Developing a Web Site with the Ektron CMS400.NET Content Management Solution and Dreamweaver Extension
Developing a Web Site with the Ektron CMS400.NET Content Management Solution and Dreamweaver Extension
Ektron's line of Web authoring tools and Web content management solutions have evolved over the years becoming the ideal choice for organizations who want their everyday business users to manage content on their Web site. Ektron continues to rise to the demands of the marketplace by making Web content management more powerful and robust, yet keeping the process easy-to-use.
Click for Content
The most basic element on any CMS400.NET driven Web site is a content block. Adding an existing content block into your template is as easy as moving the cursor to the section of the page you want the content to be displayed and clicking on the Content function in the list of CMS400.NET functions.
An intuitive dialog box appears allowing you to set the properties of a content block (Figure 4).
Figure 4 – Content block configuration dialog
There are two drop down lists that are displayed on the dialog box. One allows you to select an Ektron CMS400.NET content folder where the other allows you to select one of the content blocks within that content folder to be added (Figure 5).
Figure 5 – Web site content folder structure is replicated in the content block properties dialog
Once you have selected the content block that you want to be displayed, there are some additional options that you can choose including making the content block dynamic or static.
Once an Ektron CMS content block has been added to your template, the necessary code is automatically generated and an image represents where the content block will be displayed (Figure 6).
Figure 6 – Code is automatically generated and a glyph is displayed in Design view
Live Data View
An added benefit of using Dreamweaver MX is that the contents of the content block that has just been inserted can be fully rendered inside Dreamweaver allowing you to show you exactly how the combination of the template and content will appear together.
This can be done simply by clicking the "Live Data View" button (Figure 7).
Figure 7 – Live data view
Login
An Ektron CMS400.NET login button is inserted into a Web site template to allow users to be authenticated by the Web site, and manage content and other related tasks online.
The process for adding a login button is the same as a content block; however, there aren't any additional options since a content block requires a unique content id (Figure 8).
Figure 8 – Insert Ektron CMS400.NET Login Tag dialog
Once an Ektron CMS login button has been added to your template, the necessary code is automatically generated and an image represents where the login button is displayed (Figure 9).
Figure 9 – Automatically generated code and Design view glyph
Dynamic List Summary
A commonly used and/or requested function of a Web site is to dynamically generate a list of the latest stories on a news web site or the most recent updates to the site. Ektron CMS400.NET includes functionality to do this right out-of-the-box. The function is called the ListSummary, which, like the name suggests, displays a list of the summaries of content blocks in the CMS. When a new content block is added, a link and description is automatically added to the list ensuring the newest articles are always displayed.
Similar to a content block, a list summary can easily be added to a template with click of the mouse and some simple configurations (Figure 10).
Figure 10 – Ektron CMS400.NET List Summary Control Dialog
Once an Ektron ListSummary has been added to your template, the necessary code is automatically generated and an image represents where the ListSummary is displayed (Figure 11).
Figure 11 – Generated code for a ListSummary
Comments
Horrible!!!!!!!!!!
I have got bad experience with the Ektron WYSIWYG editor (lack of functionality) and now they are trying to push this into Dreamweaver also!!!!!!!! Looking at the Flash demo it is bag full of $$$$$ for nothing much fancy.
Sorry.............
Was this a paid article by Ektron?
Ektron is one of the worst products I have had the displeasure to have to work with. The company I consult for had Ektron build their site out in CMS 400.NET. The implementation was EXTREMELY sloppy and amateurish. Although the CMS includes the jQuery library, form validation was attempted through inline Javascript that reported errors one at a time in popup alerts. The site was riddled with bugs and support was virtually non-existent. Content managers were afraid to submit content unless a developer was on hand for fear of something breaking.
Use this product at your own risk!!
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