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Key Lotus Web Content Management definitions - Authoring Templates, Category Management and the Site Framework

In this article, we start the in-depth discussion on the Lotus Web Content Management functions and items. All examples are based on the River Bend Tea and Coffee Company Web site. If you want to build the Web site, see Section 3.2.

Authoring template

Authoring templates are used for content creation. They provide the editing and authoring forms for content authors. Similar to document types in document management solutions, fields for text and metadata are defined in the authoring template. In addition to the common fields that are described in Lotus Web Content Management fields , the following sections are provided:

• Profile
• Content Form Properties
• Content

These sections contain fields for immediate content input or references to other components.

Profile

The Profile section contains a Categories and a Keywords field. Both fields can be regarded as metadata to characterize a content item, as shown in Categories and Keywords fields in Profile section of Authoring Template .

Categories are selected from the elements that are defined in the Category Management (see Category Management ), meaning that they are predefined . The advantages of Categories is that they provide quick selection with no misspellings or duplicates but slightly different elements. The disadvantage of Categories is that only predefined Categories are available.

The Keywords field allows users to enter any text without restriction. Keyword fields are not selected from a predefined list. The advantage is that the user can enter any word or phrase. The disadvantage is that you cannot check for misspellings or duplicate entries with only slightly different meanings.

Categories and Keywords are used as content metadata for search and Menu definitions. See Menu component for more details about how to use Categories and Keywords in menus.

Figure 8 Categories and Keywords fields in Profile section of Authoring Template (31_8)

Content Form Properties

The content form properties section enables the user with the option of changing the form of the content in order to simplify the presentation of it. In addition to organizing a content form with a layout option for the fields, you can further simplify the form presented to the content author through the use of hidden fields. With the exception of those fields that are required for a content form, you can designate any other field in the authoring template to be hidden.

Refer to Figure 9 for field options

Figure 9 Content Form Properties (31_9)

Content

The Content section lets the authoring template reflect the companies' content types. All fields are added to the authoring template using the element manager, as shown in Figure 10 Element Manager

Figure 10 Element Manager (31_10)

The fields are defined by a field name and the field type (as shown in Figure 10 ). The field type is selected from a list that is either a component field, such as a text, a Rich Text field, or a reference of a component that as defined in the component library. Refer to figure Figure 12 for a complete list of available fields. Thus, the field type reuses a predefined or predeveloped component.

Figure 11 Fields in Element Manager (31_11)

Figure 12 Available fields in Element Manager (31_12)

For example, the River Bend development authoring template uses the following (as shown in Figure 13 ):

• The Text field for the display title and summary.
• The Rich Text field for the body.
• An Image Component for an image.
• The Postbody and Prebody fields for Component References where the reference to a Menu is entered.

The Option selection field is a new option added in WCM 6. The admin specifies whether it is a single or multiple selection of a drop down list. The admin also enters the different options of selections as well as the type of the selection, for example drop down, radio buttons, etc. 

Figure 13 Riverbend Authoring Template (31_13)

Category Management

The Category Management section of the item navigator defines taxonomies and categories. These items are an important, and often underestimated, elements for content that is metadata.

Note: Categories are metadata for content that is used in menus and search.

Taxonomy

A taxonomy defines the collection of terms that form the categories. For distinct term-sets, you can create independent taxonomies, although it might not be necessary because the number and depth of categories is nearly unlimited. As authors select categories, they assign them to a content item by clicking a tree of categories. A reasonable depth of the taxonomy tree helps the user in selecting categories. A maximum of five to six levels has proven to be a good depth with which to work. You can adjust taxonomies where necessary.

Category

A category is an informational component that is used to describe what a piece of content is about. Categories used in content transcend hierarchies of architectural elements as site or site areas. Changing the navigational hierarchy is difficult, while categories should reflect business needs and are adjusted as the organization's needs change.

Do not confuse categories with a site area , which is created to provide a path to that piece of content. Menu design components can use a category, via search criteria, to create menus or to create lists of related documents. For example, if the coffee business faces a boost for Ginger flavored Coffee, the River Bend Company can add the category ginger to the taxonomy. The overall hierarchy based on site and site areas stays unchanged. Immediately after adding the category ginger to content documents, searches for ginger on the River Bend Web site show results without any development work. In addition, the category ginger can be removed easily without any influence on the overall navigational hierarchy of the site.

Another example is that the River Bend Web site uses categories in a personalization component to identify content based on the season. The home page displays an image of the seasonal drink, whether a summer or a winter drink. The drink content itself is categorized either Summer Drink or Winter Drink categories that are under the Season Drink Category. In our example "Coffee freddochino" was added in the Summer Drink category. Changing the content belonging to that category will change the image on the home page that is displaying the summer drink.

Content

Now, we have discussed all the elements that you need to create content: Authoring template, taxonomy and category, and workflow. Creating content for users who rarely use the authoring interface might be confusing. Apply security to all items to make sure that the authoring portlet shows only items that users need to see.

Optionally, the Customizable Template Portlet is a good choice because it allows you to hide fields that users do not need. The Customizable Template Portlet is very easy to use. Fields are preselected, such as the authoring template and site area.

Creating content using the authoring portlet

After selecting the appropriate authoring template for the intended content, you have to select the site area to which the content is linked. The site area is the hierarchal location for the content. Navigators use this hierarchy to display the content that is linked to the different site areas. Web site visitors find the content when navigating through the Web site. After the content is saved, you can link it to other site areas to create a broader usage of the content item. This will enable the content to appear for example in two different pages due to the site areas they belong to.

If authors tend to be creative with their content, you might want to give them the opportunity to express the creativity in Rich Text and image fields. On the other hand, limiting creativity by providing simple text fields might be the appropriate choice because all design elements are used in the presentation layer to apply corporate design, including fonts and font sizes, colors, and alignment. The same principle applies to using HTML text or PHP.

Many users prefer to use pictures in their Web content. Predefined image resources provide images that fit the design in size and color, which can be used through component resource fields. However, this use can limit the creativity of content authors to a reasonable level. You should define the appropriate set of options that are available to content creators and apply those options to the authoring templates to fit corporate needs and objectives for using Lotus Web Content Management.

Site framework

A site framework reflects part of the information architecture of a Web site. A lack of investment in the information architecture can result in an accepted Web site that has a poorly architected site framework. Unfortunately, this situation is often identified after Lotus Web Content Management projects have already progressed into late stages .

A site framework provides a hierarchical structure for the Web site and is the base for the final Web site's navigation. The content is linked to the site framework and is identified for display on the Web site using the content's site framework information as search criteria for navigators and menus.

The navigator and menu design components use the site framework to create a site map (also a navigator), navigation, breadcrumbs, and menus. Because these elements are created dynamically at run time, there are no broken links when a site area is changed or moved.

Figure 14 shows River Bend's site framework and the resulting site map navigator.

Figure 14 River Bend site framework and site map (31_14)

Site

A site is the root for Web site's hierarchical structure. Although it is possible to manage several sites in the Lotus Web Content Management site management interface (for example, several Web sites are hosted), one Web site is based on one site only. The site can define relationships between authoring templates and presentation templates for the whole site. These settings are overruled by definitions set in site areas.

Site area

A site area is a unit within a site framework where content items are grouped together. You have to define the default content for a site area. The default content displays when the page is opened. Without default content assigned, the page cannot be viewed in the browser.

Default content, of course, can contain component references that allow individual designs for different site areas and content pages. In the River Bend Web site, some content items reference a menu component. The menu displays content that is found using the menu's search criteria. (See Menu component for details about menus.)

Before the content can be viewed on a Web site, each authoring template has to be paired with a presentation template. Doing so on the site level underlying site areas can inherit the pairing. Pairings on site area level can define new pairs for the specific site area and below.

Site areas allow the use of the Element manager to add component fields or component reference fields to the site area document. (Identical functionality is available in content items.) Using this feature in site areas allows you to define design or content items to be displayed on selected site areas.

Creating and maintaining site areas is performed by site administrators rather than by users or content creators. Site administrators are expected to be more literate and advanced using components. Therefore, it might be easier for them to manipulate the design of site areas than placing the task into content creators' hands that need extra guidance to understand the component library philosophy.

Referencing a menu in a site area rather than in a content item has the advantage that the menu item is predefined in the site, and a content author does not have to know how to perform the task or which component to reference.

Site and site areas in a site framework can be classified into parents, siblings, and children ( See Figure 15 ), where the site is the parent for preceding site areas but has no parent or sibling itself because it is the only root for a site framework. Site areas always have a parent and often siblings and children.

Figure 15 Parent, sibling, and children hierarchy

A site area has the option of making it searchable. This identifies if it should be searchable through Portal Search or not.