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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
 Posted - 24 November 2002 : 15:24:58
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I got an email from Macromedia about their new program, Contribute, about a week ago and was indeed intrigued by the idea of what it can do.
In short, it's software that will allow non-techie people who have the proper access (given to them by the designer) to edit pages in a site without needing to know anything except how to use Microsoft word. By using Dreamweaver templates in the design of the site, the designer can define "editable regions" in pages and then nothing should be able to go wrong.
More info can be found here: http://www.macromedia.com/software/contribute/
My question is if any of you have heard of it and/or tried it already.
Also, what do you think of this new program?
Personally, I think it can be a great sollution when you're asked to make a small non-dynamic website and the client wants to make the changes him-/herself. Like a week ago a client called me to add two lines of text on every page of his site (made with pure HTML, so I had to change 6 pages). Small change, but I didn't have time for it until two days later. If we'd had Contribute, he could've made those changes himself.
However, for $99 (which I believe it will cost) it's more of a product for small sites where information changes (semi-) frequently rather than once every six months. |
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Rasco
Advanced Member
Germany
3192 Posts |
Posted - 24 November 2002 : 15:55:22
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| Haven`t looked at it, but sounds like a Wiki technique where you can edit a website with your browser. |
German Snitz Forum
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VodkaFish
Average Member
USA
654 Posts |
Posted - 24 November 2002 : 16:50:10
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I've seen small companies sell their own products like this, and honestly I think you can setup one very easily with an Access database and a form or two.
The only difference to me is that this is Macromedia and they will be able to promote it more and sell it for quantity and a lower price.
I'm not knocking it at all, I've just seen the concept a bunch already. I also haven't read too much about it, so if I'm missing something key, I'm willing to change my mind  |
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TestMagic
Senior Member
USA
1568 Posts |
Posted - 24 November 2002 : 16:53:15
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Yeah, I saw that too, and I thought it looked interesting. Seems to be basically an editor that fetches the current pages and allows FTP access to the user.
Like you said, it looks interesting. If I remember correctly, they're allowing a free trial period to get things going. |
Snitz rocks! · Search 2 |
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Carefree
Advanced Member
Philippines
4222 Posts |
Posted - 24 November 2002 : 16:58:45
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| Playing with it now. I'll let you know how the eval goes. |
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Gremlin
General Help Moderator
New Zealand
7528 Posts |
Posted - 24 November 2002 : 18:50:39
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| Sounds in a similar vein to Site Studio which I've had a few users use without much hassle to create a templated webpage. Basically its a predesign template HTML system where you just fill in the blanks .. kinda like a frontpage web creation wizard just better. |
Kiwihosting.Net - The Forum Hosting Specialists
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seahorse
Senior Member
USA
1075 Posts |
Posted - 24 November 2002 : 21:53:52
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It sounds OK. I've got users that could beneft from something like this. My only fear would be that the users each decided independently to insert text using their favorite font. Yuck.
I suppose if you had a stylesheet setup you'd be able avoid this problem.
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Ken
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Worldwide Partner Group
Microsoft |
Edited by - seahorse on 24 November 2002 21:55:52 |
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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
Posted - 25 November 2002 : 03:21:45
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A few notes after what I read in the replies:
Firstly, yes it's integrated with Dreamweaver MX and therefore works best with Dreamweaver templates (editable regions and un-editable regions). However, it's a seperate program and doesn't require Dreamweaver nor the use of templates. It's supposed to work with any (static) website.
It's a nice concept where the designer sends an access key to the site owner (or whoever else will do the maintenance) giving him/her the ability to surf to the site and download the page he/she wants to edit via FTP (that's what the access key is for). Microsoft Word and Excell files can simply be dragged and dropped into the pages, or the user can type new content and add images (of which the sizes can be limited by the administrator).
Site styles are protected aswell as server-side coding and JavaScripts. The user can edit the pages' content but not the look (especially if you use a Dreamweaver template).
If the user updates a page and something does go wrong, there's a roll-back function up to 99 versions back. Say the user is working on updating a page for two hours, deletes something (s)he shouldn't have deleted, like the menu, the page can be saved as a draft and the content can be copied and pasted from the draft to the last version of the file.
Look at it as a database-less CMS. If the site is properly designed (meaning you should really use Dreamweaver MX and use templates), the user can edit the content but not the look. At least, that's how I understand it. But that goes for everything I've written in this reply.
The main problem I can see with this is that I don't use Dreamweaver to create my sites with, so I don't use templates either. That means that the user can edit or delete virtually anything on the pages, thereby still making it necessary for me to make sure the changes that were made don't mess up the site.
Perhaps I should look into the use and function of Dreamweaver templates (which I've never done before) for the next small site that I'm going to make... |
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HuwR
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
20600 Posts |
Posted - 25 November 2002 : 03:34:19
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quote:
Look at it as a database-less CMS. If the site is properly designed (meaning you should really use Dreamweaver MX and use templates), the user can edit the content but not the look. At least, that's how I understand it. But that goes for everything I've written in this reply.
The main problem I can see with this is that I don't use Dreamweaver to create my sites with, so I don't use templates either. That means that the user can edit or delete virtually anything on the pages, thereby still making it necessary for me to make sure the changes that were made don't mess up the site.
Perhaps I should look into the use and function of Dreamweaver templates (which I've never done before) for the next small site that I'm going to make...
I wouldn't bother if I was you, have you ever looked at the HTML produced by DreamWeaver? It is dreadful, all the lines get wrapped in stupid places making it difficult to read, it adds loads of stuff you don't really need, and doesn't even close all its tags correctly. |
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Gremlin
General Help Moderator
New Zealand
7528 Posts |
Posted - 25 November 2002 : 03:37:03
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| Actually I've found DW HTML to be pretty well formed, like most things though you might need to tweak settings a bit expecially regarding wraping text etc. |
Kiwihosting.Net - The Forum Hosting Specialists
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HuwR
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
20600 Posts |
Posted - 25 November 2002 : 03:43:58
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Since I have only used DW files created by other people, i had no control over the settings.
plus the style sheets it created did not work as they had missing semicolons from the last line in every style, and nearly all the font/paragraph tabs were not closed correctly. |
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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
Posted - 25 November 2002 : 04:04:56
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I've never had any problems with Dreamweaver not closing the tags. In fact, Dreamweaver MX closes tags when I don't want them to thanks to the auto-complete function when working in code view. I know that can be turned off, but since I hardly use DMX I never bothered to do that.
The style sheets do indeed lack some basics, but that's where TopStyle Pro comes in. It's semi-integrated with DMX, and does do things right. No problems there for me either. |
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Bookie
Average Member
USA
856 Posts |
Posted - 25 November 2002 : 08:55:05
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This product would have been great for me three years ago when several people around our college could edit their portion of the site. I was putting out fires left and right because they would delete shared borders (yes, we're using FrontPage but not for long!) and stuff like that. They would use different font colors and sizes, hideous background images, and horizontal rules like they're going out of style.
We decided that I was the only one who could work on the web site because of all the problems. Now, they don't touch it!
It's a great product but I wouldn't use it here because I don't even trust my coworkers with spelling and the formation of a sentence. For example, one of our doctoral professors (with a doctorate himself) kept updating one page and kept spelling his colleague's first name wrong! I know there are a couple different ways to spell Alan but after I changed it and pointed it out to him a couple times, he still spelled it wrong. If a professor who's that educated can't spell a simple name, he's not touching the site and no one else is. |
Participate in my nonsense |
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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
Posted - 25 November 2002 : 11:42:24
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quote:
Originally posted by Bookie
If a professor who's that educated can't spell a simple name, he's not touching the site and no one else is.
It's often the people who act like that who are actually geniusses (in their own field). He sounds a bit like my high school chemistry teacher... I never had as much fun in class as with him  |
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Bookie
Average Member
USA
856 Posts |
Posted - 25 November 2002 : 11:58:52
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quote:
Originally posted by FrutZle
It's often the people who act like that who are actually geniusses (in their own field). He sounds a bit like my high school chemistry teacher... I never had as much fun in class as with him
Unfortunately, I've worked with the guy and he's no genius. I can think of plenty of other words and colorful adjectives to describe him, though. |
Participate in my nonsense |
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Roland
Advanced Member
Netherlands
9335 Posts |
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