Web Content Management System Access October 14, 15, 16 - Halifax, Nova Scotia Developing a System for Managing Web Content York Libraries Content Management System - Demo 1 Doug Fenwick Manager Application and Bibliographic Systems York University Libraries Tuan Nguyen Application Support Specialist York University Libraries

Web Content Management Access October 14, 15, 16 - Halifax, Nova Scotia Three years ago a group was formed with the task of revising and improving the York Libraries website. This brief presentation will: Identify the major problems Define the objectives for improvement Describe how an OpenSource “Content Management System” helped meet those objectives 5b

Web Content Management Access October 14, 15, 16 - Halifax, Nova Scotia Problems identified with the Library website Haphazard development Lacked an organizational plan Content created with several different HTML editors Few layout standards - or not consistently applied Navigation was inconsistent Internal links to other pages Link changes required manual effort – often missed Lacked bread crumb trail Lacked navigation bar Frequent replication of information on several pages Content change required manual effort to change all 2

Web Content Management Access October 14, 15, 16 - Halifax, Nova Scotia Problems identified with the Library website Administration of the website was insistent and confusing Two servers: development and production Rights to publish on the production server were limited to three individuals Notified via Often a delay of several days before content was updated A large site with many pages, but lacked an overall schema Where is it? What is it? Who created it? Last updated? Still valid? 3

Web Content Management Access October 14, 15, 16 - Halifax, Nova Scotia Problems identified with the Library website Introduced MS FrontPage in an attempt to improve usability Did reduce problems related to editor differences and encouraged more staff to create content But introduced new problems Software on installed on the workstation Frequent updates Required formal training sessions ($) Easy to become creative – too creative Standards declined further Too Microsoft–centric 4

Web Content Management Access October 14, 15, 16 - Halifax, Nova Scotia Problems identified with the Library website Lacked dynamic interface to eResource database Static pages – alpha lists - updated daily As the number of eJournals increased they became difficult to use Lacked the ability to search for electronic resources Needed a more informative and useful display of search results Limited development possibilities 5

Web Content Management Access October 14, 15, 16 - Halifax, Nova Scotia Having identified the problems the next step was to define our objectives for improving the management of the website and it’s content. During this time we became aware of the term “Content Management System” which implied more than just Web page construction or a means of mapping large Web sites. Instead it implied the breaking down of Web pages into smaller blocks of content which are stored in a database and can be used to dynamically build Web pages. The concept of a discrete web page began to break down. Some of the concepts and terminology inherent to Content Management are reflected in our objectives. 5b

Web Content Management Access October 14, 15, 16 - Halifax, Nova Scotia Objectives for Improving the Management of Web Content Reduce dependency upon desktop software Only need a web browser Easy to learn Easy to enter content Encourage concentration on content rather than “look” of pages Simple WYSIWYG/HTML editor for entering content Ability to import existing documents and images Impose standards for consistent presentation Style sheets Custom templates Objects which define type of content being entered 6

Web Content Management Access October 14, 15, 16 - Halifax, Nova Scotia Objectives for Improving the Management of Web Content Improve navigation Navigation bar, bread crumbs, improved link management Distribute responsibility and increase the number of content creators Define Roles for individuals (Content Entry / Editor / Publisher) Flexible - broad or narrow interpretation Workflows – assigning tasks by Role Dynamic management of content Content immediately updated when published Reusable content blocks – to reduce replication Life cycle (define duration that content is available) 7

Web Content Management Access October 14, 15, 16 - Halifax, Nova Scotia Objectives for Improving the Management of Web Content Version Control Ability to roll back to a previous version of the page Useful for sessional pages Affordable Buy or Build? 8

Web Content Management Access October 14, 15, 16 - Halifax, Nova Scotia OpenSource Content Management System Proprietary  OpenSource ArsDigita (ArsDigita Community System) framework for development  RedHat Redhat Web Application Framework  OpenSource Community: Byline - Components Java Java Server Pages (Apache/Tomcat) Oracle or postgreSQL 9

Web Content Management Access October 14, 15, 16 - Halifax, Nova Scotia Accomplished to date May 2002 implementation – included revised Library website Move all existing static pages into CMS Integrated searching of eResource database Dynamic display of search results with improved interface Wrapper templates for ILS Interface and template for subject specialists to create Subject Resource Guides 10

Web Content Management Access October 14, 15, 16 - Halifax, Nova Scotia In Progress Interface and template for an Information Literacy Course tool Dynamic and customizable lists of recently acquired print and electronic resources Generic tool for designing library surveys Data retention Data analysis tool 11