Hey everyone, I just wanted to clue you in to a project I have been working on. I call it Darkboom, and essentially it is a tool for webmasters which will allow you to upload multiple images and batch-process them (move, resize, generate thumbnails and HTML to paste into your site, email, MySpace, etc.). I have not finished it yet, but the information is over at Darkboom.AlanHogan.com.

There are a lot of content-management systems out there, but none that I have found has been able to do all that I want it to do. (Note: I wrote this article a year ago, but did not publish it, thinking it incomplete. Well, the need is still real, so I am publishing it!)

Driving principles:

1. It's my site. I want total control.
2. It should be easy to use.

Smart server-side caching

For all users who are not logged in, just generate the page one time and cache the output. After a set period of time and also after changes to the site, dump the cache.

Powerful yet simple skinning

It's my site. I want to be able to control every character output to the browser. The ideal CMS would provide concise documentation to let me know how to make a powerful template, how to change the output of forms, etc.

Smart client-side caching

Drupal's absolute worst offense is setting immediate cache expiration dates for the admin pages. When creating or editing content, if you (like I did) click a link that will explain the input format, it opens in the same window. Hit "back" and all your changes are gone. There should be two layers of protection here: On navigating away from an unsaved form, you should get a JavaScript confirm() dialog box warning you that your changes may be lost. Secondly, there is no reason the page has to expire so soon anyway. Those global quick expiration times just force your server to do more work.

Of course, all pages, unless I say so, should probably just cache on my machine anyway. It reduces stress on my server and speeds up the operation of the Back button.