Introduction to Web Authoring
&
Content Management System
What is a web – based application
A web – based application is any
application that uses a website as the
interface (front – end) and a webserver
A website is the collection of web pages,
images, scripts, videos and multimedia
files hosted on one or multiple servers
Users access the application using
standard web browser
Web Authoring
A category of software that enables the user to
develop a Web site in a desktop publishing format.
It generates the required HTML code for the pages
and is able to switch back and forth (in varying
degrees) between the page layout and the HTML
code.
Examples
Dreamweaver, MS Front Page, Joomla, Drupal,
Wordpress etc
Web Authoring Cont.
Before Web authoring, web designers would have to
write pages using HTML code. While this is very
powerful, it is slower than using authoring packages
It is possible to save word processed documents as web
pages. However this is not recommended as they
produce large amounts of codes which are not required
or desirable.
Feature of Web authoring app.
What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) interface
is used to generate webpages. Though it works well,
sometimes, they don’t display as you want them to.
Templates: Can be set up to ensure that the main
features on the web pages are the same throughout
the site. E.g. Banner, side menu
Wizards: Most have a number of wizards to help do
things such as setting up site, specifying FTP etc
Multimedia: Web pages can contain text, images,
animation, videos and sound files
Feature of Web authoring app.
Cont.
CGI web forms: They can also contain common
gateway interface CGI forms which enable people to
fill in their details using a form on a webpage and
submitting the completed form to the website.
The common gateway interface (CGI) is a standard
way for a Web server to pass a Web user's request to an
application program and to receive data back to forward
to the user
Feature of Web authoring app.
Cont.
Hyperlinks : makes it possible to set up hyperlinks
which when clicked takes the user to pages or other
websites.
Site Manager. This is a tool that enables the overall
structure of the site to be updated
Advantages of Web Authoring
Application
Uses What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG)
interface
Many of the features are available in more commonly
used office applications
Can set up and use templates to ensure consistency
between webpages
Can set up hyperlinks and hotspots
Can insert multimedia into webpages
Site manager facility can be used to update links
within the website
Disadvantages of Web authoring
software
Not intuitive to just pick up and use, normally needs
some training and / or technical knowledge
Need a basic understanding of HTML to overcome any
formatting problems or issues that may arise
Doesn’t come as part of a general office suite and can
be quite expensive if purchased
What is a web browser, website
A web browser (commonly referred to as a browser) is
a software application for retrieving, presenting, and
interacting with web content.
Website files are usually enclosed is a folder and stored
in a web server.
The files includes a beginning file called the home
page.
The site may be owned by:
1. An individual or group of persons
2. Company (organizations)
Website Continuation
Every website has a web address or “domain name” that is
used to reference the site.
The domain name is unique i.e. no two websites can have
the same domain name.
Domain Name System (DNS) translate domain names to
internet protocol (IP) addresses
Examples of domain names are:
1. google.com
2. ebay.com
3. Mysite.net
4. bbt.net etc.
Website Cont.
The Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and the
Extensible HTML (XHTML) are used to write the
website files.
Webpages are accessed and transported with the
Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) and the Secure
HTTP (SHTTP) to provide security and privacy for
users of webpage content
The pages of a website can usually be accessed from a
simple Uniform Resource Locator (URL) called the
web address. (eg www.ait.edu.gh)
Classification of website
Websites can be classified as either static or dynamic
1. Static website: A static website is one that has web
pages stored on the server in the format that is sent
to a client web browser. They usually display the
same information to all visitors.
2. Dynamic website: A dynamic website is one that
changes or customizes itself frequently and
automatically.
Categories of websites
Search engine, directories, yellow pages and portals
Information websites: these sites are dedicated to
providing information either free or paid
Blogs and Online diaries: created by individuals who
write on topics of interest.
Company website: about companies businesses, goals
and objectives
Forums: Platform that promote interactions among
users
Social networking: platform for people who share
similar interest to interact.
File sharing: public or private sharing of digital data or
space
Content Management Systems
Web content management systems (cms) enable large
numbers of nontechnical content contributors to
update and create new web pages with ease within the
context of large, enterprise-wide web sites that may
contain thousands or even millions of pages of
content.
There are a variety of free content management
application (Wordpress, joomla, drupal, frontpage,
dreamweaver etc.) around. We would use wordpress.
There are also free web servers (WAMP & XAMPP) we
will use XAMPP
Content management cont.
CMS provide functionalities to handle large amounts
of content:
Creation of new content
Editing of existing content
Organisation and management of content
Presentation of content
CMS cont.
CMS helps in maintaining, controlling, changing and
reassembling the content on a web-page. The user
interacts with the system at the front through a normal
web browser.
From there s/he can edit, control parts of the layout,
maintain and add to the web-pages without any
programming or HTML skills.
Please visit www.google.com and search for XAMPP.
Download and install XAMPP for either windows or
Linus as may apply to computer.
Note that appache in XAMPP use port 80. If you have
already installed an application (Skype, oracle etc.)that
is using port 80, then you need to change the port in
XAMPP.
Download wordpress from google search above.
We will go through the various installations next week
