Frequently Asked Questions Regarding R|com WebManager Pro
Q: What is WebManager Pro?
A: Our unique Content Management System is designed to perform as a fully functional website management system, as well as being an application development framework.
Q: What does WebManager Pro manage?
A: The simple answer is “web pages.” When you navigate to a website, the pages that you see are traditionally built by hand. The connection between pages is also a hand-coded process. R|com WebManager Pro eliminates the hand-coding of content. Once the site’s templates (visual presentation) have been created and installed, a user (or users) may control the content on their own – no engineering support required.
Web Manager Pro also manages files, such as PDF documents, images, videos, and other media. The entire architecture to manage a web environment is included with every deployment of WebManager Pro.
Q: What “web content management” tasks does WebManager Pro handle?
A: The primary content management tasks relate to creating or editing web pages, managing page-level meta data, defining the page hierarchy and conducting review and approval of content. Once a content editor is logged in, they may either pull the page to edit from a list in “control panel” mode, or they may navigate and edit right from each page using in-context buttons (such as edit, versions, etc.).
Q: How do I manage when pages are published?
A: WebManager Pro is very good about publishing content. The content life cycle is managed by a simple, linear workflow and a built-in scheduler that will publish and archive pages with specific dates. So, if you have a holiday sale that ends on December 31, at midnight on that date, WebManager Pro will automatically archive that page.
Q: What kind of access and permissions exist?
A: Workflow and permission rights are defined by “role permissions.” Users are assigned both a site-wide WebManager Pro “role” and assigned to a site-wide “team.” Content that is created is owned by one team – and typically one user. If a user is a member of the team owning a page, they then have permission on that page as defined by their site-wide role. The administrator has total control over role permissions, content status, and team management.
If you are creating a web page, you can create the page in “draft” mode – so only the users and teams may see it. Once you complete the page, you may need approval prior to publishing. WebManager Pro is designed so that you may push a page to a higher level of access for review and approval. This is especially useful if you have legal compliance or regulatory issues to be concerned with. It’s also terrific if you’re using interns or content editors who are not responsible for the final content on a page.
Q: How easy is it to edit content?
A: WebManager Pro makes it easy to edit content. Using a powerful content What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) editor, supports easy editing of content, including images, pictures, graphics and text. You can copy and paste from your favorite word processor.
The WebManager editor will keep track of every change you make and includes 25 levels of undo/redo per web editing session. You may also add new navigation at the click of a button, add tracking metrics, polls, discussion forums, WIKIs, Blogs, event calendars, email marketing, slide shows, and more to your site.
Q: What if I want to have private web pages?
A: WebManager Pro fully supports the ability to create multiple types of private pages. Create member pages for those who belong to a select group of clients or users. Create Subscriber pages for those who receive content from you – or integrate a third party solution, such as Constant Contact (link).
Q: What about individual revisions of pages?
A: WebManager Pro tracks every single change made to a web page. As a result, you can track the entire history of changes to any single page. You may also compare an older version to the current version, or any version to any other version. This provides remarkable power for anyone who changes content often.
Q: What is the foundation of the CMS?
A: R|com WebManager Pro is built on the Sitellite Application Framework (SAF). Essentially, this is a web application engine that manages the CMS. Unlike many CMS applications, our solution is driven be object-oriented development principles and is not an evolution of various web content consulting projects. With more than 100 programming libraries, these classes make up the core of our CMS and the SAF. Any PHP engineer will quickly understand the nature of the application and will be able to use the many reusable components for building custom functionality.
Q: What is the relationship to the defunct company Simian Systems and the CMS Sitellite?
A: R|com WebManager Pro is based on Sitellite, but is fully supported by our team, with ongoing development, support, and extensions. Our suite of apps is more extensive than what Simian ever offered, including web CMS, survey, and support apps. Anyone that has used Sitellite can easily upgrade to R|com WebManager Pro.
Q: What type of database is required?
A: WebManager Pro is typically configured with MySQL, but can be upgraded to operate with Oracle, SQL Server, and other popular databases.