GVC.SiteMaker

Summary

GVC.SiteMaker empowers ordinary people to create interactive web pages and publish complex content. It is part Wiki, part Content Management System, and part web enabled database. GVC.SiteMaker was created to meet the web-publishing needs of the faculty, students and staff of academic institutions. It is extremely flexible yet requires no training or experience with HTML. It is designed to overcome the practical difficulties that people face when trying to put their ideas onto the web. It transparently handles finding the right directory to deposit files, selection of layouts and navigation tools, and making pages and files accessible to selected visitors. Campus Technology magazine recognized GVC.SiteMaker (branded as UM.SiteMaker) as the winner of its 2006 Innovators award, in the area of "The Web".

History

GVC.SiteMaker was originally created by the University of Michigan and Apple iServices. In 2001 Global Village Consulting was brought into the project to provide further development, product support, and marketing. In 2005 the decision was made to release GVC.SiteMaker as an Open Source project. Global Village Consulting, Inc. has continued to regularly add major new functionality, with the release of Version 5.0 planned for mid 2009.

Why GVC.SiteMaker?

What sets GVC.SiteMaker apart from other web-publishing tools? Few universities have implemented web-publishing systems on a significant scale. Existing products are either too rigid to meet the diverse requirements of academic users or too complicated for ordinary people to handle. Dr. Jonathan Maybaum, a University of Michigan Professor, designed GVC.SiteMaker to align with the needs and capabilities of university faculty and staff. From its simple beginnings, GVC.SiteMaker has grown to be part Wiki, part Content Management System, and part web enabled database that supports distributed or central administrative control of websites and their supporting infrastructure.

Major Features

Form Based Page Creation

Users easily create pages by selecting which kind of page, then filling in text fields, checking boxes, etc. There are currently seven different kinds of pages ranging from a simple list of links to a database driven, fully dynamic page. GVC.SiteMaker was designed to be extensible and new kinds of pages are added regularly. A WYSIWYG HTML editor enables users from novice to expert to easily create and manage HTML content to enhance page display.

Template-Controlled Look and Feel

Users control a site's visual "style" by merely making a selection from a given list, relieving them of the burden of designing their own graphics and layout. The chosen style will determine the layout, color scheme and graphic design elements of every page of the site. A self-configuring navigation bar ensures consistent navigational links. Changes in style can be made without affecting the content or the organization of the site. If desired, the style of individual pages can be made different from the overall site style. New styles can be created by anyone with a basic knowledge of HTML and CSS.

User Controlled Access Restrictions

Authorization to access to any part of a GVC.SiteMaker website is controlled by membership in groups created and managed by the owner of a site. Group membership may include both users within and outside of the organization or be open to the public. Group membership can also be determined from groups defined on an LDAP server. GVC.SiteMaker is capable of using external authentication methods such as CoSign, WebAuth, and Shibboleth in addition to its own internally managed authentication.

Database Tables

If you can make an Excel™ spreadsheet, you can make a web enabled database with GVC.SiteMaker. GVC.SiteMaker supports four different modes of display: search, list, detail, and add. Each mode can be fully customized with its own template in addition to the page template. A rich set of data types is supported including uploaded files and calculated fields with limited relational access to data on other tables. A single set of data can be shown on multiple pages with different styles and access groups. For each page, the owner can control which rows are displayed, which fields are editable, if data can be added etc. GVC.SiteMaker allows data to be imported from and written to a flat file (e.g. CSV) to facilitate data exchange, use of existing data, and backups. Sets of tables and related pages can be exported in a single “package” allowing for the easy sharing of complex functionality within an institution or within the larger GVC.SiteMaker community.

Collaborative Content

Simple text and image sections can be used for collaborative editing, much like a Wiki. Editing access can be granted at two levels, Editors and the more restricted Contributors. Versions of a page can be saved on demand or automatically on each edit as with a Wiki.

Shared Content

Websites can combine information from a number of individual websites (in whole or in part) in a rich, hierarchical structure. This enables information from one site to be shared with another. The owners of the original website continue to maintain control over the content and access restrictions.

Simple File Management

GVC.SiteMaker simplifies file management and tracks file space quota usage. Files can be organized into folders for easy file management. Access groups control access to files just as the control access to pages. One click will send an email to anyone with a link giving direct access to download the file.

Centralized and Decentralized Management

GVC.SiteMaker models an institutions internal structure to allocate control of functionality. This control of file space quota, website creation and style creation can be as centralized or decentralized as desired. This allows the maintenance of a sense of consistency among an organization’s websites, while preserving the unit's autonomy and unique identity within the organization. Configuration and maintenance of individual websites or even pages may be shared or delegated to other users merely by adding users to the appropriate access groups.

For additional information on GVC.SiteMaker see our website at www.gvcsitemaker.com.

If you are interested in finding out what GVC.SiteMaker can do for your organization or institution, or if your would like more information please contact us.