https://github.com/audionerd/middlemanager

MiddleManager is a Mostly Powerless Little Content Manager For Static Sites
https://github.com/audionerd/middlemanager

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MiddleManager is a Mostly Powerless Little Content Manager For Static Sites

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/audionerd/middlemanager
• Owner: audionerd
• Created: 2011-12-27T20:42:20.000Z (about 13 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2012-01-06T16:16:54.000Z (almost 13 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2023-03-10T21:18:35.549Z (almost 2 years ago)
• Language: Ruby
• Homepage:
• Size: 112 KB
• Stars: 11
• Watchers: 3
• Forks: 1
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md

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README

        
# MiddleManager

## A Mostly Powerless Little Content Manager For Static Sites

The MiddleManager is a very tiny content manager for static sites. It doesn't need a database – instead, it serializes your edits to a single YAML file. It provides a little helper method (`mgmt`) you can use to indicate which regions of your template you want to manage. Then – once content has been entered in the simple Admin UI – those `mgmt` calls will output the content you want, right where you want it.

### Features

- Easy integration with existing templates – just add `<%= mgmt("Content") %>`!

- Local Admin UI for quick, simple editing

- Serializes all edits to a single YAML file (no database required)

- Middleman extension included: a simple local editing option for static Middleman sites

### Installing

    $ git clone git://github.com/audionerd/middlemanager.git

For MiddleManager

    $ bundle

    $ gem build middleman.gemspec

    $ gem install middleman*.gem

For the Middleman extension/helper:

    $ cd contrib/middleman-middlemanager

    $ gem build middleman-middlemanager.gemspec

    $ gem install middleman-middlemanager*.gem

### Integrating with Middleman

`Middleman::Extensions::MiddleManager` is just a small shim that invites the MiddleManager to the party.

Add it to your Middleman project's `Gemfile`:

    gem 'middleman-middlemanager'

And add it to your Middleman project's `config.rb`:

    require 'middleman-middlemanager'

    activate :middle_manager

And example of this is found in `fixtures/middle-managed-app`.

### How Does It Work?

MiddleManager provides a `mgmt` helper, which you can use in your templates to describe editable content areas ("regions"). For example, in ERB you'd do this:

    
<%= mgmt "Headine" %>

    
<%= mgmt "Description" %>


When you visit a page where new regions are defined, that triggers the MiddleManager to do his thing.



  “Yeah, so if you could go ahead and ... be ... editable, from now on? That'd be greeeeeaattt …”

  – The MiddleManager



OK, now you can jump into the Admin UI to edit those regions. (If you're running the Middleman extension, you'll find it at `http://localhost:4567/admin`)

Once you've edited the "Headline" and "Description" regions, flip back to your page to see the changes.

### Demo

Be sure to run `bundle` first, to install the dependencies.

Try a demo Middleman site with MiddleManager activated:

    $ cd fixtures/middle-managed-app

    $ bundle

    $ bundle exec middleman

    $ open http://localhost:4567

    $ open http://localhost:4567/admin

You can also test an example MiddleManager Admin UI on its own:

    $ bundle exec shotgun fixtures/config.ru -s thin

    $ open http://localhost:9393/admin

### Screenshots 

The Admin UI is just a Sinatra app (`MiddleManager::Server`) which can be run as an independent app, or even embedded in other apps via Rack.

![](https://github.com/downloads/audionerd/middlemanager/middlemanager-admin-ui-index.png)

![](https://github.com/downloads/audionerd/middlemanager/middlemanager-admin-ui-region-editing.png)

### Influences

* [Perch](http://grabaperch.com/): a really nice, lightweight CMS written in PHP. If you want a well-tested, well-supported, professional solution, check it out.

[http://grabaperch.com/](http://grabaperch.com/)

* [Create.js](http://createjs.org/)/VIE use RDFa annotations for editable blocks. Really clever idea. If MiddleManager used/implemented this spec, their JavaScript editor should "just work" ...

[http://createjs.org/](http://createjs.org/)

* [Cozy](https://github.com/gnarmis/cozy), which has this concept of a simple REST API backed by the filesystem (if MiddleManager gets a REST API, it'll probably be like this). It has a simple [Node class for file system traversal](https://github.com/gnarmis/cozy/blob/master/node.rb), which is worth a read.

* [Middleman](https://github.com/middleman/middleman), a static site generator, with a simple pipeline to bring flat YAML data into templates. Really smart way to bootstrap editing if you're a programmer. But, with large amounts of data, I wanted a simple Admin UI to manage the complexity (and to bring designers and copywriters into the site-building process). That's the goal for MiddleManager.

### TODO

- More Content Types – Serialize `Content` objects (e.g., `Text`, `Image`, `Article`, etc.) instead of a single simple Hash

- `Region` objects – wrap content in Regions, decorate `Content` with helper methods

- REST API – write a proper API for editing (look at how cozy and create.js are handling it). CRUD for Regions, Pages, etc.

- Better Page Titles – The `title` of a region should be editable somehow, instead of blindly grabbing `data.page.title`

- `mgmt` options – Implement some Perch-style options for the `mgmt` method (e.g., )

- "Shared" Regions – Allow Regions to (selectively) be "Shared" Regions, such that all Regions with the same name are provided the same content. 

  - What if the name is already taken? Does it clobber? Prevent the user from making it Shared until they resolve?

- "Allow Multiple Items" – just like Perch does, basically.

- Content Type API - How will these work? templates? partials? Cells? plugins? Not sure. 

  - Logic-less? I like the idea of logic-less templates (Mustache) for re-usability, but Liquid or even Slim might work, too? 

  - Maybe the developer implements these on their own? Or via template inheritance can override only when necessary?

  - Middleman extension could be passed a param for where to find content templates ...

- Improve Admin UI – Search/Filter/Sort, Pagination

- Big cleanup to the front-end code for the Admin UI (once its a bit more stable).

- Page management

- Split the Middleman extension into its own git repo