SV: [Sigia-l] Re: Notes from IA/UX discussion on CMS

[Gunnar Langemark]

In short:

Content Management Systems come in all flavors: web-site-administration,
web-site-creation and templating, Document Management, Publishing Workflow.
CMS bears all the signs of a BUZZ WORD!

I'll accept any definition - if the system meets the needs of the client.

I have worked on a number of CMS projects, on both small scale and larger
scale content management.
One challenge (even recently) has been that web site production (including
IA work) has not been prepared for CMS. IA deliverables like wireframes and
structure do not in their standard form account for the cool stuff you can
do with a CMS.
Designers and PMs without a deep understanding of CMS will inevitably feel
insecure and a little lost when they do not have a box in a structure
diagram to estimate from, and a wireframe to design each "page" on the site
from. This can lead to real frustrations.
I agree 100% that IA work will become more entangled in the back-end
database - content structure - content production work.

> difficulty a whole new meaning. Wouldn't easily more than half of
> an IAs time might be spent on behind-the-scenes structures and
> classifications, just so the CMS can operate efficiently and
> fulfill its business goals? Whether others would see it that way
> is another question, though, I guess.

There is yet another challenge: Client education! Clients going from an old
time static structure to a CMS strategy often do not understand the pros and
cons. Some believe that they can design every page to their liking -
Templating must be taught!
Some believe that content management systems run automatically - and that
all you have to do is put all of the companies documents in a database - and
then the system will do the rest.

For two excellent books on the subject:

Web Site Redesign process:
http://www.web-redesign.com/

Content Management with a real content angle:
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/content_critical.htm

(NO I don't know any of the authors!)

Understanding of STRUCTURED and METATAGGED content is THE KEY to success in
this business in my opinion. That is IA work!

Furthermore: Content Management Systems are not only for the wealthy few. I
work with open source content management systems as well, and they are not
always inferior to commercial systems - albeit it does depend on the task.

My opinion entirely. No hard facts what so ever!

Gunnar Langemark
Skrænten 9
3600 Frederikssund
Denmark
phone +45 47383904/mobile: +45 26277736
mail: gunnar at langemark.com
www: www.langemark.com