Archive for the ‘ECM & Portals’ Category

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Content Management — There’s an app for that!!

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

I have been working in Content Management for over 10 years and been involved in over 30 content management projects.  Sadly, I have never found a customer that was truly happy with their Content Management System (CMS).  Most customers figure out how to work with the system they have and adjust their processes accordingly.  Content Management should not be that painful.

There is a better way to manage content.  Why not replace your content management systems with a series of small, purpose-built applications?

  • Need to add a new product to your website… There’s an app for that.
  • Need to create a new marketing web page on your site using a word document… There’s an app for that.
  • Need to convert your web page to Spanish… There’s an app for that.
  • Need to create a new promotion through your website and e-mail… There’s an app for that as well.

Many of the content management problems I have encountered could be solved with a series of simple applications built on a common content platform.  One client we are working with is doing this today with great success.  It is much less expensive than you think.

The key to a successful content application model is finding a platform that allows for rapid content application development.  The platform should serve as a central repository for all content and it should have built in features like versioning, metadata management and publishing.

With the proper platform in place, applications can be developed quickly.  IT works with each department or content contributor to understand their specific needs and process flow.  Applications can be built in weeks (rather than months) because the platform allows it.  As additional applications are built, new features are added to the system that can be shared with other departments.  The result is a delegated content management process that empowers the content owners.

The client that is having success building content apps uses MarkLogic as their content platform.  They are meeting their content contributors needs and developing apps at a fraction of the cost of their previous large content management implementation.

I would love to hear more about how others are building content apps.  Please share your stories as comments.  If you want to learn more about how our clients are building these Content Management Apps send an e-mail to  info@avalonconsult.com.

Posted in ECM & Portals, Presenting Content | 2 Comments »

Taxonomies, Content Management and Governance

Friday, July 8th, 2011

Good governance is on everyone’s minds these days.  It’s a concern that extends well beyond the Washington Beltway.  As applied to managing your enterprise content, including taxonomies, it is not just an abstraction.

Good governance drives the overall performance of your content program, including:

–How easy it is for users to find information
–How users look for information
–How users store and retrieve information
–How to clean up redundant content
–What metadata is available
–What templates are used
The need for a well-planned and well-run governance program will only increase.  The growth of unstructured information, demands for greater efficiency and cost savings, and privacy concerns are all motivations.

Are you wondering how to set up a governance program?  Are you questioning whether your existing content governance is right?  Avalon and our partner PPC are sponsoring a free webinar series that will help you Cultivate Content Management Success through Planned, Managed, and Implemented Taxonomies. For more information and to register, click here.

Posted in ECM & Portals, Generic, Presenting Content, Search | No Comments »

Taxonomies and Content Management

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

My formal introduction to Vignette Content Management began with this statement:  ”Vignette has three hierarchical organizations for content.”   Put another way, you need three taxonomies to make Vignette work its best.

So what does that mean?  One definition of taxonomy is: “A defined hierarchy of categories; a tree-like structure of terminology that defines how categories relate to one another. Taxonomy provides a conceptual framework for discussion, analysis, or information retrieval.”

Vignette uses taxonomic structures for organizing where content is stored and managed, how it is navigated on websites, and  how it is categorized or classified for a variety of uses.   Other content platforms leverage taxonomies.  The facets in a faceted search experience are another example of a taxonomy.

A taxonomy is a powerful model for organizing information.  In the vast sea of information found inside every enterprise, the correct use of taxonomies can make content findable and ultimately help you, your employees, partners, and customers become more productive.

Interested in learning more?  Avalon and our partner PPC are sponsoring a free webinar series that will help you Cultivate Content Management Success through Planned, Managed, and Implemented Taxonomies. For more information and to register, click here.

Posted in ECM & Portals, Generic, Presenting Content | No Comments »

Elegant “contentEditable” Solution for XML

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

If you’ve ever wanted to do WYSIWYG editing of XML in a browser, I think you’re going to like the elegant solution I stumbled across.  The idea actually culminated from reading Kurt Cagle’s excitement around XQuery in the Browser, and my desire to create a MLUC DemoJam entry that could excite publishers about my latest passion, HTML5.  At first I thought XQuery in the Browser opened a new possibility to do simple browser-based WYSIWYG editing, but as I dug into it I found it was much simpler to do the XSLT in MarkLogic, with granular pointers attached to each editable XML node.  This solution allows me to very simply and efficiently:

  • Render XML to final HTML using existing XSLT
    • only minor modifications are required to add “sourcePath” attributes to the HTML
    • MarkLogic’s xdmp:path function makes it simple to get precise paths to the source XML content
  • Allow WYSIWYG editing of the XML directly from the browser
    • HTML5′s contentEditable attribute makes this simple
  • Use very efficient AJAX calls for immediate update to the source XML document
    • MarkLogic’s xdmp:node-replace allows pin-point updates of only the changed node

All this in less than 100 lines of code!  The video below does better justice to what I’m talking about:

Please note that I’m not trying to demo a full-featured editor here.  This is just a proof of concept.  Obviously many features need to be added before this is usable.  Nevertheless, this simple demo shows an approach that could enable many highly usable solutions for publishers.

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Posted in ECM & Portals, Generic | 2 Comments »

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