Let's avoid reinventing the wheel…

20051007, filed on code, php, ruby on rails

After reading the other day that famous article, The Cathedral and the Bazaar, I started to have things running inside my mind… that is… thoughts mumbling and mumbling inside… Also I am working with few opensource projects related to cms publishing and editing, and I am a bit fed up of practices like the ones I commented on this article.

Also as I have commented several times, I want to get started on ruby on rails. I have some personal projects in mind that I think would benefit of having a good cms. If it is written with ruby on rails framework, it can be even better - a good moment to get started on it.

So the question is: do you guys know a good cms with ruby on rails?

I mean, a cms. Not a blogging software - it is different.

If there's not such a thing (I haven't found anything while searching for that on google and cms forums), I am interested in build one which would have features like these ones:

Clean separation of content and behaviour (should use templates)
The templates should be very similar to smarty style templates
Should generate clean (x)html
A visual online editor would be nice. Enough <tags> when coding ;)
Should not depend on any database (like using Adodb with php)
Easy to add features (the so called modules)
Object oriented programmed. Unable to define things in the global namespace, that is - complicated to break other modules code (although i think this can be immediate achieved if using ruby on rails)
Quick and efficient. I don't mean hacker code which is impossible to understand, though. Meaningful. Logical.
Something like the postnuke's permission system would be nice. It would be nicer if it was simpler and easier to understand.
Multilanguage support
Easy to maintain: install, uninstall, update
Connectivity with other systems: this is basicly things like rss, pings, ajax, etc… (i wanted to add a bit of buzzwords to this…). That would allow to play with the information of the cms with different interfaces, as for example flash.
A non programmer should be able to manage things in the system given a publisher account, without reading any manual. This stands for not using jargon or unintuitive interfaces.
And last but not least: I would like it to be documented in proper english, properly indexed. I want to understand the documentation, not to look for documentation to the documentation. And the documentation is not running an script and generating documents from the source code.

Any suggestion?

Any volunteer for this (if there's not such cms in the market)? Please do not say: I would help but I don't know how to code/design. Then just say: I would love to test it and provide you with the most delightful set of test reports ever seen. That is helpful.

// 12 responses to Let's avoid reinventing the wheel…

humphr3y 20051007: I would love to test it and provide you with the most delightful set of test reports ever seen.
vale asi? :)
sole 20051007: es perfecto, solo queda encontrarlo o programarlo :D
te lo quedarias para tu blog? X)
sole 20051007: Ok, I have found an smarty-like template engine for ruby on rails: http://canny.sourceforge.net/
We have something ;)
humphr3y 20051007: creo que antes que el blog tengo q hacer una maqueta de indesign de algo que…. XD
herotyc 20051007: I would help and I know how to code/design.
sole 20051007: humphrey: shhhht! don\'t remind me it !!! ;)
sole 20051007: Another interesting discussion about ruby cms: http://wiki.rubyonrails.com/rails/pages/Ruby+on+Rails+based+CMS
sin 20051008: So far you\'ve enumerated the requirements you would like the software to meet, but you haven\'t said anything about what you want to do with that software (that is, the REAL requirements). What kind of content do you want to manage? I mean, your requirements will not be the same if you intend to publish photographs, news reports, or papers containing legal proceedings, than if you publish simple articles or short stories. The requirements will also change if you want more users to be able to handle content. Just as they will be different if you have a staff of 30 writing an average of 60 articles a day or just you writing every now and then.
The choice of a content manager should not be made by how pretty the docs generated from the source look, but by how well does it fit your needs.
It doesn\'t matter how good or expensive a CMS (*cringe*) is but if it doesn\'t allow you to put captions to photographs (believe it or not this is based on a real story) when part of your whole editorial philosophy is to put captions in pictures, then you are screwed. The CMS (*cringe*) will only get in your way, it will not help you getting the job done.
The first thing people that want a CMS (*cringe*) should think about is: "Ok, so what the hell is it that am I going to publish?"
Did I mention that I even hate the acronym? CMS this, CMS that. AAAAAAAAARGH! content manage my ass! ;) Sorry, I got a little carried away there.
sole 20051010: Interesting point, Sin.
You\'re right, maybe I should say something about what I want to do with the soft.
I don\'t want to create a monster-piece of software. I just have in mind something which is simple to understand and to use. That leads to not to provide weird functionalities but direct, straight applications, which can also be "connected" between them and the outside world.
Basicly what I am thinking in is something which allows individuals and small organizations to manage their websites. Not a giant website but something which allows to "play" with documents, add functionalities (i.e. not only present but also get readers feedback, etc…).
I really think there\'s a need for that kind of software. We need to put lots of information here and it needs to be presented, managed and accessed easily.
And finally yes, I also hate CMS terminology, but I used it to be clear :)
sin 20051011: There are a gazillion open source solutions for what you want? Isn\'t any of them good enough?
How about Instiki ? Or SnipSnap ?
sin 20051011: Sole… what\'s up with the magic quotes?
Look how php is scaping this \'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\' woohooo! ;)
sole 20051012: i\'ll take a look at those ones. When I was searching for some I couldn\'t find any which was finished! really! all of them were "in project" but nothing to download at all.
About the magic quotes… hehe… I changed something in the code and I forgot to follow the consequences until the comments part :D
I\'ll fix that probably today… I was quite busy with other things and a bit tired! :P