IlmHive: a study library with a bespoke CMS

The situation and problem

IlmHive began as a personal notebook kept while studying classical Islamic texts and grew into a public archive. The current site is a rebuild of that earlier one. Islamic texts raise problems ordinary website tools handle badly: Arabic with and without vowel marks, varying transliteration, footnotes, poetry and quoted passages. The rebuild aimed for a calm reading experience and a proper way to publish.

What was built

• A library organised the way the subjects are taught. Notes are grouped into eleven disciplines and five series, with a clear page for each. At the time of writing the site holds 187 articles.
• Search that understands Arabic. Queries match with or without vowel marks, and common transliteration variants are handled. Results show the matching passage and link straight to it.
• A comfortable reading page with a contents list and adjustable text size.
• Guest authors, who can have their own page, and a form for readers to submit notes.
• A private editing system. The operator writes in a visual editor with blocks made for this kind of material: quoted source text, poems, call-outs and footnotes, plus pickers for Qur’anic chapters and hadith references. Drafts save automatically, earlier versions can be compared, a draft can be previewed through a link that expires after 15 minutes, and articles can be scheduled for later.

How it was built

Published articles are plain text files in a code repository, and a database holds the editing copy. Publishing writes the article to the repository and the site rebuilds, so content is versioned and easy to move. The editor needs sign-in, and scheduled publishing and repository sync use signed requests. Form submissions are rate limited. A daily encrypted backup of the editing database is stored separately from public media. An automated audit checks the whole collection on every relevant change, and a written security review is kept with the code.

What it shows a prospective client

IlmHive proves the studio can build a content-heavy website that is pleasant to read and easy for non-technical editors to run, including specialist language, search and a publishing workflow. It translates into custom content systems for publishers, charities and institutions that have outgrown a generic website builder, with safe backups and version history.

Current status

IlmHive is live at ilmhive.com. It is a publication run by the studio’s founder, with two author profiles. No readership figures are claimed, and none are published here.

Facts

• The content collection holds 187 articles, 11 disciplines and 5 series.
• The codebase has 114 automated test files and six automated workflows covering content audit, backup, scheduled publishing and release checks.
• A daily backup of the editing database is encrypted before it is stored.
• Search is built when the site is built, so it needs no separate search service.
• The editing system keeps revisions and supports scheduled publishing.