All Iatek ready-to-run applications include a built-in
content management system that makes managing your Website and it's content fast, simple and secure. A useful CMS relies on content intelligence - constructing a consistent taxonomy (grouping together similar items into very specific topical buckets which themselves can be grouped together into broader hierarchies) - a content management categorization application, and the integration of the content into the Website.
Key Features - Content Management
The integrated CMS enables the creation, administration and publishing of Web site information. Here are key considerations for how content management is facilitated:
- accomodates “information” that can take many forms - text, images, hyperlinks, etc..
- enables individuals (users) that are often non-technical personnel to manage site content.
- facilitates content management as a collaborative effort that may involve various roles.
Enable & Manage...
- links / listings
- articles / news
- downloads
- image galleries
- knowledgebase
- testimonials
- staff / contacts
- classifieds ads
- real estate
- any type of content
Organize Hierarchical Information
Content is organized both topically (by subject) and formatively (content fields and layout). For this reason the PortalApp database model accommodates various ways to classify and display content.
Topical “Categories” are organized in a hierarchy (Root > Sub category > etc..), whereas sections, known as “Content Types”, are a means to organize content items by format and function.
Examples of Content Types:
“article”, “press release”, “FAQ”, “download” or “listing”.
Examples of Categories:
“technology”, “pre-sales questions”, “media coverage”, “games”, “software” or “football”.
As is true for nearly any information found on the Web, some fields are consistently used to accommodate any type of content such as news, articles, photos, profiles, listings, etc... These fields have been standardized for content management:
- Title
- Category
- Abstract (short description)
- Full content / body (long description)
- Author / credit
- Thumbnail
- Image
- Related URL
- Download URL
- Filename
- Priority
- Next/previous items
- Status
- Date added / modified
- Date notify / alert
Additionally, most Web site initiatives involve the management of data that is specific to industry or custom business logic. For example, consider a real estate company’s Web site where the site’s content is property listings. Immediately, we can visualize use of the Standard Content Fields to accommodate some of the data of each “property listing”. However, a “property listing” would also include various data specific to the real estate industry, such as: “Bedrooms”, “Baths”, “Lot Size”, “Building Features”, etc…
Iatek's application data model supports the creation of custom fields for any given Content Type. This means administrators can define fields (attributes) to specifically accommodate (display, add, edit, delete) data. This powerful feature enables Iatek CMS driven sites to manage real estate or auto listings, design portfolios, knowledge base articles, support documents, alumni directories and other content-centric scenarios.
Other unstructured and ad-hoc data can also be presented using the description fields. Since these fields are administered using the integrated WYSIWYG editor, it is easy to post context specific data, images or even hyperlinks to other Web pages.
The CMS portion provides a familiar WYSIWYG editing environment for the creation of content. The WYSIWYG editor is a Microsoft Office (Frontpage, Outlook, Word) style editing tool where the user can perform common text formatting and cut-and-paste operations. An intuitive interface with floating dialog windows so that the author is not constantly opening, accepting and closing dialogs (screens), users can keep the dialog opens while continuing editing the document & any changes can be seen immediately. This provides greater flexibility and ease of use for non-technical users.
Key editor features
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upload images from the editor
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manage and select from existing images
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table editing
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pre-defined HTML templates
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easily hyperlink to existing content and sections
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create bookmarks
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search and replace
Administrators use the ACP to define which users are allowed to submit (author) content for any given content type (section) by setting the user access level. Administrators can also set the access level required to approve content.
Administrators can restrict access to any content item by changing the required access level field of any content item.
Administrators can change the order in which content items display in content list view by changing the priority of any content item. For example, this would be useful for scenarios where users have purchased 'priority listings'.
Users can add content items (article, link, etc..) to their personal user inbox by clicking an 'add to favorites' link that is displayed on the content detail page. The 'add to favorites' label can be changed in the global settings.
Administrators can update some content related fields (Title, Category, Filename, etc..) for several content items at one time from a single page. This feature also automates the creation of content by enabling administrators to reference existing folder(s) on the Web server.
Administrators can set items to be 'featured' on the home page. Several items can be set as featured and span different content sections or categories. This feature enables administrators to emphasize any content item on the home page, such as 'photo of the day', 'featured story', etc..
Users can search for keywords in content sections and also used a more advanced search for to match content in any or all of the administrator specified fields.
So that content lists are easy to read and navigate, administrators can define page and list wrap settings. This provides a means to display x number of content items per page, or x number of item before starting a new row.
