Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy

Book Description

Today's businesses are overwhelmed with the need to create more content, faster, cutomized for more customers, and for more media than ever before. Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy provides the concepts, strategies, guidelines, processes, and technological options that will prepare enterprise content managers and authors to meet the increasing demands of creating, managing, and distributing content.

Author Ann Rockley, along with the Rockley Group team, provides techniques that will help you define your content management requirements, build your vision, design your content architecture, pick the right tools, and overcome the hurdles of managing enterprise content. This book will help you visualize the broad spectrum of enterprise content, the requirements for effectively creating, managing, and delivering content, and the value of developing a unified content strategy for your organization.

Customer Reviews:

An expert's view on unifying information.......2007-07-26

Actually implementing a content management solution, even for a small company, is a daunting prospect. Not only do you have to consider a myriad of concrete tasks in order to audit, centralize, and reuse your information. You also have to "sell" a major work-style change to numerous players. Even knowing where to start can be overwhelming, and that's where Ann Rockley's book Managing Enterprise Content comes in.

Authoritative and experienced, Rockley acknowledges that enterprise content management is not for everyone (a refreshing change from those pushing cookie-cutter solutions). In cases where content management could solve business problems, Rockley makes her case with calm conviction, breaking the subject down into logical chunks. In particular, her chapters on designing metadata (the "information about information" that is key to effective and scalable content management) and workflow (the designation of who does what, when) are lucid and comprehensive.

Whether your objective is to get a grasp of the subject, sell an implementation to your organization, or just digest what an impending implementation will mean to you, you'll want Rockley's book on your desk.

An excellent starting point for tech writers making the move to single sourcing........2007-05-25

I came to this book from a very different direction than many (all?) of the other reviewers. I'm a technical writer ("content developer") researching methods and tools for single-sourcing technical documentation. For my purposes, this book was an excellent starting point in recognizing and understanding the considerations that must be taken into account when migrating to a single-source solution (i.e., one tool and set of practices for developing documentation to be delivered in multiple media), defining a new set of practices, and evaluating an authoring tool. I recommend this book strongly to any tech writer/manager who needs help understanding the basics of single-sourcing.

Content reuse, not Enterprise Content Management...,.......2006-11-05

This book's title has probably attracted those interested in Enterprise Content Management. ECM has increasingly become a major buzz in business strategy circles as the information age tidal wave spills over into organizations and floods them with content. We're literally drowning. "Managing Enterprise Content" does not discuss ECM in broad terms, such as structured and unstructured content, email, scanned documents, OCR, ICR, etc. Instead, it focuses on content reuse. To take a simple example, a product brochure, a website, and a press release all include descriptions of a product. Why, the book argues, rewrite that description three separate times for each medium? Why not write it just once, store it in a content management system, and then reuse it over and over again? "Content Modularization" or "Content Reuse" probably describe the goals of this book less confusingly than "Managing Enterprise Content." But, in fairness to the authors, the current title isn't inaccurate, it just lends itself easily to misunderstanding. To reiterate: those looking for a course in Enterprise Content Management conforming to the Association for Information and Image Management's (AIIM) guidelines should look elsewhere.

Nonetheless, those looking for a strategy to manage distributable content throughout an organization should take a look at "Managing Enterprise Content." The focus remains on implementing a "unified content strategy," which translates essentially to an efficient reuse of content. Here the word "content" has a specific sense relating to verbiage authored for a specific use. Product descriptions, mission and vision statements, disclaimers, compliance and regulatory announcements, anything widely distributable qualifies. How does one efficiently manage the creation and the evolution of such content across an organization? This obviously implies some form of centralization (although this pregnant term gets strategically avoided for obvious reasons). And this further implies a software system. But prior to purchasing an expensive application, the business must align itself process-wise to enable content reuse. Otherwise the costly program will sit and rot. The first three parts of the book (I - III), comprising its first twelve chapters, discuss these necessary preparations and walk the reader through to implementation. This progression mirrors, for good reasons, the project management and software development life cycle processes. First, determine the concept or the "why?" of the project (Chapters 1 & 2). Then perform cost benefit analysis (Chapter 3 discusses ROI for content reuse), analyze and prioritize the current content infrastructure, the "As-Is" (Chapters 4 through 6), look to the future by modeling and designing the elements of the system the "To-Be" (Chapters 7 through 11), and finally implement the reusable content infrastructure (Chapter 12). Evaluation of software tools and technology should come before implementation, but the book instead covers these topics in Part IV (Chapters 13 to 18). So it's that easy to implement a unified content strategy? Well, no, not really.

Part V, the book's final section, outlines the inevitable issues that face organizational restructuring. Implementation of a unified content strategy will probably necessitate fundamental changes. Roles will get changes, people moved around, departments will get realigned or reorganized. All of this can sap morale or cause anxiety amongst employees. The author is not an authority on such issues, so this section of the book remains somewhat cursory and high-level. Conflict management gets deferred to a website (the book contains an out of date URL, but the book's website[...] has an updated address), and the advice presented here will probably not surprise anyone. Still, managing change remains an important part of any new implementation and this section, though rudimentary, will at least raise awareness.

Lastly, the appendices contain a grab bag of information. Appendix C, on vendors, has probably suffered from age (these days, a lot can happen in three years), but it may provide some good leads. Appendix B, "Writing for Multiple Media," probably could have appeared in the main body of the book; it contains important details not covered elsewhere.

Overall, the book does give a plausible outline for implementing the proposed strategy. Some of the chapters may seem overly simplistic or overlong to those experienced with system implementations or business process management. At the very least, "Managing Enterprise Content" may introduce some readers to the concept of enterprise content reuse. That concept remains a challenging one that will likely mean different things to different organizations. So this book does not provide the final word on the subject, nor does it intend to. An organization can only use this book as a blueprint or a guidepost for implementing its own unified content strategy.

Review of Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Str.......2004-05-21

Are you overwhelmed with the need to create more content, faster, customized for more customers, and for more media than ever before? Do you consider storing documentation on a server as an effective a content management system? Do you want to learn how content management will empower your organization? The answer to these questions and many more is covered in Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy by Ann Rockley with Pamela Kostur and Steve Manning of The Rockley Group. The Rockley Group is one of the leading providers of content management methodologies.

Managing Enterprise Content provides concepts, strategies, guidelines, processes, and technical options that will prepare you to meet the increasing demands of creating, managing, and distributing content. It describes techniques that will help you define your content management requirements, build your vision, design your content architecture, select tools, and overcome obstacles of managing enterprise content. It will help you to visualize the spectrum of enterprise content, the requirements for effectively creating, managing, and delivering content, and the value of developing a content strategy for your organization. That¡¦s a lot of information for one person to understand. That¡¦s why the book is written for three audiences: content managers, information architects, and authors. Managing Enterprise Content follows the same methodical approach that Rockley uses to teach content management in seminars and workshops.

I was expecting the book to jump into the technologies to implement a content management system. But that¡¦s not how Rockley presents content management. She begins with The basis of a unified content strategy and describes how content is created, who creates it, why authors work in isolation, and the consequences of isolation and centralizing content. The solution is to consolidate content in a definitive source, and a process that encourage authors to work collaboratively. The next step is to assess opportunities for content reuse. If you have never heard the term ¡¥reusing content,¡¦ you may know it as single sourcing. You probably already reuse content (i.e. copy and paste), which works well until the information, and everywhere that it appears, must be updated. Content reuse involves using existing content components (e.g. paragraphs, sections, and chapters) to develop new documents. Implementing a unified content strategy is a costly investment: tools, technologies, and training are not cheap. Investment costs are incurred in technology, training and consulting, and lost productivity.

Examples are given to calculate the cost of authoring tools, content management systems, training and consulting¡Xa content management system is not a plug and play, one size fits all solution. The return on investment is achieved by reduced time to market, reduced cost of product content development, improved accuracy and quality of content, and reduced manufacturing defects. The examples are especially helpful because you will need to create a proposal to convince budget holders and management on the return on investment of a content management solution.

Are you ready to buy a content management system? Not yet, read further. ¡§Performing a substantive audit: Determining business requirements¡¨ begins with an introduction on how to determine goals that you want a unified content strategy to solve, for example:
h Reduce the time to plan, write, review, approve, and publish
h Create flexible content that is easily reused to create information products for multiple products and multiple media
h Reduce the cost of translation by reusing existing translations.
h Make content more accessible; separating content from format makes it possible for content to be displayed automatically in a format appropriate to the disability.
Rockley describes how to identify opportunities where a unified approach of content management (i.e. planning, design, authoring and revision, version control, access control, publication and delivery to its audiences) is beneficial.

You are probably wondering how this all fits together, and Rockley explains how. ¡§Design¡¨ describes information modeling and metadata, how to personalize content, how to design a workflow, and how to implement your design.

An information model is critical for a unified content strategy because it provides a framework for documentation. It's the 80/20 rule: 80% of your effort is planning and analysis, and 20% of your effort is implementing the solution with whatever tools are selected to accomplish the goals the organization has set for itself. The level of detail of your information model depends on the level of reuse you want to achieve.

Many desktop publishing tools can dynamically publish personalized letters and forms by matching elements such as names and address¡Xa content management system can do the same. I was confused why design is given so much attention. Why not conduct the audit, buy the tools, and worry about design later? You can¡¦t. The design of information, reuse models/maps, meta data and workflow are all tool independent tasks. Regardless of the tools selected, you must first analyse and then design a content or information model so that it can be presented to IT staff and software vendors. Doing this in advance makes it possible for you to ask vendors to respond to a request for proposal and document how their tools can help you satisfy your specific challenges. Analysis provides an opportunity to collect metrics. From your information models, you can identify how much of your content could be reusable and where.

Educated on how content is used, where and how, you are better prepared to match the tools and technology to the origination¡¦s goals to deliver a unified content management solution. ¡§Tools and technologies¡¨ offers guidelines for evaluating tools. With so many tools and technologies to choose from, selecting the one that best satisfies your goals and budget is a challenge. Your best advantage is to be an educated consumer before you shop around. Rockley recommends that you identify your needs, and criteria for evaluating product options in terms of usability, training provided, supporting documentation provided, technical support, upgrades and enhancements, implementation time, cost, vendor viability, partnerships the vendor has to provide an expanded solution, and references. Where do you being looking?

Some good sources are conferences where vendors present authoring solutions such as the annual STC conference, electronic mailing lists, technology magazines, Web sites and online discussion boards and newsgroups. A supplement to ¡§Tools and technologies¡¨ is Appendix C, ¡§Vendors,¡¨ which is an overview of products, features and vendors. Appendix D, ¡§Tools Checklist,¡¨ which lists sample questions to ask a vendor. When you have narrowed your list of potential vendors, Rockley suggests that you either contact the vendors and request onsite demonstrations or send vendors an RFP (request for proposal).

¡§Tools and technologies¡¨ covers XML because it provides interoperability between applications. XML is not a set of tags that you apply to documents; it is a specification that sets rules for the creation of tag sets that you apply to documents. For instance, if you selected tools first and then designed your content, you might find that some of the content does not behave the way you expect it to. One solution would be to use XSLT to transform the content and move it around where you want it. While this may be an acceptable solution, it¡¦s not. The conversion costs time, money, and resources. There is no need to convert or transform content if it¡¦s modelled in XML from the start.

Rockley describes strategies for collaborative authoring, how to separate content from format, how to manage change and transition. An example is given to illustrate how the same product description is reused effectively to create a show catalog, brochure, press release and Web site. It¡¦s easy to understand that people find it hard to believe that content somebody else created could possibly meet their needs. After all, Rockley notes, it was written for a different purpose and media, and the author could not have known their customers/audience/requirements. However, if content is written for a different purpose, audience, or media without considering how the content can be reused, it¡¦ won¡¦t work.

Don¡¦t be optimistic that everybody will be willing to convert to a better way of authoring and managing content. Rockley presents issues to consider when planning your change management strategy such as overcoming resistance from opponents and descriptions of new and modified roles. She recommends creating a role for an enterprise project coordinator and information technologist; a change to existing roles business owners or analysts and information architects; and new skill sets (p. 413-415). Unintentionally overlooked are system administrators to maintain the content management system and to ensure that users adhere to standards.

Don¡¦t be overly optimistic that everybody will want morph into new roles and change their authoring habits. An XML system is best suited and ideal for a large documentation department for all content authoring or an organization where every author uses the XML authoring tool. A team of ten or fewer will be constrained to balance XML implementation and documentation project duties, and learn how to use the (new) content management system. Even if you assign the complex task of XML implementation and creation of information models, workflows and DTDs to a consultant, the consultant will require guidance from the team. These are only a few of the constraints to overcome to assure a successful unified content strategy that Rockley expertly describes how to overcome.

Managing Enterprise Content concludes with a checklist for implementing a unified content strategy, suggestions for writing for multiple media, sample questions to ask vendors, a checklist for the tools required to implement a unified content strategy, and the importance of content relationships in version control. Pay close attention to usability. The rollout of a content management system, authoring tools, and authoring standards affects every member of the organization. If it¡¦s not easy to learn, easy to use, easy to support, and easy to maintain, authors will revert to the traditional way of writing and managing content.

Read Managing Enterprise Content before you invest in a content management system and consulting fees. You will be an educated and informed customer and user when you begin shopping for a content management solution of your own.

A must for Content Management projects.......2004-02-02

This book is an absolute must for Content Management projects. It touches all of the important aspects: Technical, functional and process. There is something for all stakeholders in a EMS/CMS project.

Especially good about this book is that the parts that are not your direct job are still very readable, understandable and interesting. It provides valuable insights in other peoples jobs and reasoning.

Coming from the technical side and with a lot of experience in setting up systems and also information architecture and DTD design, for me this book contained several new insights and some very helpfull checklists.

Book Description

Build Your Own Database-Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL is a practical guide for first-time users of PHP & MySQL that teaches readers by creating a fully working Content Management System, Shopping Cart and other real-world applications. There has been a marked increase in the adoption of PHP, most notably in the beginning to intermediate levels. PHP now boasts over 30% of the server side scripting market (Source: php.weblogs.com). The previous edition sold over 17,000 copies exclusively through Sitepoint.com alone. With the release of PHP 5, SitePoint have updated this bestseller to reflect best practice web development using PHP 5 and MySQL 4. The 3rd Edition includes more code examples and also a new bonus chapter on structured PHP Programming which introduces techniques for organizing real world PHP applications to avoid code duplication and ensure code is manageable and maintainable. The chapter introduces features like include files, user-defined function libraries and constants, which are combined to produce a fully functional access control system suitable for use on any PHP Website.

Customer Reviews:

Book is too old.......2007-10-19

This book is way out of date. There are more up to date versions available.

Great for biginners, but out of date for today. .......2007-09-10

True to Site Point's method and style, this book makes it easy to jump into the basics of it's subject. Easy to navigate and full of helpful tips and hints, all the matieral is easy to access.
However a word of warning for those who may wish to purchase this book- get a newer version! This version covers PHP4.0 which is being discontinued from use in November of 2007. Learning PHP4.0 will not be very helpful after November, so Look for the newer version of this book and you will be set.
I found this to be the newest version as of this posting: Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP and MySQL
I was quite sad when I realized I had purchased, and then read through, the whole book and then found out that PHP4 will be discontinued. You need PHP5 or PHP6 to be effective and up to date.
Also, if you are not an absolute beginner at the subject, this book is probably not for you. You can find more advanced books on the subject that will help you in your php quest. I found the first couple of chapters to be a bore, and maybe even an insult, because they covered 'how to use windows' how to open notepad, or how to do the equivalent in mac.

Excellent Book.......2006-07-10

I highly recomend this book. I think it best serves those who already know the syntax of PHP, but it is a excellent book. I recomend either "Learning PHP" (The O'Reilly book) or "PHP for the World Wide Web : Visual QuickStart Guide" for a beginner. Both of these books will help you learn the syntax and concepts of PHP, but then it is best to move on to a book that gives practical examples, and this book excells at giving practical examples.

A good book for getting started with php and databases........2006-07-04

By reading just the first 4 chapters I was able to create my own webpages using php and the mySQL database to store tables of data. It has some good example programs that you can follow.

Sitepoint PHP and MySQL.......2006-04-20

Sitepoint (both the books and the website) is an excellent resource for quick learning of the latest and greatest in web development technologies, and this book proves it. Very clearly written and easy reading; a practical, hands-on tutorial. Provides everything necessary to develop and serve up a top-notch website backed by a powerful database.

Average customer rating:

Very basic, adds nothing that's not in the manual
As good as it gets
Not Indepth Enough!
An interesting look at a quality open source package...
MOODLE ON DUDE!

Using Moodle (Community Press)
Jason Cole
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0596008635

Book Description

Developed by an extremely active open source community, Moodle is a sophisticated course management system that's ideal for creating dynamic online learning communities and for supplementing face-to-face learning. Used in more than 115 countries and supporting over 60 languages, Moodle can scale from a single-teacher site to a 40,000- student university. Teachers who use Moodle have access to an array of powerful tools such as assignments, forums, journals, quizzes, surveys, chat rooms, and workshops. Using Moodle is a comprehensive, hands-on guide that explains how the system works, with plenty of examples and best practices for its many features and plug-in modules. Authored by a member of the Moodle community, this authoritative book also exposes little-known but powerful hacks for more technically savvy users. For anyone who is using-or thinking of using-this CMS, Using Moodle is required reading.

Customer Reviews:

Very basic, adds nothing that's not in the manual.......2006-08-02

I was very disappointed with this book and will be returning it.

If you have spent a few minutes playing with Moodle and read even a little of the online manual, this book adds nothing new. The system is easy to figure out, as most items are pretty self-explanatory and each option has a handy pop-up help screen that explains anything that you don't understand. The online documentation is very good.

I was hoping this book would explain how to do more advanced things in Moodle - how the many available add-on modules work and what they contribute to a finished system, tips and tricks to add videos and flash files to your courses, best practices for course development, advanced customizing, etc. But there was none of that in the book - only the same information that is already included free with Moodle. Save your money!

As good as it gets.......2006-07-02

Executive Summary: Good, well written overview, buy if you can afford it, a good book by the standards of how to publishing but not critical as a lot of stuff is on Moodle's site.
................

Moodle has about 50% of the education market now and there are a lot of people working on it and a ton of information available through moodle's site. Mooodle 1.6, which I am using, has yet to stablizie properly and there are all kinds of bugs needing to be tackled. These vary depending on what level of Apache you use and what your level of admin access is. So, though it is more focused than a lot of other books, your milage will obviously vary depending on your logistics.

Moodle itself is easy enough to use and it helps to be familiar with it before reading through the book. Like most of the other books in this range, I just skim it as I more or less know how to use the admin panel; the book concentrates on front end classroom stuff, not on setting up Moodle and as all classes vary and teachers uses different methodologies or none, it is hard to write a definitive book on a pliable tool. The book is written in very clear and cogent Engish and this is not always the case with how to geek books, so that is a big plus.

Also, there are a few interesting teaching insights in the book, more than most others I have read and they are valuable. It gives for example, novel ways to use Wikis. But you would probably hit on these yourself after a while.

There are different ways of using the functions (different levels of access for teacher only, groups of students and teacher, or everyine doing the class). There are also different ways of teaching; I prefer a more informal approach and beleive in giving the students a lot of rope. This means I will use some functions and ignore others.

I have skipped the set quizes/ exams section for examole as it seems like a lot of useless work unless you have hundreds in your class. But again YMMV. I give it 5 stars as it is a well written book that is more focused than some others I have reviewed here.

Not Indepth Enough!.......2006-06-28

The book is OK as a read, but isn't very strong when it comes to actually using Moodle. I was expecting much deeper information than is found in this book. I'm still going to have to spend hours just trying things out on Moodle before I can do anything of real use. It appears that Moodle can be a very powerful tool, but the book seems to focus primarily on entry level knowledge. Too bad.

An interesting look at a quality open source package..........2005-12-30

It's always fun when you catch wind of something technical that you didn't even know existed. That's the position I'm in with the O'Reilly book Using Moodle - Teaching with the Popular Open Source Course Management System by Jason Cole. This is a very cool software package, and the book covers it very well.

Contents: Introduction; Moodle Basics; Creating and Managing Content; Using Forums, Chats and Dialogues; Quizzes; Workshops; Assignments and Exercises; Journals; Glossaries; Lessons; Wikis; Grades and Scales; Managing Your Class; Surveys and Choices; Putting It All Together; Moodle Administration; Index

I had no idea there was any open source content management systems (CMS) out there, much less ones with a rather quirky and cool name like Moodle. This book is published under the O'Reilly Community Press imprint, which means that people intimately involved in the technology create the documentation that is then put into print and distributed by O'Reilly. It's also licensed under the Creative Commons structure, so it's designed to be used and built on by others. I think O'Reilly should be commended for providing this valuable niche to the technical community. The author has put together some solid documentation on Moodle, supplemented by his warnings and tips based on real world experience. Although you might be able to get a drier version of the documentation online, all it would take is one or two of Cole's warnings to save you more than the cost of the book many times over. Even if you're not necessarily considering Moodle as a CMS, it's worth reading the book to see how elegant an open source software solution can be. It'd be really hard for me to recommend commercial solutions costing tens of thousands of dollars after reading this volume.

This is a well-done book that can open your eyes to what an open source solution can provide, whether it's for a CMS or something else. Worth a read...

MOODLE ON DUDE!.......2005-11-05

What's in a name? Well, quite a bit if you're talking about "Moodle." Author Jason Cole, has done an outstanding job of writing a book for instructors learning how to use Moodle.

Cole begins by discussing Moodle as a CMS and surveying its tools and features. Next, the author gets you started using Moodle. Then, he covers individual tools in the basic Moodle package. The author continues by delving into the management of your course, including adding and removing users, creating user groups, and backing up your course. In addition, the author next covers Moodle's built-in survey functions for assessing your class. He also pools all the disparate tools into a comprehensive whole and shows some of the creative ways teachers have used Moodle. Finally, he covers how to administer an entire Moodle site.

With the preceding in mind, the author has done an excellent job of showing universities, community colleges, K-12 schools, businesses, and even individual instructors how to add web technology to their courses. So, Moodle on dude!

Professional Content Management Systems: Handling Digital Media Assets

Average customer rating:

Great book !

Professional Content Management Systems: Handling Digital Media Assets
Andreas Mauthe , and Peter Thomas
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0470855428

Book Description

Content and Content Management are core topics in the IT and broadcast industry. However these terms have not been clearly defined for those learning the field. The topic is complex and users from different industries have different backgrounds and a varied understanding of content issues. Multimedia Content Management helps to clarify the subject area, define problematic issues and establish a universal understanding of content and its management.

Provides clarity in the subject area
Defines potential problems and establishes a universal understanding
Builds an architectural framework upon this account and different aspects of the industry and solutions are reviewed
Comprehensively describes the different users working and accessing content, the applications and workflows

Essential reading for students, engineers and technical managers, in the area of data, storage management and multimedia, requiring an overview of this complex topic. The topics discussed will also prove highly insightful for executive managers and media professionals with a technical understanding and broadcast executives in the field.

Download Description

Today, among the various chiral discrimination methods, chromatography and capillary electrophoresis techniques have become powerful tools in environmental analysis. Therefore, there is a need to describe the art of the determination of the chiral pollutants in the environmental matrices. This book provides the complete information on the types of the chiral pollutants, their toxicities and methods of determination by chromatography and capillary electrophoresis.

Customer Reviews:

Great book !.......2006-08-07

There are several books on Content Management Systems (CMS). But there are only very few books on the market covering the topic of Digital asset management (DAM). Three books stands out:
"Professional Content Management System: handling Digital Media Assets", "Digitial Asset Management: how to realize value of video and image libaries" and "Expanding a Digital Content Management System: for the Growing Digital Media Enterprise".

Each book describes the subject in different perspectives. The "Digitial Asset Management: how to realize value of video and image libaries" by David Austerberry is more like introduction to DAM and related concepts and technologies. While "Expanding a Digital Content Management System: for the Growing Digital Media Enterprise" by my former collegaue and friend, Magan Authur is discussing how to plan and implement a large scale digital content management systems.

The Professional Content Management Systems by A Mathure and P. Thomas empersizes much more on (and deeper in) technical and applicaiton design aspects. Besides the basic concepts, it covers a wide range of topics on DAM from user requirements;video production use cases and workflows; media formats and standards; system architecture and integrations; hardware infrastructure and application requirements. The deepth of the discusions on systems architecture of both software and hardware are incrediable. The application modules and use cases scenarios presented for broadcasting industry are very well illustrated. The book reveals fully the authors vivid imagation, creative and industry experience.

Even though I may not completely agree with every piece of the design described in the book, some of the core concepts and use cases described are really valuable. (I have built one of succussful commercial enterprise DAM system used by by many large enterpises in broadcasting, advertising and Coorporate Marketing before this book was published).

I especially recommend this book to Product Managers and System Architect who are trying to build a DAM system; or trying to build applications on top of the DAM System. I have read ths book twice since I brought it over 1 year ago. It's still very refreshing to read it.

disclaimer: I have no association with the authors of the book (don't know them) or BlueOrder.

Chester Chen (Xiaoguang Chen)

Web Data Mining: Exploring Hyperlinks, Contents, and Usage Data (Data-Centric Systems and Applications)

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Web Data Mining: Exploring Hyperlinks, Contents, and Usage Data (Data-Centric Systems and Applications)
Bing Liu
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3540378812

Book Description

Web mining aims to discover useful information and knowledge from the Web hyperlink structure, page contents, and usage data. Although Web mining uses many conventional data mining techniques, it is not purely an application of traditional data mining due to the semistructured and unstructured nature of the Web data and its heterogeneity. It has also developed many of its own algorithms and techniques.

Liu has written a comprehensive text on Web data mining. Key topics of structure mining, content mining, and usage mining are covered both in breadth and in depth. His book brings together all the essential concepts and algorithms from related areas such as data mining, machine learning, and text processing to form an authoritative and coherent text.

The book offers a rich blend of theory and practice, addressing seminal research ideas, as well as examining the technology from a practical point of view. It is suitable for students, researchers and practitioners interested in Web mining both as a learning text and a reference book. Lecturers can readily use it for classes on data mining, Web mining, and Web search. Additional teaching materials such as lecture slides, datasets, and implemented algorithms are available online.

Microsoft Content Management Server 2002: A Complete Guide (Microsoft Windows Server System Series)

Average customer rating:

Worthless for beginers and experts alike.
Poor Layout. Not for beginners.
Authoritative Reference for Content Mgmt. Server
Book needs more focus. Maybe OK for a beginner.
Keep a copy handy to every employee who uses MCMS

Microsoft Content Management Server 2002: A Complete Guide (Microsoft Windows Server System Series)
Bill English , Olga Londer , Todd Bleeker , Shawn Shell , and Stephen Cawood
Manufacturer: Addison-Wesley Professional
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0321194446

Amazon.com

Microsoft Content Management Server (MCMS) may be relatively new on the Web-publishing scene, but it's very closely integrated with the Windows infrastructure and therefore an attractive option for many organizations. Microsoft Content Management Server 2002: A Complete Guide is both a tutorial and a reference in which the authors strive to explain the Microsoft Way of rising to the Web publishing challenge. You'll want this one close at hand if you're involved in setting up or maintaining a MCMS site. Preferably, you'll have read the chapters that deal with architecture and design--which collectively make up about half of this large paperback document--well in advance of installing the first MCMS component. Better yet, you'll have had the various members of your Web publishing team (network people, Windows administrators, database experts, and so on) read, ahead of time, the chapters that concern them.

This team-authored book uses a variety of strategies in communicating information to the reader. These include discussion of design issues (generally quite effective in making the reader think about the situation on his own site), narrative elucidation of procedures with frequent screen shots, and code listings (generally under-commented and therefore less useful than other elements). In any case, this is from-the-source documentation of an expensive software package. You'll benefit by having it around. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to install, configure, and use Microsoft Content Management Server 2002. Sections deal with the general architecture of MCMS, and its particular ways of facilitating page design, user interaction, and workflows. Integration with Visual Studio--the chief advancement in the 2002 version--gets lots of attention, as do security and user rights managements. The Publishing API (PAPI) is covered in greater depth here than anywhere else.

Customer Reviews:

Worthless for beginers and experts alike........2005-07-06

This book has too many flaws to count. It has no focus. It contradicts itself in many places (sometimes within the same paragraph!). The organization of the chapters is completely alien and ensures a beginner will be confused. The rambling, repetitive prose and authors' habit of inventing and making extended use of non-standard terminology renders the book useless to developers. The authors' complete lack of common sense makes it a poor choice for admins. I really can't imagine who this book is for. EVERY chapter I got frustrated with text about half way through and looked up the information in MCMS's online help instead. In EVERY instance, the MS documentation was more clear and helpful.

Here's a sample paragraph from Chapter 2, Installing Microsoft Content Management Server:

"Creating the Necessary Windows User Accounts"

"The system account will need read/write permissions on the SQL database. In addition, ensure that this account is not the same as the local administrator account and that it is not the IIS anonymous account. In reality, you'll need to create two accounts, not one. The first will be the CMS system account. The other will be the CMS administrator account. The system account will be used to read and write data to the database. The administrator account will need to be the first administrator to access the CMS Web application."

If you don't find that painful to read, and you think that provides all the information you need to "Create the Necessary Windows User Accounts", then you might like this book. Otherwise, you'll be better off with the online docs.

Poor Layout. Not for beginners........2004-07-21

I bought this book to help my client evaluate CMS 2002. First few weeks with the book was agonising to read through. The author explains in verbose text about something and you have to read through it all coz you dont know what is fluff or where he might say something useful! I read through the documents that came with CMS 2002 last week and there is one called SiteDevl.chm which has a chapter on how to Use VS.net to create a CMS web site. I finished the whole chapter in about an hour creating my site simultaneously. Since I did a web site from scratch I had a better understanding how to use various CMS components! First read this help file before you buy this book.
I went through the first 286 pages of this book and was yet struggling. Then I read through this help file that comes with CMS which has 36 pages now the difference is like day and night! Since there are no other good book available you have to get this book just coz you odnt have a choice.
There is a new book written by Stefan Gossner from MSFT coming out soon. He is a regular contributor on CMS message boards on msdn. Seems very knowledgable. I havent got the book yet, I have reserved a copy when it is out.

Authoritative Reference for Content Mgmt. Server.......2004-06-14

What drew me to this book was Bill English's name. I've known Bill for a few years (I'm a Windows Server MVP, Bill is an MVP on the Exchange side), and am usually quite impressed with his writing, his teaching, and his work. Yet, there were a number of other names that are associated with this book. I don't know who was responsible for which parts, but this is truly an all-star cast of technical experts on Microsoft Content Management Server.

Content Management Server can be a tantalizingly ominous program. On the surface, it appears so simple, however - under the covers is a very complex and detailed series of modules for managing content on web servers. Essentially, it covers birth to retirement of the content of web publishing. And, diferent from many other programs of this type - it is aimed at all levels of content creators. It's aimed at the Pro Web Master, but also provides the capacity to allow the typical Business or Marketing type to create and submit content - and to allow it to be reviewed before it is published out to the web site by defining 'roles', and assigning responsibilities and rights to these roles. This flexibility and control is what makes Content Server special.

*This* is what makes this book special. English (Microsoft MVP), Londer (of QA - a training firm in the UK), Bleeker (CTO/ Consulting firm to Fortune 100), Shell (Dell Pro Services), Cawood (MCMS Product Team - Microsoft) are some of the brightest folks working with this product, and they know it well. The thickness of the book is because of depth. Specific sections of the book deal with any portion of CMS that you might encounter, from deployment, to management, to security, and to optimization. It also educates you on how you can use code (your choices are open to any .Net language) to modify some behaviors, enhance and further control the functions of the server.

My experience with CMS is that it can either be the very worst of nightmares, or the best thing for managing your web servers / farms. This book can definitely put you on the track of productive suite rather than uncontrollable mess of code and tags. In conjunction with Application Center Server, Content Management Server provides a complete toolset for staging, deploying, proofing, controlling and validating your web servers.

Your chances of success with this software are greatly enhanced with the written knowledge of these technologists.

Book needs more focus. Maybe OK for a beginner........2004-01-13

First, a note on my background, since it may have increased my frustration with this book. I have been developing (ASP/COM, ASP.NET) for a long time, and have built numerous custom DB-driven content mgmt systems from scratch. So, I was hoping for a quick introduction of the CMS paradigm this product uses, followed by specific guidance on how to implement realistic sites with the product. Not what I got. This material might be more helpful to a traditional "webmaster" role (who knows just a little C#), but if you already understand concepts like templates and publishing workflows the book wastes a lot of your time.

The book does not need to be 1000 pages long:
- Code examples are often repeated throughout a section with only one line changed.
- Entire blocks of text are clearly copied and pasted from one section to another.
- The book spends inordinate time on topics that are not relevant to using the product, for example the material in Chapter 4 on project mgmt.

My other major complaint is that it is written more in the style of a manual (e.g. Now we are going to list all the properties and methods of a channel. Next, we do the same for a template.) rather than following a flow of how a site actually gets built and the types of pages one really needs to develop. Why is it not until page 853 that the topic of "what about content that is already in SQL Server somewhere" comes up? That is something one deals with all the time on real development projects!

Admittedly, some of my disappointment is more with the product itself rather than just the book. MS-CMS is apparently intended as a replacement for sites that just add new HTML pages whenever they add content. I thought the age of sites like that, where the data was not part of the overall enterprise systems, had ended several years ago.

Keep a copy handy to every employee who uses MCMS.......2004-01-13

Microsoft Content Management Server 2002: A Complete Guide is a good enough title for this book, but given the thorough coverage, accessible writing style and excellent organization, it could just as easily been have been called the Content Management Server 2002 Encyclopedia.

The value in this book is it's breadth of coverage and succinctness of the explanation of the topic. The general approach of the book is to give a general explanation of a topic and then to provide specific instructions with examples. It is possible to reference a particular topic and use the information in it without having to read a large part of the book.

Book Description

A practical and concise book that teaches XML from the ground up. This tutorial style presents various XML methodologies and techniques in an easy to understand way, building a basis for further exploration.

XML is essentially an enabling technology, dry and boring on its own. As a result, most books on the market are dry, and academic in nature teaching theory rather than practice. This book actually teaches practical, real-world applications of XML, using the very latest version of PHP (PHP 5) as the base language.

No Nonsense XML Web Development with PHP explains how XML can be put to use in real-world projects. The book also covers buzz topics such as RSS and Web Services.

Customer Reviews:

Could have been better.......2007-04-09

This book has a few shortcomings. The author goes about building a toy CMS that stores various content types. One of the content types is an article. A big disappointment is that he uses a CDATA section to encapsulate the content of an article - it simply contains XHTML tags. I was quite disappointed when I saw this because it cheapened the book and gave it less technical depth. A more suitable example would have been to use simplified Docbook or even come up with a simple article DTD consisting of custom element tags. Then show by example XML/PHP/XSLT on that DTD. That would have been way more useful.

For PHP developers, this book doesn't use much of it until well into the middle chapters. There are quick tutorials on DTDs, RSS, and SimpleXML that are good. The chapter on client side Javascript should have been removed (wasn't this book about PHP?). The templating framework is backwards - the author uses php includes to build out the page. He should have used XSLT to create a proper XHTML transformation instead.

The writing is generally quite good and the reading light. You can go sit outside on the porch without a computer and follow it quite nicely. The organization and topic coverage is good also. I would have liked to see more technical depth and thought put into it, rather than what appeared to be a quick surface introduction. For example, show more how you can pass variables between PHP and XSLT as well as how to cache the pages. The admin panel should also take into consideration that to see 1000 articles on one full page is silly - use a pager.

Because the author used too many shortcuts to write this book, I gave it an average rating. If you are looking for a basic book on XML/PHP development, this is a good start. For those more experienced, I'm afraid this won't suit your experience level and would be left looking for more.

Is XML as useful as claimed?.......2006-03-23

This book is helpful and easy to understand and follow, however, the more I read about XML the less useful it seems to be. If I knew then what I know now I probably wouldn't bother learning about XML because I work with web design and nothing else. I am familiar with PHP and MYSQL so I can't really find a purpose for XML at this time. The book is great but the technology is not as useful as I thought it would be.

I may change my mind in the future but for now XML is on the back burner and PHP/MYSQL is my current focus.

My point in this review is to let others know that if you already know PHP and MYSQL and only work on the web then you may find learning XML redundant or maybe even useless. I'm sure it would look great on a resume though.

Ok but not great.......2006-02-20

This is my revised and rewritten review of this book.

The first review dated Feb 19 was just two stars, titled `Disjointed and Superficial', and read...

I bought Myer's book to help me move from XHTML to XML and to handle data with PHP which does not fit well in a relational database / SQL. I am not interested in writing a CMS, and therefore tried to skim or skip those parts. Unfortunately, some key points are buried in the CMS discussion. Subjects (ie: Namespace) seem to be mentioned or touched on in several places without doing a thorough job at any one point or multiple points. The subjects which are discussed, are not discussed in depth. And why is Ralph Waldo Emmerson given ink on page 59, and then included in the index??? I found myself working a little too hard to just get the important points.

I know Myer tried very hard to write a good book, and it is not a 'really bad' book. On a positive note: The editing error rate seems to be low as compared to a lot of first edition, first printing computer books. There is some good material in it, but this book does not work well for me. I have at least temporarily given up on this book a little short of the half way point. Since finding a really good XML book seems harder than it should be, I may come back to this one, and if so, I'll update this opinion.

Warning: [3 opinions given here appear to be by paid reviewers. ie: 9/14/05, 10/7/05, and 11/8/05. I now suspect some of the others are personal friends of the author. Hint: Check out the person writing the review before actually reading it. Look for how many opinions he/she writes and how many stars. I distrust all high opinions in the first few months of publication, all high opinions by people who have only written a couple of opinions, and all high opinions from people who only write high opinions. Bottom Line: Distrust all high opinions except those from people who have established some evidence of independence by posting negative as well as positive opinions about other books. Thanks for the lack of honesty Tommy &/or Sitepoint &/or big A. I would have given 3 stars if there were not so many false ones posted here. (my opinion, 2 cma).]

Now, having finished Myer's book (except for most of the CMS stuff), I have changed it to 3 stars and concluded ....

There are about an equal number of pros and cons. It is somewhat light and easy to read, and the editing error rate is good. It is kind of a quick survey of subjects which Myer thinks are important. I did like chapters 7 & 9 (Manipulating XML with PHP, & XML and Web Services).

On the con side: The Appendix listing of PHP functions / methods is not complete and no examples are given. Where he discusses ways to extract XML from a database, two different sources (tables) are used, so the results are not comparable. I wish he had spent more ink on handling XML with PHP and less on client side technologies which are not well supported yet. I found the example listings a little short and lacking some additional code which would have helped follow what was supposed to happen. More output/results listings would also have helped.

The book is not particularly complete, and could not be used as a reference, but it may be ok (not great) as an overview or introduction. A better intro book may be `Beginning XML, 3rd Edition' by David Hunter etc., although that is a much bigger book.

Lastly, do not trust any high star rating review unless the source has proven his/her impartiality by posting positive as well as not so positive reviews of other books. Too many opinions of this book do not pass that simple test. The basic problem is determining who to believe and which postings to suspect are covertly trying to sell books because they have a vested interest or undisclosed motive.

Don't let the PHP in the title fool you........2006-01-01

This is a book about XML, all the power and flexability that the language gives you. It just happends to use PHP for the database access. Which means that no matter what language you use, this is a must have reference guide.

Thomas Myer has managed to put into writing one of the very best XML primers out there. It starts so gently, dealing with the familiar (HTML), and steps you through some basic examples. By the end of chapter 2 you are doing transforms. Before you close out Chapter 6 you will have worked with XPath Queries. These are no small concepts, but I never felt overwhelmed or lost. Mainly due to the precise and comprehensive writing, but the familiar examples (for web developers they are very familiar) helped keep me on some familiar ground.

If you are using XML over the web (in any language), I urge you to pick this one up. It wil be time very well spent.

A PRACTICAL AND NO NONSENCE STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE FOR SURE!.......2005-11-09

Do you want to teach yourself XML the easy way? Well, you're in luck! Author Thomas Myer, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that introduces readers to a large part of the XML world, and to walk them, step by step, through the creation of an XML-powered Website.

Myer begins by introducing XML. Next, the author introduces you to the XML family, namely XHTML, XML Namespaces, and Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT). Then, he covers DTDs for consistency. The author continues by talking about XSLT and how to use it to transform XML for display in a browser. In addition, the author next covers XSLT in detail. He also shows you how to manipulate XML with client-side tools. Next, the author tackles the server side, specifically addressing the question of PHP 5 as he explores the differences between SAX, DOM, and SimpleXML function libraries for working with XML. Then, he delves into the specifics of the different varieties of RSS that are available, and discusses news aggregators, the parsing of feeds with PHP, and more. The author continues by looking at XML and Web Services. Finally, he considers XML and databases.

With the preceding in mind, the author has done an excellent job of presenting the fascinating topic of XML. So, with any luck, XML will serve you well for some time to come!

Real World ASP.NET: Building a Content Management System

Average customer rating:

great book!
Excellent book !!
Book Review: Real-World ASP.NET: Building a Content Manageme
Not too sure about "real world"...
Lazy Critics, Fine Book

Real World ASP.NET: Building a Content Management System
Stephen R.G. Fraser
Manufacturer: Apress
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1590590244

Amazon.com

Aimed at aspiring .NET developers who want to work with content management (CM) applications, Real-World ASP.NET: Building a Content Management System provides a fine overview of what's involved in managing Web site content and also delivers working code for a free, proprietary CMS using the latest in .NET technology and C#.

With commercial CM systems costing proverbial big bucks, this book shows you that for a small to midsize site, you can beat licensing fees with a proprietary system built using the powerful .NET framework and ASP.NET. One of this text's most valuable features is its thorough tutorial on what goes into today's commercial CMS applications, from basic content types, version control, and workflow. These early chapters will be indispensable for anyone working with CM, whether as Webmaster, content creator, or developer. (The author provides everything you wanted to know about CM but were afraid to ask. You might well read this book to bone up for a job interview having anything to do with CM in any capacity.)

After describing what goes into an effective CM application, this title turns to .NET and the recommended three-tiered architecture for .NET applications, the basics of .NET, ADO.NET (for database programming with dynamic content), and a quick overview of XML support in .NET. The rest of the book delves into the author's own CMS .NET application, which is used to discuss issues in administering (and programming) a site.

After first setting up and getting the site up and running, the author looks at basic operations like viewing, posting, and updating stories, along with sample ASPX Web pages and the code-behind forms written in C# that bring these pages to life. Besides basic CM, the author shows how to provide simple role-based personalization and security (including protecting pages from certain users).

While CMS .NET may not be a complete substitute for an expensive CM solution, it can no doubt be adapted to meet the needs of a small to medium-sized Web site. As both a way to get a handle on CM and a practical tutorial to getting started with .NET development, Real-World ASP.NET will serve as a useful resource for a good range of readers. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Introduction to content management systems (CMS); elements of a CMS system explained: the Content Management Application (CMA), the Metacontent Management Application (MMA), and the Content Display Application (CDA); types of content; benefits of CMS; commercial vs. proprietary systems; simple and complex version control; rollback support; CMS and workflow (including the Workflow Definition Application, WDA, and workflow engines); personalization basics (including types of personalization, from using cookies to push content to rule-based personalization, the law of diminishing returns, and privacy issues); building customer relationships; Web architecture explained: the presentation, application, and database layers; Web scripting languages compared; introduction to ASP.NET and the .NET Framework; using Visual Studio .NET to build a CMS (using basic control types); tutorial to ADO.NET for database programming (basic objects and database basics including stored procedures for SQL Server); using the DataGrid control; introduction to XML and .NET classes for XML (manipulating XML nodes); overview of CMS .NET (the author's case study for a content management system built with .NET); installing and configuration of the sample code; tour of CMS .NET features; an XML-driven navigation bar (NavBar); administering content (adding, editing, updating, and removing stories); security issues in .NET (including role-based authentication in CMS. NET); displaying dynamic content (including precanned zones for home pages, headlines, and stories); workflow support in CMS .NET (including authoring, editing, approval, and deployment phases); and protecting content (privacy issues and gathering user information for profiles).

Book Description

Real World ASP.NET: Building a Content Management System provides web developers with a cost-effective way to develop a content management system within Microsoft's .NET Framework. Unlike other .NET books on ASP.NET that teach technologies on a piecemeal basis, this book explains the underlying technologies and also shows how they are integrated into a complete ASP.NET application suitable for many organizations. Complete source code written in C# and ASP.NET is included, which will enable web developers to create a dynamic content site at a fraction of the cost of a commercial solution. You will learn about the following:

Content management system: This system used to manage the content of a website consists of the content management, metacontent management, and content delivery applications.
C# and ASP.NET: These underlying technologies are introduced and then applied extensively.
ADO.NET: All aspects relevant to dynamic content management are covered.
XML: Extensible Markup Language (XML) is introduced and then applied in the programmatic updating of the config.web file.
Authentication, authorization, and encryption: These topics are discussed in the book, especially with regard to protected content and system administration.

Personalization: Many key technologies are used to make the CMS solution truly user-friendly.

Real-World ASP.NET: Building a Content Management System is the complete hands-on guide to mastering the art of CMSs and website development using the .NET Framework.

Download Description

Real World ASP.NET: Building a Content Management System provides Web developers with a cost-effective way to develop a content management system within Microsoft's .NET Framework. Unlike other .NET books on ASP.NET that teach technologies on a piecemeal basis, this book explains the underlying technologies and also shows how they are integrated into a complete ASP.NET application suitable for many organizations. Complete source code written in C# and ASP.NET is included, which will enable Web developers to create a dynamic content site at a fraction of the cost of a commercial solution. Readers will learn about the following:

Content management system: This system used to manage the content of a Web site consists of the content management, metacontent management, and content delivery applications.
C# and ASP.NET: These underlying technologies are introduced and then applied extensively.
ADO.NET: All aspects relevant to dynamic content management are covered.
XML: Extensible Markup Language (XML) is introduced and then applied in the programmatic updating of the config.web file.
Authentication, authorization, and encryption: These topics are discussed in the book, especially with regard to protected content and system administration.

Personalization: Many key technologies are used to make the CMS solution truly user-friendly.

Real-World ASP.NET: Building a Content Management System is the complete hands-on guide to mastering the art of CMSs and Web site development using the .NET Framework.

Customer Reviews:

great book!.......2004-09-24

This book is good, it cleared my doubts and have enabled me to learn how it is implemented throught it's internal workings.

At least, the author does a better job than some "TOP SECRET agents" with their "classified documents".

Excellent book !!.......2004-07-03

I'm amazed by the book, really. it's so user friendly and easy to grasp that it's beyond the good, hence excellent. i didn't find one useless sentence. all of it is just cash. the first chapters explain what the content managment is and afterwords it's just real code examples of content mangagment system and you really need these first chapters to understand:' hey what are we really talking about here?'.
I must say again, i'm amazed, but that's probably because i'm the target gruop and i fit in Stephens way of geting things explained. so i was so exited about this author that i checked others books of his, and belive it or not i found one which i think is the one of the best computer book i have ever red, i think it's not one of the best,it is the best..but that's another subject.
Really in this content managment system book you get only cash and you have so much fun. and you find yourself thinking 'why is this so perfect, can this complicated subject get a little complicated so you don't get all things served on the plate?'
With this book,It's extremely easy to comprehand this complicated subject(CMS).
The conclusion is that you get CMS for price of a book, it means you get all the code which you kan download from Internet.
again, amazing..
my background: 4 years in programming world, java,c++, asp.net

sincerely
anonymous

Book Review: Real-World ASP.NET: Building a Content Manageme.......2004-04-15

In Real-World ASP.NET: Building a Content Management System, Stephen R.G. Fraser presents an overview of the elements of a Content Management System, and builds a Content Management System in ASP.NET using C#. In short the book covers basic information about Content Management Systems, Workflows, Version Control and Personalization, but also introduces the reader with ASP.NET, Database Development, and XML.

The book is divided in fifteen chapters which consist of the following major subjects:

Definition of a Content Management System -- explains the elements of a Content Management System;
Basics of Web Architecture -- explains the basics of Web Architecture, the presentation, application and database layers;
ASP.NET, C#, and Visual Basic .NET -- introduction to the .NET framework and it's Web scripting languages;
ADO.NET -- explains the database basics and objects;
Authentication -- authorization, and encryption of content and the system;
Personalization -- defines Personalization and how to use it;
The book also has a website, at www.contentmgr.com, were you can see the Content Management System you will build live-in-action. Also you can download the companion source code of the Content Management System that will be built through out the book at the publisher's web-site: www.apress.com, go to Downloads and choose "Real-World ASP.NET: Building a Content Management System" to download it.

Analysis
The first five chapters of the book start with explaining the elements of a Content Management System, so it's told that a Content Management System consists of a minimum of three elements: the content manager application (CMA), the metacontent management application (MCMA), and the content delivery application (CDA). After the writer explains the basis of a Content Management System and its terminology, the writer continues with explaining the aspects of version control and workflows.

The next chapter is about the basics of Web Architecture, it will explain the reader about the classic n-tier client/server architectures which consist of the following layers: Presentation Layer, Application Layer, and Database Layer. As mentioned in the book the only difference with the classic n-tier client/server and the Web architecture is the presentation layer which will be via a web browser instead of an operation system specific executable.

The next three chapters make space for an introduction to the .NET Framework , ASP.NET and the language C# but also Visual Studio .NET. In a tutorial kind of way you will build a Dynamic Content Viewer. Once you are done with this viewer you will step in the world of database development, in the chapter "Database Development and ADO.NET". In this chapter you will learn how to use the database functionality available in Visual Studio .NET and ADO.NET. You will also build some examples were you read data from a database and showing it in a Data Grid, and last you will be altering the Content Viewer you made in the previous chapter to work with ADO.NET.

After all this information has been thrown at you it's time to really start building the Content Management System ("CMS"). The first thirty pages of the second half of the book are spent explaining how to install the included source code. The next chapters in the book will guide you how to make the several parts of the CMS. From implementing Authentication or a control panel where you can add or remove your stories. Of course there is information how to display dynamic content and how to implement support for Workflows in your CMS.

Verdict
When you have finished reading Real-World ASP.NET: Building a Content Management System, you have all the information you need to build your own CMS successfully. If you build a CMS for the first time this is the book you want. Very well explained it implements the theory you learned in the first chapters into a nice ASP.NET based CMS that you can use a kick-start for your own CMS. The book is really meant for the Web developer. After the first five chapters the content of the book will get too technical for your editor or designer. In short it's a great book, together with a book like Content Management Bible which you in my opinion you already should have on your desk, you have perfect combination to start building your own CMS.

Not too sure about "real world"..........2003-10-28

First off, the source code that accompanies the book is very useful (I use it to run an intranet) and it can be extended to display the content in a manner very different than the original author envisioned.

That said, I think this book could be used as a classic example of how not to write extensible, maintainable code. Rather than demonstrate the power and ease of ASP.Net using datagrids and user controls, the content lists are constructed using loops and tables, and the form to edit content is repeated no fewer than 3 times. In order to filter the content before displaying it to the user we run a test on every row to determine if it meets the criteria rather than using a DataView and a filter. I am currently converting the code to a cleaner implementation and I find I am deleting an average of 2 pages of code per page, with no loss of functionality.

When talking about content management I would have expected some sort of elegant promotion system, instead we are offered a custom page complete with custom code for each promotion, in spite of the fact that the only thing that changes between pages is who is allowed to perform the promotion and which state it is being promoted from/to.

This book will not teach you to create flexible software that can be easily adapted to changing requirements. It will teach you to create brittle software that requires an inordinate amount of effort to make the simplest changes (replacing the editor textbox with a WYSIWYG control shouldn't require modifying 3 separate pages -- and I have the code to prove it).

Lazy Critics, Fine Book.......2003-09-22

I have to laugh at the lazy critics of this book who wanted a full blown CMS application in C# done for them. This book makes it clear that it's the "start" of a CMS application explained in an educational style. It has a great foundation for expansion, so role up your sleeves and do it. You can join some of us who are doing exactly that at http://sourceforge.net/projects/cmsnet

Knowledge Management, Business Intelligence, and Content Management: The IT Practitioner's Guide

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Knowledge Management, Business Intelligence, and Content Management: The IT Practitioner's Guide
Jessica Keyes
Manufacturer: AUERBACH
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 084939385X

Book Description

Knowledge management (KM) is the identification and analysis of available and required knowledge, and the subsequent planning and control of actions, to develop "knowledge assets" that enable businesses to generate profits and improve their competitive positions. This volume provides the framework for the strategic use of the information intelligence processes - business intelligence, content management, and knowledge management. In nine detailed chapters, the author explains every facet of these three subjects, enabling you to understand these sophisticated business concepts within the framework of information technology. Knowledge Management, Business Intelligence, and Content Management: The IT Practitioner's Guide discusses creation, protection, development, sharing, and management of information and intellectual assets through the use of business intelligence and other knowledge sharing and analytical techniques. About the Author Jessica Keyes is president of New Art Technologies, Inc., a high-technology and management consultancy, and is also founding partner of Manhattan Technology Group. Often a keynote speaker on the topics of competitive strategy, productivity, and quality, she is a founding board of directors member of the New York Software Industry Association, and has recently completed a 2-year term on the Mayor of New York City's Small Business Advisory Council. A noted columnist and correspondent, Keyes is the author of 19 books, including Auerbach Publications' Software Engineering Handbook, Software Configuration Management, and Implementing the IT Balanced Scorecard.

E-business Implementation: A guide to web services, EAI, BPI, e-commerce, content management, portals, and supporting technologies (COMPUTER WEEKLY PROFESSIONAL) (Computer Weekly Professional)

Average customer rating:

Clearly explained management overview

E-business Implementation: A guide to web services, EAI, BPI, e-commerce, content management, portals, and supporting technologies (COMPUTER WEEKLY PROFESSIONAL) (Computer Weekly Professional)
Dougal Watt
Manufacturer: Butterworth-Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
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