eZ Flow is an extension to eZ Publish that has extended functionality for handling the flow of content publication over time, specifically the rotation and placement of content on front pages. Typical usage is a newspaper front page or a TV stations portal. eZ Flow is ideal in situations where content changes quickly and there are many changes per day, because it is designed to enable editors to plan the flow of content on these pages.

eZ Flow offers your eZ Publish installation an extended functionality for handling the flow of content over time, specifically the rotation and placement of content on front pages. Typically used for news and media sites, eZ Flow is ideal in situations where content changes quickly and frequently. eZ Flow enables editors to build complex page layouts and pre-configure publication schedules to ensure a constant flow of rich content on the website.

The eZ Flow extension provides a special interface for creating and editing front page content objects, which replaces the standard eZ Publish editing interface. eZ Flow divides a front page into "zones", with placement and display properties defined according to the layout and the assigned templates. Each zone can contain one or more blocks, which are sub-areas configured to display specific content categories. Content objects can then be added to these blocks. Please read the eZ Flow Configuration documentation for more information regarding the configuration of layout, zones and blocks. More information regarding the editing interface for layouts, zones and blocks is provided in the chapter "Usage".

eZ Flow enables editors to configure when specific content objects are published, either by specifying a publication time for each object in the block or by configuring automatic rotation at specified intervals. Because the contents of an eZ Flow front page changes over time, this extension provides a time-line preview that enables editors to view the visitor's view of a front page at any point in time. More information on this subject is given in the chapter "Timeline preview".

eZ Flow also comes with an interface for users that want to access their portal web-site via iPhone. Please visit the iPhone chapter for more information on how to use this interface.