Build with Blocks, low level details are highly refined and already in place.
Table of contents
EZ Publish is essentially a 4GL, fourth generation layer, high level database abstraction.
The developers have already taken care of all the lower level details. All anybody besides the seriously unshaven, most hardcore geeks need to know, is how to use and modify content classes. Content classes are the primary bulding blocks. No PHP, no mySQL, maybe a little CSS and html. You get to start with pre-built blocks of various sizes and shapes, not with sand, cement and a mixer.
About 40 content classes are provided straight out of the box, compatible with all modern forms of web communication. See "Add only your unique content" for more on that.
Why would anyone need more?
- Organize the site with meaningful granularity. A distinct class, say a Fishing Report class, even if an exact duplicate of the Article class, improves site organization, and gives meaningful names to the objects that make up the site. An Article is generic, a Fishing Report is exact.
- Tailor the appearance of the final output. Built-in templates can be tweaked to produce exactly the appearance desired for the class. Visual cues can speed site visitors to their preferred locations on your site. If you are reading this sentence, you are in the small minority of web visitors that read more than a headline and sentence or two below the headline. Standard layout positioning can be applied to required fields. Like a Fishing Report class may require latitude and longitude inputs, because the template is set to display a google map in a specific position. Enhanced usability is the result as users become accustomed to looking in specific locations for specific content.
- Permissions can be set class-wide. Creating and editing a Fishing Report class may be restricted to only certain login users. While the Article class is accessible to an entirely different set of users.
Creating new content classes is simple.
The only difficult part is knowing where to start.
In admin Setup->Classes->Class groups..Click Content. Then start the new class from a copy of an existing class using a copy icon, or create an entirely new class from scratch using the "New class" button. Copies are easiest and can save a lot of typing.
Although the topic of creating custom classes may seem to be an advanced use of eZ, it is included in the Basics section with reason. Understanding classes is basic to an understanding of the power of eZ Publish, and creating new classes is easy.
Had enough of the explanation and education? Start experiencing the power for yourself..
