EUROPLANE workshop:Small airport's content management system (CMS)Detlev FischerBMT Transport Solutions GmbH

Finow-Eberswalde, 14 February 2007

Objective of Small Airports CMS: improve visibility of small airports

• Many small airports and airfields have a website, often very simple and crude

• Often, resources are insufficient to create a professionally AND maintainable site

• Content updating is cumbersome and requires involving an external designer

• Each web site stands for itself, network effects and synergies are difficult to realise

Old and new start page and of AirportEberswalde-Finow (EDAV)

From web site to web content framework

• Initial idea: Partners Brandenburg and Barnim wanted to improve the online presentation (web site) of airfield Eberswalde Finow

• A suggestion was made to be make this part of the EUROPLANE extension

• BMT: don’t just create a one-off web site –create a web content framework based on a Content Management System (CMS) that can be re-used by other small airports

One-off web site

Dynamic CMS based web siteWeb content

framework

Dynamic CMS based web siteDynamic

CMS based web site

The same CMS can be used to implement different airport / airfield sites – some modifications will be necessary

Key points for the web content framework

• The web content framework should

– make content management easy (all through a web browser without technical knowledge of HTML or web design)

– be cheap (use open source software – in our case a free version of hugo)– be allow addition and modification of sections and pages within sections– allow the addition of network functions (posting of flights, allow news to be re-used

(syndicated) as “news-feed” elsewhere – on the same site or other sites

Web content framework

Small airports content management system

• A CMS was developed, based on the CMS System hugo (beans-n-bites, Hamburg)

• Agreement with beans-n-bites to create a “Small Airports Special Edition” of hugo as free software (under the GNU license scheme)

• Requires Webhosting with PHP 5, MySQL and GDLib

• The new website of Airport Eberswalde-Finow has been implemented using the CMS

• Experiences so far are positive

How was the information architecture defined?• A comparative analysis

of a few small airport sites (Eberswalde-Finow, Sylt, Lübeck, Flensburg, Augsburg) led to a prototypical site structure

• The resulting structure with the 'best fit' was used as the default architecture of the CMS (can be adapted)

EDAV Sylt Lübeck Flensburg Augsburg

Home logo logo logo ?

"Service"

"Infos"

"Flughafen" "Info" "EDMA"

"Flüge" "Flugplan"

The region "Links" "Hotels"

"Kontakt"

About us "Webcam"

<logo>

Airman's info

"Airman's info"

"Für Piloten"

"Luftfahrt""Aviation"

"Allgemeine Luftfahrt"

Airport news

"Airport news"

"Der Flughafen Lübeck informiert"

Services (land)

"Services at the AP"

Services (air)

"Air services"

"Charter-verkehr"

"The region"

"Accommo-dation"

Contact / impressum

"Impressum"

"Kontakt & Impressum"

"About us"?

Several templates to chose from

• Airman’s info, Text with images on the right (with legend), text w inline images

Comfortable news management

• News can be created edited easily – automatically displayed on home page

• Syndication options

Why using a content management system?

• A Content Management System (CMS) allows editing and updating a website through a simple web browser interface

• This is the page “About us” of the Airport Eberswalde-Finow, shown in the editing environment

Extending the CMS to other airports

• The hugo “Small Airports Special Edition” can be downloaded free of charge at the EUROPLANE web site

• The dummy airport site can be customised by airports to suit individual requirements

• BMT can help customising / extending the site as required

Support for airports considering the move to hugo Small Airports CMS

• Develop, together with you, requirements for an update of your site (your needs, airport user needs, expectations of the general public and the media)

• Conduct a usability audit of your current site to spot opportunities for improvement (information architecture, semantic issues, e.g. naming/labelling, accessibility issues)

• Check: is hugo CMS the right solution? If so, what are the customisation needs?

• Help you specify, produce, design vet or translate new content, if needed

• Support the technical implementation process together with beans-n-bites including multiple language issues (Polish/English? Three languages?)

• Support the implementation of your current (or new) site content in the Small Airports CMS, adapt look and feel (“corporate identity”)

If you see the benefits of moving to a CMS-based website, it is the right moment to reconsider the structure, content and usability of your current site!

What can BMT Transport Solutions do for you in the transition process?

Aims of the afternoon Small Airports CMS workshop

• Gather airports‘ experiences regarding the provision and maintenance of their airport website

• Discuss airports’ needs that may inform further improvements of the CMS developed

• Identify issues that may be tackled in future joint projects

• Give a hands-on introduction to web content management using the hugo Small Airports edition

• Answer workshop participants‘ questions regarding installation and use of the CMS “hugo Small Airports Edition”

• Discuss scope of desirable adaptations for particular airports or inclusion of additional features

• Map out the way forward for interested airports

Thank you for your attention!

Any questions?

Contact:

Detlev Fischer, BMT Transport Solutions GmbH

Email: df [at] bmt-ts.comTelephone: +49-40-3600664-16Mobile: +49-174-3120923