Post Archive
› November 11, 2002
Macromedia Contribute
We have been discussing this pre-release last week, now the info, details, demos, etc are available. It's Macromedia's website content management system: Contribute. Anyone who is/will test out the trial version is encouraged to leave their thoughts as a comment, let us know what you think.
Comments
1. November 11, 2002 03:34 PM
2. November 11, 2002 05:38 PM
3. November 11, 2002 08:34 PM
4. November 12, 2002 06:57 AM
funkydung Posted…
Downloaded it, installed it and worked with it. I set myself up as an administrator and my colleague as a user. Worked fine. Is it XML based? I can’t tell.
I like the permissions you can set as it’s similar to Dreamweaver but you can turn off things like deprecated tags so content producers can’t screw up the code. You can also prevent them from uploading huge files. For the cash it seems pretty good.
It would certainly be a useful solution here at the Open University as we are yet to get a decent content management system.
5. November 12, 2002 06:59 AM
Nate Posted…
Ok, I installed it at home on my ancient win 2k box (barely meets system requirements), installing had no problems, runs like a charm. On initial look, I ran through various features very quickly but was excited to find what I was looking for: plenty of lockdown controls. For instance, you can allow only text to be edited, you can permit no styling, you can control how paragraphs and line breaks are rendered–so over zelous clients can’t inadvertanly ruin your layout design. Another well thought out feature, “key file” creation: elminates having to send complicated connectivity instructions–just create a key file (which can be directly emailed, or saved to disk) and they can double-click to gain access according to the rights you set up in the key. You don’t have to install any weird server components. I’m very interested in this product, testing will continue, more reports will be noted here.6. November 12, 2002 07:04 AM
Nate Posted…
Oh, another thing–at 16mg, the installer can’t exactly be emailed, but it seems like the folks at MM went to some real effort to keep the overhead as low as possible–which is greatly appreciated.7. November 12, 2002 11:47 AM
dclay Posted…
So what is it going to cost?8. November 12, 2002 12:48 PM
Nate Posted…
dclay, from the FAQ:Macromedia Contribute’s introductory price is $99. The English version of Macromedia Contribute will be available for purchase in early December, 2002.
The Mac os X version should be available next year. It seems like a very reasonable price, especially since no server software purchase is needed to use it.
9. November 12, 2002 08:38 PM
James Posted…
I think the price is right and its ease of use for brochureware or very simple sites will make a good fit here.10. November 12, 2002 11:06 PM
Erik Posted…
There’s no such thing as a web application or web site that doesn’t rely on a stand alone app...it’s called a browser. heh ;-). Glad to hear folks are liking Contribute so far, I’m enjoying the discussion. We worked hard to make y’all happy with it, I’ll be looking for suggestions for improvement...though it will most likely continue to be a desktop application for the forseeable future ;-). Cheers, -e Erik Larson Sr Product Manager Macromedia Contribute11. November 14, 2002 10:00 AM
Dale Lature Posted…
OUr site uses ASP pages and most of the copy on the pages gets it from a database where a record for each page exists that includes main page copy, left sidebar, right sidebar, etc. Does this product work with such a setup? What are the advantages of using this rather than a database?12. November 14, 2002 10:19 AM
Robert Occhialini Posted…
Dale this product is not designed out of the box to work with pages that draw content from a database. However, it will work with ASP pages that have static content in them. There is no advantage assuming that you are already using a WYSIWYG editor to allow your non-technical content authors to edit content.13. November 16, 2002 05:30 AM
Tim Parkin Posted…
I’m still unsure about the whole efficacy of a thick client editing content and presentation in one place. I thought one of the big ideas is to separate content from presentation. In this way you can easily re-skin a site and the content will be re-fitted back in with ease. Not that I don’t think it’s clever, I just don’t think it’s the right way to do things. At the end of the day, this is a cheap dreamweaver for clients (and it’s quite complex aswell, a lot of non-computer literate)14. December 3, 2002 08:59 AM
TheCEO Posted…
My thoughts is that: 1–yes it is clever 2–could frontpage do this 3–a cheap dreamweaver 4–can complex sites use this 5–what are the alternatives/competition15. December 10, 2002 07:17 PM
W! Posted…
Have in installed Contribute demo and am currently testing it to manage a law school web site. So far it has features I’ve been looking for like locking down pages and roll-back. If you’re in a dept that won’t spend the cash for a real CMS, it’s a good alternative I think.16. April 22, 2003 11:21 AM
Norm Posted…
It's a wonderful tool that I suggest to all my clients. They can manage their own site (save money) andit has no negative effect on search engine positioning (if used correctly). Kudos to Macromedia for making MY life easier.17. April 22, 2003 11:34 AM
Robert Occhialini Posted…
Why would it have an effect on search engine positioning? This statement doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Do the tools you use to build a site normally affect your positionaing on search engines?18. October 30, 2003 09:52 AM
Alyson Keighley Posted…
I suggested it to one of my clients as a way of slightly changing content every now and again instead of asking me! He loves it but unfortunately strange buttons keep appearing that don't match my initial design and that link to new pages with unstyled text. Think I'm going to have to take him to one side...
huphtur Posted…
not even gonna touch it. its a stand alone app. (this should start the discussion heh)