eZ publish: PHP's Killer App - Parts 1-3

Part 1

On the menu in this, the first article in the series, is:

1. Introducing eZ publish: the warm-up before we start on the real work


2. Installing eZ publish: get eZ publish up and running ready for article 2 in the series


3. Homework: tough discipline

Introducing eZ publish

eZ publish is (on the surface) a Website content management system, written in PHP by eZ systems, a Norwegian company. Launched in 2000, eZ publish has come on in leaps and bounds, having been successfully put into action on sites like Webservices.org, the Austrian National Tourist Office and Simplicity Networks (more sites using eZ publish here), and gaining support from IBM and Siemens, among other business partners. eZ publish is now even included in the Debian Linux distribution.

Content management systems, as you probably know from Kevin Yank's famous tutorial, allow you to publish dynamic content on your Website in manner that's easy to maintain and update. eZ publish takes that model close to perfection. Firstly, it allows you to store content in a database (eZ publish 2.x currently supports MySQL and PostgreSQL, with support for other databases like Oracle coming in version 3.x). On top of this database, a set of PHP applications provides a powerful administration interface for site maintenance, while a wealth of front end modules allow eZ publish to be rapidly implemented as anything from a news and community site like SitePoint or an online shop, to a B2B portal or even a corporate Intranet. In other words, it's the solution to all your Website needs!

What's more, eZ publish already has a foot in the door of the Web services arena, with a commercially licensed Desktop Edition that allows you to update an eZ publish site using a C++ Windows client communicating with an XML-RPC server interface.

Good news for paupers like me and you is eZ publish has a dual licensing scheme. It provides both a GNU open source license, and (for those wishing to do things like resell or rebrand eZ publish), a Professional license. For what is at heart an Open Source project, eZ systems are an excellent example of how to turn publicly-licensed software into a commercial success.

What's on Offer?

So, blurb aside, what does eZ publish actually have to offer? The easiest way to get answers is to visit the demo site at http://publishdemo.ez.no/, and then login to the back end administration system by heading to http://admin.publishdemo.ez.no/ using:

username: admin
password: publish

Once you've logged in, you'll see the demo site control panel with a row of icons along the top (time to have a play!). Each of these corresponds to an eZ publish module, which provides a range of functionalities for the front end of your Website.

Among the modules you'll find:

• eZ article: this the "main" module, allowing you to publish articles or "static" pages on your site
• eZ trade: a powerful shopping cart application you'll find in action over at MyGold.com
• eZ filemanager: a great tool for intranets and file distribution, providing an online filesystem for your visitors to browse
• eZ forum: forums for your site, similar to (although not as powerful as) VBulletin, the software behind the SitePoint Forums

...and many more that are described in detail in the User Manuals. In other words, eZ publish gives you all you need to build your very own version of the SitePoint Network! You'll notice on both the demo site and the main site that even the URLs are similar to SitePoint's. For example:

and

Of course there's a long way to go from building a site that works like SitePoint and convincing all the SitePoint fans to pay you a visit, but you get the point.