[thelist] CF? content management HELP!

Erika Meyer erika at seastorm.com
Sat Sep 23 13:37:27 CDT 2000


So (after I get a computer...) we plan to port the site from the old 
Mac to an NT server running Apache.  Cold Fusion is available.

At this university, Public Relations wishes to have strong control 
over presentation, content, branding.  As a representative of PR, I 
am supposed to figure out how to maintain control of all of this, 
while reducing/eliminating the bottleneck that has resulted from the 
fact that one or two people having to do all the site maintenance.

I envision  (down the road) templates & forms which will allow 
faculty, staff, etc, to update/modify information in their respective 
areas in a simple & controlled manner.  Smart? Feasible?

At the same time, the University wants money, gifts, online shopping. 
They also want Flash, because, of course, flash is fast and flash is 
cool.

Putting multimedia aside for the time being...

I have student assistants to help with basic updates while I try to 
figure out the rest.  But the content management stuff is all way 
beyond my current level of knowledge.  I am comforted by two things:

1. the University seems willing to put some funds toward training, 
should I be able to find the same at a reasonable rate...

2. my salary is modest enough that I don't feel too guilty for not 
knowing this stuff already.

I hear there's a Cold Fusion users group locally... and once I get a 
'net connection I can spend some time reading up on Evolt backend 
articles... and some of the old webmonkey articles... what else might 
help me?  On-line tutorials?  Mailing lists?

I think I need to focus on one or two technologies to start (Cold 
Fusion) lest I become totally overwhelmed.

***

<tip type="multimedia" author="erika">

Want to see what's being done with Shockwave lately?  Check out some 
of the money-heavy kid's sites.  foxkids.com has an online Digimon 
game that cleverly markets to kids by requiring knowledge of Digimon 
trivia in order to evolve and "save the Internet."  (you also get to 
shoot flaming emails).

barbie.com is less combative, and more creative.  It features a 
'build your own barbie' option in which you choose barbie's hair 
color, hair style, lip color, skin color/features, and eye color. 
You then have a custom made barbie face, which can be kept and sent 
to your favorite friend.

ah, the possibilities.

</tip>



erika at seastorm.com




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