Content Management Systems (Tools of the Trade)

This book is the missing link. As someone who is directly out of school I have no problems writing html, php, css, etc. What I don't know how to do is turn 40 gigs of mixed data into a supportive intranet rather than a virtual pile of documents. This book explains exactly what I need to know. Content management systems are a dime a dozen these days and making an informed decision is impossible without understanding how a CMS should be implemented. This book gives you that information and led me to choose Drupal which was originally one of my last choices. I chose Drupal mainly because of the user roles and level of customization available. Prior to reading this book I had picked several different CMS packages that were essentially sub-standard, but easier to get started with. Without this book or prior experience I would say that most people who begin using a CMS are going to build a website the way they always have, they're just going to do it with some fancy new software instead.

As a developer of a sprawling website with thousands of hand-crafted HTML pages, we knew we needed a CMS, but didn't know how to start the process. This book was a perfect read, exactly what we needed.The first chapter about the foundations of CMS defines the problems with an unmanaged site. The chapter could have been written from interviews with our organization--they hit the nail on the head.The rest of the book provides practical advice on what to expect with a CMS, what features to look for (whether you are buying a system or building your own), and the implementation and migration processes. This is a quick read, but packed with solid information and little fluff.This book is not a review of current specific CMS software (there are websites that keep up to date on these things.) Nor does it provide any cut-and-paste code for developing your own (although it provides helpful tips on platform choice, open source solutions, etc.)If you are tired of hand-coding HTML and think, "there must be a better way", read this book.

This is a very comprehensive book which manages to be both technical enough to keep developers happy and yet clear enough to be understood by managers. As a web developer with experience of working on a number of intranet and extranet projects under a variety of managers I would thoroughly recommend this book to all those involved in any aspect of managing a content-driven website or intranet.A Content Management System, whether it's an actual application or a set of procedures, is absolutely essential for the delivery of a large amount of content in a consistent and structured manner. Once a website or intranet reaches a certain size, the benefit of having a rigid application in place as opposed to relying on people following procedures becomes clear. Every single piece of information on the system is catalogued, it is known who is responsible for it, and it can be easily found. Even when a website is small, adopting a content management system early means that the growth of the site is tightly controlled. Furthermore, there is a clear division between content and presentation, so that they can be changed independently of one another, which is an essential business requirement. And of course, the ultimate benefit of a CMS is that the responsibility for putting new content live and maintaining existing content can be handed over to the business users whom the content is meant to serve, thus freeing up valuable web developers for other projects.A CMS can be a very complex beast, which must be tailored to the exact requirements of an organisation so that it best serves their needs. Additionally, an organisation must clearly define their needs and be prepared to modify their business procedures around the proposed system. This book goes into detail about how to go about how to help an organisation define their requirements and proposes a number of operating models for them to consider.The question of whether to buy an off-the-shelf solution and customise it or develop one in house is one which lies at the heart of most systems management decisions - and CMSs are no exception. Which option to go for depends on a number of factors which are unique to each organisation - this book discusses these factors in detail, then goes on to describe all the things to consider when buying or building a CMS.And that's still not the end of the story! Once the system has been purchased or built, it still needs to be implemented and the existing data needs to be migrated. This is a process that needs to begin long before the system is complete. This book shows how to divide up the responsibilities for migration and implementation, and discusses all the relevant issues.Take a look at the authors' section, and you will see that this book has been put together by people with a serious amount of experience and expertise in this field. It has been thoroughly well researched and really does cover the entire process of choosing, building and implementing a CMS.

CMS technology (Content Management Systems) is becoming increasingly important, but surprisingly a lot of people still haven't heard about it, or more importantly, the majority is still trying to understand what CMS are all about. The recently published book Content Management Systems, about 190 pages for eight chapters, is written by four geeks who offer the sharp perspective and the insights gained through hands on involvement, and targets the vast audience of newcomers to the field who are trying to define the most important parameters and schedule priorities for their CMS implementation. The bottom line of the problem, writes Phil Suh in the first chapter , is that websites are a nightmare to manage unless built with CMS technology. Interestingly, the second chapter written by James Ellis, addresses the concept of `content as asset', and presents it from a process viewpoint: take stock of what you've got, work out the processes associated to the assets you are trying to manage - basically design the workflow . Here Metadata is labeled as an `enabler' and the reader is reminder that calling someone an `author' is not intended to offend. Chapter 3 written by James Ellis explains how to handle templates and highlights issues relating to content presentation, while in chapter 4 David Thiemecke Discusses the various technical implications of online publishing processes. Dave Addey in chapter 5 and 6 - the latter co-written by Inigo Surguy - weighs the considerations underlying the tough decision: to build or to buy? And in chapter 7 he gives an array of advice on how to setup up an implementation schedule, and related production and testing issues. In Chapter 8, co-written with Alyson Fielding, he advises on best practices to assist the project manager who needs to migrate content from heteregeneus formats - a vary common instance - into a new, uniform CMS environment. Overall, the book tackles crucial technical issues that anyone involved in a CMS must face, but the pitch is accessible to most readers interested in the highly complex , and highly fascinating world of CMS from content-wire.com

I'm a web developer, so am curious about content management systems, esepcially as I am about to get involved with one! This book is a brilliant for my whole team. As a developer, I have found it very useful to use it as a guideline in how we not only develope in the future, but also vitally how we intergrate what we have now!We can build clearer plans using the book for the development cycle, and this book covers all the things we need such as usability factors.But also, this book is proving great for project managers ect, who need to get a greater over all view of how a content management system will effect the very core of every future project, and also how they can plan the integration. It covers things like rationale for such a system etc.I would recommend this book as the essential for any development team about to move into content management systems, or those who have done so on the past.