WebGUI
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YAPC North America 2008


WebGUI

WebGUI (pronounced web-gooey) is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) available today. It is downloaded thousands of times per month and is in use as an Intranet application framework in many Global 1000 companies, governments, schools, and universities.

WebGUI is a content management platform built to give average business users the ability to build and maintain complex web sites. It is modular, pluggable, and platform independent. It is designed to keep the management of content in the hands of those who create content, rather than take up the time of busy IT staff.

Benefits of WebGUI

Short Friendly URLs
Never worry about ugly numeric ID's or other things in URL's that make it hard for search engines and people to use a site. 

Rich User Interface
WebGUI has a rich user experience that allows users to place their content through a drag-n-drop interface; helps users pick dates, colors, and more; and has a highly customizable rich editor to allow users to format content quickly and easily.

Personalization
Users see their own view of the site through dynamically generated navigation and content. In addition, content can be displayed based upon users' viewing habits.

Easy To Install
With the use of the WebGUI Runtime Environment (Unix, Mac, Linux, BSD) and the WebGUI Zip-N-Go (Windows), setup takes minutes rather than hours.

Powerful API
WebGUI allows developers to quickly plug-in new functionality to get the most from a site. In addition, WebGUI's standardized plug-in points maintain the upgrade path even with customizations.

Internationalization
Users can work in an interface in their native language, and content can be published in as many languages as necessary.

(Requires Java)

WebGUI vs Static Sites vs Server Pages

People unfamiliar with web content management systems wonder what the benefits of such a system are over traditional static HTML and server page languages (like ASP, JSP, and PHP). The following is a short list of the advantages of each. An advantage for one is a disadvantage for the other two.

WebGUI

Edit anywhere: update sites from the web browser.

Easy to use: knowledge of programming or writing HTML are not necessary.

True separation of style and content: change the look and feel of a site without touching any of the content.

Interactive: build interactive applications like polls and message boards with a few clicks of the mouse.

Delegation of duties: designate specific users to control specific parts of the site, while limitting access to other parts of the site.

Extensible: developers, or Plain Black staff, can build plug-ins for WebGUI to make it do exactly what is needed.

Constant improvements: be able to take advantage of all of the new features that are added to WebGUI month after month with little or no effort.

Static HTML

Fast: the server does not have to do any processing of the code. It simply sends the files to the browser.

Low tech: no special server software or client software is needed to create a site.

Server Pages

Completely extensible: when combined with other server-side services, can provide  applications built specifically to prescribed needs.