creating web pages using contribute
Goals: The goal of this session is to show how web content can be distributed to content experts without overwhelming them with advanced development tools. We will focus on an application called Contribute.
- Understanding Content Creation Problems
- Introducting Contribute
- Administering Web Sites with Contribute
- Exercise
understanding content creation problems
Web development is difficult for many because the technical experts and the content experts are rarely the same people. Those who know how to create templates and manage a site properly are not the same people who populate the site with content. Those who need to create content can find it difficult to use professional applications like Dreamweaver. These applications are usually complex, and filled with features a typical content expert may never need to use.
Contribute is aimed at a typical end user who needs to create content without learning a complex tool like Dreamweaver. Contribute can leverage those same templates, library objects and style sheets created by technical experts, but they are delivered in a simple, easy to use application.
introducing contribute
Contribute is an HTML editing software that is designed to feel like working in Microsoft Office. This interface offers an intuitive method of creating links, adding images and formatting text. Creating and publishing content is simplified. Users browse to a page, click Edit Page, make changes, and click Publish. The content creation process is aided by a large number of starter web pages, as well as the ability to leverage existing Dreamweaver templates.
The Windows version of Contribute has additional capabilities related to content creation. Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents can be added into any page. The content is converted into HTML or using FlashPaper, which creates a .swf version of the document -- maintaining all formatting.
administering web sites with contribute
The administration feature of Contribute allows for roles to be created with custom rights applied. Administrators can create keys that can be sent to users with role, login, password and directory information embedded into it. The end-user needs only to double-click on this key. They will be logged in automatically and brought to a pre-defined homepage.
Some features that can be controlled through administration settings:
- folder / file access
- editing capabilities
- application of styles and fonts
- new page creation / templates
- placement of files upon saving
- shared assets
- image size / dimension restrictions