Building a new website the easy way
Building a new website the easy way
July 26, 2005: The complexities involved with creating new extranets and Intranets have been simplified for IT managers, designers and publishers so that these new sites can be rolled out with ease and comfort, according to Interwoven, which is pushing the merits of its LiveSite product to organisations in Australia.
LiveSite is being sold by Interwoven as either an add-on to TeamSite or as a package that is sold in combination with TeamSite. The principal aim of the technology is to allow users to build dynamic web pages and site from templates, and then easily customise their presentation, content and functionality to meet changing business needs.
Kevin Cochrane, the Vice President of product management for Interwoven's web content management solutions, explained how it is built to satisfy the expectations of developers, designers and publishers.
"Developers build the application logic, designers can design the website and design different templates for the site, all within the environment. And then the publishers can basically take those designs and customise the content, customise the functionality and tailor the site experience by the look and feel for their particular audience.
"So, each person has a set of a tools that are appropriate for them to accomplish their jobs. But the publishers aren't dependent on IT, the designers are not dependent on IT. IT just builds core application logic, and then everyone else is responsible for their particular part of the puzzle."
Cochrane added that anything you can build on the web could be built through using LiveSite. Designers are provided with a number of preset functions that make it easier for them to design the pages.
He also said that LiveSite is meant to be a replacement for web tools such as DreamWeaver, which he described as being used to create HTML, static, 1st generation websites on the Internet, so that users can create 2nd generation dynamic websites.
Users are able to change the design, functions and content of each page on each site just by dragging and dropping items and adding new items via preset options too. New extranets and Intranets can be built through selecting numerous options on LiveSite.
For instance, a marketing department can build it's own microsites with ease, and have the choice of choosing different designs and functions, so that they can roll it out to their clients quickly, instead of having to spend so much time coding a page to specifically meet their client's needs.
Cochrane went on to highlight more advantages of the system, which was released in Australia during March this year.
"If an IT developer is updating and building a new instance of the component, he can propagate that change across all the affected pages across all of the affected sites. For example, a legal disclaimer can be automatically updated across all the pages."
"People should not worry about spending weeks building one template for a microsite anymore, they should instead quickly build six different templates and spend time thinking about which one is the best one to use."
Cochrane said that the customers who have already used LiveSite in the U.S. have been very happy with the services so far. He said that one company had the demand for 24 web initiatives, including specialised regional marketing sites, specialised promotional sites, new Intranets, but they only had an IT capacity to build five of these sites.
So 19 things got cut off the list. But now, he added, they can complete all of these tasks thanks to LiveSite. In addition, he said that LiveSite has reduced the stress on IT.
"What's been happening is that many change requests have not been funded by IT because they have not had the capacity to do them. The stress at work has been so intense that people have been going home sick, people have been dissatisfied with their job, businesses have got angry and frustrated and have gone outside of IT to build new things."
However, LiveSite, according to Cochrane, has now allowed these tasks to be managed in-house, and this has improved relationships within the organisation too. He added that now that websites don't have to be built outside anymore, these sites are more compliant now too.
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