina Santos — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 07:03:21 +0000

One of the hardest things to do when starting out as a designer is to get your name and work out into the world. It can be an intimidating feat, as more designers are popping up all over the globe, but here are a few things you can do to get people interested in your work.

1. Keep a blog or online portfolio.

“Misha” by Dan Matutina for GOOD Magazine
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This is a cause for argument, but putting your work up online is one of the easiest, most immediate ways to circulate your work. Dan Matutina, or Twisted Fork, says that a lot of his work were commissioned because of the samples he posted on his website and Behance portfolio. Clients stumbled upon his work, were impressed and hired him.

While you run the risk of copycats, chances are you will get to reach someone you might not get to meet otherwise. It helps if you actually get your stuff out there. If you’re not comfortable yet, try uploading 400-pixel wide “screenshots” of your work up on Dribbble.

Setting up blogs is easy and free. See what happens when you do.

2. Create and cultivate passion projects.

“Self Portrait” by Mark Weaver
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From March 2008 to December 2009, Mark Weaver created Make Something Cool Every Day, a collection of exercises. This helped him work on his style and get people interested in him and his work. Another designer, Nicole Meyer, started Branding 10,000 Lakes, which was circulated quite a bit last year.

“Woodpile Lake” by Nicole Meyer
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These projects challenge you as a designer, and you end up creating output even on your downtime. Plus, when you generate buzz for these fun personal projects, you also pique a widespread interest towards your other design work.

3. Go to design workshops, galleries, and events.

Networking is a big and important part of this line of work. Getting to know similarly-minded people will not only help your growth as a designer, but also helps you create ties with the current scene in your area.

When someone respectable gets to know what you can do, and can vouch for you and your work, it will go a long way, in terms of support, credibility, and circulation.

4. Make a business card.

A common argument may be that the main source of communication these days is done over some digital means. But this doesn’t mean that business cards are obsolete.

Put your contact information, website or portfolio on these babies and hand them out at gatherings, events and parties. After a busy night of socializing, it will help new acquaintances and potential clients attach a name to a face. It also puts your contact information—literally—right at their fingertips.

“Fitzgerald Business Cards” by The Heads of State
View Source

You the Designer recently posted 35 Quality Business Card Design Templates to get you started. Look through these You the Designer posts for even more inspiration.

5. Get to know people outside your field.

Once you’ve established connections with the people in your own industry, branch out and meet other people from different walks of life. Small business, enterprising individuals, and companies outside the creative bubble need design services, too!

It’s a big world out there, and it may be tough for you to start out, but these steps will help you at least get your name out there, ready for possibilities.

5 Places for Graphic Designers to Find Inspiration

Cadence Wu — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 08:00:39 +0000

We designers are always on the lookout for inspiration. We often find it in unlikely places. A splash of paint on a kindergartner’s overalls can be just what it takes to transform an ordinary project into something extraordinary. The way the sunlight reflects off the surface of a body of water may be the exact image we want to create in our own work.

We draw inspiration from the world around us, sprinkling subtle references to the people we encounter and the moments we experience on a daily basis. Having said that, it’s not always easy for us to find fresh sources of inspiration, especially when deadlines are looming in the horizon. For those moments when you need inspiration and fast, here are five places that you may find valuable in terms of sparking your creativity (aside from this blog, of course!):

· Street Art.

Ranging in skill from novice to professional, street artists have a style all their own. They take ordinary objects like brick buildings and steel and transform them into extraordinary works of art. Walk around your city and find a few pieces of street art that speak to you as a designer. Snap a picture of the poster or graffiti in question. You’ll want to refer back to it, especially because it could be gone the next day. It’s the type of art that is temporary and easily dismissed by the public as unimportant.

· Exciting Textures and Colors.

You never know when you’re going to run across an object that gets your creative juices flowing. That’s why it’s important to collect samples wherever you go. Carry a freezer bag in your purse or backpack so you can gather items discreetly. Pick up fabric and paint swatches, food wrappers, take-out menus, and business cards. Use them to inspire your own designs.

· Foreign Packaging.

Step outside your comfort zone and shop specialty food stores for ideas. The packaging is usually bright and unusual. Select the item that is most visually appealing to you. Consume the product but hang onto to the box, can or wrapper so you can refer to it often.

· Music.

The right song can inspire you to design in a way you are yet to explore. That’s why it’s important to change things up often. If you’re used to listening to one style of music, break outside the box and listen to another. This can motivate to create in a completely different way than ever before.

· Architecture.

Study the buildings in your community. What elements appeal the most to you in terms of design? See if you can recreate them in your own work. Some of the most brilliant designers were architects. You can learn a lot from the structures that they created.

Got your own list of real places around you to look for design inspiration? Share it with everyone here!

How to Hype a T-Shirt Design on the Web

Guest Blogger — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:00:04 +0000

Creating a signal in the midst of all the noise in the t-shirt industry is not an easy thing to do. It is highly competitive, very fragmented, and saturated with varying styles and tastes. Yet everywhere we turn, we are practically bombarded with messages about the need to build hype to get exposure. Unfortunately, you can’t just create the artwork and watch the promotion build itself. In this article we’ll look at some key strategies that t-shirt designers can use to build hype on the internet for their t-shirt design.

Social Like Never Before

The first major step in hyping your design is blowing it up on the social channels. You have different sets of friends on different social networks that you can pitch the design to. This obviously includes Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and any other design related forums on the web. You want to begin a conversation about the design’s inspiration, its intentions, and what you plan to achieve with it as a finished product. This information creates a story that people can get behind and follow. Surprisingly, the first step begins long before the design is finalized.

Works In Progress

One very important concept in the marketing push that is often overlooked, is to begin promoting your design while it is still just a work in progress. Start talking about it early and often to build the buzz! Ideally you’ll want your friends and followers anticipating its release, not merely reacting after it comes out. Take note of your supporters that are helping to foster the conversation and make sure those are the first to be notified of the final result.

Your Own Internet Real Estate

If you’re like many designers, you probably have your own website or blog as well. Naturally you’ll want to post your latest design as it progresses. Showing your work as it matures draws people in like a story….they want to see the evolution and what comes next. Again go ahead and make sure to leave requests for Facebook likes and Twitter retweets, etc. Having the necessary links and social buttons on your site will make it much easier for your visitors to oblige you and spread the signal.

Check Your Ego At The Login

The hardest part about self-promotion is leaving the ego and sensitivity behind. Some people view this process as throwing yourself out there to the wolves. This is hardly the case. You should find the whole process more rewarding than it is condemning. Be confident in your design but not cocky. You should want to receive constructive criticism and suggestions because it always helps to have other sets of eyeballs for opinions. Be persistent but not overbearing. You’ll want to give your design a fair chance by pushing it to the masses but you don’t want to shove it down their throat. Find a happy medium for how often you should mention your design in the social stream.

Submit for Critiques

Everybody loves to be a critic. Most people won’t even comment unless they can flex their “critical” muscles and show you just how much they know (or don’t for that matter). There are actually sites that encourage you to submit your artwork for viewing, critiquing or selling. Such sites include:

These sites make it easy to promote your shirts because they are targeted to like-minded creatives who are often very eager to make purchases or provide feedback.

Scratch Their Back, They’ll Scratch Yours

Another very important hype building strategy is to reach out to t-shirt bloggers. The t-shirt blogging community is huge and having your design picked up and shared by the t-shirt blogging world is a great way to get thousands of viewers looking at your design as well as building credibility and respect for your design and brand since most of these bloggers are trusted and respected by their readers. So how do you get the t-shirt bloggers to post announcements of your releases and/or images of the designs? Very often you can accomplish this simply by emailing them or contacting them through their contact forms. After all most t-shirt bloggers are constantly on the look out for real event t-shirt news to write about.

A short list of t shirt bloggers that are great for helping you launch your work are:

Andy at Hide Your Arms
Kelly at Tee Gazette
Alan at Rude Retro
Rangga at Cottonable

However, the best strategy for reaching out to the t-shirt bloggers is to actually develop a relationship with them. Subscribe to their blogs. Visit their site regularly and comment on posts that you find interesting and engaging. Let them get to know you and see that you have something to give back to them and their readers. Then when you want to announce your latest release it will be much more warmly received. If it’s feasible for you, consider offering a discount to their readers.

Design, Rinse, Repeat

The internet is a huge place and it’s easy for your design to slip through the cracks and never be seen; however, the internet’s size can also work to your advantage. It provides you the platform to build up hype and momentum and reach out to potential buyers who would otherwise never have known you even existed. Create a system that works best for you and continually try to improve upon that process. If the old adage is true – any publicity is good publicity – then your design will be a success in no time!

About the Author

Blake runs ops at You Design It, a custom t shirt printing company. He enjoys designing t-shirts on the side and doing web development work. You can follow him on Twitter as @youdesignit.