1. Rodney Toliver

    ACCD-SPC

    11 April 2008 18:57pm

    Rodney Toliver

    Hello everyone.

    I am the campus Web master at St. Philip’s College and we have completed a redesign of our Web site as recently as last year. We are in the first phase of further improving our Web site from the ground up. It has become necessary for us to look at potential content management systems for easy updating for our 70+ Web authors, workflow and other benefits. Our Web site is based strongly on ASP.NET using Master pages, content pages and user controls.

    I started off my research looking for CMS options that are based on ASP.NET. Almost every one of my selections (Ektron CMS400, Sitefinity, etc.) were cut out by the selection process. I don’t care what we select since I trust my teammates. What I am concerned about is if it matters what we choose in order to ensure .NET support.

    If there are any other .NET Web developers and masters out there, should I be worried about this? Would I be able to still make use of my ASP.NET setup even if we don’t select a CMS that is based on .NET technology? I certainly don’t want to be "stuck out" if we select a tool that will not be of benefit to the foundation of our Web site scheme.

  2. John Abbott

    Business Development Manager / Sales Executive at Decibel Technology

    14 April 2008 10:56am

    John Abbott

    Hi web master,

    Why not have a look at using 'SiteFrameWork' our CMS ?

    It is great at integrating with almost anything and is very simple to use.#

    If you get in touch with your contact details I can then put you in touch with someone who will be able to give you a rundown on what we offer.

    Kind regards

    John

    0845 899 1001 

    On 18:57:40 11 April 2008 RT wrote:

    Hello everyone.

    I am the campus Web master at St. Philip’s College and we have completed a redesign of our Web site as recently as last year. We are in the first phase of further improving our Web site from the ground up. It has become necessary for us to look at potential content management systems for easy updating for our 70+ Web authors, workflow and other benefits. Our Web site is based strongly on ASP.NET using Master pages, content pages and user controls.

    I started off my research looking for CMS options that are based on ASP.NET. Almost every one of my selections (Ektron CMS400, Sitefinity, etc.) were cut out by the selection process. I don’t care what we select since I trust my teammates. What I am concerned about is if it matters what we choose in order to ensure .NET support.

    If there are any other .NET Web developers and masters out there, should I be worried about this? Would I be able to still make use of my ASP.NET setup even if we don’t select a CMS that is based on .NET technology? I certainly don’t want to be "stuck out" if we select a tool that will not be of benefit to the foundation of our Web site scheme.

  3. vivek singh

    Consultant at Rupiz Media Ltd.

    14 April 2008 13:05pm

    Avatar-blank-50x50

    You can select the best CMS application for your business among the wide ranges of web applications introduced by www.rupizmedia.com. They can offer you a strong web development services and e-commerce website applications to make the site more interactive and user friendly.

  4. Martinus Ferrante

    Director at Digem Associates

    18 April 2008 14:24pm

    Avatar-blank-50x50

    My advice don’t ignore Ektron. We searched and searched before we landed on Ektron, a much better and faster solution. Totally integrated with .NET and it has all the functionality you need.

    You can implement yourselves, but it’s more efficient to use somebody who has done it before. We used Konnect Soft who do this sort of back end work. They did the “heavy lifting” for us migrating our site to Ektron and delivering back the .NET project within 4 weeks, which we then took over.


    On 18:57:40 11 April 2008 RT wrote:

    Hello everyone.

    I am the campus Web master at St. Philip’s College and we have completed a redesign of our Web site as recently as last year. We are in the first phase of further improving our Web site from the ground up. It has become necessary for us to look at potential content management systems for easy updating for our 70+ Web authors, workflow and other benefits. Our Web site is based strongly on ASP.NET using Master pages, content pages and user controls.

    I started off my research looking for CMS options that are based on ASP.NET. Almost every one of my selections (Ektron CMS400, Sitefinity, etc.) were cut out by the selection process. I don’t care what we select since I trust my teammates. What I am concerned about is if it matters what we choose in order to ensure .NET support.

    If there are any other .NET Web developers and masters out there, should I be worried about this? Would I be able to still make use of my ASP.NET setup even if we don’t select a CMS that is based on .NET technology? I certainly don’t want to be "stuck out" if we select a tool that will not be of benefit to the foundation of our Web site scheme.

  5. Shane Osborne

    Technical Architect at Willis Group Services Ltd

    18 April 2008 15:16pm

    Shane Osborne

    Good afternoon

    Just noticed this post regarding CMS products for Sitecore, as usual this depends on your budget but I would recommend two based on experience on using both on quite a few sites.

    The cheap solution is www.umbraco.org, however as you want workflows and more advanced features I would go sStraight to Sitecore (www.sitecore.net)

    Sitecore is a great CMS using .Net, XHTML, XML etc using advanced features you would expect in the most expensive CMS solutions.  It is used by some very large orginisations including governements.

    Anyway have a look at there site or ask me any questions on the CMS via www.punkyduck.com

    Thanks

    Shane

  6. Rodney Toliver

    ACCD-SPC

    18 April 2008 16:01pm

    Rodney Toliver

    If I had it my way, Ektron would still be an option. Unfortunately, Ektron was dropped from the list by the committee because it didn't have a "Trash" feature. This is the feature that allows you to recover material that was initially removed. This was a requirement in the selection process. As a result, Ektron was dropped.

    We share this CMS project with at least 4 other "sister" colleges. None of them build their Web site on a .NET foundation. We do.

    What I really want to know from this group if there are any risks involved with working with a CMS that is not already .NET supportive or .NET based on a Web site that is based firmly on ASP.NET 2.0. Can anyone answer that for me?

    On 14:24:57 18 April 2008 MartinusF wrote:

    My advice don’t ignore Ektron. We searched and searched before we landed on Ektron, a much better and faster solution. Totally integrated with .NET and it has all the functionality you need.

    You can implement yourselves, but it’s more efficient to use somebody who has done it before. We used Konnect Soft who do this sort of back end work. They did the “heavy lifting” for us migrating our site to Ektron and delivering back the .NET project within 4 weeks, which we then took over.


    On 18:57:40 11 April 2008 RT wrote:

    Hello everyone.

    I am the campus Web master at St. Philip’s College and we have completed a redesign of our Web site as recently as last year. We are in the first phase of further improving our Web site from the ground up. It has become necessary for us to look at potential content management systems for easy updating for our 70+ Web authors, workflow and other benefits. Our Web site is based strongly on ASP.NET using Master pages, content pages and user controls.

    I started off my research looking for CMS options that are based on ASP.NET. Almost every one of my selections (Ektron CMS400, Sitefinity, etc.) were cut out by the selection process. I don’t care what we select since I trust my teammates. What I am concerned about is if it matters what we choose in order to ensure .NET support.

    If there are any other .NET Web developers and masters out there, should I be worried about this? Would I be able to still make use of my ASP.NET setup even if we don’t select a CMS that is based on .NET technology? I certainly don’t want to be "stuck out" if we select a tool that will not be of benefit to the foundation of our Web site scheme.

  7. Martinus Ferrante

    Director at Digem Associates

    01 May 2008 12:50pm

    Avatar-blank-50x50

    .NET is of course all about productivity.

    Without support for it, there are immediately issues regarding new development, extensions, legacy support, security, costs, etc.

    The vendors know this of course, and where their product is not already .NET based, they inevitably say that this work is in the pipeline. 

    However if they are not yet there, this potentially tells a tale about their size and ability to offer the further developments and the support that you may require. The whole area is moving so fast now.

    It also raises issues for yourselves in terms of the relative openness of the system and your ability to work on and support the system (if indeed you intend to do this)

    Without knowing the details of the CMS, there are also likely to be issues in respect of your .NET based site.

    My general recommendation would against buying into a less than ideal environment.

  8. Martinus Ferrante

    Director at Digem Associates

    13 May 2008 11:46am

    Avatar-blank-50x50

    Ektron automatically saves versions which (subject to permissions) can simply be restored by the user. A version is created each time content is changed and checked back in, or each time content is published.

    So unless we are missing a trick (or feature), this functionality is taken care of? You were looking for something more than this?


    On 16:01:15 18 April 2008 RT wrote:

    If I had it my way, Ektron would still be an option. Unfortunately, Ektron was dropped from the list by the committee because it didn't have a "Trash" feature. This is the feature that allows you to recover material that was initially removed. This was a requirement in the selection process. As a result, Ektron was dropped.

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