Candy Editor introduction
You can be up and running in under 10 minutes
If you can type you can edit safely.
- This is do-it-yourself in a few minutes
- This is 'safe'. You can't wreck the whole page
- No specialist knowledge or fancy clicks required.
What
Ideal for existing web pages.
It works by making designated items editable or replacable. This means the content can be maintained without trashing the layout and other design elements.
Candy Editor is a PHP program that sits on the server in the same directory as the pages to be edited. It takes couple of minutes to install, then five minutes to change an existing web page to make some of the content editable.
Who will benefit
Say goodbye to out of date web pages
Web page updates are no-longer a tedious and stressful chore
| Web page writers | You do your design stuff then leave the updates to the users knowing they are not able to break it. |
| Web page owners | You can safely edit your own web page without needing to ask somebody to do it for you. |
| Club secretaries | Does your club want something as simple to use as a notice board? All you have to do is get a bare-bones web page then you can post to your heart's content. Diary of events is a doddle. |
Questions and answers
Communicate easily again with on-line instant editing.
| Can I use it with my existing web page? | - Probably yes. Some small changes need to be made to indicate the bits that are editable. |
| Can I build a web page from scratch with CE? | - CE is meant for editing existing web pages (But a template is provided for experimenting if you're just thinking about it.) |
| How much does it cost? | - Nothing. But a small donation would be appreciated if you find it useful. |
Candy Editor is free and easy to install
Setup requirements
- FTP Access to server with PHP5
- Text editor
Download
- Download all you need to get started
- Program to go on the server
- Comprehensive programmer's guide
- Demo that should work out of the box
Install
- Unzip to your local system first.
- Read the installation section of the programmer's guide to see what gets FTPd where.
- Try the demo on the server.
- Add class=ed to editable elements
Watch how quick and safe Candy Editor is
Screen shots
ORIGINAL: Here is a typical web page a small club or association. The secretary will want to
edit the list of events, keep the league table up to date, add and remove notices,
maintain a list of interesting news items and change the photos from time to time.
IN THE EDITOR: The editable bits are shown with candy stripes.
- There's a very simple menu bar which requires a password.
- What's that urgent message? An item has been hidden, but will come back to life as soon as we edit it.
- Links to reference documents are easy to maintain (and in this case duplicate)
- Photos are replaceable
UPDATING THE EVENTS LIST: It can't get much simpler than this
- Click on the row to delete then the delete button on the menu
- Click on the bottom row then click on the 'add below' button
- Start typing in details of the next event
ADDING NEWS: More simplicity
- Click on the top news item... ... The add and delete buttons appear
- Click on add-above
- Start typing details of the most recent news item
- The heading and text are separately editable. The whole thing can be cloned.
REPLACING PHOTOS: How easy can it be?
- Click on the button
- Fill in the form, tell it which file to upload
Video
A video will be along shortly
Comprehensive programmer's guide
- The on-line version is is viewable here
End user documentation
The cheat-sheet is contained in the editor. (Just click on the green question-mark button.)
Look at the Programmer's guide for a discussion of the good reasons why a detailed end-user manual is not provided.
Notes and queries about Candy Editor
F A Q
- Can't you add a WISIWIG editor
- Why does the edit program and uploaded photos and documents have to be in the same directory as the HTML
- How do I arrange CE to edit more than one page
- How do I arrange CE to edit more than one site
- Can I use Candy Editor commercially
- Can I change the program
- Is there a discussion forum
- How do I contact the author
Development
Internationalisation is an excellent way for people who may not know a lot about programming
to contribute to programs that anyone can use for free. There is a section on how to tweak CE for another
language in the Proframmer's guide
CE was put together by Peter Fox over a couple of weeks in June 2011. (You can find out more about him at his website. One of the things he does is contract programming.)
The first public release happened on 10th July 2010.
It is anticipated that developments will be a result of user feedback and programmer enthusiasm
- Bug-fixes and minor-mods listed here
- Internationalization additions