Blogs - August 2008
Below are blog entries for August 2008.
2008 Cascade Server User's Conference Updates
By Uran Piedra
Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 4:15pm
The 2008 Cascade Server User's Conference is less than a month away, and we're working hard to make sure it will be a huge success. In our effort to do so, we'd like to inform you of a few important updates regarding this year's conference.
While we're excited about having 109 attendees registered for the conference, we understand that scheduling conflicts and other unforeseen circumstances may prevent some of our registrants from being able to attend. However, we wanted to let you know that after Monday, September 1st, 2008, we will not be able to refund cancellations for conference attendees.
Earlier this summer, we sent an email to all User's Conference registrants, asking if they'd like to be included on a shared list of attendees. If you missed out on it the first time around, but you would like to be included and receive a copy of the list, email your contact information to Marketing Assistant Uran Piedra at uran.piedra@hannonhill.com.
If you haven't signed up for the sessions you'd like to attend, or if you're just interested in checking out what we have to offer, be sure to visit the User's Conference page on our website.
We look forward to seeing you in a few weeks!
Category
- Events
Emory University's New Site Featured on Hannon Hill's Updated Real World Examples Page
By Uran Piedra
Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 4:30pm
Here at Hannon Hill, it's no secret that we're very proud of Cascade Server and how our clients have used it to power their dynamic websites. The most recent example of an impressive Cascade Server implementation is the launch of Emory University's completely redesigned Web site.
Motivated by a desire to increase the University's web presence, and unite all units of the college under one content management system, Emory began the research process a year ago, selected Cascade Server as their CMS of choice in May, and launched their new site last night. Boasting numerous impressive features, Emory's newly revamped site includes an emergency alert system, a new and improved campus news and events display, a more user-friendly information architecture, and a streamlined look-and-feel across the site. In addition, the University has aimed to improve use of its site by targeting content to specific audiences via the use of dynamic news regions and RSS feeds.
"Emory University's recent redesign provides a first-class example of the versatility of Cascade Server, and the expansive capabilites to create and manage vibrant, user-centric websites," notes Amy Liu, Senior Sales Engineer at Hannon Hill. "We think Emory demonstrates a fantastic real-world application of Cascade Server."
In the spirit of this exemplary redesign, we thought it'd be fitting to share a few other client instances that illustrate just how dynamic Cascade Server is, and how confident we are in our CMS' abilities. In doing so, however, we realized that we had too many great examples for just one blog post. So instead of showing you here, we've updated our Real World Examples page, which provides links to clients who are using all of Cascade's versatile tools to power elements of their sites such as blogs, calendars, press releases, newsrooms, course catalogs, and RSS feeds (just to name a few). Take a look, and see our flagship CMS product in action!
You'll also have the opportunity to share your instance of Cascade with us at our annual User's Conference, and to hear from some of our other notable clients in our user-driven sessions. So if you're interested in attending and haven't signed up yet, be sure to register before our September 1st deadline!
Category
- News
Creating Dynamic Navigation with Cascade Server
By Morgan Griffith, Uran Piedra
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 2:50pm
Dynamic navigation is important to the success of any website. By providing a logical and graphical representation of a website’s hierarchy, dynamic navigation tools allow websites to be more intuitive to visitors. In addition to helping visitors find their way around your website, dynamic navigation is also easy to manage on the back end.
In Cascade Server, dynamic navigation menus are created through the use of index blocks, which are blocks that index the content of a specified folder or portion of the site. Since index blocks dynamically update content, whenever new content is created or content is modified, the changes will automatically be reflected in the navigation across your site.
In Cascade Server, there are six main types of dynamic navigation:
Menus: - Navigation menus are created to provide visitors with links to different areas of the site. They can simply link to the site's primary areas, include more in-depth sub-levels of pages, or even expand as visitors navigate deeper into the site.
Breadcrumbs: - Dynamic breadcrumbs show a backwards trail of links, from the current page back to the homepage, which help visitors understand where they are within a site's hierarchy.
Previous/Next: - Previous/Next navigation links allow visitors to quickly and easily access related pages without having to click back through a directory; this allows for a more cohesive and streamlined experience when viewing content.
Recent Pages: - Adding a Recent Pages list to your site provides a way to present recently added content, such as blog posts or press releases, in a summarized and easily viewable format.
Site Map: - Site maps provide an aggregated and comprehensive outline of all pages within a site, so visitors may quickly find and navigate to pages they're looking for, or browse the content of your site.
Site Index: - A site index provides an alphabetical listing of every page on a site, and links to those pages as well, enabling visitors to quickly find exactly they are looking for.
All of the aforementioned dynamic navigation elements are easy to set up in Cascade Server. For example, to create Breadcrumbs, a type of dynamic navigation that typically appears on every page (except the index), simply create an index block with the following options:
- Folder to Index - Select the main folder for your site.
- Depth of Index - Choose a large number (100 or higher) so that the breadcrumbs will work regardless of how large your site grows.
- Max Rendered Assets - Again, choose a large number (100 or higher) so that the breadcrumbs will work regardless of how large your site grows.
- Indexed Asset Types - Select Regular Content and User Metadata.
- Rendering Behavior - Select Start at the current page and include its folder hierarchy.
- Page XML - Select Do not render page XML inline.
- Block XML - Select Do not render block XML inline.
- Indexed Asset Content - For breadcrumbs, only user-supplied metadata is needed.
- Other Indexed Information - Do not check any options.
- Sort Method - Select folder order.
These options will create a usable index block that can then be plugged into a page region at the template, configuration set, or page level. Breadcrumbs typically don't change throughout a site, so it's easiest to go ahead and add it at the template level, so that it will appear on all pages.
Additionally, Cascade allows you to style the results rendered by these index blocks by applying an XSL stylesheet. **Note -- If you are already using and/or demoing Cascade Server, examples of stylesheets are included with the system and can be found in: /common/stylesheets/index
Category
- Resources
93 Attendees already registered for 2008 User’s Conference
By Morgan Griffith
Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 10:45am
With 93 attendees already registered, this year’s Cascade Server User’s Conference is sure to be our best yet! Held this year at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center in Atlanta, GA on September 22-23, we’re thoroughly excited about the great facility, the conference sessions, and all of the other highlights we have in store for all our attendees this year.
As we've announced over the past few weeks on our Team Blog, accommodations at the conference site are sold out. However, we do have availability at a hotel within walking distance of the GTHCC. So if you’re interested in attending the conference, it’s not too late! We'll keep day-rate registration available until September 1st. If you want to attend, sign up for Day-Rate registration on our site, and call Marketing Associate Sam Beresford for help and assistance with setting up your accommodations. He can be reached at (678) 904-6900 x191.
We look forward to seeing many new and familiar faces in September!
Category
- Events
2008 User's Conference - Updates & Info
By Sam Beresford
Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 3:00pm
As many of you may have noticed (by visiting the User's Conference section of our site), we've completely sold out of rooms at the Georgia Tech Hotel & Conference Center, the site of our 2008 Cascade Server User's Conference. But fear not! For those still interested in attending, registration for day rate attendees is open through September 1st. Just visit the User's Conference sign-up page, register as a day rate attendee (which covers conference admission, breakfast, lunch, snacks, and our Monday night open house dinner), and then give me a call (see below). We've made arrangements to secure rooms at a hotel within walking distance of the GTHCC, and I can put you in touch with them.
For those of you interested in getting a head start, we'll be sending out a conference attendee list later this month, which will include the names, organizations, and contact information for attendees who chose to be included. It'll be great for those of you who'd like to catch up with colleagues from last year's Conference or make some new connections in anticipation of this year's. If you'd like to be included on this list and receive it, please email your contact information to Uran Piedra at uran.piedra@hannonhill.com.
As always, let me know if you have any questions or need more information, and we look forward to seeing you in Atlanta on September 21-23!
Sam Beresford
sam.beresford@hannonhill.com
678-904-6900 x191
Category
- Events
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