By Carnuke (http://whitecrows.us)

Initially we need to learn to navigate the module as an administrator. This is somewhat different from conventional xoops modules. The module index provides tabs to many administration sections, which when selected simply display buttons to sub options for that section. In turn these buttons display full configuration pages, often with several fetures. Each article has also a link button to 'cpanel' relating to 'Control panel' which allows editing and administration settings.

Viewing the module user index and sub pages provides the reader with lots of useful features for linking back to article categories, keywords, author biography panel, sponsored links, trackbacks and rating panel. At the top of any articles we can see some interesting meta-information blocks including Author, Source, Summary and Keywords. Each article also sports some extra news gathering links such as Transfer | RSS | RDF | ATOM | CPANEL (cpanel only for admin access)

The transfer feature currently supports pdf generation and print. It also allows articles to be transfered to other selected module such as the forum.

Each article can be created in single or multipage format, with all pages being listed at the end of the article. The last page displays a rating panel and a optional comments button link.

There are blocks for Articles, Authors, Categories, Keywords, Spotlight, Topics. Of particular interest here is the 'Keywords' feature. When articles are created, have an optional 'keyword' field. When keywords are added here they become displayed as hyperlinks in the article keyword section. In turn these link to lists of other articles with similar keywords in their keyword field. All keywords are aggregated by the module and displayed as a keywords list in a block with articles counts. Clicking any keyword in the block takes you to a list of articles with that keyword. This provides an ingenious auto referencing system, which is not only useful for reader navigation and extended research, but also for search engine to cross and deep link into related articles, pages and external references.

Search results with context makes Article more infomative. Searched text will be highlighted with a certain length of context.

Applications for Article:

Article is a hybrid of all the best features from other modules and web applications. This makes it the universal choice for blogging, news and reviews or serious documentation requirements. Features are not just bolted on, but have been carefully integrated into the workflow of the module to provide comprehensive usage for readers and administrators. The keyword feature is impressive not only for readers, but search engines. This is further enhanced by all module URLs being written in search engine friendly addresses such as http://mysite.com/modules/article/view.keyword.php/chocolates This structure is used throughout the module.

The admin sides supports multiple moderation of articles, rating and deletion, also comprehensive permission system is deployed for each article and category.

Articles may be formed from defined templates that are selectable from the submit article screen.

image captions, multiple category listings, multiple category listings of articles, and sponsor listing for categories. In addition 'Topics can also be added to categories with expiration dates and times. Topics can also display sponsor details.

The admin side of the module as already stated takes some 'getting used to' . This is time well spent as the organisation is logical with extensive scope for management of users, moderation, categories, topics, trackbacks, articles and keywords.

In conclusion, this is a serious authoring module with a clean professional quality, suitable for a wide range of publications. There are many more features not listed here and no doubt there will many suitable applications, from blogging to reference documents, to ebooks. In addition the technical writer will love the keyword feature and will be able to build a whole library of interconnected articles, comlete with source reference and citations.