3. Facts and Features

The modules are intelligent building blocks in abcOnline-CMS. They make it easy to build and maintain the website. 

Each module type (Article, News, Short news, Events) have a set of fields that can be given content (The Heading is the headline, the Ingress is used to create interest, both on the website, on the Search Engines and in the Newsletter, etc.)

The functionality of each module type helps the Webmaster decide what kind of module type is right for the wanted purpose:

• A permanent presentation text with headline, picture(s) and document(s) would typically be a normal Article module type.
• A text that is showing the latest updates for your company and when the text should be displayed at several locations on your website would typically be a News module type.
• A list of employees could be an Article with paragraphs, but it would make more sense to use the Contact Persons module type. This has specific fields for name, address, title, picture etc and makes sure that each person is listed in the right order.

Some modules are created automatically, such as the "Calendar" module type that takes its content from the "Events", "Training courses" and "Tournaments" for the appropriate date.

Some modules are defined by the Webmaster, such as the "Impressum" module that has specific fields to show who is responsible for the website, address and legal disclaimer.

Other modules do not appear on the website, such as Event participants - and some appear according to the search criteria defined by the user (Searchable articles) or the Webmaster (Products).

Most modules either appear on a specific menu location (such as Articles, Birdie Book and Impressum) and others are displayed according to the Categories for that position (News, Shortnews and Contact Persons).

Some module types (like Documents, External links and Slideshows) can be either Menu specific (if they only appear at that location) or use Categories, if e.g. the product documentations (PDF or Word documents) shall appear on several locations.

The most advanced modules use Selections (Products or Searchable Articles). For these, it is either the Webmaster that defines which combination of selection criteria (e.g. Price, Quality, Type) that are displayed at one location, or it is the result of a search done by the user that displays the Searchable Articles that match the criteria wanted.