Glossary
The following words and phrases have a specific meaning when discussing Zenario:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
admin mode
When an administrator is logged-in to Zenario, they are in admin mode. This mode is not available to regular visitors or extranet users.
admin toolbar
A toolbar that is visible above every page of the front-end of the website while viewed by a logged-in administrator. The admin toolbar contains tabs to switch between various views: Tools, Content item, Layout, Menu, Translations, New.
administrator
A person with the rights to edit or manage a site, who has logged into admin mode. Permissions govern the things that an administrator is allowed to do. Note that administrator accounts and the admin login screen are distinct from extranet user accounts and the extranet login system.
administrator permission
A means by which administrators are allowed to access certain parts of Zenario's functionality. There are broad permissions: authoring, publishing, sitemap, hierarchical documents, plugins, users & contacts, and others. Within each broad permission there are more granular permissions.
AJAX nest
AJAX nests are a kind of nest that are used for building dashboards with Zenario's FEA system. An AJAX nest contains at least two slides, and each slide contains one or more plugins. A user or visitor arriving at a page with an AJAX nest will see the first slide initially, and by interacting with it may move to one of the other slides. A common use case is a list of things (e.g. user records, locations, projects), and a link may take the user to view a specific record or edit it. The transitions between the slides are determined by the conductor state diagram.
alias
The unique, friendly name of a content item. An alias forms the right-hand part of a URL, for example http://zenar.io/portfolio the alias is portfolio. An alias of a content item may be edited.
B
banner
The "Swiss Army knife" of plugins, a Banner plugin can display an image, a link, a title and some additional descriptive HTML. Common uses are: the main site logo (in a slot on the layout); in-page call-to-actions (CTAs), images in slideshows, messages in nests.
C
conductor
A state manager used within FEA modules. Conductor controls which mode or view is currently active, and manages the transitions between them in response to user actions.
content item
A page on a Zenario site. Content items are version controlled. When a content item is edited, a new version of that content item is created in draft form; when it is published, the previous published version may be retained as an archived version. The numeric ID of each content item never changes once the item has been created.
content type
A grouping of content items which have similar properties. Content types include HTML Page, Document, News, Blog, Audio File, and Streaming Video.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheet)
The styling of a page or of a plugin, and determines its appearance to the site visitor. Plugins have a "CSS" tab, on which it is possible to choose optional styles that are advertised by the skin.
D
draft
An unpublished version of a content item. When a published content item is edited, a new draft version is created. The draft exists alongside the live (published) version until it is published in its turn. See also: version.
E
edition
The tier of Zenario that is installed on a site. Available editions include Community, Pro, ProBusiness, and Enterprise. The edition determines which modules and features are available; administrators who find a feature missing may be running an edition that does not include it.
extranet
A site, or part of a site, which requires visitors to enter a username and password in order to access it. People who may access an extranet area are called users.
F
FAB (Floating Admin Box)
The modal popup panels used throughout the Zenario backend for settings, configuration, and editing tasks. FABs are built using TUIX and appear as floating overlays on top of the current page.
FEA (Front End Administration)
Interfaces that allow visitors or logged-in extranet users to interact with content directly on the front end of the site. FEA modules use Conductor to manage navigation and state between different views or modes.
framework
A chunk of HTML and Twig which determines how the output of a plugin that is in a slot will appear on the web page. When a plugin runs, its output is merged with its framework to produce the final output that the visitor sees. Some plugins have more than one framework, such as a custom framework for that site only. Frameworks are only editable in the file system.
front-end
The visitor-facing part of a Zenario site. This encompasses the view of published content items when viewed by site visitors, and the various views of content items (in draft, published and other modes) that an administrator may see while in admin mode.
G
Gridmaker
A what-you-see-is-what-you-get interactive tool built in to Zenario, for designing layouts. It is used to define the overall size and appearance of a layout, and what slots the layout has. Gridmaker allows the administrator to control size, position, groupings, device view and CSS class of each slot.
L
language
A human language in which a visitor may view a website. When a language is enabled, the administrator may choose to load visitor phrases into the database, and after that the phrases of that language may be displayed to website visitors.
layout
The page template that defines which slots exist on a page and how they are arranged. Content items are assigned a layout, and all content items sharing a layout share the same slot structure. Layouts are created and edited using Gridmaker.
level
Refers to the hierarchy of menu nodes, and describes how deep a menu node is in the hierarchy. Level 1 menu nodes are at the top of the hierarchy, with level 2 nodes beneath them, and so on.
M
menu node
The menu system is the principal kind of hierarchical navigation for visitors. A menu node is a single navigational item in a menu. A menu node usually links to a content item (its destination). A menu node may have child nodes, and those may also have child nodes, to any number of levels.
merge field
A placeholder used in phrases and templates to mark a position where a variable value will be substituted at runtime. Merge fields typically take the form [[field_name]]. They allow a single phrase or template to produce different output depending on context, such as inserting a user's name or a product title.
module
A software package which may be installed into a Zenario site to enhance its functionality. A module may contain PHP program code and JavaScript. A module can add functionality to organizer and render plugins that appear on the front-end. A module may extend the functionality of another module.
N
nest
A nest is a collection of multiple plugins. A nest always contains one or more into slides, and each slide contains one or more plugins. Only one slide's plugins are visible at a time. This is a highly flexible system, with many options. Nests are widely used throughout Zenario and are the standard mechanism for building interactions. AJAX nests are an advanced form of nest and have a state diagram controlling navigation.
nestable
A property of a module that permits its plugins to be placed inside a nest rather than directly in a standard slot. Not all modules are nestable; this property is declared in the module's configuration.
O
Organizer
The administrative "back-office" area of Zenario, through which almost every aspect of Zenario can be edited. Only administrators can see this area. See also: front-end.
P
phrase, or visitor phrase
A word or phrase which may be displayed via the front-end of a Zenario site to a visitor.
plugin
Some modules can generate content that will be seen by visitors (i.e. HTML, images, JavaScript interactions), and they do this by rendering plugins. To make plugins visible on the front-end, they must be inserted into a slot on a layout or content item. When a plugin in placed in a slot on a layout, it will appear on all content items using that layout. A given plugin may be used in one or more slots on different layouts or content items. See also version controlled plugins.
S
scheduled task
A background process configured to run automatically at set intervals, without requiring administrator interaction. Scheduled tasks are used for operations such as sending queued emails, clearing caches, or running data imports. They are managed from within Organizer and require a server-level cron job to trigger them.
signal
A means by which a module can broadcast a notification that some event has occurred. Other modules may then listen for the signal and potentially take a further action.
sitemap
The sitemap is a hierarchical view of the menu navigation of the whole website. In Organizer, Zenario has a sitemap viewer, to quickly review and make small changes, and a sitemap planner, where the hierarchy can be modified, new menu nodes and content items created.
skin
A collection of CSS files and images belonging to a layout; they determine how layout, and content items using that layout, will appear.
slide
A section within a nest. Each slide may contain one or more plugins, but only one slide within a nest is visible to the visitor at any given time. Slides can be configured with access conditions, such as requiring a smart group membership, to control visibility.
slot
A rectangular area within a layout, into which a plugin may be placed, either on the layout, or on certain content items that use that layout.
smart group
A dynamically evaluated group of extranet users, defined by a set of criteria such as role, data field values, or activity. Smart groups are used to control access to slides within a nest and to target content or communications at specific subsets of users.
T
translation chain
A set of content items (web pages) which are in different languages but all contain the same meaning.
TUIX
A YAML-based user interface markup language developed by Tribal Systems to facilitate consistent development of administrator interfaces. TUIX defines behaviour in Organizer, in the admin toolbar, in floating admin boxes and in skins.
U
user, or extranet user
A person who has an account on a site and who has logged in. See also visitor.
V
version
Content when it exists in a slot on the layout level delivers version-controlled content from that content item. For example, a version controlled plugin of the WYSIWYG Editor module will usually be placed in a slot on the layout template. It will then appear on all content items (pages) that use that layout. See also plugin.
visitor
Anyone who visits the front end of a Zenario site, whether anonymously or logged in as an extranet user.
W
WYSIWYG editor
Standing for "what you see is what you get", WYSIWYG editors exist in many parts of Zenario. Most commonly used are in-page editors, so that administrators can prepare content in-page and see how it will appear. But they are also used in the Banner plugin, when editing email templates, and in other places.
Y
YAML
YAML is a human-readable data serialisation format. In Zenario, YAML files exist in modules, skins and other places to determine pre-set values and behaviours. YAML files have a hierarchical structure, like an XML file or JSON object. More about YAML.
