Review report of [=Bricolage=]
Person(s) reviewing it: Devin
More information about it: Main Website, Article on what Bricolage is and isn't, Bricolage recent updates as a part of Google Summer of Code
Software version(s): [=Bricolage =] 1.10.2
Status of the report: %red% DRAFT %%
Test implementation: Author/Admin URL: Currently down.
What We Have
The original feature list is available at CMSWhatWeHave
| Feature | Score (0-3) | Remarks |
| Anonymous open publishing | 3 | It seems possible to create a user "Anonymous" with password "Anonymous" - try it on the test install |
| Easy mirroring capability | 3 | Seperation of content from presentation allows mirroring and much more -- same content database could output different sites based on location, or in different formats. |
| Syndication -out/in | 2 | Production of RSS can be accomplished as easily (or easier) than presentation as a HTML, but the implementation is not a part of the base package. An included SOAP implementation allows for importing data. |
| Search | 1 | Search of articles is implemented, but Bricolage is only a backend publishing solution -- so front-end search for articles through the presentation interface would have to be created, as would all frontend end presentation aspects. |
| The ability to create multiple instances | 1 | The Bricolage server runs mod_perl which is memory heavy. |
| Multimedia handling | 1 | Seems to handle image uploads well, does not appear to have facilities for other media types. |
| Categories | 3 | Concept of document categories is integral to Bricolage, but again this is the raw data being categorized. |
| Good performance on affordable hardware | 1 | Recommended install requires at least two machines, one for Bricolage and one for serving the actual files. The Bricolage server runs mod_perl which is memory heavy. |
| Customizability | 3 | Separation of data from presentation is nearly complete, so applying multiple templates to the same data is easy. |
| Internationalization | 1 | Deals in UTF-8. Unsure how to publish in different languages, though this may be possible. Needs more research. |
| Translation | 0 | |
| Comments | 0 | |
| Anti-abuse measures | 0 | |
| Easy moderation | 2 | The backend editing is designed around a newspaper publishing paradigm. Create -> copy edit -> legal -> publish are steps an content can go through. First impression is that it is feature-rich but not "easy". |
| Calendar | 0 | |
| Features | 1 | Ability to tag content as features should be easy; building the public presentation template to present article as feature is not a part of this package. |
| Documentation | 3 | |
| User moderation - open editing | 0 |
Legend: 0, feature not present at all - 1, the feature exists but is poor and doesn't suit to our goals - 2, the feature isn't as complete as we want but we can use it - 3, the feature is fully functional
What We Want
The original feature list is available at CMSWhatWeWant
| Feature | Score (0-3) | Remarks | |
| User Logins | |||
| User Logins (network wide) | |||
| Access Controls | 2 | Backend content creation and management implements full user permission system, but frontend presentation to users through published pages would need to be created. | |
| Notify Moderator Button | |||
| User Moderation - Open Editing | |||
| User Profiles | |||
| Podcasting/Vodcasting | |||
| Redundancy (DB content storage) | |||
| Version Control | |||
| User Notifications | |||
| Customizable skins by users | 2 | Not implemented per se, but see above under customisability. | |
| Accessibility | |||
| GIS | |||
| Photo Galleries | 0 | ||
| Licencing Options | 0 | ||
| Image Manipulation | |||
| P2P Integration | |||
| Social Networking - Filtering systems | |||
| WYSIWYG Editor | 3 | ||
| Tagging | | | ||
| Anti-bot Systems | |||
| Easy installation | 1 | This is an industrial-strength solution which can scale execellently, but setting it up is non-trivial. | |
| Cross Site Search | 2 | If the multiple site all share a common Bricolage back-end, cross site search can be implemented. | |
| Documented APIs | 3 | ||
| Software modularity | 3 | ||
| Healthy community behind | 3 | I haven't been a part of the community, as this is a new app to me, but the user and developer lists seem quite active. |
Legend: 0, feature not present at all - 1, the feature exists but is poor and doesn't suit to our goals - 2, the feature isn't as complete as we want but we can use it - 3, the feature is fully functional
What We Could Also Have
Other interesting things this software provides and we can use.
| Name | Description |
| Security by separating access to content from presentation | (from article referenced above) "Bricolage does not serve content to your final audience — it generally runs as a back-office application and often behind a secure firewall — your content library remains safe in Bricolage even if the security of your front-end servers becomes compromised." |
