Macromedia's
Contribute is not
a true content management system(cms).
Macromedia
Contribute, although having a low cost, does not truly empower the end user to
take control of their content. The same editing capabilities can be used in DreamWeaver.
Contributes main selling point is its robust editing tool, however when looking
at Contribute in terms of the features you would expect from a CMS you can begin
to see its shortcomings. Mainly,
the shortcomings with Contribute stem from the fact that it is built to edit small
static websites rather than editing database driven websites with 1000's of pages. No
Database Integration:
When a site is changed in the CMS system the site
online should reflect the changes in the database. For instance, using USWA.org
as an example, If I were to add a category under workplaces and add content in
it: - The
category would automatically appear in the dropdown menu
-
The content would automatically be linked on the left-hand side
- The
content would be visible to the site search engine
- The
content would appear in any dynamic lists throughout the site
Making
the same change in Contribute would involve editing every template, which would
link to that page to add the page in. Imagine the same scenario with taking a
page offline, now with Contribute I have to edit the templates which link to that
page and take out the links. Put quite simply, a Contribute site isn't stored
in a database, and thus can't tap into a database for information about which
pages are offline, online, site structure, etc. This creates the potential for
site flaws and dead links throughout the site because it leaves the site integrity
up to a manual process. Security:
Contribute
does not adequately address workflow in their security model. They have an "optional
email review." With Savvior CMS you will set up responsibilities designating
different people in charge of different areas of the site, also your end users
won't be able to make any sort of change to the site without going through the
approval process (unless you grant their user group access to by pass the process
for that change, in that particular area) For a truly enterprise content management
system you have to keep the emails generated from the system as granular as possible
so that system administrators aren't flooded with emails. Content
Duplication:
Since Savvior CMS is a database
driven application content created in Savvior CMS can be reused throughout the
site without having to copy/paste or recreate the content. Edit the source file
and your changes will be reflected throughout any instance of that content. Mobility:
No
software to install on your machine, edit your site through SSL on any PC with
Internet Explorer. The application will scale with your business, no need to install
additional copies when you add more users, just add them through the administrative
interface, get them their user/pass combo and they are ready to use the application. | 
