Then some of us got smart and did our development on a separate server instead of on the live site. We wrote a few procedures and some code to automate certain aspects of site update and deployment--perhaps a few quickly cobbled Perl and FTP scripts to move content from the development to production servers. Although it was still fairly rough, most of the time it was manageable.

Take One Giant Step

Now jump forward a year or two--a few generations in Internet time--and site complexity has exploded. Dynamic content of all kinds is assembled on the fly from back-end databases and middle-tier application servers, coded in multiple scripts and languages, and served via Web server farms distributed across the country and around the world. The number of hits has increased exponentially, and the content has changed too. Now, your humble Web site is a portal and a place of business--not just a showcase or information repository. A broken link or bad code isn't just embarrassing; it has an impact on the bottom line. Your site content must be updated instantly and constantly, and the site must be up all the time--with zero tolerance for errors and bad information, from any source. Perhaps a product manager, someone in corporate communications or both must approve changes before they're posted to the site. It's likely that you're handling purchases and other transactional content online. As your sites become more critical and complex, you need tools to automate management--and you need them now. Enter the new generation of Web site content-management products--a seasoned batch of tools and systems ready to help you meet the challenges of the brave new Web world.

There's a wide range of products out there, and while they overlap somewhat in functionality, the phrase Web site content management means different things to different people. For some, content management is really asset management--that is, a system to keep track of media assets, such as graphic elements, text and video.

More commonly, however, Web site content management refers to a set of integrated tools that helps manage some portion of the whole range of site development and deployment tasks. Although no single product can do everything, many offer deployment/publishing, versioning and rollback, site design and page authoring tools, link checking, access control, change routing and notification, and site-visualization tools among their features.

Key Features

Versioning is a key feature for content management. Versioning can be done at the element level or at the page level and can include version tracking and control. If a graphic designer updates your logo or changes the text style on your pages, for instance, you may want to go back to the former version easily, on one page or the whole site. Products from InfoOffice, Interwoven and Running Start, among others, offer the ability to perform element-level versioning. Page-level versioning is a more common feature, and some systems let you easily roll back an individual element, one or more pages, or the entire site to a previous state, should that become necessary. Some of the content-management systems include or integrate with a full source-code control system and support check-in and checkout features to help manage versioning.

Carry All the Content

As Web sites become more complex, the boundary between traditional programming-based IT projects and Web site management gets increasingly blurred, and it pays to have a content-management system that can handle a full range of content types, from graphics to Java code. Make sure the product you select supports all the content types you use (or expect to use), including current and emerging standards--from ASP (Active Server Pages) to XML, from Perl to Enterprise JavaBeans. And don't forget about traditional HTML, GIFs and JPEGs. eBusiness Technologies' Dynabase, Fatwire's Update Engine, and solutions from Inktomi Corp. and Vignette Corp. handle a particularly large range of media types.

Another key area is work flow and approval routing. If your site is like most, the business-critical nature of the information presented requires some level of approval and authorization before changes can be deployed to the live site. That approval may need to go through multiple people who are in different locations and use configurations depending on the content being changed and the content's location on the site. Trying to keep track of all this manually is a recipe for disaster. Automated approval routing lets you efficiently send all proposed changes to the appropriate people for evaluation and tracks the status of each change. Some systems will integrate cleanly with your in-house e-mail system, adding another level of much-needed automation. Some of the high-end systems will model your entire Web site work flow, from start to finish, in addition to enabling basic-change approval routing and authorization. Fatwire's Update Engine and products from Interwoven and Ncompass offer useful site-visualization tools.

If deployment is a key portion of your management needs (and for most enterprises, it is), make absolutely sure the content-management software supports your file system and environment. If you deploy your content across a VPN (virtual private network) using FTP, for instance, your solution must support those options. In addition, a product that can automatically deploy content to multiple sites is a must if your environment involves more than one live site. Some vendors, like Inktomi, specialize specifically in the publishing/deployment end of content management, particularly for large, complex deployments. And in these days of Web publishing to multiple form factors, such as PDAs and Web-enabled phones, make sure the content-management system you choose will seamlessly manage and deploy content to as many platforms as you need to support. Among the platforms to keep in mind are standard Web site, WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), Web clipping and so on.

Somewhat less common, but valuable to many organizations, are management tools to aid with site design and maintenance. Integrated site-visualization and content-creation tools, such as those you'll find with products from Allaire Corp. and NetObjects, could be a plus for some organizations. This kind of functionality is still the exception rather than the rule, however, with many shops using standalone, third-party tools or even relying on whiteboards and text editors. But most products provide at least some level of support for or integration with the top content-creation tools.

On the back end of most sites are essential tasks, such as link checking, performance monitoring, and statistical logging and reporting. These also are still commonly performed via third-party tools. Look for full-featured Web site content-management packages, such as NetObjects' Collage, to integrate an increasing amount of site creation and maintenance functionality. The more Web operations you can integrate effectively, the more efficiently and problem free your Web site will run.

All Together Now

Another, more subjective area to examine is whether the product you're evaluating has true integration between the components or whether it's a conglomeration of individual, disconnected pieces. If you want true start-to-finish content management, you'll need something that's more than a collection of parts thrown "shovelware style" into a box--even if those individual parts are sold as "best of breed." Integration is a key factor here so make sure your solution actually will simplify your operations.

The best way to do this is to get some hands-on time with the product or read a good review before you buy. When evaluating products in this area, the goal is seamless movement and clean work flow between various functions, with a simple, unified user interface.

For these products, one key point of differentiation that is not susceptible to capture in a features chart is the degree to which the product will need to be customized. Some of the low- to middle-end Web site content-management products are bought off the shelf and are designed to fit into most corporate environments and sites with a minimum of modification. If you have a very large, complex site or a network of sites, however, it may be necessary to move into the top tier of content-management platforms. This is where you'll find Interwoven's Team Site, InfoOffice 4.0 (from InfoOffice) and similar products that may require extensive customization. But after all the customization is complete, your solution will fit your site like a glove.

On the other end of the scale are products like those from Macromedia, which are generally used out of the box.

You want a Web site content-management system that simplifies your operations to the greatest degree possible. Gone are the days when enterprises can rely on a canny Webmaster to be the central point of management for an entire site or series of sites. Hand-cobbled content and quick-and-dirty Perl scripts simply won't cut it anymore for sites of any real size and complexity--it's time to use tools that reflect the current and evolving state of Web site creation and operation. The alternative is an out-of-control site, unhappy customers and users, and a frazzled, overworked Web staff.

Send your comments on this article to Richard Hoffman at rhoffman@nwc.com.