After some survey on OctoberCMS, I found it a great start for my new project - A CRM like system. Plugin system, many free and opensource sample plugins to start with. But finally I come to a dilemma:

1. BACKEND-MODE: All written with plugins for Backend extension.
2. FRONTEND-MODE: Models, Components, Widgets within plugins, All pages written in a theme. Just like the "DishSmith" sample app. (CMS-way)

With option 1, the good part is I can utilize the model/crud scaffolding, and end product, I will create a limited backend administrator and deliver the whole project. But I found writing a page, extending menu, feeling like all pages are restricted to the backend structure, including the style, layouts.
With option 2, it feels free to do whatever I like to write pages, but I will be missing the backend CRUD functionality, the permission administration, and a lot of stuffs providing by plugins available on the marketplace, I need to rewrite all the front-end pages for the necessary plugins, because I can't let the end-users to use both CMS and the backend. In this way, all the pages can be more customized.

Thanks very much.

Last updated 8 years ago

Good point. I have the same problem. In my opinion, if you need you own backend layout/style, you can write all in components, not in themes, them use the plugins "Frontend Users" and "Frontend User Roles Manager". Them can use the power of "Ajax framework".

The advantage here, is you can change the theme/design or have multiples themes, without rewriting the CRM layout.

The rest, is on each model, like, validations, custom attributes, scopes, etc.

Best look on you project