Here is some background information about the Content Management System (CMS) that we are implementing for Blender.org. It is based on the GPL CMS Typo3 with some custom extensions.
Without going into too much detail, here are some of the major reasons for choosing a CMS:
- Delegation of Content Management - Maintaining a large site is a lot of work and we can't do it alone. Since Blender is Open Source, it makes sense to 'Open' parts of the website as well. By implementing a CMS, volunteers can take charge of maintaining a specific website section. We expect that this will result in websites with higher-quality content that is updated with a higher frequency than the current situation.
- Building a stronger website framework - The Blender Foundation websites are growing into a collection of database driven scripts that have little coherence. In order to be ready for the future, we need a solid foundation to build our websites on. This foundation includes a consolidated management interface (or: one admin screen), scalability and caching (let's try to survive Slashdot a bit better next time!), decentralized management (see above) and a powerful framework for website extensions.
This document shows some of the aspects of editing websites with TYPO3 and focuses on the two new sections of Blender3d.org that are currently under development: the Python Download and Websites section.
The work is not ready and there's always room for improvement, so please send us your feedback.
