Extending the Functionality of the CMS

An Introduction to Tribiq CMS 5.1 Plugins

Since version 5.1, Tribiq CMS supports Plugins.

A Plugin is a piece of code that lives completely separately from the core CMS, yet still extends its functionality.

What Plugins can do

Plugins can add functionality to Tribiq CMS in a number of different ways. A Plugin might be capable of being placed on a visitor-facing web page, so as to add some visible (or invisible) functionality for a site visitor. Or it may add functionality to the administrative side of the CMS.

You can think of a Plugin as a building block for enhancing Tribiq CMS.

The 5.1 and later downloads of Tribiq CMS come with a number of Plugins pre-installed. Some also also pre-configured.

A few example Plugins

Here is a small list of example Plugins:

• Menu navigation
• Content area view/edit
• Breadcrumb trail
• Weather feed
• Newsletters
• Personnel Directory

The first three of the above examples could well be considered essential to the operation of a website. We would agree with that. We make deliver this functionality as bundled Plugins rather than as part of the core CMS software because it enables you to install similar functionality using a different Plugin if you so wish.

For example, we include our own Menu navigation Plugin; but there are menu ways to implement menu navigation on web site, and third-party developers may well wish to write their own Plugins which work in a different way from the native Tribiq ones.

The last two example Plugins are more complex than the others. They implement specialist functionality which might only be required on certain types of website.

How do I get Plugins?

Plugins are available from the Tribiq Store.

Many are free under the GPL, some must be purchased under a commercial license. Many have been written by Tribiq, but there are also third-party contributed Plugins.