Implementing a Global Content Management System: Some Tips from the Front

Implementing a Global Content Management system is serious business and we decided that we would engage three senior localization managers from our team to oversee the implementation. By then, we had already obtained budget approvals and assigned the implementation team to identify localization requirements and survey types of files used across the whole company.

Schlegel, Anna and Eva Klaudinyova. GALAxy Newsletter (2007). Articles>Content Management>Localization>Case Studies

Managing Translation for Global Applications

Rather than dealing with globalization (a particularly vague term for many people anyway), TMS systems focus on one major consequence of going global – the need to manage multiple streams of foreign-language content at a website, in a publishing system, for marketing collateral, or in a call center. Unlike your average CMS, these solutions have been optimized around three core technologies.

DePalma, Donald A. GALAxy Newsletter (2007). Articles>Content Management>Translation>Localization

How TMS Developers Pitch Their Wares to LSPs

For those of you keeping score, TMS often gets sold under the moniker of "globalization management system" (GMS); we have long found that term to be a gross distortion of what these systems actually do, which is manage translation workflow. That's a critical function, but by no means could a so-called GMS help companies or governments deal with gnarly cross-border issues such as immigration, energy, industrial development, and national sovereignty.

Sargent, Benjamin B. GALAxy Newsletter (2007). Articles>Content Management>Translation

Social Networks and Extending the User Profile in Drupal: Part 1

The term "social network" means different things to different people. However, the starting point of any network is the individuals within it. A user profile provides a place for site members to describe themselves, and for other site members to find out about them. In this article, we will examine how to create a user profile that is aligned with the goals of your site.

Fitzgerald, Bill. Packt (2009). Articles>Content Management>Social Networking>Drupal

Social Networks and Extending the User Profile in Drupal: Part 2

Builds upon Part 1 of this article. The Content Profile module creates a new content type called Profile when it is enabled. By default, this content type is set to be used as a profile. We need to complete a few additional steps to make our profile fully functional.

Fitzgerald, Bill. Packt (2009). Articles>Content Management>Information Design>Drupal

Freebies and Downloads in Drupal 6: Part 1

In this article we will explore various ways of adding downloads to your web site to provide free content, or to deliver paid content to users. We will also discuss the automatic conversion of pages to PDF files, which your users can download to read or print.

Noble, Mark. Packt (2009). Articles>Content Management>Software>Drupal

Freebies and Downloads in Drupal 6: Part 2

As you continue to work on your web site, you will find that many users want access to your content, even if they aren't online. With the Printer, email, and PDF module, you can easily and automatically provide content in various formats for offline usage.

Noble, Mark. Packt (2009). Articles>Content Management>Adobe Acrobat>Drupal

Ramping Up on Mediawiki

Previously I thought wikis might be limiting because the formatting options seemed so primitive--either bullets or numbers or headings, and not much else. Now I realize that I have so much to learn. I’m only on stair three of about a hundred stairs.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>Documentation>Content Management>Wikis

Time to Tame the Apache Menagerie

As we expand our coverage of Lucene, we find ourselves investing ever-greater amounts of time and care in tiptoeing the conceptual boundaries around Solr, Nutch, Lucene, Hadoop, and so on. We think we do a pretty good job. But it's surprising how many people (including us, at times) still have trouble keeping the various pieces of the Apache search world straight. Our job isn't made easier by the Apache Foundation's laissez-faire attitude toward project naming, which has led to an out-of-control zoo of projects with some sensical but oftentimes nonsensical names.

(2009). Articles>Web Design>Content Management>Search

The Content Strategist as Digital Curator

As the digital landscape becomes increasingly complex, and as businesses become ever more comfortable using the web to bring their product and audience closer, the techniques and principles of museum curatorship can inform how we create online experiences—particularly when we approach content.

Scime, Erin. List Apart, A (2009). Articles>Content Management>Content Strategy

Collaborative Authoring: Tools and Costs

I’ve been working on some collaborative authoring scenarios for our Agile teams – we’re going from 5 people to 47 people in total who could author external or internal documentation within our two week sprints. Turns out, we likely represent some trends in the enterprise.

Gentle, Anne. Just Write Click (2009). Articles>Content Management>Writing>Collaboration

Reuse Debugged

The term reuse has several different connotations. In its most primitive form, reuse involves copying and pasting text. However, reuse is much more than just copying and pasting text. Reuse is essential in defining a unified content strategy; it can also help improve documentation processes and the quality of information products. Understanding different reuse methodologies and concepts and including reuse in documentation plans will enable you to define and set up an effective content reuse process.

Rao, Vandana. Indus (2009). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Methods

How to Transfer WordPress to a New Web Host

When you transfer WordPress from one web host to another, you have to go through quite a few steps, especially if your current web host owns the domain name. Transferring the domain name is the biggest hassle, because it requires a handful of special codes and verifications, but just understanding what’s involved in a site transfer can be somewhat overwhelming. I just helped a person, so I’ll briefly outline the steps below in case you’re thinking of moving to a new web host.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>Content Management>Web Design

Open Source and Usability: Joomla vs. WordPress

If Joomla! is Linux, then WordPress is Mac OS X. WordPress might offer only 90% of the features of Joomla!, but in most cases WordPress is both easier to use and faster to get up and running.

Playing With Wire (2009). Articles>Content Management>Open Source>WordPress

Open Source and Usability: Plone

An article was recently published comparing the usability of Joomla with Wordpress for simple tasks. The article argues that whilst Wordpress is not necessarily as powerful as Joomla, it does many of the simple, common tasks that one might want a CMS for and does them in a much simpler, easier manner. So just for completeness and to see how Plone stacks up doing the same things I'm going to present how Plone fares doing the exact same tasks in that original article.

Hamilton, Matt. Netsight Blog (2009). Articles>Content Management>Usability>Plone

SharePoint – Six Servers Software Systems with Massive Cost Burden

Sharp pencils are needed when figuring out the cost of a SharePoint installation. Get started at a great price and then learn. What this article makes explicit is that a deal for SharePoint today means uncontrollable costs tomorrow and then the day after.

Beyond Search (2009). Articles>Content Management>Case Studies>Microsoft SharePoint

What Makes Microsoft's SharePoint Tick?

SharePoint is unsung because it’s a complex and ambitious product. It’s not just a content management system or an enterprise social-networking product, or an intranet search system. It’s six different servers bundled into a single back-end for Microsoft Office.

Foley, Mary Jo. ZDNet (2009). Articles>Content Management>Software>Microsoft SharePoint

A Wiki Isn't A Character From Star Wars

It may sound like Chewbacca's cousin, but a wiki is actually an open source website that allows creation and editing of content by anyone with an Internet connection. The word "wiki" is Hawaiian for 'fast' or 'quick' and probably the most famous example is Wikipedia, the free Encyclopaedia written by people around the world. A wiki can be public or private one, for instance they can be used on intranets and extranets as a great replacement for messy email trails between multiple correspondents.

Parker, Adam. Fresh Business Thinking (2010). Articles>Content Management>Wikis

Automation of Documentation Submittals via HP Quick Test Professional

Are you a Web publisher or Web submitter who uploads documents manually? The primary role of a Web publisher is to publish content on the Web. The content being published could be in different file formats like html pages, pdf documents etc. A typical process involves a Web publisher uploading a document, entering the metadata for the document, and posting it to the Web. This effort is time-consuming. Is there any automated tool that can help Web publishers submit several documents automatically without having to enter the metadata of the documents manually and processing them? The answer is yes.

Basrur, Hemanth. Indus (2009). Articles>Content Management>Metadata>Case Studies

Tips and Tricks: Making the Most of Google Docs

I’ve been using Google Docs for a couple of years now, for both professional and personal tasks. To be honest, I was hesitant to try it at first. After all, what does Google Docs have that other, more feature-rich office suites don’t have? But I have to say that its trademark simplicity has won me over. That simplicity doesn’t mean that it’s limited in functionality, though. Let’s take a closer look to find out what else we can do with this seemingly lightweight tool.

Roque, Celine. Web Worker Daily (2010). Articles>Content Management>Software>Word Processing

SharePoint: ‘Forcing It To Fit’ Is An Expensive And Painful Experience

I’ll explore SharePoint, attempt to reduce your uncertainty about the product, and help you understand what it means for the content manager. As stated, SharePoint is a gargantuan solution, this article is merely a flyover of SharePoint’s features and functionality. Though there is new version of SharePoint forthcoming, this article’s focus is on MOSS, with some discussion of other members of the SharePoint family, including commentary on the new SharePoint 2010.

Smith, Scott. Content Wrangler, The (2010). Articles>Content Management>Software>Microsoft SharePoint

Eight Ways to Kill Your ECM Project

A list of eight things any project manager should do if they wish to ensure that an enterprise content management project will fail.

Digital Landfill (2010). Articles>Content Management>Project Management>Workplace

Getting Over the Barriers to Wiki Adoption

Rarely does anyone articulate an actual business reason why the speaker feels that a wiki isn't a worthwhile tool for collaboration in his or her environment, such as a lack of need. When I ask deeper questions, I invariably find that the objection isn't to the wiki technology itself, but instead to the concept of collaborative authoring and a perceived loss of control over the content.

Porter, Alan J. Ars Technica (2010). Articles>Content Management>Wikis>Workplace

What Would a WordPress Template for Chapter Sites Look Like?

I think the idea of providing a site template from WordPress is ingenious. It made me think about exactly what a chapter WordPress template would look like. I wish I could say our Intermountain-STC site is a perfect example, but it’s not (not yet anyway). I spent a good chunk of time this weekend tweaking a few things. Here are several elements that I think a chapter WordPress template would have.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2010). Articles>Content Management>Organizational Communication>WordPress

Putting the User in User Assistance

People on today's social web are accustomed to participating in conversations, having a voice, giving opinions, offering reviews, and generally interacting with content and with each other like never before on the web. How can we enable users to respond to or contribute to user assistance? The answer could be a wiki, but a wiki is not required to enable more interaction with users. Here are some specific techniques, starting with the simple and moving towards the more complex, including wiki implementation practices.

Gentle, Anne. WritersUA (2010). Articles>Web Design>Content Management>Social Networking