HNI Content management and portal system

Summary

The main modules of the application are:

Content management system (CMS)

This user-friendly internet application requires no special knowledge and is highly customizable; it contains a wide range of plug-in panels (content search, banners, forum, visitor counter, registration, vote, newsletters) so the website can be set up quickly, with minimal programming.

The platform-independent JAVA-based application runs on any current hardware configuration and operating system, and websites can be managed securely with hierarchical rights management. Our CMS supports multilingual content management.

Portal

This portal system can easily be modified, without the help of developers, maintaining continuous operation, while reconstructing the entire logical structure. Useful data types (news, articles, gallery, binary data, links, top lists, newsletters) can be organized into a multi-level, infinite menu system. Categories accessible by different users can be restricted at the group level. Multilingual content management is also a feature.

The web interface is set up of independent components, called portlets, separately configured, easily transformed and re-edited.

Editorial system

The editorial system was designed so that no special IT skills are required. The menus, functions, and information on the screen are kept to a minimum, so there are no complicated component lines and options on the editor’s screen. The system is compatible with all commonly-used browser types. Its simplified text editor can perform the main text-editing operations (paragraph alignment, character type setting, and formation) so one can edit the text as it appears on the website. HTML text can be imported because the system recognizes and uses HTML commands.

Technical overview

Content management system (CMS)

The EJB architecture of the J2EE (JAVA) technology has been tested on UNIX, Linux, and Windows operating systems to ensure its platform independency. The CMS supports several database-management systems (DBMS); we have used it with Oracle and PostgreSQL databases. The latest version provides regular security back-ups and a rich variety of stored methods. Meta-data can be connected to various data types, and content can be managed in a multi-level, hierarchical structure.

Content is stored in XML format, making it easy to handle connected information. Files are imported and exported on XML base. The search engine performs queries within meta-data just as fast and effectively as within the text of the articles and standard format (PDF, Word, OpenOffice) downloadable files. The content-management system provides clear version handling, allowing for easy search or restoration of previously saved versions.

Rights are managed at a group level, but role-based workflows can be connected to any data type. Users can be authenticated in various ways. Apart from the traditional user name-password combination it is possible to authenticate via certificates or browser. Users’ activities are logged and can be looked up by authorized personnel.

Portal

The portal system is based on Java Servlet technology, whereby several portals can be connected to one CMS. The component-centered content rendering is based on layouts, so that the place of the components can easily be changed.

The portal engine supports both HTML4 and XHTML mark-up languages. The flexible style sheets can be customized at the administrative panel, so all content can be easily edited. The rich variety of attributes can be extended indefinitely by the users’ own features.

The portal uses the search engine of the CMS for internal searches. Multilingual content- management is supported by the language-switch option, available only on pages having versions in different languages.

Editorial system (client side)

The platform- and browser-independent administrative panel is based on Java Swing, rendering the content of the CMS on a graphical user interface (GUI). Data types and their meta-data can easily be edited. The rich variety of attributes can be extended by features users define.

The editorial system also uses the search engine of the CMS. With the help of its WYSIWYG editor, pictures and text boxes can easily be inserted and edited. Clear navigation is supported by the tree structure of components and the use of drag-and-drop operations. With the help of the integrated layout editor, content appearing on the portal can be edited, and with the preview function, it can be tested before uploading.