Bruce Whealton: On Being a Poet and Other Existential Ideas

I am going to try to explain, in terms that are not to technical or boring to poets, what Joomla is, what a Content Management System is,  and why I chose that to publish Word Salad.  Joomla is a Content Management System (CMS).  There are many different CMS that have been developed.  For this discussion, I won’t get overly technical or pedantic about why I chose Joomla over other CMS or what makes Joomla a good CMS.  Instead I’ll just explain what a CMS is and why I thought it would be good for Word Salad.  A CMS is different than the original static websites that represent the way web sites were designed and developed from the beginning.  A static website is made up of static web pages, that is pages that do not have any interactivity and the content on each page does not change.  To update a static site, one either edits existing files or creates new files – when I say files, I mean web pages.  A CMS system creates the pages dynamically from information, aka data or content that is in a database.

Updating a CMS involves entering information into form fields just like entering an email message on the web or using a social networking site, like facebook.com, or updating a blog.  The software takes the information that is in the database and displays it to the user when a page is requested.  All the stories, data, content, or information is saved in the database.  New content can be added to the website without having to create and edit web pages and then upload them for each and every edit, change or update.  So, this is what we call a dynamic website.  Dynamic websites are contrasted with static websites, by allowing in the dynamic website user interactionwith the site, new and fresh content can be added as often as desired.  The presentation in Joomla, which is the name of the CMS application that I chose for Word Salad, is controlled by Templates.  By changing the template, which can be done by just making a simple selection using the administration software, and you change the entire layout and presentation of the content on the site.

This makes it easy to update the site without having to start from scratch with a new design.  By selecting different templates the entire look of the site can be changed whenever desired.  While, Word Salad, the publication, is only updated, or published with a new issue, and new content, once every 3 months, there is still a great benefit to being able to update, edit and create content in this fashion, without having to ever start from scratch as it were.  In addition, for community sites, like “Poet’s Place” where users can update the site content as often as desired or whenever someone wants to contribute to the community, this can be done by anyone registered at the site, and as often as desired.

Poet’s Place is an online community website that I created some time back.  Please visit the site here:  http://WordSaladPoetryMagazine.com/PoetsPlace/
to join the community.  What you do is click on the link, “Register/Join the Community” from the menu on the left.  It will ask for your name, username, password, and an email address.  That’s all it takes to join.  You’ll get an email asking you to confirm your registration and when you click on the link, you are instantly a part of the community.  You can post articles, news, announcements, web links, and more.  There is even a place to share your own poetry and get feedback.

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