Zengarden & WCM

Within a project implementation project, there’s usually quite some time spent on implementing the HTML by creating JSP’s. Is this always needed?

What does a GX Webmanager implementation project  usually look like:

Some interaction designer usually hired and selected directly by the customer comes  up with an interaction IO that usually results in a ZIP-file with a complete set hopefully a clicking demo of the HTML/JS/CSS and what more of the ‘site-to-be’.  We then edit that HTML to see if the HTML is stable enough to be  implemented in our CMS. When this all checks out (usually a few roundtrips to the one who wrote the HTML) we start our engineering.

We copy the CSS/JS to the static directory and start cutting up the HTML files in JSP’s for pages and elements to be used for that site. After let’s say 80-160 hours of JSP-ing for an average project we’re able to build a presentation WCB and deploy it on the GX Webmanager installation. After setting up the site as an editor and selecting the right presentations for pages and elements the site should look like the click demo we started with.

OK, what have we done so far:

• We’ve worked really hard for 2-4 weeks to implement the HTML in the favorite flavor of the person who wrote the HTML.
• We probably introduced some error’s during the implementation as any other engineering task would have.

The site goes live after all QA-tasks have finished and everybody is happy..

Then after a year or so the customer decides to introduce a new design for the existing site and existing content. Therefore he/she hires interaction designer 2 who comes up with a brilliant design which again results in ZIP-file with a new click demo to be implemented. All new and fresh HTML so we again start spending 80-160 hours of JSP-ing and QA etc.

And so we continue..

We happened to run into a large European television network that wanted to base its multi channeling activities on GX Webmanager. Their main requirement was that they needed to be able to setup a site for a channel or a new TV show within the shortest time possible (hours/days as opposed to weeks/months). Since all major TV shows for a network have their own design... well... Lot’s of JSP’s for each new show, heaps of hours, QA-tasks, deadlines.  All together a costly  and time consuming operation again.

Or? No, we went another way and came up with CMSZengarden.com as implementation strategy. For those of you who aren’t familiar with CSS, go and have a look at

http://www.csszengarden.com

 (notice of the css as opposed to the cms). The idea behind this website is to demonstrate the power of CSS or as they call it "A demonstration of what can be accomplished visually through CSS-based design. Select any style sheet from the list to load it into this page". The idea is that the HTML  is known and fixed up to the character and that the person writing the CSS must try to accomplish his design given that HTML. Click around and see what some people have come up with (

http://www.csszengarden.com/?cssfile=/203/203.css&page=0 as opposed to http://www.csszengarden.com/?cssfile=/208/208.css&page=0).

So how does this idea translate to our initial requirement?

We asked our customer (the large European television network) whether they’d like to have the freedom in CSS given a fixed set of HTML that could be generated by GX Webmanager. Since this customer has CSS-wizards on the payroll that loved to get the artistic freedom they’d longed for the answer what predictably ‘yes’.

Together with the CSS-wizards we were able to define HTML that would allow them their freedom for now and the foreseeable future mixing some principles of WCM/GX Webmanager into that HTML.

We now have a situation where the customer can create a ZIP file with CSS and other artwork that can be uploaded by a tailor made WCB panel and be put and unzipped on the webserver. The end result is that the design and implementation of that design for the website is finished when the ZIP-file containing the CSS is finished. No new JSP’s may or need to be written on the development side unless you add an extra element/functionality that has its own set of HTML.

This approach can radically change what kind of work you need to do in any other project provided that the designer agrees to want to work with with the CMSzengarden-HTML.

To be continued

Michel