Modules, Widgets, Pages, Widget Layouts, and HTML Contents

[Timothy Fisher]

The subject of modules, widgets, widget layouts, and html contents can
be a bit complex in EngineY so I thought I'd create this post to
explain the context of those items in EngineY.

Let's start with the concept of "Modules". In EngineY a "module" is a
logical unit of related functionality providing a single feature or
functional area. For example, blogs, photos, groups, and events are
all modules. Each of these are implemented in a very similar manner.
Right now there is not any real functionality that lets you work with
modules as distinct entities in EngineY. On the Admin interface you
will see a section where modules are listed but you can not yet do
anything at the module level. The thought is that eventually you will
be able to enable, disable, install, and remove individual modules
through the Admin interface. For example, if you decided that you no
longer want Events functionality, you could simply disable the Events
module and all events functionality would go away.

A widget is a specific UI component that is part of a module. A
module will normally use several widgets to provide its
functionality. For example the groups module has a groups_home widget
that displays groups on the network's home page, and a groups_profile
widget that displays a user's groups on a user's profile. Widgets can
be managed through the Admin interface.

Pages are HTML pages that can contain widgets. Normally an EngineY
site will have at least a home page and a profile page. A site
designer can create additional pages as well. The pages functionality
allows you to use EngineY as a CMS and create as many unique pages as
you need. Pages can be managed through the Admin interface.

Now that you know about widgets and pages, I can tell you what widget
layouts are. A widget layout describes the layout position of a
specified widget on a specified page. So the contents of a page are
defined by a set of widget layouts which place various widgets onto
that page. Widget layouts can be managed through the Admin interface.

HTML Contents are the final element of this puzzle. HTML Contents are
essentially managed HTML content chunks. This is very similar to the
managed content that other portals and CMS tools let you create and
display. An HTML content can contain any valid HTML that you want to
be able to dynamically update through the EngineY Admin interface.

Okay, I hope this brief overview of these components has helped to
clarify some of the design philosophy behind EngineY. If you have any
questions about any of this, feel free to use this list to post your
questions and I will respond to any questions.

Thanks,
Tim