Generic Interfaces for Managing Web Data

Oleg Burlaca

Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science

Academy of Sciences of Moldova

oburlaca@neonet.md

61% of companies who have already deployed Web content management software still rely on manual processes to update their sites.

Users would like:

1. Smaller and less complex systems

2. Documentation should provide concrete ideas for how to structure project and make maximum use of features

3. Scalable user interface: features can be removed/added as required

4. Better UI for content creation and management of workflow.

"Web Content Management: Covering the Essentials, Avoiding Overspending", Jupiter Research 2003, http://www.jupiterresearch.com

Major problems when designing for or implementing content management software

1. Commercial software too expensive and required too much time to implement

2. Difficult to integrate with other systems

3. Determining requirements

4. Migrating old content

5. Training authors and editors

“The Problems with CMS”, January 2003The Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture (AIfIA)http://aifia.org/pg/the_problems_with_cms.php

Questions

1. How to view data from different angles and provide facilities to navigate deep hierarchies ?

2. How to provide an intuitively clear and convenient way to manage entity multirelations ?

3. How to tie a generic UI to the application logic ?

What is Content Management ?

• A set of tasks and processes for managing content

• An emerging field that’s concerned with making information easier to manage and access

The main purpose of a CMS:

Enhanced integration and automatization of processes that contribute to efficient dissemination of information on the Internet

Information

IntegrateAutomateAccessDisseminate

Generic User InterfacesAdvantages:

Disadvantages:

• Reduced development time

• Scalability

• No hand coding

• Less testing

• Consistent look and feel Standardization Less training

• The existence of rules

• Additional DB overhead

• Ascetic look

• Troublesome accomplishment of specific tasks

Custom pages

Index pages

Entity pages (item)

Web site structure

Item data Related Items

XML, TXT

Item Page

private data

shared data related item’sshared data

1. Item

2. Item

3. Item

What is Information Architecture ?

• The structural design of an information space to facilitate task completion and intuitive access to content

• The art and science of structuring and classifying web sites and intranets to help people find and manage information

IntuitionAccessStructureClassificationFindManage

Entity type definition

• Visual appearance

• Database fields and associated editors

• Relationship specification

• Events

Entity type :: database fields

<fields> <f name="thumb" editor="ImgEdit" />

<category caption="Brief" /> <f name="brief_en" editor="Memo" caption="En" height="50" /> <f name="brief_ro" editor="Memo" caption="Ro" height="50" />

<category caption="Perioada" />

<multieditor fixed=“1" /> <f name="date1" caption="Start"> <default>NOW()</default> </f> <f name="date2" caption="End"> <default>NOW()</default> </f>

<multieditor /> <f name="ora1" editor="Time"> <options format="HourMin" /> </f>

</fields>

UI :: database fields

Rela

ted

en

tity

Sp

eci

fic

Att

rib

ute

s

CommonAttributes

Entity type :: Relationship

<linkage mode="tree" > <fields> <f name="info" caption="info" /> </fields>

<types> <tip id="1"> <fields> <f name="info" /> </fields> </tip>

<tip id="10"> <fields> <f name="info" /> <f name="active" editor="CheckBox“ /> <f name="content" editor="Memo" height="100" /> </fields> </tip> </types></linkage>

Related items

Focused item’srelation attributes

UI :: Entity Relations

Articles

2003

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Hidden

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References

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References

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Related Items (8)

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Multiple Relations

Entity type :: Events

<events> <OnCreate> <e type="sql"> INSERT INTO site_en_related VALUES ($id, 444, 10, 1) </e>

<e type="http"> <params> <url>http://neonet.md/cgi/build.cgi</url> <prms>id=$id</prms> <urgent>0</urgent> <method>get</method> </params> </e> </OnCreate>

<OnCloseAfterCreate ... > <OnOpen ... > <OnRelateNode ... >

</events>

Data Shortcuts

Ctrl+Enter: Locate & Focus Item

NeoSite

ContentTree

SearchResults

SearchWindow

Opened entities and tasks HTTP ActivityFTP Activity

Toolbars from XML doc

MonitoringError logs

Experience

www.patria.mdwww.tehnomarket.mdwww.e-democracy.mdwww.monument.mdrussiannet.orgwww.press.mednet.mdwww.stats.mednet.mdwww.csa.acad.mdwww.pll.mdwww.profitclub.md

http://baraka.neonet.md

Conclusions

• Develop primitive UI elements but not complex, customized interfaces• Provide context to manage content• Use well established interface patterns

Questions

• How to manage n-ary relations ?

DB FTPWWW

Manage HTML Templates

Monitoring Log Files

Manage Scripts

GUI to data

Executing raw SQL queries

Backup / Restore

Get Size & Upload Images

Upload documents(pdf,doc)

Basic download support

Content Management Systemdeveloper’s view

html pdf, xls email templates

Content Management Systemuser’s view