On Fri, 2002-12-06 at 13:24, Matt Liotta wrote: > Well I disagree the existing solutions are fine. Most editors and many > systems are stuck in this page centric mentality where a page is a > combination of a template and content. Sure these systems abstracted > content away from presentation, so that the content could be managed, > but the business users seem pretty unhappy with the whole lot. > > IMHO, business users want complete control over their web sites; not > just control over the content. They don't want to run to developers > every time something structurally needs changing or because they want > new functionality integrated. > > I think the above requires abstracting a lot more than content. It > requires taking portals to the next logical step. A page must become a > virtual thing that is nothing more than a composition of portlets. These > editors will need to follow suit and be able to offer GUI editing > capabilities for mere markup fragments in contextually specified ways.
You're spot on on a number of issues, but I think we'd disagree with definitions. Small-midsized company with some IT or computer staff effectively DO have 'business users' who have complete control over the site. They are 'users' in a business, but they happen to be programmers/developers of some sort. When you start to have businesses large enough that have structure to their company, that should likely be reflected in a website with some structure of it's own. Are you suggesting 'bob the business user' should have *complete* control over the website? He doesn't like the color scheme? Or thinks his new logo should replace the other one? Or that in pages about his department, the navigation should be a floating DHTML menu or FLASH instead of left-side text links? What is 'complete control'? How many people treat the rest of their business like they treat their website with this kind of attitude? "I should be able to - at all times - control every aspect with the click of a button". You certainly don't treat other departments that way (HR/accounting/etc) - one individual able to make changes en masse with little or no input or support from other people trained in handling those changes. *SOUNDS* like a recipe for disaster, to me. Clients we've dealt with have enough trouble understanding the concept of a page, a link, a header/footer with content in the middle. Well, I guess a 'page' concept, each one completely independant from each other with no forced consistency, is actually much easier to understand. YAY! Each page can have its own background color and embedded sound links! Whoo! I guess some companies long for the days of homesteading cyberspace by claiming their own little section of geocities.com/71852tf/TheTropics. Not my style though. -- Michael Kimsal http://www.logicreate.com 734-480-9961 -- http://cms-list.org/ trim your replies for good karma.
