This has a few implications - an efficient design methodology is for you to first create your section and category hierarchy in a way that mimics your website’s navigational hierarchy. Once that’s done, you can start putting content into your categories. And once that’s done, you can make the menus that your users will click to get to your content. And remember - the menu determines the format.

This is a powerful approach in that you’re separating content from presentation, something that computer types get all excited about. Your content is your content — the menu parameters determine how it’s presented, and what modules will be shown.

Which brings me to, you guessed it, modules. Modules are the fluff that goes along with a webpage and add value to it — search, most recent items, stuff like that. The modules that are shown on a page are dependent on the menu that your user used to get to the page.

Again, this is a powerful approach, and again, it separates content from presentation. For example, you might have one menu that takes you to all of your news items, arranged newest to oldest, and with a search box shown. You might have another menu item that takes you to the most five recent news items, with a search box and a box of archives. Same content, different presentation.

So, to recap: Mambo fosters a bottom-up approach in which you create content first, decide how you want to present it second, and finally, set up menus to let the user access that presentation. This is a bit different from the way I’m accustomed to working, but it's got a ton of power.

Comments

Very interesting... and quite helpful thanks and keep up the work! Written by Guest on February 21, 2005 12:43 AM

Thanks! After fiddling with Mambo for a bit, this confirms and reinformces what I was familar with. Now where can I get more instruction on this? Written by Guest on February 21, 2005 9:25 AM

Good start. I'd suggest some discussion on the difference between hierarchical content and static content. This remains a confusing issue. Thanks for putting this together. 
 
I'd recommend the commentor above me to check out the very thorough tutorial here. Note that the screens will look moniorly different if you have the latest version installed. This tutorial and screenshots is for 4.5.1a and the latest release is 4.5.2.1. A few of the items in the menus have been moved around but you'll quickly find this to be a real intuitive thing.Written by Guest on February 23, 2005 5:42 AM

Excellent article, you may want to note how the adminstrator module is structure from lowest level content management on the right to full administration module on the left...making it quite intuitive for non-techy admins.Written by Guest on February 24, 2005 11:42 PM

Above mentioned tutorial has now been updated for 4.5.2  
http://www.netshinesoftware.com/mambo-tutorial.htmlWritten by Guest on March 1, 2005 3:19 PM

The more I read about mambo teh better it sounds. The only negative that I could find is that most of the add modules are in their infancy (compared to the rich 3rd party support of PostNuke). Still, I've made up my mind to go for Mambo...wherever that road may take me!! 
 
Now if only I could fulle integrate my phpBB v. 2.0.11 forum. Written by Guest on March 4, 2005 9:06 AM

I'm finding that the way it handles modules and components is weird ... modules are only for blocks on the site ... but if you want content that is PHP-enabled, then you need a component.Written by Guest on March 9, 2005 8:18 PM

Thank you for explaining the section/component heirachy - I couldn't figure that one out!Written by Guest on March 19, 2005 9:15 AM

Been using mambo for weeks now. Also Mambo-SMF Forum http://mamboforge.net/projects/mambo-smf/ 
I love it!Written by Guest on May 2, 2005 9:47 AM

Very nice explanation! For more Mambo tips, there's a new thread in the "tips & tricks" - http://forum.mamboserver.com/showthread.php?t=43240Written by Guest on May 11, 2005 9:38 AM

The shame is that the doc is dreadfull 
what a hell compared to site managerWritten by Guest on May 11, 2005 2:46 PM

Thanks. This clarified things.Written by Guest on June 4, 2005 9:17 AM

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