Processwire playing Aces

[pwired]

Processwire playing Aces in cms land

I just noticed that with version 8 Drupal is waking up to decoupled.

http://buytaert.net/the-future-of-decoupled-drupal

Processwire has been playing it's decoupled front-end Ace since day 1.

My opinion is that Processwire has a second decoupled Ace to play that needs more campaign:
"everything is a page"


To illustrate better what I mean is that my impression is that many processwire beginners pick up it's api
and the decoupled front-end way of working but not the potential of "everything is page".
An easy explanation for this is of course that many still associate a page with a webpage
this established habit simply hinders to pick up the "everything is a page" potential of processwire.

I have come across many examples of the "everything is a page" in the forum,
here are two I could still recall, but there are many more amazing examples to find:

1. Multiple content areas with pages
https://processwire.com/talk/topic/4487-homepage-with-multiple-content-areas/#entry44125

2. Making menus with pages
https://processwire.com/talk/topic/11748-menu-building/#entry109226

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In the Processwire about page (middle of the page) a general reference is made to "everything is a page"

http://processwire.com/about/what/

But this general reference never made me pick it up until lately, and I am sure I am not the only one.

The more I start working with this concept, the more I find it underestimated as a playing Ace for

Processwire in cms land. We should collect all examples in the forum and select the best ones  as

a source for writing a new special article about the "everything is a page" and how to use it's potential

in making your websites with processwire.

[LostKobrakai]

I think the problem is mostly a wrong mental mapping from the term "page". Most people will at first think about pages as "pages to be seen on the frontend", whereas a page is ultimately just a flexible container holding information, while adhering to a contract called template. It's nothing special about it, but just as one does need to learn how models work in MVC frameworks it's a likewise process to see what's possible with pages.

[Jan Romero]

I actually think “page” is a stroke of genius. It keeps the learning curve low for beginners by giving them a word they can immediately understand and work with. You can either keep working under the assumption that a page represents an HTML document, or dig deeper little by little. You’ll install a module like Language Support, and notice that – what do you know – languages are pages, until you arrive at “everything is a page”.

[clsource]

I have always seen processwire terminology like the OOP way

Template = Class

Field = Property

Page = Instance

Also everything is a page is a wonderful concept

that saves me a lot of engineering efforts when creating websites

[pwired]

I have always seen processwire terminology like the OOP way

Template = Class

Field = Property

Page = Instance

Thumbs up for this parallel

[szabesz]

There is an article about the role of Page in the old Wiki. It is still a good starting point, even though it is a bit hard to understand this article without some actual experience with Pages:

http://wiki.processwire.com/index.php/Pages_Overview

What I would find useful is the addition of schematic diagrams that help beginners picture the concept. Trying to explain it by using only words resulted in this sort of convoluted article. 

A picture is worth a thousands words Not to mention lots of simple examples, that help explain different scenarios in which Page is used.