SkyBlueCanvas

SkyBox Overlays for WYMeditor Release

Sat, 10 May 2008 22:29:01 GMT

The SkyBox for WYMeditor plugin replaces WYMeditor's pop-up dialog windows with overlays using a modified version of the iBox overlay script by labs.ibegin.com/ibox . I modified the iBox code to support Safari 3.x browsers. The plugin is only compatible with the new alpha release (v0.5) of WYMeditor available at www.wymeditor.org . The plugin uses a custom namespace and requires no changes to the core WYMeditor code. You simply add the code to the wymeditor/plugins/ directory, then include the

SkyBlueCanvas v1.0.3.2 Now Available

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:03:01 GMT

SkyBlueCanvas v1.0.3.2, with several bug fixes and a couple of new features is now available. The bug fixes, of which there are many, are detailed in the CHANGELOG.txt file in the root of the SkyBlueCanvas package download. The most noticeable new feature is the Setup Assistant which is loaded on the first run to prompt the site admin to create their Admin Login Account.

Support for Google Gadgets

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:00:01 GMT

SkyBlueCanvas can now support for Google Gadgets via the Gadgets extension written by Scott Lewis, the developer of SkyBlueCanvas. Web sites can be extended endlessly through the use of Gadgets and Widgets. Google Gadgets work very well with SkyBlueCanvas because the Plugin API is extremely flexible and allows a developer to add functionality well beyond that which is built into the core of the system. With this new extension, the possibilities for customization of a SkyBlueCanvas site are alm

SkyBlueCanvas User's Guide

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Scott Lewis, the developer of SkyBlueCanvas has published an online user's guide. The new guide can be accessed at the SkyBlueCanvas page hosted by Google Code at code.google.com/p/skybluecanvas/wiki/ . Scott is also working on an accompanying Developer's Guide to be released by mid-April.

SkyBlueCanvas v1.0 Official Release

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Scott Lewis, an independent developer located in Richmond, Virginia has announced the official release of SkyBlueCanvas v1.0, a lightweight, zero-configuration content management system (CMS) for small business and personal websites. SkyBlueCanvas was designed specifically for those projects where more robust systems like Joomla are too much horsepower. "I initially developed SkyBlueCanvas as for use on my own projects where I found Joomla to be more feature-rich an

New Plugin API

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:00:01 GMT

SkyBlueCanvas just became more flexible with a new plugin API. In fact, there are two plugin APIs. A traditional Observer Pattern call method and an inline call method. For a more detailed overview, please visit the Plugin API page at www.skybluecanvas.com/Plugin-API-pg-12.htm

SkyBlue Canvas is Now Free

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:00:01 GMT

SkyBlue Canvas needs some work before it is ready for release so I am aiming for a mid-August Alpha release date. The first official release will be an alpha version to allow other developers to experiment with the system and give me feedback on features, usability and the API. If you are a seasoned PHP developer, drop me a line via the contact page and I will be happy to send you a copy of the source code. If you are a less experienced developer it will take a little longer to have the

SkyBlue Canvas Just Got Easier

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:00:01 GMT

I am happy to announce that we have finished the full integration of the Wymeditor browser-based text editor into our SkyBlue Canvas lightweight CMS. The new editor makes it even easier for site owners to keep the text on their site up-to-date and fresh. The new editor even allows users to preview what the text will look like on the page before saving their changes. You can learn more about Wyeditor at the project's website - www.wymeditor.org

SkyBlue Canvas and Google Tools

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:00:01 GMT

We are pleased to announce that we have added support to SkyBlue Canvas for Google Sitemaps and Google Analytics. Once you have created your account with Google, all you need to do is add two simple pieces of information to your SkyBlue Canvas site. The XML sitemap for Google Sitemaps is created automatically so there is nothing for you to learn or install. You need only add a meta tag to your site (using SkyBlue Canvas's meta data manager) to allow Google to access the sitemap. Google analyti

WYMeditor and SkyBlue

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Bright-Crayon is in the final stages of testing on an integration of WYMeditor - http://www.wymeditor.org - with SkyBlue Canvas. WYMeditor will be replacing the existing text editor in SkyBlue Canvas which uses a superset of BBCode. The new editor will make it even easier for users to change the text on their web site without needing to learn markup of any kind. It is simply click, type and save. The new system will be online by February 12, 2007.

Scott Lewis Joins WYMeditor Dev Team

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Richmond, VA Feb 06, 2007 Scott Lewis, a web developer and partner with Bright-Crayon, LLC has been selected as the newest member of the WYMeditor development team. WYMeditor is an open source WYSIWYM, web-based HTML editor. Scott will be handling Safari compatibility development for WYMeditor. "I approached Jean-Francois Hovinne, the lead developer, about joining the team because I think WYMeditor is what a browser-based HTML editor should be. It lacks the bloat of a l

Using BBCode in SkyBlueCanvas

29-05-2008 09:14:39

When I began building SkyBlueCanvas, my idea was to keep the system as small and lightweight as possible. Today, after nearly 4 years of development, the system is still only about 3.5MB. So, you can imagine that the idea of using FCKeditor or TinyMCE - both excellent software packages - was not my first choice for HTML editing. The reason I did not want to use either of these packages is because of their size. Both packages are larger than SkyBlueCanvas itself. My solution to this dilemma was

Using The SkyBlueCanvas Gallery Module

13-05-2008 22:27:18

I was, in former life, a Graphic Designer. In fact, when I first began developing SkyBlueCanvas I was still working as a freelance designer. I designed the gallery module and Manager in SkyBlueCanvas to display my own portfolio but like many designers I was never satisfied with my site or online portfolio and kept changing the layout. As a result of these frequent changes, I developed the gallery extension for SkyBlueCanvas to be very flexible. One of the nice features of the extension

Displaying Banner Ads in SkyBlueCanvas

13-05-2008 21:00:07

SkyBlueCanvas Lightweight CMS comes with the ability to easily display banner ads on your site. This is achieved via the Plugin API and the ads plugin that comes with the SkyBlueCanvas source code. Defining Ad Regions Ad regions are defined using a specially-formatted commment in the HTML Skin of your site. An example from my own site is: When the ads plugin loads, SkyBlueCanvas passes the page HTML to the plugin call which looks like this: plgLoadA

Extending SkyBlueCanvas with Gadgets

07-05-2008 21:49:08

Two of my favorite features in SkyBlueCanvas are the Gadgets Plugin and what I call SynApps (syndicated applicatoins). With these two features, the possibilities of what you can do with your SkyBlueCanvas site are almost limitless. {gadget:YouTube} Google Gadgets The Gadget above is an example of the SkyBlueCanvas Gadget Plugin. You can easily include Google Gadgets in your site with the following procedure. First go to Google's Gadgets Page and get the code (JavaScr

SkyBlueCanvas Managers

29-04-2008 23:41:23

SkyBlueCanvas has many very useful features built into the code. It will behoove you for the purposes of this series of articles and for developing SkyBlueCanvas extensions to become familiar with the following three classes: /skybluecanvas/includes/core.php /skybluecanvas/includes/manager.class.php /skybluecanvas/includes/factory.html.php TIP: Whenever I build a new Manager for SkyBlueCanvas, I almost always start with a Manager I have already written - no ne

Interview With Matthew Hinch

13-05-2008 22:56:34

Could you please introduce yourself? Certainly, my name is Scott Lewis. I am a web developer and the creator of the SkyBlueCanvas Lightweight CMS. I live in Richmond, Virginia in the USA. Please tell us a little about SkyBlueCanvas. I originally built SkyBlueCanvas for a web site for a friend. At that time I was using Mambo on a lot of projects but my friend's web site was so small that I knew I would spend more time supporting my friend's site through t

SkyBlueCanvas - The Lightweight CMS

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:47:13 EDT

Spotlight The Gmatrix Has You: Google's Brilliant Conspiracy to Dominate The World Wide Web SkyBlueCanvas Lightweight CMS is Free Software! SkyBlueCanvas Lightweight CMS is an open source, free content management system built specifically for small web sites. The entire site you are viewing is a demonstration of the SkyBlueCanvas lightweight CMS. SkyBlueCanvas is custom-built for those instances when more robust systems like Joomla, WordPress and Drupal are too much horsepo

About SkyBlueCanvas - The Lightweight CMS

Sat, 10 May 2008 18:54:03 EDT

Three Areas of Concern When I designed the SkyBlueCanvas lightweight cms, I started with the idea that my software should address the concerns of three types of users - non-technical users, Web Site Designers and Web Site Developers. SkyBlueCanvas lightweight cms simplifies the process of creating and maintaining a web site and reduces the total cost of ownership by resolving the key issues in these three areas. For Site Owners I know that as a site owner, whether you are a small

SkyBlueCanvas - The lightweight CMS Features

Sat, 10 May 2008 18:54:17 EDT

Simple SkyBlueCanvas lightweight cms allows you, the site owner, to keep your site content fresh using the skills you already have. If you can use a word processor, you can write your site's text. You can upload your photos and other art work directly from your browser with a few clicks of your mouse (4 clicks to be exact). SkyBlueCanvas lightweight cms uses easy-to-understand menus, buttons, and forms to give you the power to change the text and artwork on your site. In most cases,

SkyBlueCanvas Lightweight CMS Downloads

Sun, 11 May 2008 10:43:09 EDT

Warning Any code that you see listed here that is an 'Alpha' version, is not intended for use on production (live) web sites or applications. Alpha means that all of the planned functionality is present and can be demonstrated to work but not without errors. SkyBlueCanvas Lightweight CMS SkyBlueCanvas Package SkyBlueCanvas Extension Example SkyBlueCanvas Plugin Example SkyBlueCanvas Skin Example SkyBlueCanvas ThickBox Gallery Module S

SkyBlueCanvas News

Sat, 10 May 2008 17:59:22 EDT

No description available.

SkyBlueCanvas Lightweight CMS Tutorials and Articles

Sat, 10 May 2008 18:54:40 EDT

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Contact Scott Lewis, SkyBlueCanvas Developer

Wed, 7 May 2008 19:05:31 EDT

No description available.

Installation Instructions

Sat, 10 May 2008 18:59:05 EDT

FTP Installation: Download the tar file and extract the contents into a folder on your compter. Log into your FTP account on your webserver and upload the SkyBlueCanvas code. Change the file permissions of /skyblue/data/ to 755 and apply the changes recursively to all directories and files in the /skyblue/data/ directory. When you log in to the Admin Control Panel, go to Admin > Settings > Default Info, and enter the info in the form. This will enable e

SkyBlueCanvas Plugin API

Sat, 10 May 2008 19:09:08 EDT

Plugin API Method No. 1 SkyBlueCanvas has a very flexible yet simple plugin API. Actually, it has 2 plugin APIs for greater flexibility. The first API is almost identical to the API used by Wordpress and Joomla - both of which use the Observer design pattern. Calling an Observer plugin in SkyBlueCanvas is simple. Create a file named 'myplugin.php' and save it in /skyblue/data/plugins/myplugin.php. In the file, include the following code: global $Core; $Core->RegisterEvent('

SkyBlueCanvas Skin Example

Sat, 10 May 2008 19:10:52 EDT

Site Skins (Templates) I have posted a much more detailed explanation of SkyBlueCanvas skins on the blog at http://blog.skybluecanvas.com Creating skins (templates) for a SkyBlueCanvas site could not be easier. There is no PHP code to write and no complicated templating scripts. Simply build your HTML and CSS with the text editor of your choice, and add simple tokens where the content will be placed. SkyBlueCanvas parses the skin and replaces the tokens with the content you spe

SkyBlueCanvas Extension Example

Sat, 10 May 2008 19:12:34 EDT

Extensions The code below is the actual code for the Events manager for SkyBlueCanvas. As you can see, the code is short and simple. Most of the heavy lifting is handled by the Manager superclass. The HTML code that follows the sample PHP code is the input form for editing Events items.

Sample SkyBlueCanvas Plugin

Thu, 3 Apr 2008 15:04:25 EDT

Plugin Method No. 1 SkyBlueCanvas has a very flexible yet simple plugin API. Actually, it has 2 plugin APIs for greater flexibility. The first API is almost identical to the API used by Wordpress and Joomla - both of which use the Observer design pattern. Calling an Observer plugin in SkyBlueCanvas is simple. Create a file named 'myplugin.php' and save it in /skyblue/data/plugins/myplugin.php. In the file, include the following code: global $Core ; $Core -> RegisterEve

SkyBlueCanvas Lightweight CMS Gallery Example

Sat, 10 May 2008 19:11:54 EDT

No description available.

SkyBlueCanvas Skins

Sat, 10 May 2008 19:10:29 EDT

Free SkyBlueCanvas Skins These SkyBlueCanvas-compatible skins were designed by Erwin Aligam of StyleShout.com and have been modified and are re-distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution. Please support Erwin's site and his sponsors.

Gadget Example

Sat, 10 May 2008 19:12:13 EDT

Google Gadget Example SkyBlueCanvas now has built-in support for embedding Google Gadgets in your pages. Using the Gadgets Plugin, you can embed a Google Gadget anywhere on the page you like. The syntax for embedding the Gadgets is very similar to the SkyBlueCanvas Plugin syntax: { gadget : gadgetname } for inline Gadgets or, for comments Gadgets in your template HTML. Example: {gadget:weather}

SkyBlueCanvas Lightweight CMS Extras

Sat, 10 May 2008 19:11:11 EDT

SkyBlueCanvas Innovations During the course of developing the next release of SkyBlueCanvas Lightweight CMS, I have made several innovations to SkyBlueCanvas as well as WYMeditor . For the time being this page will only describe the innovations but in the near future I will get the new extensions to WYMeditor ready for distribution as stand-alone plugins. If you would like to get a copy of any of these extensions in their current state I will be happy to provide them but I cannot offer any su