silverstripe tutorial
1. introduction
2. create & manage pages
3. text editing
4. uploading files & images
5. creating a contact form
what is SilverStripe?
SilverStripe is an Open Source and free Content Management System (CMS) used to create and maintain websites. SilverStripe makes use of an administration panel (back-end) which enables users to easily make changes to website content. It includes a WYSIWYG web editor allowing people to create web content without any knowledge in HTML or coding.
login into the back-end
The front-end of the website is what visitors see (i.e. home page, contact page, about us page, etc.) The back-end is where you manage your pages, images and content. Only users with a username and password can access the that area. You can login to the back-end through your web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome...). The URL (web address) structure SilverStripe uses is as follows.
Let's say your web address is the following:
http://www.yoursite.com/
SilverStripe will look for a page called 'Home' and will display it, but may not display the 'Home' page name in the URL. In other words, the previous URL is usually equivalent to:
http://www.yoursite.com/home
Other pages on your website will each have a unique name, and can be accessed in the following way:
http://www.yoursite.com/about-us
http://www.yoursite.com/products
http://www.yoursite.com/how-to-reach-us
Notice that SilverStripe, by default, uses no capital letters, and hyphens (-) instead of spaces in the URL address.
To log into the back-end, type in the following:
http://www.yoursite.com/admin
Note that if you try something like "http://www.yoursite.com/contact-us/admin", it will NOT work.
The admin login page has a text field for your username and password. I recommend opening two separate browser windows or two separate tabs: one for the front-end of the site, and another for the back-end. This will allow you to make changes in the back-end, and instantly see the results in the front-end of the site by simply refreshing the page.
back-end basics
SilverStripe CMS is divided into several tabs at the top of the page. Depending on the level of access you have been given, you may have access to all the main tabs, or a limited number of them. If you do not have access to a specific section, you will not see a tab for it. The main tabs include 'Site Content', Files & Images', 'Security', and others.
Site Content is where you manage your pages and their content. It is the one you will use most often.
Files & Images is where you upload files and images from your computer, onto the web server.
Comments is where you manage the comments made on your pages. This feature is only used if you want visitors to be able to post comments on your website; it is seldom used.
Security is where you manage which users have access to which sections of the back-end. Do not change any settings in this tab unless you know what you are doing.