nice tutorials thanks
You use Wordpress as a CMS right? And you probably love it, after all what is not to love? It is simple, easy to install, has a huge community base, thousands of plugins and themes... and 2.7's interface is simply... stunning.
Wordpress is not perfect as a CMS however, and can you blame it? It was designed to be a blogging platform. They must have done something right if Wordpress started as a blogging platform that simply works so well as a CMS.
This could all be part of the past now that Flutter has arrived. Wordpress could easily be a fully extendable CMS with one of the best blogging platforms integrated into it. So many of the minor pitfalls wordpress previously had as a CMS are now gone.
Flutter is not a new plug in by any means. Released around wordpress 2.5, it has had time to pick up a little bit of steam. It seams it never really caught on because despite it's useful benefits it was confusing and difficult to install and maintain. To wordpresses recent credit, it didn't solve some of the more confusing "blog focused interface" that 2.5 and 2.6 still had.
However now coupled with 2.7 and a new release of flutter you can now create an amazing full fledged CMS capable of almost anything you can think of.
Flutter was designed to combat two major issues that Wordpress has when being used to administer and power web sites rather than blogs. Dealing with content that was more than just self formated text and photos, and an easy way to edit complex pages.
A typical example could be pages for the biographies of individuals. These pages likely have a specific format that all of them should adhere to. Name, Title, Skills, etc... Previously with Wordpress you would create a blank page for each and have to try your best not to accidentally mess up the format. Of course you could try using the custom fields, but try explaining those to a client with out having their eyes glass over.
Now days you had better count on the fact that websites are going to be complicated enough where the simple homepage / innerpage templates are not going to be substantial. Websites will have different content types, a home listing, biography, portfolio page, etc... Flutter allows you to create custom write panels for different types of content. The write panels can have text fields, radio buttons, pictures, drop downs, etc... allowing the user to create a page exactly how they want it with out hassel or vast technical knowledge.
The other example might be managing and editing pages that have both unique sidebar content and primary content. Before you would have to create a page for the sidebar, use a custom template to include that post into the sidebar before finally trying to teach a client how it all works. Very complicated right? Well it doesn't have to be.
Flutter also lets you specifcy editable regions of a page, like the main content, title, or sidebar. Using a bit of AJAX magic useres who are logged in can navigate to the page they wish to edit through the front end, click an edit button, and begin to edit that section with out even leaving the page.
This makes the CMS almost transparent. Your typical client is more familiar with the web from a users perspective, and this allows them to edit and manage pages the way they are most comfortable.
While the usage and learning curve of flutter has improved, you should still expect to spend an ample amount of time your first attempt at using this plugin. The documentation while available, is sparce at best (not that you can really blame the developers, who are giving the plugin for free.)
The learning curve is well worth it. You can easily expect to save more time than you spend in reduced phone calls and e-mails regarding how to perform specific functions, tasks, or edits in Wordpress.
Have some feedback? Leave a commentnice tutorials thanks
I tink wth Flutter it is competing with TYPO. That will be a nice competition
Thanks…
Good tutorials thanks
Any good tutorials available to run us through flutter from installation to Implementation?
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Hi
Great insights. This is really such nice post…
You have nicely described with example.
Thanks…
This is good news, I might give this a try for a few upcoming CMS systems that we need to integrate. We have been using a Ruby based solution named Radiant that has worked pretty well for us, but it is almost too simple.
Have you had a chance to integrate Flutter for any of your clients, and if so do you find that they are pretty much able to do what they need with it?
thanx so much for explaining this.
your site is a real good help for WP beginners!
on January 26, 2010
yes. great share