SuperSatellite

Don’t Contribute

// January 24th, 2008 // 6 Comments » // Software, Tech, Web

What follows is a slightly re-edited (for clarity) version of my thoughts on using Adobe Contribute to run a site. It was originally posted to the uwebd mailing list during a discussion of different CMS (Content Management System) options that are out there. This was in response to a question directed to me regarding what I considered a “modern website” with respect to Adobe Contribute.

Why isn’t Contribute equipped to handle large scale (~10,000+ pages) sites? Contribute doesn’t really have the tools to do anything with regards to content reuse across a site. So as a result, there’s no way to develop interactivity (well, really, you can’t develop anything with it, it’s not a developer tool). You can also forget about getting fancy by integrating things like RSS feeds, or dynamic content in any useful ways (consider, Department X wants a list of their courses for the semester, if they are copy/pasting, there’s no way to control that content once they have plugged it in, which hurts when they totally forget about it the next semester). Contribute is best at static content, on static pages. One page at a time. The newest version (CS3) has done marginally better, in that you can at least paste HTML source code now, but the actual audience that Contribute is aimed at won’t really find that useful. If they knew and understood HTML well, they’d be using Dreamweaver, or at least NVU or something. The crazy part is how good it looks on paper, that idea of simple content management. The reality isn’t that good, especially for developers who must then deal with all the deadwood Contribute leaves behind as things get updated, removed, etc (which is substantial). And don’t forget any template changes you have to make, which would have to be filtered into every file, which is very time consuming (we use SSI (Server Side Include) templates to help stave that issue off, but then that has also caused certain bugs preventing people from creating things like bulleted lists. Craziest thing I’ve ever seen).

I am of the mindset that Contribute has lost its market. It was a good tool five years ago. The game has changed a lot in that time though. A good CMS does everything that Contribute can do with no more of an end-user learning curve, but with the added bonus of being flexible for use with the better power users you serve. Contribute doesn’t have any room to scale up that way. Power users get frustrated in it, and basic users just get lost. The key is that a basic user is a basic user. Period. No matter how simple the software seems on paper, you still have to train them before they can use it, so you might as well give them a tool that not only does things easily, but does them right. For instance, workflow is a joke with Contribute, and as a result page management becomes nearly impossible (and in turn confusing for basic users). There is no review mechanism at all, so content can quickly become outdated and never addressed down the road. We have departments that have copied information from other parts of the site that is out of date by years. This is because they haven’t had the tools to do it correctly in the past.

Like I said, Contribute is designed to do one thing very well, edit static content on static pages. If that is all you want, go nuts, but try anything beyond that and it’s just a bad tool for the job. And in today’s web, a “modern site” is one that generally does not rely on static content this way.  Moreover, a “modern site” is one that also provides current, accurate, fresh data. If you have no ability to keep up on your content in some way, you are setting yourself up for failure. Anyone managing a large site knows that you can’t rely on the editors to simply take it upon themselves to review content (assuming that’s not their primary job).  People rely on web sites now, it’s one of their first stops when they want information on something. If they lose faith in the site as a tool to retrieve accurate information on the subject they want, then you lose a customer. The crazy, lock-me-up-I’m-going-cuckoo goal of a “modern website” is therefore to be omniscient in regards to their audience. You must have a current and correct answer to every question your visitors can and will ask. Totally impossible, I know, but it’s what the audience expects, and there are a lot of ways we can certainly fake it with current web technologies. I don’t feel Contribute is up to that kind of job (not by a long shot).

(Caveat: this is all based on my personal experience in our environment with ~70 Contribute users. We do not run the Contribute Publishing Server.  No doubt others might have more positive opinions.)

The need to exposit.

// June 7th, 2006 // No Comments » // Brain dumps, Movies

I have had yet another lapse in the frequency of my writing, I know.  Sometimes one just feels like the daily activity of their life isn’t really worth explaining.  Then again, if you’re me, you like rendering out the details like a Carl Sagan novel because one, you’ll read it anyway, and two, I like using words.  If you’ve read Sagan, you know that the [lack of] quality in his writing isn’t so much embedded in thorough character development, or a moving plot, or thrilling exposition.  No, basically he just doesn’t know how to shut up.  He can write a book because he can use words ceasingly, whether or not they or appropriate, or whether or not we even care.  In this regard, I write here because I can.

My parents are visiting this week.  I have to drive to KC Thursday to retrieve them from the hellish transportation nightmare that is MCI.  While it will be good to see them, I loathe driving to Kansas City.  Oh well.  The second verse is that they are here to go to a family reunion which I, by obvious association via the bloodlines, am also bound to make an appearance at.  Let me be clear in stating that I like my immediate family.  The rest…well…I see no reason to pretend to be interested in their lives and happenings any more than I would a stranger.  I keep in touch with who I want to.  You know what?  I could have been on day three of the BAK right now.  That’s how I avoided it last time, it was very convenient.

I have been racking my brain at work over a pretty slick CMS (Content Management System) called Joomla.  Lemme tell ya, it’s something else, that’s for sure.  Very powerful and full featured.   Naturally, however, some of the stuff I need it won’t do natively, at least in this version.  If you have ever done portal development, don’t start with this.  It’s powerful but a pain in the butt.  I’m still trying to convince myself of whether or not this is the one to work with.  Given the options though, I think it is probably the best route.

OOH!  Looks like I might have my old car sold finally.  If so, it’s new TV time baby.  I am really tired of my old POS set.  It’s only like fifteen years old, and the colors only bleed about halfway across the screen.  That’s not so bad, right?  All I watch are movies, but I would still like to be able to really watch and enjoy them.  That’s hard to do when watching the TV is like an LSD trip through a blind man’s eyes.

I made it through a number of movies recently.  The Island wasn’t actually half bad.  Not totally what I expected, but I had heard that ahead of time.  Plus I think I could watch about anything with Scarlett Johansson in it.  Yeah, I’m shameless, wanna make something of it?  Ultraviolet was…crap.  Like bad, drunk, taco-shit crap.  At first I thought:  Hmm…okay, stylized like a comic book, corny dialogue, but I guess it could work….No.  Okay just fuck no.  The dialogue wasn’t corny, campy, comic fun.  It was just bad writing.  And the special effects weren’t stylized, they were low budget.  I tried to convince myself otherwise.  Frankly, I wanted to like it.  But alas, I cannot.  The Producers was also some classic theatrical inspired cinema.  Worth seeing.  Underworld: Evolution was a gamble of my precious time that I felt paid off, and A History of Violence though strange, was worth sitting through.  Trainspotting is good because it’s Scottish.  It’s good for other reasons too, but that’s the main one.  Babies with spinning heads score high points too.  God Ultraviolet was bad.

Evolving the intarweb

// May 31st, 2006 // No Comments » // Web

For no good reason, I started a YouTube account today.  What I will actually do with it…remains to be seen.  I am happy to take requests though, and maybe I’ll do a video blog or two once in a while.  I’m thinking maybe the new medium will help inspire me into new things.  You know, a new creative outlet for…creative…things.  Or maybe I was just bored.  But hey, that’s how I got into MySpace, and look how well that has worked for all of you.

Clogged

// May 21st, 2006 // No Comments » // Brain dumps

So I’m trying to figure this out.  This requires an analogy of sorts.  Don’t worry, I’m good at these.  In fact, I’m like a shark.

Okay, so imagine a bathtub that won’t drain.  Or at least, it drains very very slowly.  It’s full of soap and hair and scum and you know, showery stuff.  That’s how my brain feels at the moment, like a bathtub full of water that won’t drain fast enough.  It impairs my judgement.  At least I really feel that way, like my decision making process is being muddled.  I need an information dump of some kind.  So here goes said dump.  Don’t worry, I flush.

So I started looking into PA equipment.  I also used it as a chance to play with the new Google Notebook.  Definately going to end up sinking some money into this I have a feeling.  But that’s alright.  Oh, and the Notebook works okay.  Could be better though.  I was hoping to catch Steve tonight to discuss some of it with him, but alas, he was not around.

Keeping on the trend of trying new Google things, I tried out Google Pages.  I built a page to sell my old car.  I need to toss some pictures on still, but I can see it’s handiness, even if it is a pretty basic page hosting solution.  Odds are I won’t worry about it once my server is back up.  Which will be soon (this week).

I just can’t shake this weird feeling I have though.  I don’t get it.  Like I’m forgetting something, but expectant and confused.  And I want a pickle.  Could I be pregnant?  I think it is a definate possibility.

Isis has allergies and in just the past couple days has managed to scratch some serious bald spots.  I’m gonna get her to the vet tomorrow, but I don’t know what they’ll be able to do.  One is under her chin, the other is right on her cheek.    It makes me very sad to see her that way.  I have to keep a close eye on her to keep her from scratching, otherwise it’ll never heal.

Okay, I’m gonna try to find something productive to occupy myself with.  Leave me some witty remarks, comments, or messages, because I know if you’ve read this far, you likely need something to do as bad as I do.