Content Management
Systems
How & Why
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Karolina Horvatinčić, CARNet |
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Dobrica Pavlinušić, PLIVA |
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Kristijan Zimmer, FER |
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WS2 CUC 2002 |
TOC
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CMS: what, how and why |
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Content |
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Building a CMS |
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Technology |
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Designing the data |
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Almighty users and their wishes |
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Conclusion |
It was a long way…
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HTML |
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Generated HTML |
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HTML + some forms and scripts:
interactivity! |
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Different scripts have trouble
intercommunicating to provide common authorization, permission system, layout
etc.: common and specialized programing modules. |
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CMS – clickable management of all kind
of content (important for content providers), rich interactivity (important
for users) |
Why CMS
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A CMS generally increases the
efficiency of an author / editor by introducing a consistent environment
specialized for rapid delivery of content combined with sophisticated
administration. |
CMS & ordinary dynamic
Webs
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Dynamic Web sites: querying databases,
intelligent logic, process and data visualization, etc. |
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Managing of content is hard! No forms,
lots of handwork. |
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CMS: no handwork for authors and
editors – all is clickable. Authors can be dummies. No need for engineers any
more, so fire them all! |
Managing Content
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Content Management means: |
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Adding, |
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Editing and |
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Deleting |
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of native content and integrated
(relational) data sources. |
“Content” usually means:
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News articles |
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Text & image based half-static
content |
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Forums |
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Files |
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Workflow |
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Calendars |
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Polls |
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Links |
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Search |
Untypical content
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Multimedia in news |
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Static integrated in dynamic |
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Forums with voice option – throw away
your keyboard! |
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File Maps, Black Hole Maps, Document
Flow |
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Advanced Polls with radio buttons,
checkboxes, option/select and input and text areas |
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Self-checking Links |
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“Find only important” Search |
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etc. |
During the making of a CMS,
workgroups will have to cooperate
During building it, we will
have to cooperate
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Developers: |
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Have: their system which needs changes |
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Talk to: customer, designer… |
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Customers: |
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Have the idea what they want |
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Talk to: designer, developers and their
potential users |
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Designer: |
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Have skill, don’t have time for
customers, while working on project – risk his/hers life |
Content Management Systems
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Tour through the unknown... |
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...we'll stop at technologies |
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and review some prequisites |
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and problems. |
What types of CMS
exists?
Based on technology (1)
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Static html pages |
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edited by desktop web editors, e.g.
Dreamweaver (yes, this could be called pre-CMS!) |
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Static html generated by some kind of
batch processing, scripts or cron job |
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Static html pages with CGI scripts |
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Static web pages
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Strengths |
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Easy to setup |
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Exploit full power of web server
(khttpd) |
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Easy to setup mirrors and
load-balancing |
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Weaknesses |
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Updates |
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Personalisation |
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Exchange of content with other sites |
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CGI can be resource-hungry |
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Hard to do common navigation |
What types of CMS
exists?
Based on technology (2a)
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Dynamic pages with peaces of code
inside html |
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Mod_perl, php, asp... |
What types of CMS
exists?
Based on technology (2b)
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Dynamic pages with usage of templates |
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Every language has at least one |
What types of CMS
exists?
Based on technology (2c)
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Dynamic pages with layout stored in
RDBMS |
What types of CMS
exists?
Based on technology (3)
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Components communicating with XML-RPC
or SOAP |
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Mobile agents (CORBA, anyone?) |
Watch out! CMS is
coming!
O.K., so you decided that you want to implement CMS...
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Know your needs then decide which type
of CMS to implement! |
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Don't just take CMS based on marketing
presentation! (not even technology presentation) |
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Do you want to (this depends on your
knowledge, resources and time): |
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start from scratch |
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buy components (what about support?) or |
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buy complete solution? (what about
customisations?) |
What else is important for
CMS?
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People |
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How many editors has site (or will
have) |
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Are editors IT skilled? |
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Often misconception is that CMS will
solve all possible errors in making of pages |
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What about knowledge of html? And
picture quality, formats and re-sizing? |
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Are there people who know how to
program site engine for changing needs? |
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Do designers know how to make html
design? |
What else is important for
CMS?
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Structure and content |
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How often does site structure change? |
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This is important when deciding which
technology to implement – KISS makes sense! |
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How often does content of site change? |
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What about content that is linked with
changing one? |
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Who will provide content and structure? |
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HR problems – don't underestimate them! |
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Who will provide updates? |
And now…
CMS – from a information
architect’s
perspective
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Think in 5D or die! |
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Categories (Web pages in a CMS) |
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Functional Modules (per category) |
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Layout and design (of a category and
function module – portlet) |
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Content (of every module of a category) |
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Permissions (of a user using a
category, which determines module's behaviour) |
CMS – from a user’s perspective
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TIME TO THINK HARDER! |
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(I’ll shock you to make sure you
remember that!) |
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CMS – from a user’s perspective
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Q: What does user really want from a
CMS or Web in general? |
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A: You don’t know, but neither a user |
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DEAR AUDIENCE: What do YOU want from a
Web site? |
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Current news, accurate official
documents, meaningful polls, non-missing links? That’s a lie! Come on, you
know that, you perverts!!! |
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Giving a user what he/she
wants
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5 minutes of pure, naked truth. |
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Open your mind to me. |
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“Ms. Christian, those are |
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seriously disturbed people.” |
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Nicholas Cage in 8mm |
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To make magic with CMS…
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You need: |
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Authorization of users |
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Permissions |
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“If you have known users with given
permissions using the same Web site asynchroniosly and syncronously, there is
nothing you can’t do!” |
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Unknown genius, 21st century |
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Is that all technology?
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...of course, not! |
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Technology is a tip of a iceberg. |
When is the right time for
CMS?
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Wast amount of information |
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Frequent updates |
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Lot of different formats and data
providers |
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Distributed content owners (and
producers) |
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Organisational decision, not technical! |
Change for people
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Before |
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Content creators |
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Webmaster |
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Sysadmin |
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After |
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Content provider |
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Programmer |
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Sysadmin |
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CMS for what?
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Presentation site |
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News site |
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Collaboration site |
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Learning site |
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Bussiness (B2B, B2C) |
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archive |
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CARNet |
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CNN |
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/. |
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Wt.edu |
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Amazon |
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Freshmeat.net |
How do you obtain CMS?
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Buy off the shelf solution |
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Instant implementation, short lifetime,
short time frame, fullfill most needs, enough money |
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E.g. Web site for event or conference |
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Buy customised solution |
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Develop one by yourself |
How to choose right vendor?
How to choose right vendor?
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Define a project |
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Information needs |
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Required resources |
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Choose a vendor |
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Make a vendor your partner |
Joint work
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Who is a partner? |
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Someone with whom you can work your
action items and strive to common goal and resposibilities |
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Let the vendor develop CMS with you! |
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CMS won’t swallow all other bussiness
applications! |
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It’s about integration not replacement |
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CARNet’s new CMS
Final notes...
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Don’t start project without needed
resources! |
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Don’t plan for CMS – be prepared for
future |
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Do you need it? |
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People are most important aspect |
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Don’t take thing you can’t support! |