Hi,

I am looking at Backdrop and would appreciate some guidance to set me on the right path.

I have a website with many original texts on it, which is used for reading and academic research. I want to add a function to it, so that people can take notes / write papers, and keep them private, share them publicly, or with smaller groups (eg a teacher with their class).

I would like to have user notes / pages accessed stand alone, but also embedded in a pane on the full text page, in a simplified format. This pane would be loaded / unloaded from the host page on demand only.

I would want pages to be discoverable via search mechanisms outside Backdrop, so pages and associated metadata should be relatively straightforward to access for indexing / searching. I would also want to have user authentication integrated into the larger site. Right now we are using authn_socache, authn_dbd, authz_dbd, and libaprutil1-dbd-mysql in Apache2 for authentication.

I have looked at several solutions and right now Backdrop looks like the best fit, since it hits a sweet spot in terms of flexibility and features.

 

Questions:

0. Does backdrop seem like the right tool for the job?

1. Is the best way to embed Backdrop, including with editing, by using an iframe and using a separate page template for embedded display (strip header and footer, etc)? I had been leaning towards shadow dom and trying to serve Backdrop "blocks" only, but it seems that something as complex as backdrop, that might not be the best route (potential for lots of hidden foot guns). I was leaning that way since I do like to focus on keeping things as lean as possible.

2. Is it relatively straightforward to access Backdrop to expose pages and metadata to our other site functions like search?

3. It seems like most of the group sharing and tiered viewing and editing privileges to make a school/classroom type environment are more or less supported out of the box / by existing modules. Is that correct?

4. I don't see a module/ cant find info on how to integrate with apache2 auth, but I feel I must be missing something? I am open to using another authentication scheme, but then I would be running two so it's not preferred.

Many thanks, Seth

 

Comments

Hi @seth

It was good to speak to you during Office Hours about your project. It turns out that the post had been set to draft and that's why it wasn't showing.

Martin