Matrix glossary

Admin mode is one of three interfaces available in Matrix.

The admin mode interface lets you use all of the functionality available within the Matrix system. The amount of functionality you have within this interface depends on the user account type you have.

You can access Admin mode by appending /_admin to the URL of your Matrix system:

http://www.example.com/site/_admin

An asset is a specialized website building block designed to perform a specific function within the context of a Matrix site.

In other words, each asset has a well-defined scope of what it can and can not do. Because each asset has a well-defined scope, you can combine assets in different ways through the asset tree to control precisely how a website behaves on the frontend.

An asset ID is a unique number automatically assigned to an asset by a Matrix system when the asset is created.

The asset tree shows the hierarchy of all assets used in your Matrix system.

You also use the asset tree to navigate your site in admin mode as well as add, delete, move, clone and link assets.

A backend is a common term used to describe the administration interface of a Matrix system.

The backend lets system administrators configure and manage websites created using a Matrix system.

The frontend is what your site visitors use to interact with your website.

A backend user is a user account type which has permission to edit the contents of assets they have access to using both inline edit mode and admin mode.

Read Backend user for more information about this user account type.

The Bodycopy of an asset refers to the text forming the main content in your web page.

A content component (or component for short) is an element of “page” type assets that allow you to add different types of content to the page.

Read Content components for a full list of available core components.

This user type can sign in to Matrix and edit the contents of assets they have access to using inline edit mode.

Read Content editor for more information about user account types.

Deja Vu is a cache storage internal to Matrix for improving asset load times.

Deja Vu can store asset objects in either Memcache or Redis.

A frontend is a common term used to describe a website or digital experience created using Matrix.

In contrast the backend is what system administrators use to configure and manage your site.

The HIPO herder is short for Highly Intensive Processing Object herder, which is an interface that lets you manage long-running HIPO jobs.

Through the interface you can monitor and control any running or stalled jobs and check who the owner of each job is.

You can access the HIPO herder from the Maintenance menu.

A HIPO job is short for Highly Intensive Processing Object job.

HIPO jobs start every time a task performed by users result in operations flowing down through multiple objects to complete the action.

For example, cascading a Status change through all the children of a Site asset involves processing the Status change action on multiple assets.

The HIPO herder manages HIPO Jobs.

Inline edit mode is one of three interfaces available in Matrix.

Inline edit mode offers a restricted set of functions that allow people with little to no Matrix training to update content on a single asset at a time.

You can access inline edit mode by appending /_edit to the URL of an asset:

http://www.example.com/site/_edit

There are a number of interfaces you use to work with your Matrix system:

The main panel is the area that lets you view and edit the various screens of an asset along with system configurations and tools.

A Matrix user is a person who has a user account type configured in Matrix which lets them edit or administer a Matrix instance.

A Matrix user account allows the user to sign in so that they can (depending on their permissions) view content, edit content, or administer their site or instance.

Read User for more information about this user account type.

Performance mode is one of three interfaces available in Matrix.

While the admin mode and inline edit mode interfaces focus on editing assets, performance mode lets you monitor your site’s load performance so you can identify areas of your site that might be causing excessive page load times.

Access Performance Mode by appending /_performance to the URL of any asset:

http://www.example.com/site/_performance

Read Using performance mode to measure asset performance for more information about this interface.

A public user user account type is an anonymous user asset used when setting public site access permissions.

Members of the public do not have any editing or administrative access permissions to a site.

This user account type is therefore set to allow your site to be publicly accessible to anyone on the internet.

Read User for more information about this user account type.

The root user is a user account type which has permission to access all admin mode areas of a Matrix system including full access to the System configuration and System management settings of the system.

Read Root user for more information about this user account type in Matrix.

A screen displays contextual information about an assets' settings or configuration. Each asset often has several screens that group related setting and configuration together logically.

Each screen is displayed in the main panel of the Matrix admin mode interface when you select a screen view from the asset tree menu, or from the screen header when you have already selected a screen to view.

The screen header is an area of the admin mode user interface that contains a collection of common content editing actions for assets and screens.

From the screen header, you can do the following essential tasks:

The side panel is a container that houses the asset tree as well as other system-wide utilities.

A system administrator is a user account type which has permission to access almost all admin mode areas of a Matrix system.

Read System administrator for more information about the different user account types in Matrix.

The toolbar refers to the main product toolbar that sits above the screen header.

From the toolbar, you can do the following essential functions:

Depending on your user account type the toolbar also gives you access to system settings and tools through the following menus:

A user account type is an asset type used to give public users access to members-only areas of your site.

This user account type has access to limited personal account management settings, but can not edit or administer assets in your site.

You can also track how users interact with your site by using this account type.

Read User for more information about the different user account types in Matrix.

A user account type refers to a category of asset types used to set up a user’s account profile in Matrix.

User account types simplify how you assign group and permission schemes to your users.

The complete list of user account types are:

Read Manage users and permissions for more information on how to create each user account type and grant different levels of access.