Introduction to AssetNow NX Content Management System

Revision 3, August 2005

Copyright © 1997-2005 Orbital Ltd.

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Contents

1. Introduction 3

2. Site Features 4 2.1. Categories 4 2.2. Content 5 2.3. Navigation 6 2.4. Site Map 6 2.5. Search 7 2.6. Printing 8 2.7. Syndication feeds 9

3. Sign-In 11

4. AssetNow NX Tools 12 4.1. Start 13 4.2. Content 15 4.3. Permissions 23 4.4. System 23

5. AssetNow NX XHTML Editor 24

6. Templates 28

7. System Requirements 29 7.1. Server Requirements 29 7.2. Client Requirements 29

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“The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was created in October 1994 to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability. W3C has around 400 member organizations from all over the world and has earned international recognition for its contributions to the growth of the Web.” – World Wide Web Consortium.

"Although their owners and managers might not know it yet, 99.9% of all websites are obsolete." - Jeffrey Zeldman, author of Designing with Web Standards.

"...those who become aware of the benefits of web standards now will gain a jump on the rest of the web design and development community." - Dan Cederholm, author of Web Standard Solutions and responsible for standards-based redesigns of the Fast Company and Inc websites.

"The Semantic Web is an extension of the current web in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation." - Tim Berners-Lee, James Hendler, Ora Lassila, The Semantic Web, Scientific American, May 2001

W3C standards-based websites:

• deliver the greatest benefits to the greatest number of web users

• ensure the long-term viability of any web document

• simplify code and lower the cost of production

• deliver sites that are accessible to more people and more types of Internet devices

• continue to function correctly as browsers evolve, and as new devices come to market

With AssetNow you can turn information into an Asset right Now.

1. Introduction

AssetNow NX is a Content Management System used to publish and access information on the Internet, intranets and extranets.

AssetNow NX is installed on a web server and formats and displays web pages to site visitors. Using web browser-based tools you create and manage site information, and perform administrative functions like site user and group management.

AssetNow NX is easy to use. Practical tools focus on getting the job done, without the frustration, clutter, complexity, and cost of unnecessary features.

AssetNow NX provides support for World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards including eXtensible Hyper-Text Markup Language (XHTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Web Accessibility Initiatives (WAI, Section 508, Common Look & Feel etc.).

AssetNow NX pages use less code (XHTML) to structure pages. Less code means faster pages. Less code also means more server capacity, which in turn means less money needed for server space and bandwidth. CSS is used to separate content from presentation. CSS controls the site's design so updates and redesigns are easier. Site-wide changes can be made instantly by updating style sheets. CSS is used to format output for screens, printers, and devices without having to create additional format specific pages.

AssetNow NX includes a XHTML editor making it easy for non-technical and business authors to create structured content that encapsulates meaning by applying semantic markup.

AssetNow NX uses Unicode so information can be published in virtually any language including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and right-to-left languages such as Hebrew and Arabic.

Adopting web standards and standards-based designs for your website is easy with AssetNow NX because web standards are built in, and you use them without any additional effort. The result is that you can build, publish, and maintain websites that really do work better, cost less to maintain and serve, and reach more people and devices.

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2. Site Features 2.1 Categories AssetNow NX sites use a hierarchical structure of categories. A site can have unlimited categories. A category can contain other categories, which are referred to as subcategories. Content is added to categories as pages. As you add categories and pages AssetNow automatically builds the site using category and page templates. Templates are created by web designers and determine the visual appearance of the site and content. Category templates typically present a summary of content pages and subcategories contained in the category. Page templates display the complete content page. Special templates deliver content in non-web browser formats including XML syndication feeds. You can even add your own transformation templates to convert content into any format for use by web browsers, devices or other systems. Virtual pages allow a page to appear in multiple categories. You only create the page once and then add virtual copies to any category. If you change the page all virtual copies change as well.

Categories form the site structure and navigation. Easily add custom page elements such as section headers and titles. AssetNow automatically assembles summaries of category content into composite category page that ensure navigational flow as visitors move through the site. Web designers can add specific categories to any template. For example add the News category on the site home page template. Use custom pages to add content that can be formatted differently such as sidebars. Use virtual pages to reuse the same content in multiple categories.

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2.2 Content Content is published as pages using the AssetNow NX XHTML editor. Content can comprise, text, images, hyperlinks, files (PDF, DOC, ZIP etc.), rich media including Macromedia Flash animations/movies, video, dynamic data (stock tickers, weather data etc.) and custom applications. Web designers can create content page templates to suit site design requirements. Using the AssetNow NX XHTML Editor non-technical publishers can perform text formatting using tables, lists and predefined styles. Copy and paste content from a Microsoft Word document into the editor and it will retain all structural elements such a paragraphs, tables, bullet points, headings, hyperlinks, images etc. All proprietary and non-compliant markup used by Word to apply formatting will be removed. The AssetNow NX editor supports drag and drop of images and files directly into the editor. The images and files are automatically uploaded using web services. Administrators can place restrictions on the size and type of files that may be uploaded. Web developers can add custom dynamic elements, called widgets, which non-technical users can insert on pages. For example a price list widget could be used to add the current prices collected from another server to a page when the page is displayed. AssetNow processes all assets (images, files, links etc.) so that they are independent of the site address and install location. A site can be moved to a different location or domain name without any images, files or internal site links being affected.

Title of the content page. Content page body can include text and assets. Rich media including Flash can be added to any page. Page specific navigation, such as linking to related content is easily added.

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2.3 Navigation The purpose of navigation is to convey the site structure and make it easy for visitors to understand what they can do and where they can go. AssetNow can support any common navigation scheme. The most common approach is to keep navigation to at most 3 levels. AssetNow NX uses a Nested Tree Model for the site tree structure. This model allows very fast retrieval of the site structure or portions of the site structure so web developers and designers are free to implement other navigation schemes including multi-level drill down menus, drop lists etc.

Primary navigation showing the main categories (sections) of the site. Secondary navigation is specific to a selected main category. Category navigation provides access to subcategories. Utility navigation includes footers and bread crumb context navigation.

2.4 Site Map The site map is automatically generated based on the site category structure. A “You are here” icon indicates the location of the visitor at the time they selected the site map. After signed-in, the site map expands to include private categories available to members and people with access to private content. The site map template can be include dynamic widgets such as the most popular content widget.

“You are here” icon shows visitor location within site. After sign-in the site map expands to include private categories. Widgets can be added to the site map template.

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2.5 Search AssetNow NX has an integrated site search using powerful search technology from Verity. The Verity search can index most popular types of content including web pages, Adobe Acrobat documents, Microsoft Word documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Binary file formats can not be indexed or searched, for example ZIP archive files. These files are indexed by processing the associated page content. This allows you to ensure non-searchable files formats are included in the site search. Like the site map and navigation, the site search results expand to include private content once you are signed-in. Search criteria are logged together with the number of search results. This log provides useful information on which to base site content decisions. Br reviewing the search criteria used you can discover what site visitors are looking for. If the items are available the fact they are being searched for may indicate that the site navigation or information architecture is not obvious and visitors are not finding what they are looking for. If the no content matches the criteria it may be content you should consider adding to the site. AssetNow uses a short numeric format for all automatically generated links (addresses, URLs). These URLs are easy to copy/paste into other documents and share via e-mail. They also work independent of the language/s used to publish the site. Whilst many systems use long path based addresses like www.mysite.com/products/first_product, these approaches do not work with languages such as Chinese and Japanese etc. All AssetNow URLs can be bookmarked and do not rely on the visitor entering the site by a set path. AssetNow NX search result URLs, like all other AssetNow page addresses, can be bookmarked and easily shared via e-mail. AssetNow NX also features reverse-lookup. It is common for page locations to a change within a site as the site grows and business requirements change. If a visitor has bookmarked a page and the page is subsequently moved AssetNow NX will locate the page and redirect the visitor to it automatically.

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2.6 Printing Style sheets can be specified for different output media including screen display, printers and aural devices. The benefit of using CSS for different media is that you can tailor the output formatting to suit the media. AssetNow NX includes a print media style sheet. There is no need for a special print format copy of pages or templates to generate them. The print style sheet removes unnecessary page elements such as navigation and formats the page content is using styles appropriate for hard copy. AssetNow adds all hyperlinks referenced in the page as an expanded list at the end of the document. This forms a handy reference when reading the printed copy as you do cannot click or mouse-over links on a printed page to see where they go. The print out can also be customized to include common footer information such as contact details.

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2.7 Syndication Feeds By subscribing to feeds visitors can have new headlines and article previews delivered in to a feed reader or aggregator. Feeds offer a convenience because you can subscribe to feeds from several sources and automatically aggregate headlines from all the sources into one list. You can quickly browse the list of new content without visiting each site to search for new information of interest. AssetNow NX provides feeds in popular formats including RSS (Really Simple Syndication 2.0), ATOM, and RDF. Feeds can be styled using CSS so they are readable in web browsers. This allows visitors without a feed reader to bookmark the feed and view it in a readable format with their web browser. Feeds can be enabled for specific categories and based on the URL specified can deliver information about the most recently added/updated content, a specific category, or a specific content page. This gives site users the ability to monitor the entire site, a specific section, or a specific page for updates.

Styled RSS feed that is readable using a web browser. Un-styled ATOM feed showing XML feed data as displayed in a web browser.

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Feeds make it easy to keep up to date. Keeping up with the latest news and information on the Web is not easy. The number of sites and people producing content has grown over the years to an unmanageable size. Feeds make it a lot easier, you subscribe to sites you enjoy and let your feed reader software do the rest. Readers filter only the important news you need. There are two main types of feed reader. Standalone applications are simply programs that process feeds for you. The advantage of a standalone is that it is a new application that you can populate as needed. The disadvantage: it's one more app to have open on your desktop. The other type is the plug-in. This application works within an existing program such as Microsoft Outlook or Internet Explorer. The advantage of having the reader work with an existing application is that you likely have Outlook or IE open already, so the reader becomes a new component of that app. The disadvantage is that if you have a lot of e-mail folders or bookmarks already established, you may not want to overload your application with daily feeds of new information. Increasingly feed readers will be built into your favorite applications and services. There are several good free and paid applications that will do the trick right now. With feeds, unlike e-mail newsletters, you control the subscription process and can delete the feed from your reader if you no longer want to receive it. Feeds also update continually based on content changes at the site creating the feed.

The Firefox web browser can automatically detect a feed when you visit a site and display an active bookmark icon at the bottom right in the status bar. Clicking the icon allows you to add an active bookmark. An active bookmark contains all the links referenced in the feed and updates as the feed changes. Effectively the latest content from the site is displayed as headlines in your bookmarks.

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3. Sign-In AssetNow NX supports 4 levels of site access:

1. Public content is available to anyone with access to the web site. 2. Member content is displayed in summary format, comprising the content title,

teaser, and optional teaser image, until the member signs in, after which they can access the entire content page.

3. Private content can only be seen and accessed after sign-in. 4. Tools access is available to users with AssetNow NX roles such as publishing,

approval and administration. Typically content access permissions are set for categories, AssetNow NX supports setting permissions for individual content pages as well. The sign-in template provides a form to enter your username and password. Options are available to remember your login information that stores an encrypted cookie on your local machine. You can also recover your access details using the e-mail option in which case AssetNow NX sends the access details, if found, to the e-mail address entered. AssetNow NX retains your site context after login. For example if you click a link to a member content page you will be asked to sign-in first, if your sign-in is successful you are taken back to the page you requested. Tools access is based on role/s. Tool user access can be limited to specific categories and content in the site. For example a publisher can be limited to publishing content in specific categories.

Sign-in requires a username and password managed using the permissions tool. Optionally allow users to store their sign-in details. Optionally allow users to recover sign-in details via e-mail. Sign-in feedback messages for incorrect sign-in information.

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4. AssetNow NX Tools After a user with tool access permissions has signed-in a “Tools” link is displayed. Clicking this link takes the user to the AssetNow NX tools. The tools available to a user are determined by the role/s assigned to the user. AssetNow NX can be configured with roles to suit your requirements and is supplied with four predefined roles:

1. Site Administrator, this role has global access permissions and can perform all functions. Typically there is only 1 site administrator.

2. Group Administrator, this role has permissions to administer users within specific groups. For a large site you may have a number of group administrators.

3. Approver, this role approves content within assigned categories. You do not have to have approvers if you do not require workflow.

4. Publisher, this role creates content. Publisher access can be restricted to specific categories.

All AssetNow NX tools are configurable so that different roles accessing the same tool can have a different set of functions available. For example you can configure the content publishing tools so that the delete option is only available to specific roles.

The tools access link is displayed after sign-in by a user with a tool role/s. This tools user also has access to the private “extranet” category which now appears in the primary navigation. You can have any number of private categories.

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4.1 Start After clicking the tools link the AssetNow NX tools workspace is displayed. The workspace comprises 3 panels:

1. The top panel displays the main tools menu and is always available. The available menu options depend on the user’s role/s.

2. The left panel contains the tool menu specific to the tool selected from the main menu.

3. The right panel is the main workspace area and displays tool options based on clicking items in the left tool menu panel.

The default Start workspace provides access to the users profile allowing the user to update their details and in the case of multilingual installations set their language preference. The language preference will set the language used by AssetNow NX when displaying tools. Users with approval permissions can review and approve content from the start workspace. Authenticated feeds are available for approvals and notes. These feeds allow tools users to monitor approval and content notes activity without having to sign-in. Snap shot of site performance is available by clicking “Views per Day”. This is a moving average of content usage, with separate charts for content pages and downloaded files. AssetNow NX tracks views for major web browsers so that view counts are not skewed by search engines or other automated/scheduled agents. Developers can customize this behavior. AssetNow NX tracks content views but does not provide complex site metrics – there are many 3rd party products that perform this function. Average usage provides a simple metric to monitor site traffic levels. Site administrators can set the period used for the average. Active sessions are the number of people and devices currently accessing the site.

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Clicking the link for a content item awaiting approval displays a preview of the item in main panel. Approval options are available at the top:

1. Lock allows you to have exclusive access to the item. 2. Approve will forward the item to the next step in the approval workflow

assigned to the item. The workflow steps are displayed below the options. 3. Reject will move the item back to draft status. 4. Notes are used for collaboration (see below). A note should be added if you

reject an item so the author knows what corrective action is required.

AssetNow NX has an integrated Notes system. Notes are used for collaboration and typically associated with categories and content by clicking the Note icon available with the category/content item. A note associated with a category or content item can be viewed by any other user with permissions to access the item. The Notes editor allows text and links. Images and files are not supported in the Notes editor. Users can also create personal notes using the Notes link in the tools main menu. Personal notes are handy for to do lists, information snippets etc. and not accessible to other users or linked to a category or content item.

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4.2 Content Clicking the Content menu option displays the content management tool. This tool is used to manage the site categories and content pages. A left panel displays the site tree structure. Selecting a category displays the category, and lists subcategories and content pages contained in the selected category, in the main panel. The listing provides status information and access to options to add/read notes, move, edit or delete an item. Options can be disabled based on user permissions. You can preview and edit content directly from the listing providing an efficient way to perform these common functions.

Search and list options allow users to find/display specific items easily. Easily select the required category from the site tree structure. Selectable categories depend on the user’s permissions. Access the selected category. Access the subcategories of the selected category. Access the content pages in the selected category. You can preview the site and content directly in the main workspace panel by clicking the status icon. Preview allows you to see the active revision and the draft revision displayed using the site style sheet formatting.

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As a site grows and business needs change the site structure and content needs to change as well. AssetNow NX makes it easy to move categories and content to optimize the site structure. A category, and all associated subcategories and content pages can be moved to another part of the site by clicking the Move icon and then selecting the destination where you want the category placed. Similarly, content pages can be moved to different categories. AssetNow NX reverse-lookup technology ensures bookmarks to categories and/or pages continue to work despite having moved to a new location in the site.

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Selecting the edit option displays a tabbed content form interface. The Content tab contains the main content details including:

1. Title 2. Teaser (summary text) 3. Body (content page including assets)

Additional fields are provided for metadata typically used by search engines when they index content, these include:

1. Description 2. Keywords 3. Options (available for custom data)

A redirect option allows you to redirect the page to a different web address. For example if you have sub-sites or separate web sites and wish to link directly to them when a visitor selects the category or page. Additional options include validation, copy, notes, locking, and saving an approved page to a new revision.

Click the Preview icon to see the category/page as it appears in the site. When previewing draft mode content the draft revision is displayed. The tabs available in the form interface depend on your role and permissions. Additional options allow you to validate content using external validation services from W3C and accessibility validation services. A copy function will make a separate copy of the page including all assets. Click the Notes icon to add a note to the current item. AssetNow does not tie ownership of a content page to an individual. Anyone with permissions to access the page may perform actions on the page. To retain exclusive ownership of a page you can lock it. If you do not lock a page AssetNow NX will lock it automatically when anyone edits it – this ensures that simultaneous updates cannot occur. Clicking the body will display the AssetNow XHTML editor.

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The Properties tab is used for setting the page status, display attributes and processing. The page status options are Off, On, Schedule, Hide and Archive. A page can be scheduled to display from a specific date/time or display for a specific period. Hidden pages are not linked explicitly in the site navigation, categories or search, and you must know the URL of the page to access it. Archived pages are not linked in the site but can be accessed and will be returned in the search results. Typically you archive older content that may still be useful to visitors but which you do not want to clutter and complicate navigation and content display. AssetNow can support any number of display modes. The default modes are Normal and Custom. Web designers can use the display mode of a page to display the page differently to other pages in the same category. A common use of custom mode pages is for sidebars and content fillers in templates. Each page can use a unique template. Web designers develop templates and once placed in the templates directory on the AssetNow NX server are available for selection. Templates can be designed to handle any type of output. In fact AssetNow NX supports transformation of content to virtually any format using eXtensible Stylesheet Language for Transformations (XSLT). XSLT is an advanced topic, suffice to say that no matter how you wish to use content published with AssetNow NX it can be achieved using templates and XSLT. AssetNow NX can process ColdFusion MX code (scripting) placed in the page body. This means you can incorporate dynamic elements inside a page these can range from a simple stock ticker to a complete application. Whilst you can add the scripting directly in the page content a better solution is to use Widgets will are discussed later. You can exclude a page from search indexing and caching. AssetNow NX performs automatic page caching which is used in most cases. However if a page contains dynamic data it must be excluded from caching to ensure the most current dynamic data is used. The review date sets a reminder date on which the item is added to the review list. List means it should be reviewed for validity. The default review date is 6 months in advance of the page creation date. The default advance period can be set in the system settings.

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The Assets tab is used to manage content assets for the selected page. Assets include images, files and links. AssetNow NX provides a number of ways to upload images and files to the server. The basic upload method uses the traditional multipart form-based “browse” upload option. The form-based upload is useful if you upload a small image/file and wish to set it as the teaser image or master file with a single Save. Teaser images are displayed with summary information of a page when listed in categories. Master files are linked directly next to the page title providing a quick way to publish downloadable files. Also you can upload a zip files. If you upload a ZIP archive containing a number of images and it will be unzipped and all images made available. If you select to ZIP a file a ZIP archive version of the uploaded will be created. The form method is fine for small files or when you use the ZIP options, but is not well suited to uploading very large files (>100MB) or uploading multiple files. AssetNow NX provides a java upload applet that can reliably upload very large files. The applet can also scale and compress jpg and png format images before uploading them to the server. 5 scaling presets are available with configurable width/height/scale factor settings. This means authors can select digital camera images and have them scaled to suit site design requirements with no additional software. The applet supports drag/drop/select of multiple files and provides a progress bar indicator. AssetNow NX also supports drag/drop and copy/paste uploading of images and files in the AssetNow NX XHTML editor. The editor uses web services to perform file transfers which are reliable and efficient than multipart form based uploading. See the editor information for more about this. All page assets available on the server are listed in the Assets tab. You can click the icon next to an asset to preview it. If an asset is used in the page content body the delete option is not available. This avoids inadvertent deletion of active assets. When a page is approved all unused assets are automatically deleted to conserver server disk space. All links referenced in the page body are listed so you can easily check and review links.

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The Approval tab is used to submit a page that is in Draft mode for Approval. If a workflow has been set for the category the workflow steps are shown. Anyone with edit access can withdraw an item from approval/workflow. Only users with approval permissions for the current workflow step can approve/reject an item. Typically approvers use the approval option available on the Start tools screen and do not have edit permissions. The Revisions tab lists all revisions and allows you to preview revisions. Once a content page is approved it cannot be changed unless it is moved back to draft status, or a new revision created. When a revision is approved it automatically replaces the active revision. You can re-activate any revision or move it back to draft mode. A change log tracks all content edit activity.

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The Permissions tab allows setting of permissions for categories and content. If the category is set to Public, the category and content it is available to anyone with access to the site. If it is set to Private it can only be accessed after sign-in. Permissions can be inherited from parent category. The default is for permissions to propagate from a category to its subcategories. Typically permissions are set on a category (shown opposite), content permissions, if set are a subset of the applied Category permissions. To set permissions first a group must be assigned. You can then select individual users from the assigned group/s. To assign access to private content you set the Read option for the required Groups and optionally users in the groups. For each Group and any Users with Tool access you can set additional permissions including edit, add, delete etc. These settings only apply to the content tools and hence users with access to the tools. If Groups and/or Users with approval permissions have been assigned then a workflow can be setup. The Workflow option allows you to order the assigned approvers. Workflow progresses sequentially from the lowest order value, 0, to the highest. You can set approval steps to the same order numbering which case any of the approvers with the same order number can complete that approval step.

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4.3 Permissions AssetNow NX permissions are based on Users, Groups, and Roles. Users are sign-in accounts and typically assigned to an individual. Groups are containers for Users and make it easier to manage a number of users with common permissions. Without Groups you would have to manage each user individually. AssetNow NX requires that all users belong to at least one group. If a user is not assigned to a group the user account cannot be activated. Roles are used to assign AssetNow NX tools to users. Custom roles can be used for your own custom application requirements. The Site Administrator has access to all functions in the Permissions tool. Group Administrators have access to the Users and Group functions only. Additionally the Users and Groups they can manage are restricted to those the Group Administrator belongs to. Sites with large numbers of users there can be multiple Group Administrators with permissions to manage specific users groups. Users, Groups and Roles can be scheduled allowing access to be restricted to a specific period.

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4.4 System The System tool is provides a number of functions:

1. Register and configure instances of application modules. Each AssetNow NX tool is an application module. Additional tools modules can be added as they become available. Developers can also register their own applications using the Modules tools. The benefit of doing this is that the applications can then use other parts of the AssetNow NX framework including permissions and variables.

2. The Codepad allows the system administrator to test ColdFusion scripts and interact directly with AssetNow NX and subsystems.

3. The Search tool is used to create and manage the Verity search indexes (collections). The tool will list collections for each language that AssetNow NX has been configured for. Search indexing can also be scheduled via the search tool.

4. AssetNow NX maintains log files of various events including search criteria, sign-ins, scheduled events, reverse-look ups, in-bound and out-bound links and any processing exceptions.

5. The Settings tool provides detailed listings of all AssetNow NX settings, server disk space usage, session activity, site tree status and server variables including operating system, web server information and ColdFusion server information.

6. The Setup tools allows changing of global AssetNow NX settings including general site e-mail addresses, caching, white space management, languages etc. These settings as stored in the AssetNow NX xml configuration file.

7. The Reset option allows you to reset various items including cache files, average views, and all AssetNow settings which effectively performs a soft restart, as opposed to hard restart (restarting the server), of AssetNow NX.

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5. AssetNow NX XHTML Editor A core component of AssetNow NX is standards-compliant, XHTML editor. The editor is installed automatically and supported in most popular web browsers. The editor generates XHTML Strict or 1.1 markup and uses CSS for formatting. This ensures clean separation of content from presentation. The markup generated by the editor meets the most demanding accessibility requirements. The editor toolbar is customizable and buttons can shown or hidden based on user permissions and AssetNow NX editor configuration settings. You can have different configurations for different users. The editor provides context-sensitive pop-up menus. These menus are accessed by right mouse clicks. For example the context menu available when editing a table allows you to add/delete row and columns and set properties. Why XHTML Strict / 1.1 is important AssetNow NX Editor's most important role is to ensure that non-technical users active in free-form editing areas always generate clean XHTML Strict or 1.1. Only XHTML Strict and 1.1 guarantee the complete separation of data from formatting. This makes them the clear choice for developers whenever availability of data is an important factor. The separation of data from formatting is achieved by using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for styling content. This screenshot shows clean XHTML 1.1 generated by AssetNow NX Editor and purged of "noise" such as deprecated tags, font sizes, colors, unfinished markup, etc. This preserves content in a "raw" state suitable for parsing and re-purposing by any XML-enabled device or application. Limitations of HTML 4 editors running code clean-up routines Most other WYSIWYG editors present the standard "Edit Mode" found in Internet Explorer with some type of wrapper built around it. These editors generate HTML 4 and then run clean-up routines on the code that they create. At best, the outcome is XHTML 1.0 Transitional (not Strict). XHTML 1.0 Transitional includes significant negative characteristics inherited from HTML 4. In particular, XHTML 1.0 Transitional permits the fusing together of data and formatting that makes parsing and re-purposing content difficult. By contrast, AssetNow NX Editor is designed to directly produce clean, accessible XHTML Strict or 1.1, without the use of code clean-up routines.

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Uses External or Embedded CSS for formatting Unlike the <font> tag or inline CSS used in the (now deprecated) style attribute, external or embedded CSS cleanly separate data from formatting. This creates format-neutral data that is ideal for content sharing. It also makes changing the look and feel of Web sites easy, requiring only a few simple modifications to the appropriate CSS. AssetNow NX Editor makes applying the correct CSS quick and easy When it comes to referencing the appropriate CSS for formatting, non-technical users find it hard to relate to cryptic style choices such as *.heading3 or span.price. Valuable time is lost, users become frustrated, or hazard a guess and make mistakes. AssetNow NX Editor avoids this by attributing meaningful "friendly" names (such as "Chapter Title", "Sale Price" or "Byline") to "Styles". Styles are displayed in a handy drop-down menu and can be grouped together for greater convenience. Available styles can be edited to match documents or projects, and popular style choices can be given prominence by moving them off the drop-down menu, onto AssetNow NX Editor's toolbar. These features make applying the correct formatting intuitive, fast and accurate. AssetNow NX Editor's easy-to-use interface speeds the authoring process AssetNow NX Editor's streamlined toolbar is a refreshing alternative to the cluttered toolbars found in most WYSIWYG editors. Toolbar clutter occurs whenever authors are forced to build formatting piecemeal, using color, font and style pickers for example. Building presentation styles piecemeal is time-consuming, crams the toolbar with button options, and opens the way to formatting errors. By contrast, since AssetNow NX Editor uses CSS and presents formatting options in an intuitive drop-down menu of "Styles", business users can apply even the most sophisticated formatting accurately and quickly. Imports third-party data AssetNow NX Editor's "Directory" service allows users to import external data into the editor. Content imported in this way might include staff listings, product numbers and descriptions, or any type of centrally stored information in any structure (tables, email addresses, etc.) Supports Web services AssetNow NX editor uses web services using Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). The web services provide drag and drop uploading of images and files, directory features such as special character insertion, document outlines and widgets. Web services can be customized to integrate with your data systems.

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Cleans Microsoft Word When content from Word is pasted into AssetNow NX Editor, the editor retains essential structural elements such as paragraphs, tables, bullet points, headings, hyperlinks, images, etc. However, proprietary, non-compliant markup used by Word to apply formatting is suppressed. Users replace formatting quickly and easily using AssetNow NX Editor's intuitive "Styles" menu. Styles create markup that references CSS, replacing the non-compliant markup found in Word with clean, standards-based code. Supports drag & drop of images and files directly into the editor Images and files can be dragged directly into AssetNow NX Editor from the desktop. Restrictions can be set on file size or type, and the dimensions of uploaded images are automatically calculated. AssetNow NX Editor ensures that images are used correctly by requiring images to be identified as "decorative" or "informative", and requiring alt text for the latter. Inserts custom tags that add semantic meaning to text and objects Custom tags allow business users to attach semantic meaning to elements of content during the authoring process. Custom tags can subsequently be used for indexing data, or for optimizing search results in enterprise-level search engines. They can also serve as placeholders for dynamic content, for example the latest stock price. Supports semantic markup used by visual and non-visual browsers Semantic tags ensure that non-visual browsers correctly pronounce abbreviations, code snippets, quotations, etc. When combined with CSS, semantic tags also create visually appealing Web effects such as the highlighting of computer code samples, dotted underlines, or tool tips for abbreviations and definitions. Supports the distinction between data and layout tables Data tables contain data that can only understood in relation to cell and column headers. If the association between the table cells and the headers is not made clear, non-visual browsers will read the data in linear fashion. The result will be meaningless. AssetNow NX Editor makes it easy to create tables that use headers to identify the column and row headers that cell contents refer to. AssetNow NX Editor also requires authors to submit summaries for data tables, allowing non-visual browsers to describe tables fully.

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Distinguishes between decorative and informative images AssetNow NX Editor ensures that images are used correctly by prompting authors to identify images as decorative or informative. Decorative images are used for visual effect or as design elements (spacers or graphical bullets). Since they are not used to convey meaningful information, AssetNow NX Editor makes decorative images invisible to non-visual browsers by giving them an empty alt text, and by not requiring a title or long description. Informative images such as photographs and diagrams convey important meaning. AssetNow NX Editor therefore requires alt text for informative images and encourages users to also contribute both a title and long description. In addition, AssetNow NX Editor reinforces the distinction between alt text and title by asking for both. Includes a unique Screen Reader Preview Code generated by AssetNow NX Editor is guaranteed to be accessibility-ready, but AssetNow NX Editor's Screen Reader Preview offers authors an additional opportunity to optimize content for accessibility. It does this by displaying content managed through AssetNow NX Editor as it is "read" by screen readers. This means content is laid out in linear fashion, together with information that the author would normally not see (alt text, table summaries, tool tips, etc.). Previewing content in this fashion prompts authors to make necessary changes prior to publishing. For example, authors might forget to identify which cells in a data table act as row or column headers. Without this information, screen readers have no references for data in the table. Alternatively, captions and summaries submitted for tables might need to be modified, or alt texts edited to be more meaningful. AssetNow NX Editor also alerts authors to inappropriate text used for hyperlinks. The expression "Click here" is meaningless when processed by a screen reader, and AssetNow NX Editor is easily customized to warn against the use of other expressions of a similar type. The Screen Reader Preview also issues alert messages when code entered manually through View Source contains semantically questionable markup. For example it discourages the use of the <b> (bold) tag, which has visual significance for sighted readers but carries no semantic significance for users of assistive technologies such as screen readers. In this case users would be encouraged to use <strong> which does have semantic meaning for screen readers. Other alert messages include warnings that alt text or table summaries are missing. This information must be submitted before content can be saved.

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6. Templates AssetNow NX uses templates to output content. The benefit of templates is that they are simple and hence easy to create and change. The AssetNow NX XHTML editor allows you to structure information. Templates determine how the information will be presented. There are 4 types of templates:

1. Category templates output category content by assembling a page with summary information of content and subcategories contained in the category.

2. Content templates output a content page. 3. System templates are used to display the site map, search, and sign-in form

etc. 4. Transformation templates are used to transform content and include feeds

(RSS, ATOM, and RDF) and any other transformation, typically using on XSLT. Templates are not limited to rendering content for display in a web browser. Content can be transformed into virtually any format. For example proprietary formats for system integration and machine-to-machine data transfer and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) requests could be handled via templates. Web designers can easily develop web browser display templates since a template uses familiar XHTML markup combined with AssetNow NX widgets. The example shown opposite is the default template used to render a category. Widgets encapsulate AssetNow NX functional elements. In the template opposite you can see widgets for navigation, search, listing category content etc. Widgets are just like any other XHTML tag and web designers can apply them in the same way. The benefits of widgets are that they encapsulate complex functionality in an easy-to-use tag. Web developers can easily customize supplied AssetNow NX widgets and create their own library of custom widgets. Widgets can also be inserted into content using the AssetNow NX XHTML editor. This advanced feature allows non-technical publishers to add dynamic elements to a page as easily as adding an image.

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7. System Requirements

7.1 Server Requirements

AssetNow NX can be deployed on dedicated or shared host servers with multiple independent installations on a single server.

• Macromedia ColdFusion MX application server. • Microsoft Windows or RedHat Linux operating systems. • Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) or Apache web server. • MySQL database server, Microsoft SQL Server, or Microsoft Access database.

Macromedia ColdFusion MX is fastest way to build and deploy powerful Internet applications. ColdFusion MX is built with java and available for popular server platforms including J2EE enterprise deployments. One of the greatest benefits of using ColdFusion MX is that it includes many advanced functions that are either not available, or have to be purchased from 3rd party vendors, when using technologies such as Microsoft .Net, Microsoft ASP, or PHP. 7.2 Client Requirements Client requirements are for users of the AssetNow NX tools only. AssetNow NX websites and content do impose any specific client requirements. AssetNow NX tools work with most popular browsers and desktop operating systems. However to use the AssetNow NX XHTML Editor the following requirements apply:

• Web browser – Microsoft Internet Explorer 5+ (6 + recommended), Mozilla 1.7.5+, Firefox 1.0+, Netscape 8.0+.

• Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000 or XP. Some of the editor’s multilingual features may not be available on Windows 98 and ME, since these operating systems do not support Unicode. Support for right-to-left (RTL) languages such as Hebrew and Arabic is only available on Windows 2000 and XP.

• Minimum display resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels (XGA) is recommended. • Sun Java Virtual Machine (JRE 1.4.x) for upload applet.