What is Squiz Matrix?

Squiz Matrix is a Business Integration Engine, allowing users to manage the content of their sites by simplifying or automating many of the issues involved in web publishing. In this chapter, we will discuss the system by which Squiz Matrix delivers web pages and content to a user's browser.

Squiz Matrix, Web Servers and the Internet

The Internet is a vast network of computers around the world, exchanging information such as email, documents, audio/visual material, and websites. A website is a collection of web pages with linked files, viewable by people connected to this network. Web users navigate the Internet with the use of a tool called a web browser, allowing the request of specific websites by way of a unique web address or URL. A site's URL is the unique address to a particular server on the Internet. This is similar to a phone number, linking uniquely back to a specific residence.

Websites and their content reside on special types of computers called web servers, which are always connected to the Internet. The term server is often used ambiguously because it refers to both the hardware of the web server and the software residing on that hardware, such as Apache. Squiz Matrix resides on a web server, storing and managing the content of your website(s).

Squiz Matrix is browser-based, meaning that it does not require the installation of software on your computer. Only a supported web browser is required to use Squiz Matrix. Access and operation of Squiz Matrix is handled in the same way that you would use a normal web page. You will be granted access to the Administrator Interface when you log in, where you can add and manage the content of any websites on your system.

Squiz Matrix will also control who can see the different pages of your website(s). For example, you may be working on a new web page that you do not want a public web user to be able to view until it is finished. Squiz Matrix allows you, as the editor, to view and work on the page whilst hiding access from everyone else.

How Browsing a Non-Squiz Matrix Website Works

A web user typically connects to the Internet through an Internet Service Provider (ISP). When a web user attempts to connect to a website, a request is sent over the internet, through the user's ISP to the web server the website is hosted at.

When a web server receives the request for the website, it will retrieve the content of the website from its file system and send the requested information back to the web user, via their ISP. The web user's web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox etc) then displays this information in the form of a web page.

The interaction between a web browser and web server

How Browsing a Squiz Matrix Website Works

When browsing a website developed within Squiz Matrix, web server requests will source website content directly from the Squiz Matrix database. The system will assemble the requested information from its database of content,figuring in the security permissions of the requesting web user. This information is then sent back to the web server software and back to the user.

The interaction between a web browser and Squiz Matrix web server

Maintaining Your Site with Squiz Matrix

When using Squiz Matrix to maintain the content of a website(s), the information stored in the system's database is accessed directly by Squiz Matrix Users via a web browser. This allows a Squiz Matrix User to access the system using any computer (or otherwise compatible device) connected to the Internet. This differs from many software based web development programs, where web pages are first created in a development environment before being transferred to a web server.

The editing process via a web browser

The look and feel of a website can be defined by editing the information stored on the system's database. This includes the structure of the website and the content of its pages.

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