Web Tools What we covered Browsers Browser Management

Web. Tools

What we covered • Browsers: – Browser Management – Opera – Web. TV • Content Management – Zope – vendor-neutral view from Lychee – working example from City University Business School

Browser Management • Toyed with the Net. Scape Configuartion Editor: • Agreed that is was a “good thing” • Issue: – How do you get a (suitably) configured browser onto the University’s desktop? – It’s an IT asset management issue

Opera • • • It looks different from other browsers Very lightweight - quick to download there’s no development kit there is a licence charge It is the “most CSS compliant” browser – but Java support isn’t wonderful • Good accessibility, e. g. increase the image by 800% • Q: Does DISin. HE recommend Opera as a “solution”?

Web. TV • Checked out our home pages and found: – OK if there’s plenty of white space – If not, then lots of text and links gives a very cluttered look – Design for other browsers doesn’t translate well for Web. TV • Issue: (Will/)is Web. TV (be) sufficiently important to us?

Zope The last word in Content Management • Zope is: – middleware – an architecture – an authoring tool – an object database – can be entirely browser drivem – standard embracing (e. g. XML) – open source

Zope • Issues: – Zope is a software tool that is freely available and can improve our ways of working – Licencing isn’t an issue, but awareness is • Recommendation: – JISC-ASSIST and/or UCISA-SG be asked to organise a 1 day workshop on Content Management with Zope as the illustrator

Vendor-Neutral Content Management viewpoint • Listed 10 challenges for a Web Editor • Gave “whose web is it? ” as the conundrum • Fundamental: – Separate web content from design • designers create graphics, templates and web objects • content owners create and update their own pages through Lychee interfaces • the underlying concept is to train (non-)nontechnical people to publish.

Content Management #2 • Content Management systems: – improves our use of web technology – releases the Web. Master from mundane duties • Lychee: – under trial at Kings and Liverpool with the prospect of a CHEST deal to follow.

City Business School • Used Lotus Notes to hold content • Demonstrated instant web pages and instant new pages (a threaded discussion list) • Demonstrated that current software tools can be combined to provide Web Content Management