Content Management System
 - Technical Specification

Overview

123Live is a database driven Content Management System (CMS). However, to create a user-friendly environment, the database is hidden from the user (the person responsible for updating the website). The result is a fully WYSIWYG view of the website being updated, making it quick and intuitive to use. Users without any knowledge of web design are typically up and running in five to ten minutes.

The user can add pages, reorder pages, change text, select text styles, add images, add links and change the order of sections within the page.

The user cannot change the text styles. Early versions of 123Live allowed users to create their own style sheet, but we found that this quickly led to the appearance of the website degenerating. All changes to the style sheet are determined by the customer's graphic designer. This results in a consistent and pleasing design from page to page.

The user cannot change the layout of the page or section templates. Changes to page or section templates are carried out by 123Live after consultation with the graphic designer.

Templates

Templates contain regular HTML and scripts with special tags to determine the position of user-editable content. User-editable content can take the form of:

• Regular text - the user gets the full WYSIWYG editor.
• Plain text - the user cannot apply text formatting.
• File - the user is prompted to select one of their uploaded files.
• Image - the user is prompted to select one of their uploaded images from a thumbnail "film strip".
• Page - the user is prompted to select one of their website pages from a site map, this element then becomes a link to that page.

Page templates

A page template determines the layout of the fixed "furniture" on the user's web pages. This includes rectangular blocks to contain the main menu, sub menu and user content. Page templates may also include other editable areas such as a footer, the scope of these editable areas may be set by the designer as page, folder, or the whole site.

Section templates

All websites come with a "freestyle" section template, other templates are designed for individual websites. A freestyle section template allows the user to enter text and an image. The image in a freestyle section template may be resized by dragging the corner of the image (only applies to JPG images). A freestyle section template also offers a choice of layouts and text wrapping.

Section templates are snippets of HTML and script that form a framework for repeated content within the website. Uses for section templates include products, jobs, news items, or any instance where information is to be presented in a pre-defined manner.

Section templates may be grouped by function, allowing the same content to be presented in different ways. For example, a website may have two product templates, one with an image, the other without. The user can then switch templates for a given section with one click to change the appearance.

Users may add as many section templates as required to a page. Any mix of templates may be used in a page. The user may re-position the sections by simply dragging a section up or down the page.

Publishing your website

Unlike other CMSs, 123Live publishes the website as "flat HTML". This has the advantage that search engines will have no problem indexing the resultant site. This is important not only from a "ranking" point of view, but also if user's are incorporating Google's Adsense adverts into their website, as these rely on Google's ability to read the content of the page in order to provide relevent adverts.

It also means that pages will be cached in the visitor's browser, leading to a quicker browsing experience.

Menu structure

The menu structure is created automatically as the user adds pages. The user can decide whether pages appear in the menu system for the website. If pages are not included in the menu, they will still be published, giving the option of "blind" pages or pages that are only linked to form links created manually within 123Live.

Single level menus are best employed for simple sites. Multi-level menus are better suited to websites with more than a few pages and allow the user to "drag and drop" pages or folders into folders in order to structure the content. When the visitor clicks on a "folder", the target page will show a sub menu containing the pages in that folder. Folders may be nested to any level, allowing vistors to "drill down" to relevant content.

Adding pages

Users can add a page with one click. If more than one page template exists the user is given a choice of whihc template to use for the new page.

Links

The editor provides an easy method to create links. The user selects some text then clicks the "link" icon. The user is then given the option to create a link to:

• An external web page.
• A page within their website - the user is presented with a site map, they do not need to know the file name of the page.
• One of their uploaded files - the user is presented with a simple select list to choose the file.
• An email address.

In the case of a web link the user has the option to open the page in a new window (the default setting for external links), or within the same window (the default option for "internal" links.

Uploading files

Clicking on the "Files" tab allows users to upload their own files to the server. Once the files are uploaded they may be easily linked to from within the editor. Up to five files may be uploaded at one time. Files may be deleted or opened from within the "Files" page.

Uploading images

A major benefit of the 123Live CMS is that user's do not have to be concerned about resizing images. Images can be uploaded at any size, e.g. directly from a  digital camera. When the image reaches the server a "master copy" is made, from which working copies are produced when the website is published.

 

Limitations

Search and sort content

As the database is "hidden" from both the person editing the website, and the website visitor, there is no means of searching and sorting data according to database fields.

A "search box" can be included, which allows a free text search of the published website using the Microsoft's indexing service.

There is a limit to the number of pages your site can have

123Live uses a unique approach which gives a far superior user interface than any other professional CMS, i.e. it makes it very quick and easy to edit your website. The technology imposes a limit on the number of pages that can be managed comfortably within the CMS and we do not recommend 123Live for websites with more than 300-400 pages.

The 123Live CMS is not an 'enterprise' solution

The 123Live CMS does not have features to make it suitable for 'enterprise' use. It is not possible to restrict user's permission to edit certain pages or sections. There is no workflow control, version control or auditing. It is not possible to have more than one person logged into the CMS simultaneously.