¶ Concrete5 (PHP)
¶ Web Technologies
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¶ Introduction to the Journey Into Concrete5 and the Modern Web
The web has never been a fixed thing. From the earliest static pages that resembled digital brochures to the richly dynamic, app-like experiences we interact with today, the evolution has been continuous, unpredictable, and exciting. Anyone who works in web development long enough learns that this industry rewards curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to keep peeling back layers to understand how things really work beneath it all.
And that’s exactly what this learning journey is about.
This course begins at an interesting crossroads: the intersection of foundational web technologies and a powerful, often underrated content management system known as Concrete5, now widely recognized as Concrete CMS. If you’ve stumbled across Concrete5 before, perhaps you know it for its in-context editing, its clean interface, or its understated flexibility. But what often goes unnoticed is that Concrete5 is a remarkably balanced platform—one that invites newcomers while still offering the depth professionals need to build anything from a simple site to a custom-engineered digital ecosystem.
Before diving deeper into Concrete5 itself, it’s worth stepping back and appreciating the broader landscape of web technologies that support it. Every CMS, no matter how user-friendly or abstracted it appears to be, depends on the essential pillars of the web: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, databases, and server-side architecture. Concrete5 stands on these pillars too, and understanding how they interact under its hood gives you the confidence and freedom to shape your site exactly the way you want.
For many people, the first attraction to Concrete5 is its promise of ease. The idea that you can edit a page right where it sits—no back-end forms, no guessing how something will look once published—feels refreshing in a world where many systems bury everything behind layers of menus. That simplicity, however, shouldn’t be mistaken for limited power. Behind the approachable editing experience lies a sophisticated framework built on PHP, modern best practices, and a flexible MVC-inspired pattern that developers appreciate once they start building more ambitious projects.
To begin understanding Concrete5 in a meaningful way, we also have to acknowledge what it tries to solve. Website creation has long existed on a spectrum. On one end, you have full-control manual development where every line of code passes through your hands. On the other end, you have rigid builders and drag-and-drop systems that aim to remove coding altogether. Concrete5 sits surprisingly well in the middle. It honors the control developers want while allowing editors to work intuitively without breaking anything unintentionally. That balance is rare.
Throughout this learning journey, we’ll explore where Concrete5 fits into the daily workflow of designers, developers, and content editors. You’ll see how it approaches themes, blocks, pages, permissions, workflows, and extensibility. You’ll also see how its philosophy encourages clarity and structure without forcing you into patterns you don’t want.
But beyond the features and processes, there is a deeper value that Concrete5 offers: an empowering relationship between creators and their tools. Many CMS platforms either overwhelm new users with complexity or oversimplify the experience until it becomes restrictive. Concrete5 values the person using it. You feel that respect in the design choices, the documentation, the developer resources, and even the tone of the community.
If you're coming from systems like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal, you might already be familiar with the idea of building sites through themes and plugins. Concrete5’s approach shares similarities but adds its own twist. Blocks in Concrete5 feel more coherent. Themes are structured in a way that reflects real templating logic rather than a patchwork of conventions. Permissions don’t require wrestling with unpredictable behavior. And the dashboard keeps itself neatly organized, preventing the common problem of plugin clutter.
This course aims to take you from an introduction to a place of mastery—but not in the sense of memorizing every setting. Instead, mastery here means understanding why things work the way they do. When you understand the design of the system, you navigate it with purpose. When you understand the underlying technologies, you can troubleshoot without panic. When you know the reasoning behind certain patterns, you write better code and design smarter structures.
Another important theme of this journey will be the harmony between Concrete5 and the languages it relies on—especially PHP. PHP has been one of the enduring workhorses of the web, shaping everything from small personal sites to massive platforms. Over the years it has matured significantly, adopting modern syntax, performance enhancements, and standards that rival newer languages. Concrete5 takes advantage of these improvements, leaning into object-oriented architecture and predictable organization. By exploring Concrete5, you also strengthen your fluency in modern PHP, and that knowledge becomes reusable in countless other web projects.
At some point you’ll discover that Concrete5 offers a kind of mental comfort. Unlike platforms that require workarounds, patches, and layers of tricky logic, Concrete5 tends to encourage clarity. Templates map to pages in obvious ways. Block types behave consistently. Overrides follow simple rules. Instead of fighting the framework, you learn to collaborate with it. The result is a development environment where creativity isn’t blocked by defensive problem-solving. You get to build instead of wrestle.
That’s a theme you’ll see repeated throughout this course: the freedom that emerges from understanding your tools. Too often, web development is taught in a way that makes it feel like a puzzle where every solution is luck. But once you peel back the abstractions and see the relationships between the technologies, everything begins to make sense. Concrete5, as a platform, welcomes this kind of learning. You’ll see it in how its files are structured, how its controllers interact with views, how assets are managed, and how data flows through the system.
One of the most inspiring qualities of Concrete5 is how it supports collaborative teams. Whether you’re a designer trying to enforce a consistent visual identity, a developer building interactive features, or an editor who updates content daily, Concrete5 gives each person a clean space to work without getting in each other’s way. This design isn’t accidental; it’s the result of years of iteration, feedback, and real-world experience from people building websites for clients, organizations, and large institutions.
As we go deeper into the subject, you’ll start to see that Concrete5 can be used for a surprising variety of projects. Yes, it can handle straightforward corporate websites. But it can also manage large catalog systems, membership portals, multisite networks, complex permission-driven intranets, and custom applications built on top of its framework. The more you understand its building blocks, the more you appreciate how far it can go.
A good web developer knows that tools change all the time. What doesn’t change is the core logic behind how the web works. By grounding your understanding in these fundamentals while exploring a powerful CMS like Concrete5, you give yourself a sustainable foundation. You’re not just memorizing interfaces—you’re learning a way of thinking that applies to every project you'll build in the future.
By the time you finish this long journey of 100 articles, you won’t just be someone who “uses” Concrete5. You’ll be someone who understands how to shape it, extend it, troubleshoot it, and build with it confidently. You’ll move from tapping buttons in the dashboard to creating custom blocks, architecting themes, designing workflows, and implementing solutions that truly suit the needs of your future projects.
But before we get into the technical layers, the code, the configuration, and the architecture, it’s important to start with the right mindset. Web development, even when focused on a specific tool like Concrete5, is a craft. It blends logic with creativity, planning with experimentation, theory with hands-on work. This course will guide you through that craft one lesson at a time. The goal is not just to show you how to use Concrete5—it’s to help you become fluent in the ecosystem it lives in.
As you move forward, keep a sense of curiosity close. The web rewards people who explore, tweak, test, and experiment. Let yourself follow questions, try things, and make mistakes. Concrete5 is forgiving. You can always rework a block, rebuild a page, or override a template. Each step teaches you something that the documentation alone can’t.
This introduction marks the beginning of a long, rewarding path. If you stay consistent and engage with the ideas presented along the way, you’ll reach a level of confidence that makes web development enjoyable rather than intimidating. Concrete5 will become a familiar environment where you know exactly where to go, what to change, and how to bring your ideas to life.
So welcome to this journey—not just into a CMS, but into a whole ecosystem of web technologies, concepts, skills, and insights that will expand what you’re capable of building. You’re stepping into a space where thoughtful structure meets creative freedom, where technical logic blends with intuitive workflows, and where the tools are designed to empower you rather than overwhelm you.
Let’s begin.
¶ Concrete5 (PHP)
¶ Beginner Level
1. Introduction to Concrete5: What Is It and Why Use It?
2. Installing Concrete5 on Your Local Development Environment
3. Understanding the Concrete5 File Structure
4. Setting Up Your First Concrete5 Website
5. Navigating the Concrete5 Dashboard
6. Introduction to Concrete5 Themes and Templates
7. Creating a Simple Page in Concrete5
8. Understanding Concrete5 Blocks and Block Types
9. Working with Concrete5’s Page Versions and Workflows
10. Building Your First Content Block in Concrete5
11. Understanding Concrete5’s Page Attributes and Metadata
12. Setting Up and Managing Users in Concrete5
13. Creating and Managing Navigation Menus in Concrete5
14. Introduction to Concrete5's File Manager and Media Library
15. Working with Concrete5’s Content Editing Tools
16. Using Concrete5’s Form Block to Create Contact Forms
17. Introduction to Concrete5 Permissions and Access Control
18. Creating and Managing Concrete5 Pages Using the Sitemap
19. Understanding the Concrete5 Package and Add-on System
20. Using Concrete5's Basic Themes and Customizing Them
21. Installing and Configuring Concrete5 Add-ons
22. Introduction to Concrete5’s Built-In Widgets and Shortcodes
23. Understanding Concrete5’s Global and Page-Specific Settings
24. Using Concrete5's Multi-Site Feature
25. Managing Concrete5's SEO Settings and URL Rewriting
26. Setting Up and Managing Concrete5’s Email Notifications
27. Introduction to Concrete5's Mobile-Friendly Design Features
28. Creating Custom Page Templates in Concrete5
29. Introduction to Concrete5’s Custom Blocks and Widget Creation
30. Managing and Organizing Files with Concrete5’s File Manager
31. Using Concrete5's Version History to Manage Content
32. Creating and Managing Different Page Types in Concrete5
33. Introduction to Concrete5’s Blog and News Functionality
34. Working with Concrete5’s Global Areas
35. Understanding Concrete5’s Security Features and Best Practices
36. Customizing Concrete5’s Login and Registration Pages
37. Working with Concrete5’s Reusable Content Blocks
38. Creating a Simple Portfolio Website with Concrete5
39. Using Concrete5's Multilingual Support for Multiple Languages
40. Integrating Concrete5 with Social Media for Sharing Content
41. Introduction to Concrete5’s User Groups and Permissions
42. Creating Custom Admin Dashboards in Concrete5
43. Understanding Concrete5’s Caching System for Performance
44. Setting Up and Using Concrete5’s Search Functionality
45. Working with Concrete5's Image and Video Handling
46. Introduction to Concrete5’s Marketplace for Add-ons and Themes
47. Using Concrete5’s Built-In RSS Feeds for Content Syndication
48. Customizing Concrete5’s Email Templates and Notifications
49. Introduction to Concrete5’s Integration with External APIs
50. Publishing and Maintaining a Concrete5 Website on a Live Server
¶ Intermediate Level
51. Advanced Content Management with Concrete5
52. Creating Custom Page Types and Templates in Concrete5
53. Managing User Roles and Permissions in Concrete5
54. Extending Concrete5 with Custom Blocks
55. Working with Concrete5’s Event System
56. Building and Managing Custom Add-ons in Concrete5
57. Implementing Advanced Navigation and Menus in Concrete5
58. Customizing Concrete5 Themes with CSS and JavaScript
59. Creating Advanced Forms with Concrete5’s Form Block
60. Implementing Content Personalization in Concrete5
61. Creating a Customizable Content Management System (CMS) with Concrete5
62. Using Concrete5’s Workflow System to Control Content Approval
63. Working with Concrete5’s File Set and Advanced File Management
64. Integrating Concrete5 with External Payment Systems
65. Understanding and Using Concrete5’s Marketplace Add-ons
66. Working with Concrete5’s User-Generated Content and Moderation
67. Integrating Google Analytics and Tracking in Concrete5
68. Using Concrete5’s Built-In Email System for Advanced Campaigns
69. Customizing Concrete5’s Admin Panel with Themes and Custom Views
70. Implementing Advanced Security Features in Concrete5
71. Extending Concrete5’s SEO Features for Better Rankings
72. Managing Large Websites with Concrete5’s Multi-Site Features
73. Understanding and Using Concrete5’s Advanced Caching Options
74. Implementing RESTful API Integrations in Concrete5
75. Working with Concrete5’s Internationalization Features
76. Managing E-Commerce Functionality with Concrete5
77. Implementing Custom Content Types in Concrete5
78. Using Concrete5's Built-in Form Validation and Error Handling
79. Managing and Displaying Data with Concrete5’s Database Features
80. Creating a Multi-Language Website in Concrete5
81. Setting Up Automated Content Publishing and Scheduling in Concrete5
82. Integrating Concrete5 with Social Login Systems
83. Optimizing Concrete5 for Performance and Speed
84. Building a Custom Workflow System in Concrete5
85. Working with Concrete5’s RSS Feeds for Custom Content Distribution
86. Advanced User Profile Management in Concrete5
87. Customizing and Extending Concrete5’s Permissions System
88. Integrating Concrete5 with Google Maps for Dynamic Location Data
89. Creating Custom Dashboard Widgets in Concrete5
90. Implementing Custom Email Marketing Systems in Concrete5
91. Advanced SEO Strategies with Concrete5
92. Using Concrete5’s Image and Asset Management for Better Performance
93. Building a Member-Only Section in Concrete5
94. Using Concrete5’s REST API for External Integrations
95. Integrating Concrete5 with Third-Party E-Commerce Solutions
96. Implementing Continuous Deployment for Concrete5 Websites
97. Customizing Concrete5’s File Uploads and Handling Large Files
98. Managing Content across Multiple Sites with Concrete5's Multisite Setup
99. Implementing Advanced Analytics and Reporting in Concrete5
100. Advanced Troubleshooting and Debugging in Concrete5