Hi
To manage the shoots (Stills and video) here on AW, we use a CMS - Content Management System. This software controls when stuff is released, makes thumbnails, builds shoot pages, and keeps all the shoots organised for you (and us!). It also makes web pages that hold links to shoots - for example, the model bio page for Silvie - is entirely generated by the CMS. We have a full time staffer whose job it is to administer the CMS, and add new shoots several weeks in advance.
The CMS was designed and built four years ago, really before web 2.0 was an idea, let alone became implemented and supported by web browsing software. Since then, there have been huge advances in technology (and web browser software), that can allow us to do really cool things - like Google Docs, FaceBook, Flickr, and so on. Unfortunately, because the foundations of our CMS is stuck in the dark ages, and because of the way it was designed, we're not able to take advantage of any of these things that would make the site easier and faster and more enjoyable to use (or rather, we COULD, but it'd take MONTHS to do something, where it should take days). This is the reason so many features that seem obvious to have on our site, are not present (like a decent search function).
Another issue is, any new page on the current site (for example, the recent bushfire appeal page), needs to be worked on by multiple people with different skill sets to get it up, hugely increasing expense, hassle, fluidity, and time-to-live. There are a bunch of other problems we're fixing as well, a lot of them behind the scenes. And, some are not features in the usual sense of the word - for example, page loads are slow on AW, cos of the way pages are fundamentally designed. Building a page creates a large load on the cluster (the group of machines that host the website), meaning expense, maintenance, and more points for failure.
So, some time ago, we decided to do a ground-up re-write of the CMS, which addresses all these issues, allows us to do web 2.0 (and beyond) stuff, and to easily factor in new technologies, ideas, systems, processes and features. Our Lead Architect, WaffyW, has been working on it for more than a year, but there's still more to go. We're recruiting some new coders, to start work on specific features and implementations.
We'll be using CMS2 for AW, but also for our internal web apps (that help us manage relationships with models, and track shoots through their post production process) - at the lower levels, it's a database driven page builder, that allows coders and designers to work together, but does not require they do - a big change for us.
So that's the backstory, how we got here. Now let me talk about some of the goals and features of CMS2:
* faster page load times
* meaningful (RESTful) URLs (eg, abbywinters.com/shoot/mary)
* Kick-arse advanced search
* 4g phone compatibility (eg, iPhone, Windows mobile 6)
* extensive use of RSS (subscribe to Mary, and get all her shoots pushed to your phone as they are released)
* Languages Other Than English
* more advanced lists and Tags
* build-your-own video (only download specific portions you want)
* intuitive and enjoyable and responsive image browsing
* chapter points in videos
* customised flash video player
* MODEL bio pages, instead of SHOOT bio pages (all the shoots for one model, in one place)
* Additional video formats
Some of these are vague, some of them are fun, some are required, some we may never have...
We'd like to hear from you about what features you feel the new CMS should have. As time goes by, we'll break these out into their own threads, we'll maintain a page of features that have been suggested, but will not be happening ever, or those which will happen, but not for some time. Because this will be a very busy time for us, we may not respond to everyone individually, but we will try.
The initial rollout of CMS2 will have SOME of these new features, but we also may LACK some features we currently have... but we will be able to get those features online in the new CMS pretty fast - for example, we may sacrifice the video gallery, for launching earlier with the advanced search. I think everyone would agree, that's a good trade-off!
We're also going to roll out a new look and feel with CMS2. Currently, we look dated. I kinda LIKE the current look, but there's no question, to a new visitor, we look behind-the-times, which infers we're not as cool as we really are. The new look and feel will be more open, more whitespace, less cluttered, clearer, more context sensitive navigation, and will feature our new logo (which some people who know us find confusing at first, but enjoy it soon after, and new-comers love).
What's NOT going to change?
Good question, and I am glad you asked. These things will not change:
* The shoots themselves.
* The volume of shoots.
* The update schedule.
* The technical quality of shoots.
* The creative quality of shoots (well, those last two will keep getting BETTER, of course)
* People like Elfie, who complain that the sky is falling
Please don’t bring up issues about content (shoot and video ideas or feedback) in this thread - there are lots of threads for that elsewhere, and they will be ignored or deleted here. This forum is for your ideas regarding the CMS itself. It's pretty technical, and will probably get more technical.
If you only ever care about seeing the shoots we release each day, a lot of this will be pretty boring for you - you'll still get the shoots in CMS2, but it might be easier for you to get them (certainly, no harder than it is now).
Others may enjoy having a hand in dragging us into the future...
Hit us!
g
To manage the shoots (Stills and video) here on AW, we use a CMS - Content Management System. This software controls when stuff is released, makes thumbnails, builds shoot pages, and keeps all the shoots organised for you (and us!). It also makes web pages that hold links to shoots - for example, the model bio page for Silvie - is entirely generated by the CMS. We have a full time staffer whose job it is to administer the CMS, and add new shoots several weeks in advance.
The CMS was designed and built four years ago, really before web 2.0 was an idea, let alone became implemented and supported by web browsing software. Since then, there have been huge advances in technology (and web browser software), that can allow us to do really cool things - like Google Docs, FaceBook, Flickr, and so on. Unfortunately, because the foundations of our CMS is stuck in the dark ages, and because of the way it was designed, we're not able to take advantage of any of these things that would make the site easier and faster and more enjoyable to use (or rather, we COULD, but it'd take MONTHS to do something, where it should take days). This is the reason so many features that seem obvious to have on our site, are not present (like a decent search function).
Another issue is, any new page on the current site (for example, the recent bushfire appeal page), needs to be worked on by multiple people with different skill sets to get it up, hugely increasing expense, hassle, fluidity, and time-to-live. There are a bunch of other problems we're fixing as well, a lot of them behind the scenes. And, some are not features in the usual sense of the word - for example, page loads are slow on AW, cos of the way pages are fundamentally designed. Building a page creates a large load on the cluster (the group of machines that host the website), meaning expense, maintenance, and more points for failure.
So, some time ago, we decided to do a ground-up re-write of the CMS, which addresses all these issues, allows us to do web 2.0 (and beyond) stuff, and to easily factor in new technologies, ideas, systems, processes and features. Our Lead Architect, WaffyW, has been working on it for more than a year, but there's still more to go. We're recruiting some new coders, to start work on specific features and implementations.
We'll be using CMS2 for AW, but also for our internal web apps (that help us manage relationships with models, and track shoots through their post production process) - at the lower levels, it's a database driven page builder, that allows coders and designers to work together, but does not require they do - a big change for us.
So that's the backstory, how we got here. Now let me talk about some of the goals and features of CMS2:
* faster page load times
* meaningful (RESTful) URLs (eg, abbywinters.com/shoot/mary)
* Kick-arse advanced search
* 4g phone compatibility (eg, iPhone, Windows mobile 6)
* extensive use of RSS (subscribe to Mary, and get all her shoots pushed to your phone as they are released)
* Languages Other Than English
* more advanced lists and Tags
* build-your-own video (only download specific portions you want)
* intuitive and enjoyable and responsive image browsing
* chapter points in videos
* customised flash video player
* MODEL bio pages, instead of SHOOT bio pages (all the shoots for one model, in one place)
* Additional video formats
Some of these are vague, some of them are fun, some are required, some we may never have...
We'd like to hear from you about what features you feel the new CMS should have. As time goes by, we'll break these out into their own threads, we'll maintain a page of features that have been suggested, but will not be happening ever, or those which will happen, but not for some time. Because this will be a very busy time for us, we may not respond to everyone individually, but we will try.
The initial rollout of CMS2 will have SOME of these new features, but we also may LACK some features we currently have... but we will be able to get those features online in the new CMS pretty fast - for example, we may sacrifice the video gallery, for launching earlier with the advanced search. I think everyone would agree, that's a good trade-off!
We're also going to roll out a new look and feel with CMS2. Currently, we look dated. I kinda LIKE the current look, but there's no question, to a new visitor, we look behind-the-times, which infers we're not as cool as we really are. The new look and feel will be more open, more whitespace, less cluttered, clearer, more context sensitive navigation, and will feature our new logo (which some people who know us find confusing at first, but enjoy it soon after, and new-comers love).
What's NOT going to change?
Good question, and I am glad you asked. These things will not change:
* The shoots themselves.
* The volume of shoots.
* The update schedule.
* The technical quality of shoots.
* The creative quality of shoots (well, those last two will keep getting BETTER, of course)
* People like Elfie, who complain that the sky is falling
Please don’t bring up issues about content (shoot and video ideas or feedback) in this thread - there are lots of threads for that elsewhere, and they will be ignored or deleted here. This forum is for your ideas regarding the CMS itself. It's pretty technical, and will probably get more technical.
If you only ever care about seeing the shoots we release each day, a lot of this will be pretty boring for you - you'll still get the shoots in CMS2, but it might be easier for you to get them (certainly, no harder than it is now).
Others may enjoy having a hand in dragging us into the future...
Hit us!
g
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