Frequenty Asked Questions
Let's see the questions you will likely ask about this web package. Most of the section refer to whether or not this package is easy to maintain, customize, enhance and use with content based websites.
Why using the I-Metrics CMS?
In a nutshell using this web package you have:
- Simple and friendly installation.
- Works on virtually every host with PHP and MySQL.
- Easy to customize the web front only a handful of files to change for the template.
- Extremely simple framework very little time to learn and customize.
- Complete Plug-ins system allowing expansion to suit different types of websites.
- Separate administration panel for increased security - Web Front operates on its own.
- Web-front is highly optimized for search engines
- Very flexible to bind and associate content pages in any way you can imagine
- Complete feature set to edit content includes word-processor, uploading and managing images
- Multi-Site Management using central administration
How can I install the I-Metrics CMS?
The latest release of the package is available for download from this site and from the sourceforge.net. You will need a web-host or web-server on your system. The requirements are basic and include PHP, MySQL, Apache or another web-server. Most hosts provide these facilities these days.
During installation you will have to enter the configuration details for the web-site, database and template to install. The I-Metrics CMS is bundled with few templates to choose from. Some of the extensions or plugins accompany the package have also their own templates. If you use your own template you will have to customize the some of the plugins so the layout will be consistent.
How easy is to integrate a Template with I-Metrics CMS?
Very easy because you do not have to learn the complexity of a template system and then start writing HTML in a certain way. The various themes that you can see here require changes to 5-6 including the stylesheet. Demonstration themes presented here are also optimized for SEO by relocating the important aspects of the page content for spiders to crawl easily while maintaining the layout to a user friendly state. These template themes are also included with the stock package.
How easy is to create an add-on for I-Metrics CMS?
Depends on the add-on. Features that utilize the existing functionality and database contents require minimal effort. For example to create a collection of images that shows on a certain location of the template should not require more than a couple of lines of code change. For everything else the administration end includes full features to make this happen.
Features that require new database tables, the overhead can be minimal if you consider the use to the existing collection/zones framework that comes with this package. Otherwise stand alone scripts can also be used and you can minimize the time and effort by taking advantage of the general and layout core functions.
Is there online support for the I-Metrics CMS?
Our online demonstration site provides various tutorials and technical articles related with the framework. You can always post a question in these pages and we will try our best to answer. Our current support forum for bug reports, features requests or enhancements is available at sourceforge.net under the I-Metrics project.
Can I manage multiple websites with the I-Metrics CMS?
Yes, the web-package can be used to have a single administration panel for multiple websites. There are two different approaches in place
- Using the same database and different web-fronts.
- Using different databases for different websites, having a separate configuration per site.
