PHP and JQuery are two of the most famous open source tools used for web development. This book will explain how to leverage their power by building a core CMS, which can be used for most projects without needing to be changed, and how to add custom plugins that can then be tailored to the individual project.

This book walks you through the creation of a CMS core, including basic page creation and user management, followed by a plugin architecture, and example plugins. Using the methods described in this book, you will find that you can create distinctly different websites and web projects using one codebase, web design templates, and custom-written plugins for any site-specific differences. Example code and explanation is provided for the entire project.

This book describes how to use PHP, MySQL, and jQuery to build an entire CMS from the ground up, complete with plugin architecture, user management, template-driven site design, and an installer.
Each chapter walks you through the problems of various aspects of CMS design and their solutions, with example code and explanation provided for the chosen solutions.

A plugin architecture is explained and built, which allows you to enhance your own CMS by adding site-specific code that doesn’t involve “hacking” the core CMS.

By the end of the book, you will have developed a full CMS, which can be used to create a large variety of different site designs and capabilities.

An in-depth walk-through in building a PHP and jQuery plugin-based CMS project.

What you will learn from this book :

• Create your own plugin architecture
  
• Manage users, using e-mail verification, hashes, and captchas
  
• Enhance your administration forms using jQuery
  
• Test your system using virtual machines
  
• Write upgrade scripts that automatically patch your system
  
• Manage multiple site design templates using Smarty
  
• Learn how easy it can be to extend your own CMS from the multiple plugins that are provided and explained
  
• Learn how panels work, and use them to make flexible drag-and-drop layouts with widgets
  
• Create an installer, using virtual machines for the test environment of your CMS