Spip

SPIP is a free web content management system.

Introduction

SPIP (Système de Publication pour l' Internet partage ) is an application program that is used for creating websites. Originally intended for the design of collective Internet newspapers, it has now grown into a versatile CMS. SPIP is subject to the terms of the GPL as free software, free of charge.

Its very easy installation, handling and maintenance allows a wide group of users access to the collective creation of web projects.

SPIP has emerged in the French- speaking world and has achieved his greatest distribution. Its mascot is a squirrel ( in some dialects of Belgium say Spip for squirrels ) to its namesake pips (French Spip ), the pet of the comic hero Spirou.

Presentation

SPIP is the most widely used free CMS in the French-speaking world, but is also adopted in numerous other language areas. It is now used for more than 25,000 websites and is thanks to its liberal license (GNU GPL) available to everyone.

Its main characteristics are taken from the field of online publication. It is used in very different areas: institutional facilities ( the French Post Office http://www.laposte.fr, several French ministries), online newspapers (Le Monde diplomatique http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr ), non-profit associations, university ( http://www.e-juristes.org/ ) and private websites.

SPIP 2 takes the step from classical CMS to the development platform for applications with distributed databases. The compatibility with older versions is maintained. The new SPIP is designed for two groups of users with limited or extensive technical knowledge, so it is still easy to learn, but it offers many new features.

Technology

The program is written in PHP and works with the MySQL database technology.

History

Originally SPIP was written uzine.net for the online magazine. Its developers decided to put it under the free GPL license. From 2001 SPIP is used for other sites.

SPIP provides a caching mechanism, an authentication, automated installation and an administration interface with input products etc. With SPIP, thanks to the existing document templates - called Skeletons - Dynamic web pages are created without PHP knowledge is necessary.

Since version 1.6 ( early 2003) the private interface of SPIP is offered in several languages. A booster chamber is set up to enable further translations.

From 1.7 ( January 2004) multilingual websites can be managed. SPIP is extended by a search engine and Web page indexing. In addition, can now be integrated via syndication, the content of other websites.

With version 1.8 (April 2005 ), a completely overhauled private interface is offered. For the developers of SPIP is now a compiler that greatly enriched the joint work and opens up new perspectives. SPIPs skeletons can be made more complex, with no use of PHP.

With version 1.9 ( July 2006), the use of plugins is introduced. The organization of files is rearranged and the file extension changes from php3 to php.

Version 1.9.2 changes the location of the system folder to allow a better community use the code sources.

Version 2.1 brings a modularized content management system and a development of plug-in and layout system. Several layout frameworks allow now to put together an application and its layout with a click. The main layout framework is Z for SPIP ( ZPIP ).