Content Advantage logo Page Title
Home
Content Mgmt
Screen Shots
Register
About Us





Powered by Microsoft Windows2000

Below is a description of key Content Advantage features.  Beside most of the features is a thumbnail image of a screen shot that applies to the description.  Just click on each image to view the full-size screen.

Templates Let You Update Your Web Site's Look in Minutes

Professional Web Designers can focus on what they do best, which is creating graphics and stitching them together to produce an appealing, consistent look for the web site. This "look" is converted to a template (or series of templates), which controls the appearance for each web page. A complex web site can be defined with a minimum of templates, such as Main (which defines the default appearance for most pages), Search Entry, Search Results, Contact forms, etc. Among the advantages of using templates to control the web site's appearance are:

  • The entire look of a web site can be changed from one minute to the next, simply by applying a new set of templates.
  • Using templates to lock down the overall appearance ensures that the web site remains consistent and cohesive.
  • Web site redesign can be accomplished at much lower cost
 

Your Web Site's Content is Stored in a Database

Content Advantage separates the web site's look from its content by using templates to define the look, and storing the content (words) in a secure, online database. When a web browser requests a page from your web site, Content Advantage retrieves the appropriate text from the database, formats it according to the template you have specified, and serves the page back to the browser. Among the advantages to storing content in a database are:

  • Web pages are created dynamically (on the fly as the user requests the page). Therefore, changes to either content or templates are immediately available to the users the next time the page is requested.
  • Any field in the database may be quickly searched, which includes titles, keywords, categorization, or full article text.
  • Content maintenance goes against the database, which does not take the web site offline.

Article Editor Makes Content Maintenance Easy

The Article Editor is the core of Content Advantage's administration system for managing content. Using simple web-based forms, information owners add content directly to the content database. Often the information is simply cut-and-pasted from existing word processing documents. During entry, the information owner can also designate "keys" for the content that ensure the information is categorized and indexed correctly for easy retrieval.

Each article may be assigned a number of keywords for ad hoc keyword searches, and assigned to multiple user-defined categories for classification by whatever method is most relevant for you, e.g. product line, functional area, class of user, etc. This categorization makes article retrieval in even the largest web sites more manageable.

Rich Text Editor Formats Text Like a Word Processor

If you can use a word processor such as Microsoft Word, you can create attractive pages for your web site. The Rich Text editor in the article entry screen lets you enter content with whatever method you are most comfortable. In Rich Text mode, the Toolbar works just like your favorite word processor to help you apply the following effects to your text:

  • Cut / Copy / Paste
  • Set paragraph style, font style, and font size
  • Make text bold, italic, or underline
  • Justify text left, center, or right
  • Create numbered or bulleted lists
  • Insert hyperlinks and graphics
  • Create tables
  • Apply colors to text or background

 The editor creates the HTML (hypertext markup language) behind the scenes as you enter and format your content. Technical users familiar with HTML coding can also, when they need complete control, edit the generated HTML directly.

Related Links

Each content article may have a list of related links. These hyperlinks can be placed anywhere on the page within the template, and can allow visitors to explore a topic in greater depth.

Users and Roles Keep Your Content Secure

Companies with larger web sites may want to delegate responsibility for maintaining site content to several people or groups, but restrict them to pages relating to their area of expertise. Defining users and/or roles permits companies to assign responsibility for content maintenance down in the organization to the level where the content is created, so that changes can happen as soon as the need is discovered. Since the primary goal for Content AdvantageSM is to permit easy content maintenance by non-technical content owners, web site responsibility may be segregated, for example, as follows:

  • Marketing can post announcements for new products and product retirements.
  • Corporate communications can post new press releases.
  • Technical Support can maintain Frequently Asked Questions ("FAQs") about products they support.
  • Engineering or software development can post software upgrades or other product technical bulletins.
  • Technical Writers can post product documentation updates.

Administrators can choose which article fields are viewable and/or editable by each user group ("role"). Users can also be restricted to maintain only articles that contain an administrator value in one or more fields. Administrators can also designate which users are permitted to add new articles or delete existing articles.

Staging Permits Review Before Publishing to the Web

Staging is where the various page elements are tied together to produce a preview of the final page. This involves choosing the desired format template, as well as selecting optional graphic elements (either from the existing site library, or an image stored locally on the information owner's computer).

Display rules can also be defined for the page based on relevancy information such as targeted audiences and site area. Applying rules enables display control features such as revisions, expiration dates, timestamps, access restrictions, etc.

With the optional workflow module, the staging process can also include management approval of pages before they are released for public viewing.

 

Cut and Paste Makes Content Entry Easy

In many cases, content you would like to have posted on your web site already exists in word processing documents. With Content Advantage, you can cut and paste content from these documents directly into the article editor to get it published on your web site in minutes. In many cases, the formatting in the word processing document comes across with the text, saving even more time.

 


In Microsoft Word


In the Article Editor

Upload Without Special Software

Forms are available to upload new templates, images, and other file types that may exist on your local hard drive into your web site, without the need for special FTP software. All of this can be accomplished using your internet browser.


 

Best experienced with
Microsoft Internet Explorer

 

Article Key: Screens
Date Posted: 4/24/2001 12:39:46 PM
Template: /templates/master.htm