Kirby Becomes Kirby 2
By Andrew Powell, published 17/12/2014 in
While not Linux-specific, Kirby (also known as KirbyCMS) is a content management system that The Linux Rain itself runs on. Kirby 2, an updated and revamped version of the file-based CMS, recently became available and we have updated to that exciting new version.
You may say to me, "wait, the site looks and behaves exactly the same!", but that would be a good thing. The upgrade is purely in the backend, so really the site behaving as normal is a good thing and testimony to the lovely simplicity and robustness that Kirby provides. Despite a complete re-write with Kirby 2, the upgrade was as simple as replacing a couple of specific folders and a few lines of outdated code.
However, you may notice more subtle improvements such as performance. There are also some features introduced in Kirby 2, which while not fully taken advantage on The Linux Rain just yet, will likely be implemented.
For one thing, the Kirby Panel. Kirby 1 actually did have it's own Panel, which allowed you to administer your Kirby installation from a front-end user interface, if you didn't feel like always getting your hands dirty fiddling with raw files. But the Panel introduced in Kirby 2 is vastly more powerful and flexible and can be moulded to almost any purpose, with custom fields, page structures, file management and more.
Kirby 2 also introduces - user authentication and permissions! That's right, a completely file-based CMS (no SQL database in sight) has it's own user system. Obviously this works well with the Kirby Panel, but it also works throughout the website itself (once the templates have been updated to implement it of course!). This alone makes Kirby more able to go toe-to-toe with the likes of WordPress (more on that CMS in a moment..). Of course, apples and oranges, and Kirby is aimed at those not afraid to get their hands a little dirty in PHP code compared to WordPress, which with a plethora of themes available, is generally frontend-heavy and considered very user-friendly. Having said that, however, Kirby itself is gaining an increasing number of ready-to-go downloadable themes.
Nevertheless though, Kirby's strength is a very nice easy to understand API and a file-based nature that makes updates and backups extremely easy, not to mention easy to edit.
In summary, the TLDR; version of this is: Kirby 2 continues what was already a very nice, simple and powerful file-based CMS while adding some surprisingly powerful and clever features. Soon, I hope for The Linux Rain to harness the power of these new features, or at least look at the ways we can do so.
Wait, what happened to the WordPress version of The Linux Rain?
That version still exists and with enough time and effort could still be migrated to be the default version of the site.
However, I'll be honest, the emergence of Kirby 2 somewhat threw a spanner into the works. The Kirby CMS has always been quite trouble-free and dependable, even from the start. WordPress... less so. Compared to Kirby, WordPress is a behemoth to work with, albeit a behemoth that pays off with a mass amount of features/plugins. But the latest features in Kirby 2 certainly look to overcome many of what I considered to be limitations in the Kirby 1 version of The Linux Rain, plus it's undeniable that Kirby is inherently more secure.
With this in mind, things are a little bit up in the air in regards to the future of the CMS that powers The Linux Rain. I welcome feedback and in the meantime I will be looking into the best route to take, but at this stage Kirby may well be the frontrunner.