Generic Interfaces for Managing Web Data
Oleg Burlaca
Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science
Academy of Sciences of Moldova
61% of companies who have already deployed Web content management software still rely on manual processes to update their sites.
Users would like:
1. Smaller and less complex systems
2. Documentation should provide concrete ideas for how to structure project and make maximum use of features
3. Scalable user interface: features can be removed/added as required
4. Better UI for content creation and management of workflow.
"Web Content Management: Covering the Essentials, Avoiding Overspending", Jupiter Research 2003, http://www.jupiterresearch.com
Major problems when designing for or implementing content management software
1. Commercial software too expensive and required too much time to implement
2. Difficult to integrate with other systems
3. Determining requirements
4. Migrating old content
5. Training authors and editors
“The Problems with CMS”, January 2003The Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture (AIfIA)http://aifia.org/pg/the_problems_with_cms.php
Questions
1. How to view data from different angles and provide facilities to navigate deep hierarchies ?
2. How to provide an intuitively clear and convenient way to manage entity multirelations ?
3. How to tie a generic UI to the application logic ?
What is Content Management ?
• A set of tasks and processes for managing content
• An emerging field that’s concerned with making information easier to manage and access
The main purpose of a CMS:
Enhanced integration and automatization of processes that contribute to efficient dissemination of information on the Internet
Information
IntegrateAutomateAccessDisseminate
Generic User InterfacesAdvantages:
Disadvantages:
• Reduced development time
• Scalability
• No hand coding
• Less testing
• Consistent look and feel Standardization Less training
• The existence of rules
• Additional DB overhead
• Ascetic look
• Troublesome accomplishment of specific tasks
Custom pages
Index pages
Entity pages (item)
Web site structure
Item data Related Items
XML, TXT
Item Page
private data
shared data related item’sshared data
1. Item
2. Item
3. Item
What is Information Architecture ?
• The structural design of an information space to facilitate task completion and intuitive access to content
• The art and science of structuring and classifying web sites and intranets to help people find and manage information
IntuitionAccessStructureClassificationFindManage
Entity type definition
• Visual appearance
• Database fields and associated editors
• Relationship specification
• Events
Entity type :: database fields
<fields> <f name="thumb" editor="ImgEdit" />
<category caption="Brief" /> <f name="brief_en" editor="Memo" caption="En" height="50" /> <f name="brief_ro" editor="Memo" caption="Ro" height="50" />
<category caption="Perioada" />
<multieditor fixed=“1" /> <f name="date1" caption="Start"> <default>NOW()</default> </f> <f name="date2" caption="End"> <default>NOW()</default> </f>
<multieditor /> <f name="ora1" editor="Time"> <options format="HourMin" /> </f>
</fields>
UI :: database fields
Rela
ted
en
tity
Sp
eci
fic
Att
rib
ute
s
CommonAttributes
Entity type :: Relationship
<linkage mode="tree" > <fields> <f name="info" caption="info" /> </fields>
<types> <tip id="1"> <fields> <f name="info" /> </fields> </tip>
<tip id="10"> <fields> <f name="info" /> <f name="active" editor="CheckBox“ /> <f name="content" editor="Memo" height="100" /> </fields> </tip> </types></linkage>
Related items
Focused item’srelation attributes
UI :: Entity Relations
Articles
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References
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Related Items (8)
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Multiple Relations
Entity type :: Events
<events> <OnCreate> <e type="sql"> INSERT INTO site_en_related VALUES ($id, 444, 10, 1) </e>
<e type="http"> <params> <url>http://neonet.md/cgi/build.cgi</url> <prms>id=$id</prms> <urgent>0</urgent> <method>get</method> </params> </e> </OnCreate>
<OnCloseAfterCreate ... > <OnOpen ... > <OnRelateNode ... >
</events>
Data Shortcuts
Ctrl+Enter: Locate & Focus Item
NeoSite
ContentTree
SearchResults
SearchWindow
Opened entities and tasks HTTP ActivityFTP Activity
Toolbars from XML doc
MonitoringError logs
Experience
www.patria.mdwww.tehnomarket.mdwww.e-democracy.mdwww.monument.mdrussiannet.orgwww.press.mednet.mdwww.stats.mednet.mdwww.csa.acad.mdwww.pll.mdwww.profitclub.md
http://baraka.neonet.md
Conclusions
• Develop primitive UI elements but not complex, customized interfaces• Provide context to manage content• Use well established interface patterns
Questions
• How to manage n-ary relations ?
DB FTPWWW
Manage HTML Templates
Monitoring Log Files
Manage Scripts
GUI to data
Executing raw SQL queries
Backup / Restore
Get Size & Upload Images
Upload documents(pdf,doc)
Basic download support
Content Management Systemdeveloper’s view
html pdf, xls email templates
Content Management Systemuser’s view