Authoring and Editing Changes

There are two big changes slated for Content Management Server authors and editors. First, no authoring or editing will be performed in the Site Builder application. Indeed the name of that application is being changed to Site Manager, presumably to suggest its more limited, administrative role going forward. The Web Author application is being ported to the .NET-based environment, and will serve as the primary user interface through which authors and editors will perform their functions in the 2002 version.

Because authors and editors will not be working within the Site Builder application in Content Management Server 2002, the distinction between pages and postings will not be very apparent to them. This trend was begun in earlier versions of the Web Author application, where to the extent that an author or editor used the Web Author application rather than the Site Builder application to perform their tasks, the distinction was already diminished. In general, the types of users who are aware of the somewhat subtle distinctions between pages and postings, and between folders and channels, will be substantially reduced in the 2002 version. Because these distinctions have lead to confusion in the past, this should be viewed as a step in the right direction.

Content Management Server 2002 also introduces the Office Connector for Microsoft Word. The Office Connector will allow content contributors to author and edit their content in Microsoft Word XP, use the Office Connector to preview their content, and then publish their content directly into the workflow of a Content Management Server Web site. The published content might be an entire Word document or just a portion of it. Depending on the configuration of Word-enabled placeholders in a particular Content Management Server template, it may be possible to upload attachments, in-line graphics, and links from Word documents as well.

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