What is a Content Management System (CMS)?
A Content Management System or CMS is a collection of web-based tools designed to allow the creation, modification, organization and removal of information from a Web site. The most significant benefit of a CMS is that users do not have any knowledge of HTML or other web development languages in order to create new Web pages.
Content management systems are often used for storing, controlling, versioning, and publishing industry-specific documentation such as news articles, operators' manuals, technical manuals, sales guides, and marketing brochures. A content management system support the following features:
- Versatile – Ideal for creating and deploying projects such as commercial web sites, corporate intranets and extranets, and online publishing portals.
- User-Friendly – Designed to make it easy for users to manage all aspects of their projects. Site wizards, help icons, and a well-researched user interface allow universal ease-of-operation.
- Powerful – Support of multiple portals or sites off of one install. In dividing administrative options between host level and individual portal level, allows administrators to manage any number of sites – each with their own look and identity – all off one hosting account.
- Priority on Security – Places an emphasis on validation, encryption, “bug” tracking and potential threats.
- Fully Customizable – Allows changes to be made to websites / portals at all levels – from basic style sheet elements like font type, color, and bullet points, to overall site appearance. New “skins” and “module containers” can be easily applied to the site with no repercussion on content.
- Feature-Rich – Comes loaded with a set of built-in tools that provide powerful pieces of functionality. Site hosting, design, content, security, and membership options are easily managed and customized through these tools.
- Supported – Supported by CommerceTI’s experienced team of developers, integrators and project managers. Personalized customer care programs insure that support is always close at hand.
- Easily Implemented – Can be up-and-running within days. No longer do you have to wait months to begin realizing the benefits of a sophisticated yet user friendly web experience.
- Localized – Includes a multi-language localization feature which allows Commerce Technology International to easily translate your websites and portals into any language.
- Extensible – Suitable for a variety of projects - from the smallest website to the largest corporate deployment. Internet or Intranet sites can be developed entirely with built-in features, or can be augmented through third-party private assembly tools. Site customization and functionality are limitless.
Sampling of Modules & Functions Available
- Account LogIn - permits users to log in to your portal using user id and password.
- Announcements - produces a list of simple text announcements consisting of a title and brief description.
- Banner - banner advertising is managed through the Admin > Vendors tab and the Host > Vendors tab. You can select the number of banners to display as well as the banner type.
- Blog – a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the Web site.
- Contacts - renders contact information for a group of people, for example a project team.
- Discussion - renders a group of messages posted on a specific topic.
- Documents - renders a list of documents, including links to browse or download the document.
- Events List/Calendar - renders a list of upcoming events, including time and location. The events list can alternately be set to render in calendar format.
- FAQs - allows you to manage a list of Frequently Asked Questions and their corresponding Answers.
- Feedback - allows visitors to send messages to the Administrator of the portal. If a user is already logged in, then their name will automatically populate the form.
- Forum - the ability for people to start threads and reply to other people's threads. More than one forum can be created. Depending on the permissions of forum members as defined by the site's administrator, they can post replies to existing threads and start new threads as they wish. A forum administrator has the ability to edit, delete, move or otherwise modify any thread on the forum. Moderator privileges can be delegated to other forum members.
- Gallery - a place where images are grouped and displayed and people go there (online) to view them.
- IFrame - an Internet Explorer browser feature which allows you to display content from another website within a frame on your site.
- Image - renders an image. The module simply refers to the image by a relative or absolute URL, so the image file does not need to reside within the site.
- Links - renders a list of hyperlinks to any tab, image or file on your website; or to a file, image or web page on another website.
- Map - using the Google Maps API, provides the ability to pump any custom data into the Google Map in a number of unique ways.
- Media - support for all kinds of media including Flash, QuickTime, RealPlayer, Windows Media, various Audio formats and Images.
- News Feed (RSS) - renders news feeds on you site. News feeds provide your visitors with up-to-date, topical information on any range of topic.
- Reports - provides a simple, but flexible, view on data from your database. CommerceTI can develop reports by building a SQL query that returns a table of data. The module will then take that data and render it in a grid.
- Repository – can be used to store a collection of files, images, links or text. In addition to storing basic object information, the Repository module also allows you to store detailed information such as author name and email address, a summary and/or a detailed description, file size and download counts and provides community features such as a User Rating system and User Comments.
- Search - customized searches can be configured to search one or more of the common modules.
- Service Directory - exposes the list of Vendors maintained in the Admin tab. This module allows you to search for vendors based on key word criteria and company name.
- Survey - allows your website users complete online surveys. Survey results are rendered as a bar chart and includes the number of individual responses.
- Text/HTML - cesign content in a visual editor, or add html. RDF Includes a picture gallery of all your uploaded images.
- User Accounts - permits Registered Users to add, edit and update their User Account details. Membership services are also managed here.
- User Defined Table - allows you to create a custom data table for managing tabular information. Note that clicking on a heading reorders the data A-Z or Z-A.
- User’s Online - presents information about the users in your portal. This information includes: Membership, Total # of Members, New Registrations Today, New Registrations Yesterday, Latest Registration and People Online.
- Who Is - allows users to conduct searches on .com and .net domain names. Search results provide information on whether the domain is registered and can be set to display full registrant details
- Wiki - a website which allows users to add and edit content collectively. Collaborative software.
- XML/XSL - renders the result of an XML/XSL transform. The XML and XSL files are identified by their UNC paths in the xmlsrc and xslsrc properties of the module.
- Many More!
What is CommerceTI’s Rapid Development Framework?
RDF refers to CommerceTI’s customized implementation of a content management system along with personalized skin, logo, menu / navigatgion, selected modules, migrated content and user training. RDF is the easiest and most powerful way to launch your own dynamic and interactive website allowing you the site owner the ability to manage site content without any special web development knowledge.
What is MS SharePoint?
Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server is a Web Portal which belongs to the Microsoft Office family. It is a collaborative portal application based on the Windows SharePoint Services platform, a component of Windows Server 2003. Windows SharePoint Services offers online publishing of standard file formats. It also has version control, document approval and a search facility. Sharepoint is a scalable, manageable platform for collaboration and the development of Web-based business applications.
What Is DotNetNuke?
DotNetNuke is an open-source Web Application Framework ideal for creating and deploying projects such as commercial websites, corporate intranets and extranets, online publishing portals, and custom vertical applications. DotNetNuke is built on a Microsoft ASP.NET (VB.NET) platform, and is easily installed and hosted.