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This is meant to be a general introduction to the content management system known as
PHPNuke. At Divergent Lines, we like to use PHPNuke for
many of our larger, community portal-type sites. This software lets us build large, interactive websites for a
fraction of what it would cost to build such a site from scratch. We then dig in and modify it for each of our
clients.
Many of our clients are familiar with smaller, static HTML websites, but don't understand the concept behind
Nuke. PHPNuke is based on the
open source programming language
PHP and (in most cases) the opensource database
MySQL (other databases are supported). The PHP is stored
in all the files on your server; connect via file transfer protocol (ftp) to see all those files. The MySQL
database is where all the stories, articles, forum posts, settings, and countless other bits of information is
stored. PHP interacts with the MySQL database behind the scenes to generate the HTML which displays the
site's pages in your browser.
A Content Management System is software designed to help webmasters create, move, delete, and well..."manage" the
information kept on their site. Portals are large sites designed to give visitors a starting place on the
web; "a portal to information". PHPNuke is a combination of these two concepts.
Francisco Burzi, born in Canada and currently living in Venezuela, released the first version of PHPNuke in June of
2000. It was released after he built a content management system for his spanish language Linux site.
His visitors asked him for the code and he released it. Since then the PHP Nuke community has grown and contributed
to the development of the core code, created countless addons, promoted the PHP programming language, and spawned
several other CMS's like PostNuke and
myPHPNuke.
 Nuke is based on a "module" system. This
means new features can be added or removed without needing to modify the core code that runs the site. Some
modules that come stock with PHPNuke include Content, Reviews, and Surveys. Modules are really the "meat
and potatoes" of your Nuke site.
Nuke also uses "blocks". These are the boxes that you see in the left and right columns of the site. Login,
Administration, and Amazon are just a few of the blocks that come with a basic installation of Nuke. These are
used for navigation and quick information displayed along the edges of the pages.
Most of the administrative actions you'll ever need to accomplish can be done through the Administration Menu
found at www.your-site.com/admin.php. If you haven't logged in as the administrator, you'll need to at this
point to get access to the Administration Menu. From this menu, you will see several icons that link to
deeper pages where you control your site. You can arrange the blocks on the site, add new pages, manage the
forum, and more. It is not within the scope of this article to get into what each icon does, but you should
feel free to go through them one at a time to look and try to get a feel for each. Don't worry about breaking
something, for the most part, you will see warnings if you are about to do something disasterous.
I strongly suggest not modifying any of the files located on your server (those seen via FTP) until you are
fairly sure you know what you are doing.
We have compiled a list of some of the best PHPNuke resources on
the net, this is a great place to get started learning more about your Nuke site.
The key to learning how to manage your PHP-Nuke site is to read as much information as you can then jump in
and "get your hands dirty". If you are not a Divergent Lines client and would like some information on how
we can help you establish or manage your PHPNuke (or any other) website, please
contact us.
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