The term "content management" has been used to describe a wide array of different methods of publishing and "managing" content. They range from a db containing a list of complete pages tied to something like soEditor, to a system that uploads snippets of content from MS word through smtp to get plugged into an html template on the server... So when you need or want a "content management" solution you end up with a lot of realy disparate types of products that you could evaluate for potential use.
MS is probably basing their comments on their own Web CMS which was originally (not sure about now) a tool specifically for managing web sites. Not all CMS apps are limited to just websites. Automating the process of publishing content to Adobe PDF format for instance, using the same data (usually stored or at least transfered through xml) as is used to publish a web site, has become a fairly common request amongst people looking for cm tools. And this leads to physical print publishing as opposed to web, so cm tools don't necessarily need to be restricted to html or even to the web as a medium. I suspect we'll see more xml syndication in the future in cm tools as well... RSS and other formats. I've heard talk of it, although I've not seen a lot of it done. But to get at the "core" of what a cm tool needs, I'd say MS assessment isn't terribly far off from most of what you'll find on the market. A lot of web-driven, primarily web-publishing systems with the occasional PDF/Print and XML syndication tool. There must be a way for content to be created, a way for it to be stored and cataloged so it can be updated, and a way for it to be presented to the public (usually web). Most systems don't stop there, however. Tapestry for instance, includes custom roles-based security, object-oriented custom content types and a publishing workflow process, all of which are commonly requested features. Tapestry 5 is in beta currently, with the latest major feature added being native support for multiple languages so that you can maintain content in multiple languages and make sure that all your content is properly translated. Further add-on components are planned for version control (this is currently in development), added workflow process and ftp syndication (so you can manage content on one server and automatically publish directly to another server). CMS Watch ( http://www.cmswatch.com ) is a good source for general information... This recent article provides support for Tapestry's publishing model. The author uses the term "parbaking" to describe not only how Tapestry was envisioned, but how it works in practice on the new epoch site currently: http://www.cmswatch.com/Features/OpinionWatch/FeaturedOpinion/?feature_id=91 I've been talking about what this article describes for a while and its always seemed like its fallen on deaf ears (or people couldn't understand what I was describing) -- this is the first time I've seen anyone else mention it. The long and the short of this is that it provides the best of both worlds. Content which must be dynamic when a visitor views a page remains dymanic. All other infrequently altered content (layouts and navigation, etc.) is pre-generated to largely static page files. So you get both dynamic content and wicked-fast delivery regardless of the volume of content on the site. This also goes a long way toward your second question about the design of a site changing dramatically over time. Because each bit of the layout is maintained separately (a link here, a menu there, a header someplace else), and because the content isn't all generated entirely at run-time, the system also acts as its own staging server, so you can work with new layouts and designs without affecting visitors to the site. hth s. isaac dealey 972-490-6624 new epoch http://www.turnkey.to lead architect, tapestry cms http://products.turnkey.to tapestry api is opensource http://www.turnkey.to/tapi certified advanced coldfusion 5 developer http://www.macromedia.com/v1/handlers/index.cfm?ID=21816 > I hope this is not OT. I'd like to get a better > understanding of the definition of CMS. According to > Microsoft, it seems that the core functions of CMS should > over Content Creation, Publishing and Storage. Is there a > general agreement on this? Or am I missing something big > here? > Secondly, personally I think the publishing part is a very > tough task considering the fact that most design seem to > change a lot over some time span for Intranet, Extranet or > Internet, so, the integration of publishing and (future) > design would be a huge challenge. > Li, Chunshen (Don) > http://68.32.61.40/datadata/dataman.cfm > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > ~~~~~~~~~~~| > Archives: > http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=4 > Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index. > cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=4 > FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq > This list and all House of Fusion resources hosted by > CFHosting.com. 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