Publisher - Getting Started

Getting Started with Publisher

A step-by-step guide to setting up and using the Publisher news/blog module.

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What is Publisher?

Publisher is the premier content management module for XOOPS, designed for:

• News Sites - Publish articles with categories
• Blogs - Personal or multi-author blogging“
• Documentation - Organized knowledge bases
• Content Portals - Mixed media content

graph LR
    A[Authors] --> B[Publisher]
    B --> C[Categories]
    B --> D[Articles]
    B --> E[Files]
    D --> F[Readers]
    E --> F

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Quick Setup

Step 1: Install Publisher

1. Download from GitHub
2. Upload to modules/publisher/
3. Go to Admin → Modules → Install

Step 2: Create Categories

graph TD
    A[News] --> B[Technology]
    A --> C[Sports]
    A --> D[Entertainment]
    B --> E[AI & ML]
    B --> F[Web Development]

1. Admin → Publisher → Categories
2. Click “Add Category”
3. Fill in:
   • Name: Category name
   • Description: What this category contains
   • Image: Optional category image
4. Set permissions (who can submit/view)
5. Save

Step 3: Configure Settings

1. Admin → Publisher → Preferences
2. Key settings to configure:

Setting	Recommended	Description
Items per page	10-20	Articles on index
Editor	TinyMCE/CKEditor	Rich text editor
Allow ratings	Yes	Reader feedback
Allow comments	Yes	Discussions
Auto-approve	No	Editorial control

Step 4: Create Your First Article

1. Main menu → Publisher → Submit Article
2. Fill in the form:
   • Title: Article headline
   • Category: Where it belongs
   • Summary: Short description
   • Body: Full article content
3. Add optional elements:
   • Featured image
   • File attachments
   • SEO settings
4. Submit for review or publish

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User Roles

flowchart TD
    subgraph "Permissions"
        A[Reader] --> |View| B[Published Content]
        C[Author] --> |Submit| D[Articles]
        E[Editor] --> |Approve| D
        F[Admin] --> |Full Control| G[Everything]
    end

    D --> E
    E --> B

Reader

• View published articles
• Rate and comment
• Search content

Author

• Submit new articles
• Edit own articles
• Attach files

Editor

• Approve/reject submissions
• Edit any article
• Manage categories

Administrator

• Full module control
• Configure settings
• Manage permissions

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Writing Articles

Article Editor

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Title: [Your Article Title                        ] │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Category: [Select Category          ▼]              │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Summary:                                            │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Brief description shown in listings...          │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Body:                                               │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ [B] [I] [U] [Link] [Image] [Code]               │ │
│ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │
│ │                                                  │ │
│ │ Full article content goes here...               │ │
│ │                                                  │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ [Submit] [Preview] [Save Draft]                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Best Practices

1. Compelling titles - Clear, engaging headlines
2. Good summaries - Entice readers to click
3. Structured content - Use headings, lists, images
4. Proper categorization - Help readers find content
5. SEO optimization - Keywords in title and content

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Managing Content

Article Status Flow

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Draft: Save Draft
    Draft --> Submitted: Submit
    Submitted --> Published: Approve
    Submitted --> Rejected: Reject
    Rejected --> Draft: Revise
    Published --> Archived: Archive
    Published --> Draft: Unpublish
    Archived --> Published: Restore

Status Descriptions

Status	Description
Draft	Work in progress
Submitted	Awaiting review
Published	Live on site
Expired	Past expiration date
Rejected	Needs revision
Archived	Removed from listings

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Navigation

Accessing Publisher

• Main Menu → Publisher
• Direct URL: yoursite.com/modules/publisher/

Key Pages

Page	URL	Purpose
Index	/modules/publisher/	Article listings
Category	/modules/publisher/category.php?id=X	Category articles
Article	/modules/publisher/item.php?itemid=X	Single article
Submit	/modules/publisher/submit.php	New article
Search	/modules/publisher/search.php	Find articles

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Blocks

Publisher provides several blocks for your site:

Recent Articles

Displays latest published articles

Category Menu

Navigation by category

Popular Articles

Most viewed content

Random Article

Showcase random content

Spotlight

Featured articles

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Related Documentation

• Creating and Editing Articles
• Managing Categories
• Extending Publisher

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#xoops #publisher #user-guide #getting-started #cms