BlogWelder

Description

BlogWelder is a content management system (or dynamic content system) designed to display temporal content and permanent content on the same website. It is designed with the blog format in mind, and contains all the features of the current blog programs.

However, BlogWelder can be used for commercial purposes as well. Some possible uses for a corporation or organization would be: 1) dissemination of information to employees or members 2) storing information and status on one or more projects as a project notebook 3) updating customers on current news 4) displaying a calendar of events to the public 4) a repository for technical support (or help) notes.

Features

Blog name and description dynamically displayed
Ping weblogs.com (at the push of a button)
Multi-user design at program & database level (but not yet implemented in the admin pages)
Topics/Subtopics (think of each topic as a separate blog page)
Site search feature
What's new feature
Randomize feature (displays randomly chosen content)
Content Calendar can show a calendar with days highlighted that have content. Clicking on the day brings up those entries.
Dynamic menu generation
Multiple menus per page/topic
Sort entries by date ascending/descending option
Tooltip title on menus
Choose target (_blank, _top, etc.) for link
One click add of blog pages to menu
Draft content (does not display to public)
Archive/move content function
Link function (provides the reader a link to a specific content item)
Links to content from external sites will not break even if content is moved to another page
Link provided for each page/topic
Predate postdate allowed (post date does not display in the What's new until the date arrives)
Comments can be turned off at content level
IP logging and blocking on comments
Comment deletion (by admin)
Comment censorship (currently not held in the db)
Recent comments page
Referrers to content displayed (similar to TrackBack)
User rated comments supported
Polls supported (through comment system)
Admin comment entry only can be set by content
When entering content now have HTML templates
User entry of HTML into comment prohibited (ok for admin)
Cookie set with user name etc. on comment fields
Color coded by IP address margin bar on each comment (trust me, its cool -- go to my site)
Limit user comment size
Sorting of rated comments by clicking on table header
Moved lots of JSP code into includes & reused to be more modular
Comments or polls can be displayed inline or in window

Admin Pages

Access to the admin pages is restricted to an assigned user through the single entry point of a logon page. If the user has not logged on each page will redirect back to the logon page. For increased security it is suggested that the logon page be administered through SSL.

User: The User page allows you to set your e-mail address, password etc. The sites owned by you will display in the sites select box. Select one and click on the edit button.
Site: The Site page allows you to set the title, URL and description of the site. You can also ping weblogs.com when your site has been updated. Most importantly, you can set the start page (page which first displays). Select the Miscellany page from the list of pages and click the Edit button.
Page: The Page (or Topic) page allows you to set a number of options and do several actions with the page. You can set the title and description, sort order (newest first, oldest first) and the file (or template) that will display the page. The actions are to update the page content, update the page link menu, or add the page to a link menu. Another powerful feature is the archive function. You can move a group of content (by date) to another page (creating the page and adding it to a menu if necessary). To move a single content, go to the Content page. Select the "It's Snowing!" page and click the Edit button, or select the "Money Index" and click the Edit Link Menu button.
Content: There are a large number of content features which can be set from the content page. You can set the Page (or topic) where the content resides (changing this will move the content to the selected page). You can set the title and actual text of the content as well as the name associated with it (prefills to your user name). You can set the date (or leave blank for current date). You can mark the entry draft content (so users won't see it). With regards to comments, you can allow comments, allow admin comments only, set the display of comments to inline or window, and set the comment type to normal, user-rated, or poll. One edit function is to insert HTML templates into the content text.

Listed at the bottom of this page are the comments entered so far and fields to allow you to enter an admin comment. Admin comments are the only ones that allow HTML tags, and they don't pass through the censor. You can view or delete any of the comments. Select the first comment and click the View button.
Comment: This page allows you to view a comment, and block the IP associated with it. IPs that are blocked will be allowed to view your site, but won't be allowed to enter comments. A list of all blocked IPs is displayed, allowing you to unblock the selected IP.
Link: The Link Menu page allows you to add or delete links to the menu. You can also delete the entire menu from this page. When you add a link you can set the title, url, tooltip help, and target. You can also insert another link menu which will display as an indented submenu.

User Pages

Index/Normal View: A standard blog format with the content entries sorted either in ascending or descending date order (based on setup of page). Remember, this is just a template -- you can change the page template to your specifications (if you know HTML). There is also a cascading style sheet controlling the fonts and colors.
What's New: The page which shows the latest entries across all pages on the site.
Site Search: Search for any content entry on the entire site.
Calendar: I currently don't have a real world example of the calendar page, because I have no use for one. But this is a standard calendar template where the calendar has dates highlighted if there is an entry for that date. Clicking on a date shows the content entries for the selected date.
Recent Comments: Shows all the recent comments grouped by the entry, with title-click links back to the entry.
Randomize: A fun page to show randomly selected content from the site.
Polls and Comments: There are several entries on this page that demonstrate user rated comments, normal comments, and polls.