FAQ

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• General Web
• Zikula

Recent FAQs

Question

• What is a Content Management System (CMS)?
• What does SVN mean?
• What is a Module, Block, and/or Theme?
• How do I ask for (and get) help?
• What is open source?
• What is an archive/zip file

Answer

What is a Content Management System (CMS)?

Back in the early days of the world wide web, "webmasters" were forced to create each and every page of a web site. If the look and feel of the web site was to be changed, they would have to change each and every page.

The next generation of web sites utilized Content Management Systems (CMS) which do exactly what the name implies, they manage your web site content. Taking that one step further, the design (look and feel) and the content are completely independent, allowing for easy site wide changes to the look of the site.

CMSs have several features that have opened the doors for the creation of web sites by non-technical people. Such features include the ability to change the look and feel (theme) of a web site by changing a couple pages that control the theme for the entire site. Pre-made themes are also available that can be used "out of the box" or used as a starting point for a custom theme. Online editing allows for creating new content or editing existing content without any additional software. This also means that a web site utilizing a CMS can be managed from just about any computer with an internet connection and a person with the correct credentials to log in as an administrator.

What does SVN mean?

SVN is short for "Subversion" which is a tool used by software developers to control and manage their software projects. In a nutshell, it allows for tracking changes and the submission of bug reports and/or feature requests. On occasion you'll hear a developer refer you to the SVN version, which is useless advise to most people.

You can read the Wikipedia article for more information.

What is a Module, Block, and/or Theme?

Please see the documentation page.

How do I ask for (and get) help?

If you can set up Zikula and have an expert grasp on how everything works right from the start, then I hate you. Seriously though, having to ask some questions to get you over the humps is normal and expected. There's some "secret" tips that will help you get the answers you expect.

Ask in the proper place. E-mailing or messaging someone directly will likely not get you any response at all. Asking in a public forum will not only increase your chances, but will allow others to benefit from the answers.

SEARCH. Notice that I used all capital letters.....which means that searching for the answer is very important. There's a good chance that if you're having a problem, then someone else has already had that problem, asked the question, and gotten the answer. Searching before you post a question will typically get you the answer faster and means that the people that give the excellent support won't have to answer the same question over and over and over.

Post in the proper forum. The Zikula forum categories are laid out in a very easy to understand hierarchy. If you can't find the perfect place, then choose the one that you think is best.

Include all important information. If you get an error message, then copy and paste the message exactly as it appears. Even if the error message doesn't mean much to you, it might to the person who is so generously offering to help you. It's also very important to include the version of Zikula that you're using, and any modules that might be relevent. If further questions need to be asked to determine the environment that caused an issue, your answer will take longer.

If you're having an issue with a specific module, it's usually best to post a message in the message forums on the module's support site if they exist. If not, click over to the official Zikula forums at http://community.zikula.org/module-Forum.htm

What is open source?

Zikula is Open Source software released under the GNU General Public License.

What is an archive/zip file

Zikula is made up of many different files that need to be arranged is specific directories. If you were to download each of these files individually, it would take you a very long time. By packaging all of these files in a distribution archive, you only need to download a single file.

The extraction process copies all of the files contained in the distribution archive and puts them where they belong.

You could thing of a distribution archive as a suitcase full of clothes.

A Zip file is the most common type of archive. Another type of archive that is favored by Linux Hippies is RAR.