SoulMS Launch
An item management system for custom websites.
Date: 10/7/2022
Category: SoulMS
SoulMS is here
After a long year (or two) of coding my own back-end to run websites. I've finally completed a fully functional software that I call SoulMS, or Soul Management System. The idea of the software was to create a back-end that's scalable and easy to use for custom websites. Users will create News, Blogs, and Events with the Item Builder, but more on that later. The software is designed to make it possible to create basic content for sites, much like this article, and the developer (me) would use this content to populate the website. Excluding custom pages of course. Not only that but the software is designed to be insanely scalable on a global scope.
That being said, I would need a reliable server to run my software. I decided to go with Googles Firebase to run the show. Since JL WebServices is only me at the moment, and I'm a JavaScript developer. I also made the decision to go with a back-end language called Node.js. With these two power houses I spent my free time coding. Taking my time on every little bit. Please be sure to check out Googles Firebase and Node.js.
The Users Perspective, Item Builder
While my customers will have a custom website that the Management System runs. There is something that the users can do. This is to create items for News, Blogs, and Events. I made a universal builder to create these items, called the "Item Builder". Instead of a rich text editor (Microsoft Word like editor), I went for a builder where the user adds section by section. This will take the risk of responsive failure and bite in the butt. Making websites more dynamic and device friendly.
The "Item Builder" is in it's first version and I am working on adding new features as I go.
The "Item Builder" can and will be used for anything that requires the user to create content for their site. Meaning: I needed to make it universal and have a standard of how items are made and displayed. The builder is also extremely scalable and can be used for things that are not News, Blogs, or Events. Something like page content or section content, but that's down the road.
The Interface
When users log into SoulMS you are brought to the dashboard. Which contain the users three most recent items for each category (News, Blogs, Events). From there you can view or edit any one of those items. Making it easy to jump right back into what you left off on.
If you want to add a new item. Then jump to the side menu and pick an option. Once the page loads there's a tab navigation. First tab is a list of the most seven recent items, with an edit button and quick view button for each item. The "Item Builder" tab will allow you to create items to edit them later. Then the settings button will give you a list of item setting that effect each item, like adding and removing categories.
Once your item is created you can edit the item from a list of your items. There you can use the "Item Builder" to edit the item. There is a Quick View tab that gives you an idea of what the item will look like. When your done editing and you've submitted you changes you can re-enter edit mode and change the settings. From there you can change the category of the item, feature the item, and publish the item. Without the item being published no can see the item. So make sure you're ready to show the world before clicking that button.
Once done, your item will be available for the world to see, so be proud!
Conclusion
After a long process, I've done my best to make a reliable and scalable software that can be used by many. I'm hoping people will enjoy there custom websites and the features that go with them.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.