Managing Your Content

On the web we have many forms of content ranging from the obvious of the web page content itself consisting of text, images, and now video, to various documents in a web "unfriendly" format. Here I would be referring to PDF, Word, and PowerPoint presentations.

In the search for a system and method to manage all this has come many Content Management Systems ranging from Blogging Platforms such as MovableType and Wordpress, to large expensive systems such as Vignette, Open Text and others. It becomes a confusing array to some businesses unsure what exactly is needed, and at worst we have blogging systems calling their product an "Enterprise CMS".
(Bloggers have a similar problem, only there is less cost involved and the solution becomes more of a personal preference).

Back in 2004 Jeffrey Veen wrote Why Content Management Systems Fail. It holds true today.

Content management is not a technology problem. If you’re having trouble managing the content on your Web site, it’s because you have an editorial process problem. Your public-facing Web site is a publication. Treat it like one.

This entails organization and flexibility on the part of the people and the software used. Organization from the folders on the server where files go to the setup of your site content in a meaningful logical structure.

The question of the day would be; "Can a relatively inexpensive system such as ExpressionEngine meet our needs today, and more importantly, reasonably far into the future?"

My answer is a definite, yes it can. This sites intention is to demonstrate that quite well, ranging from customizing the entry of content to adding maps, video, and much more. Yes, there is a condition because no system can or should attempt to do everything. Just as no person can be an absolute master of everything, no system should try to be, nor should the developers of said system try to make it do so.

I have heard many desperately wanting a full shopping cart in EE. While it would be nice, it is by no means required, as long as one can find a system flexible enough to add to it. A similar misconception is that added features require a plugin. As good as many are, and I recommend several highly, they can impose limitations in some cases.

Your Web Publishing System Does Not Have to do Everything

Those that try to end up doing them poorly, and we want the best available. There is no reason whatsoever that ExpressionEngine has to have a shopping cart built in. The best cart software vendors have spent many years developing carts. Lets not reinvent the wheel.

Using a system such as AShop Deluxe, one can add their products, descriptions, images and all in EE and add the cart purchasing code into the templates. Entering the product id into a custom field is all that is required after entering the product into the cart. (Contact us for Ashop sales and customization).

What one ends up with is:

• A Content Management System (EE)
• A Product Management System (Ashop Delux)
• A Digital Media Management System. (Contact me)

All site display, publishing of content, and organization is done through ExpressionEngine.

Using different systems for various functions can be better than having them built in. While separate, they also integrate into ExpressionEngine very well. These are our recommended shopping cart software and our video and audio management system.

The shopping cart is a full featured multiple gateway system which allows adding purchase options into the sites templates, while working transparently in the background doing what carts do best.

The video system allows for uploading, converting, and creating images from any video format automatically server side. We have the server set to accept uploads up to 200MB in size and it works perfectly. The videos are easily added to the site, simply enter the file name into a custom field. Call this a digital management system. It is.

Publishing Your Website

Using ExpressionEngine as CMS.

Simple Content Management

Demonstrating that the cost of the system is not a factor in choosing a good CMS.

Why Design With Standards

What are web standards and why is it important, what's in it for me?

Few Standards Developers Still

In spite of better SEO and lowered costs of production, few developers "do" standard based design. It is up to the clients to insist on quality sites.

Web Design 101

A short article on not using inline javascript and css,

Expression Engine Design

An overview of BKDesign's principles of designing ExpressionEngine sites.

Expression Engine Templates

An overview of our foundational template sets which are very basic, but foundational and save costs on any site design. More on weblog entries and tags.

Expression Engine MoBlogging

Post articles with photos and video from your mobile to your ExpressionEngine site.

From Your Desktop to EE

Write articles when offline and post directly to your site from your desktop. Ecto, a desktop publishing interface to ExpressionEngine includes a WYSIWYG editor. Installation for Mac's and Windows available.

Multiple Site Manager

manage multiple websites using one webhost and one installation of ExpressionEngine. use the MultiSite manager or not depending on requirements.

Photo Gallery Design

More than eight different designs including ajax and slideshows demonstarates ExpressionEngine galleries flexibility and quality.

Website as an Application

Buy a computer to see a website? It's been done, includes some on css, standards and a video on Web Standards.
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