Simple administration

The content management system is the engine that drives a website. We use a New Zealand developed open-source CMS called SilverStripe. 

SilverStripe has a simple editing interface that allows authors to update the site. Using screens that have a ‘look and feel’ that is familiar to all Word users, an author with full administrative rights can do the following:

• edit pages;
• add, delete or re-order pages;
• add, delete or re-order sections of the site;
• upload or remove photos and other media files;
• administer discussion forums;
• assign specific areas of the site as ‘member-only’; and
• create and administer online forms.

Site administrators can also assign rights to additional ‘authors’. Each author’s access can be restricted to specific actions and/or specific sections of the site.

Changes to the site can be published to a draft site accessible to all administrators. This allows changes to be checked and approved prior to publication.

More about the SilverStripe CMS

SilverStripe is backed by a large group of developers across Australia, New Zealand and across the globe.

One great benefit of Silverstripe for site owners is complete freedom of design. Many CMSs combine the programming and HTML together. This places limits what can be done, or,at least, adds significant costs to  implementing any design that isn't compatible with existing programming.

In SilverStripe, page design is separated from the underlying code, giving complete freedom of design. The intelligence of the CMS back-end can be added to any front-end design.

For the technically minded, it is built on object-oriented PHP. The code is also modular so each site is built on a standard installation with additional modules added to deliver specific functionality. This simplifies future upgrades and allows easy editing by other developers.

Online forms, e-commerce, blogs and discussion groups are all available as standard Silverstripe modules.