Contribute is very good (imo) and addresses a lot of the issues which are
frequently batted about in educational institutions. For those who are
unsure about going down the CMS route and feel it would be overkill for
their level of use then it might be (an) answer.
It's pretty intuitive (as much as these things can be), has a built in
browser which the 'content provider' uses to browse to the page they'd like
to update. Assuming they have permission to edit the page they then click
the Edit Page button, whereupon the display changes to an 'Editing' layout,
the page is 'got' from the server (if you are using FTP) and checked out
(if appropriate). When their edits are done they can publish the page by
clicking the Publish Page button which has replaced the Edit Page button.
From an Administrative point of view the settings may be what you need,
it's possible to create groups of content providers and give them different
permissions, i.e. Group A can change text and upload graphics of 64k or
less, Group B can implement CSS, change some scripted elements on the page
etc. It also supports versioning (it's poss to roll back a couple of
versions of a page - these are stored on the server) and publish temporary
versions of the page for peer review and comment. It supports DW templates
but can work with any web page whether it's built in FP, Notepad, GoLive,
whatever. An upgrade to DW MX (v6.1) (which is included with Contribute -
the upgrade not the whole program) will mean that it's possible to set up a
'Contribute' site from within DW.
It also addresses the 'I need to get stuff in from Word / Excel' issue -
it's possible to drag & drop / insert .doc and .xls documents into
Contribute and the formatting is preserved and it's placed in the page. I
would guess that an overly complex Word doc or Excel sheet might not come
in as expected however.
Not an exhaustive summary but hope it helps. I reckon the learning time for
this product would be ~10 minutes for someone who was half-competent with
an Office-type doc - on a bad day.
i.
--
Ian Usher
>> The Hertfordshire Grid for Learning - http://www.thegrid.org.uk
>> Essential Online Resources for Hertfordshire Schools
[e] [log in to unmask] [t] 01582 830334 [m] 07747 757868
"Porter, Joel"
<[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask]
Sent by: Managing an cc:
institutional web site Subject: Macromedia Contribute software
<WEBSITE-INFO-MGT@JISC
MAIL.AC.UK>
12/11/2002 16:57
Please respond to
"Porter, Joel"
I was wondering if anyone has thought of using Macromedia's Contribute
software for allowing access to departments to publish to the web without
them getting involved in design issues. I am seriously considering the
options as this looks like it will cut out Dreamweaver training for most
departmental web authors although some may find it a bit restrictive.
Macromedia have a trial download at the location below although it's not
yet
commercially available. I would be interested in others opinions...
http://www.macromedia.com/software/contribute/
Regards,
Joel
----------------------------------------------
Joel Porter
Senior Communication Officer
St Martins College
Rydal Road, Ambleside,
Cumbria. LA22 9BB
Tel: 015394 30395
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