Software for web publishing and content management is probably the most active area of open source use and development. The simple concept of a web site has taken on so many forms. Portals, intranets, extranets, knowledge hubs, and brochureware are examples of the sort of sites that are built with software for web publishing and content management. This explosion of solutions based on distributing information through web sites means that software for web publishing and content management applies to a greater variety of situations than any other type of open source.
For the most part, web publishing and content management are no longer optional capabilities for most companies. Many of the solutions we mention in this appendix are must-have items. The brochureware used for marketing in 1996 meant that a company was on the cutting edge. Now it is just another cost of doing business. Supporting web site creation and maintenance as efficiently and inexpensively as possible is an important task in almost every organization, and is one of the largest opportunities for open source to create value. One of the most popular projects for which open source is frequently considered is consolidation of the heterogeneous mixture of web publishing and content management systems onto a common platform.
In this appendix, we will review the most promising open source projects and explain how mature they are and for what solutions they are best suited. Before we do that, though, let’s review the basic capabilities of online publishing, extranet, and intranet solutions.
A complete content management system offers all the features needed to create, manage, and publish content for a web site by a team of people of varied technical backgrounds. After installation and initial configuration, such a system should allow users to perform most tasks via a rich and consistent user interface. The interface should be powerful enough to accommodate advanced users, yet intuitive and easy enough for beginners to use.
The common thread found in most online publishing solutions is that a company is using a web site to present information to some group of people outside the company.
Brochureware is perhaps the most common sort of web site in existence. It can be as simple as a set of HTML pages that act as an online resume for a company or an individual, or as complex as an interactive collection of web sites, each telling the story of a different part of the company.
Sites for marketing collateral present collections of whitepapers and other information that tells the story of a company or product.
Sites for product information include brochures on products, lists of features, downloads of development kits and other demonstrations, and possibly technical documentation.
Online publications are newsletters or other sites that present information in the form of a publication rather than as brochureware. Most major products and other heavily marketed items now come with some sort of product-related site sponsored by the manufacturer. Sometimes these sites contain community features to encourage interaction among the site’s visitors.
Weblogs are becoming a more popular feature of company sites that allow direct communication from key executives to their customers. In one sense, weblogs are simply another way to publish ideas and present them to the community; part of basic online publishing. But they can also encourage interaction with readers, and at that point weblogs become part of the collaborative systems we detailed in Appendix D.
Frequently the sites in this category start out as collections of HTML pages that are managed by a graphic designer using a tool such as Macromedia Dreamweaver. Web publishing and content management solutions become essential once the graphic designer gets overwhelmed with requests for changes, and the site’s quality starts to slip as the number of pages grows.
Web publishing and content management solutions are used to implement sites that allow different groups to control the site’s content, without having to go through an intermediary. The use of forms and templates to create content can help guarantee the site’s quality. Workflow features ensure that all content appearing on the site is approved. Most web publishing and content management systems offer a large number of features that make sites easy to manage.
Extranet solutions are about collaborating with people outside of a company via a web site. Usually, the web publishing and content management system provide only a portion of the solution that is made up of web content. Other applications for file sharing, specialized databases, or other functions are frequently part of extranets. Unlike basic online publishing solutions, extranet solutions frequently require users to register with the site and create an account so that they can be identified and have their access to the site verified.
Most products have a web site that helps users solve problems by providing answers to their most common questions. Technical support sites usually act as a first level of support to allow customers to solve problems on their own, without having to call the company and speak to a support specialist. Complicated products such as large software programs can allow users and customers to search a database of bug reports. Such sites frequently allow customers to download updates or patches to fix certain problems or download tools and utilities to supplement the functionality of the main application.
Customer self-service sites exist to allow customers to solve their problems on their own instead of having to rely on support specialists at call centers. Customer self-service sites at companies such as Federal Express and UPS allow customers to track packages. Many other companies are adding the same visibility into the process of fulfilling a customer order.
Training and e-learning sites exist to teach people how to use or support products. Such sites are frequently used to train people who are seeking some sort of certification as a support specialist or some other role that requires special knowledge.
Frequently, as a precursor to a more automated relationship between two companies, a special-purpose web site is created that allows one company to interact with another company’s systems. A web publishing system can be used to provide a gateway to an internal system, including all the training material required to understand the business processes and user interfaces.
Most of the time, extranet solutions require some sort of registration, supporting content, and integration with another application. For this reason, it is natural to think of extranet solutions as more appropriate for a portal which specializes in creating one identity for the user and then allowing access to many different applications. But even in situations where a portal can be the right solution, a sizeable amount of content must be managed. It is important to recognize the potential of web publishing and content management solutions to provide portal-like solutions that include registration and integration of other applications.
Intranet solutions are aimed at presenting information or collaborating inside a company. Web publishing and content management systems can be used to create several different types of sites for an internal audience.
Knowledge management sites are dedicated to capturing and improving a body of knowledge about some topic that is important to a company. Knowledge management systems can be implemented in a variety of ways, but one popular model is to capture the knowledge as a series of articles on different topics. The articles are commented on by the company’s employees, and then at certain points they are revised and updated.
The ability to upload files is a common feature of many web publishing and content management systems. Providing a centralized repository of documents that has versioning and the ability to track comments about each document can be a godsend for managing the documents related to a complex project.
Frequently, digital assets such as images or engineering drawings can be managed using a web publishing and content management system. This sort of solution uses the web publishing system as a repository, just as in the document management solution, except digital assets are stored instead.
Of course, any of the other solutions mentioned in the first two categories can be implemented on an intranet. The solutions we mention here as intranet solutions are focused on using the web publishing and content management system as an intelligent repository. Extremely advanced systems are available for managing knowledge, documents, and digital assets. But the first step toward using such advanced systems is understanding requirements; using a web publishing and content management system as a prototype can be a great way to start.