Overview

In September 2008, I rebuilt Thunderbolt’s content management system (CMS) from scratch. Using this, our staff submit and edit articles, upload images, track which games other people are writing about, moderate comments and more.

Technology used

Like the main Thunderbolt site, the CMS is built with XHTML, CSS, jQuery, PHP and MySQL.

Inline form help

Most form elements have inline help, activated by clicking the small question mark next to the field. The information slides up and down using jQuery, without the need to reload the page.

Game tracker

To avoid two people working on the same article, the CMS has a game tracker. Writers can easily check what’s being done already and add their own entries to reserve games ahead of time.

Statistics

The CMS has a whole statistics section, allowing writers to appreciate all the hard work they’ve done in the overall context of the site. There are statistics for content, individual writers and traffic.

Handbook

There’s a handbook built right into the CMS, which contains all of the information new staff members need to work at Thunderbolt. This includes tutorials concerning the CMS, image preparation, the submission process and the responsibilities they’re given.