Our BLOCS Modules are written to be easy to add and remove from the BLOCS system. If there are Modules that you do not plan to use, you can simply turn them off from the Module Manager and they will no longer be displayed in the system. This way you can have a streamlined system with only the bare essentials, turn everything on to see the full power, or chose something in the middle. The following is a list of active Modules for the BLOCS System:
Pages
The Page Module allows you to bring together all module content to build a web page. With this module you can write all the meta data for the page, special CSS tags, and even include special files that you create with the File Editor Module. There is also a "Special" section that can be used to control other areas of the page which are specified by the Theme that the system is using at the time.
Blocs
The Blocs Module is used for standard HTML content. This module supports standard editor plugins like TinyMCE to write blocks of copy including text, images, flash content and standard layout and formatting tools.
Images
The Images Module handles uploading images to the site for use by the system.
Gallery
The Gallery Module allows you to create image galleries from uploaded images. These galleries can be displayed in several ways with built in Javascript and Flash controller.
Forms
The Form Module is a great tool to create complicated forms in minutes. You simply add a label and a field type (text input, textareas, radio buttons, select boxes). You can also select which fields are required. The Form Module also supports CSS tags using the "Style Tags" section for each field.
Flash Manager
The Flash Module handles all your Flash SWF files. You simply upload the SWF file, including the width and height attributes. There is also a field for including FlashVars dynamically when the Flash file is drawn on the page.
File Editor
The File Editor Module is a simple way to create new include files for your site. These files can be Javascript, XML, Text, or pretty much anything you need. The Page Module allows you to select files to include on a page. The File Editor is also used to edit the configuration files for Modules, Themes, and Plugins.
Events
The Events Module is used to create either a list of events or used to tie in with the FullCalendar Widget to display these events on a dynamic calendar.
Documents and Libraries
The Document and Libraries Module is used for uploading documents to your website. Once the documents are uploaded, you can create a library to seperate them into useful lists for your website.
Ads and Ad Images
The Ad Module with Images are for displaying advertisements on your site. You can quickly upload an image to the Ad Image section and then create an Ad, including a link (URL) to be displayed on a page. The Ad Module supports multiple images for any advertisement section of your site. When you add multiple image/link combinations to a given Ad the system will randomly choose one to display when the page is displayed.
Widgets
The Widget Module was created to include third-party functionality. We currently have 5 different Widgets for BLOCS written by us. These include RSS Feed Viewer, Twitter Feed Viewer (including Trends), Full Calendar (works with Events Module or Google Calendars), Flickr Feed Viewer, and the Facebook Share Button. As new web services become popular and useful other developers can create their own widgets or you can ask us to create one for you.
- RSS Feed Viewer - This widget allows you to add RSS feeds to your site. You simply give it a name, the URL of the feed, and how many items you wish to display.
- Twitter Feed Viewer (including Trends) - This widget allows you to add Twitter feeds to your site. You can select a particular username or simply display the current trends of discussion. If you select trends, your users will be able to click a trend and display the latest tweets for that trend.
- Full Calendar - This widget displays a nice AJAX based calendar. You can either use the events created in the Event Module or point it to an public Google Calendar to populate the calendar.
- Flickr Feed Viewer - The Flickr Feed Widget is used to display a block of thumbnail images for a Flickr account or you can select the "Interestingness" settings which shows the latest interesting photos uploaded to Flickr using their API. You will need to provide an API Key to use this widget.
- Facebook Share Button - The Facebook Share Button widget will display the standard Share button from Facebook so that users can share a particular page with their friends on Facebook.com.
- Child Menu - This Child Menu widget allows you to create a menu list of pages based on the selected parent page. The menu is titled based on the name your provide for the widget when you create it.
Products and Categories
The Products and Categories Module allows you to sell your products and services on your BLOCS website. This module includes a shopping cart and PayPal® checkout. We can also customize this module to use your credit card processing gateway. You create a product by giving it a name, a description and image. Multiple pricing options with shipping cost for each product is supported.
Once you have your products in the system you can break them into categories for easier browsing on your website. When building a page you can select an entire category to be displayed or individual products.
Users
The User Module allows you to create multiple administrator accounts for the BLOCS system. This is helpful when you have multiple employees who need access to the system and do not want to use one user account.
The BLOCS system now supports Themes. With the Theme Module you can develop a new look and feel for your website by modifying our Theme Templates or creating your own.
Themes can be edited from within the Theme Module using the File Editor. Each theme has it's own layout and CSS file and an image directory. With this new module you can easily make changes to the overall site without modifying any of the underlying code of the system.
Currently BLOCS comes with the following themes:
