Content Management Systems and Their Potential for Use at Miramar College Presented by Bill Smith

The Issue Miramar’s website needs constant updating Most departments must now depend on Web staff Some departments still not in template PLACe TRIO

What does a college website need?

1. Consistency 1995: Anarchy Large websites = collection of small sites Little design cohesion Navigation difficult Confusing to Web users CSU Fullerton, 1996

1. Consistency Now: Many non-techies are online One website, one design Consistent navigation Information delivered more efficiently Users less likely to leave site Website promotion is easier Less confusion No more “What site am I on?”

2. Scalability College websites tend to expand Ex: New sites for graduation, athletics Often seasonal, must be changed/removed Web staff must plan for expansion Rapid addition of in-template materials Easy changes to navigation

3. Rapid Change College information changes constantly Academic requirements Department hours News What if…? Departments could update their own area No HTML or programming needed

4. Technical Concerns 508 compliance Total compliance required Multiple designers = multiple 508 issues Security Control non-Web staff server access Code injection—a common attack

Content Management Systems Help large entities manage their information 1960’s—Document-focused Manage, share, restrict documents 1996—Web-based Central management for large websites

Content Management Systems Characteristics Skinnable using style sheets or third-party themes Authorized users can update pages Images, some formatting Little technical training required All depend on server-side code, database Many now free, open source

Drawbacks Migrating existing content This is the #1 issue (Information Architecture Institute, 2003 ) NOT an out-of-box solution Every organization has different needs Themes are often cookie-cutter, recognizable Learning curve can be steep

Content Management Systems Requirements for Miramar College

Requirements Fully customizable appearance Stylesheets Logical, understandable navigation 508 Allow custom code Database access Document display

Requirements Department updatable Users can upload, manage their area Thin-client (browser based) Area-specific user permissions Images, formatting No HTML or scripting Brief training sessions Document management

Requirements No cost Must also be well documented Scalable Handle large number of documents Secure

Three Candidate Systems All are free, downloadable All are skinnable to some extent All feature structured navigation

DotNetNuke One of the few free CMS’s using Microsoft™ technology.NET framework Code is written in Visual Basic SQL Server Runs on a Windows® server

DotNetNuke Installation & Configuration Required several hours Many permissions issues Had to grant total rights to Everyone This may be a quirk of using Localhost

DotNetNuke Appearance Many free themes Difficult to modify CSS and code must be edited Many separate sections (“modules”) when a few will do

DotNetNuke Navigation Third-party menu is required Items must be added individually Shows entire site by default Dropdown/pop-out requires additional coding Data access.NET data controls

DotNetNuke Usability Form interface Not intuitive Much technical language Many areas to update Issues with admin hierarchy Two classes of admin Admin and Host Only Host can change appearances Only Admin can change global settings and menu

DotNetNuke Advantages Known quantity (Windows,.NET) Large user community Many themes Disadvantages High maintenance Mediocre navigation May be difficult for non-techies to use

Drupal In top three for popularity Linux-based but can run on Windows Written in PHP Very learnable; similar to C++/Java/Perl MySQL database Also free Many downloadable code modules

Drupal Installation & Configuration Easier than DNN About 1 hour on localhost Database permissions were only issue

Drupal Appearance Highly skinnable Many themes Mostly CSS-based This one: “Four Seasons” Many modifications

Drupal Navigation Native menu system Dropdown module can be downloaded Items can be placed in menu when created Submenus must be assigned manually Data access Can be scripted using PHP

Drupal Usability Users can be assigned page-level rights Form interface More intuitive than DNN Rich text module for formatting Can include images Limited placement One Admin to rule them all Can be tweaked for 508

Drupal Miramar’s Big Issue: Documents Web File Manager Free Drupal module Files can be uploaded Allows drag/drop Developer then links to files as usual

Drupal Advantages Flexibility Many educational sites in use Ex: Easier to train non-techies Disadvantages Best operation requires Linux & MySQL Readable URLs may be an issue

TikiWiki Newer entry Wiki-specific Mostly user-generated documentation PHP & MySQL

TikiWiki Installation & Configuration Easiest to install Ran “out of the box” One level of admin

TikiWiki Appearance Available themes are very plain Less layout flexibility Use of logos, etc., requires a good deal of modification

TikiWiki Navigation Menu is logical; easy to read Items must be added manually No dropdown option for sidebar Formatting difficult to change Data access TW is not designed for this No real way to use custom PHP code

TikiWiki Usability Form interface Easy to understand; minimum tech Formatting requires knowledge of Wiki markup Limited images Access is Wiki style Registered users can edit all editable pages Can also create page (as with DNN) Probably too much access

TikiWiki Advantages Easy install & upkeep Highly readable & updatable Disadvantages Inflexible compared to other two 508 is a real problem Difficulty with dynamic pages Might prove useful for Intranet

Conclusions Some sort of CMS will eventually be needed at Miramar There is no perfect CMS solution Miramar has unique needs An in-house CMS would be redundant

Conclusions Three popular CMS’s DotNetNuke Extra power not worth the complexity Problematic for non-techies TikiWiki Very easy to maintain Not flexible enough for a full website Might be useful for a College intranet

Recommendations Drupal—A good compromise Free to install and use Appearance can be modified Very accessible to non-techies Multiple content areas Provide compromise between information and PR Code can be written for Miramar’s needs