Website Specification
The content management system is required to handle all areas of the website and should have as much flexibility built in to it as possible.
Please see the attachment “page creation.html” for a list of features and options that will be required when a new page is being created.
The creation of pages should be simple.
When creating a page, an area should exist where the administrator can type the page text. The text would then automatically be converted to HTML.
It should be possible to view and directly edit the HTML.
Options should exist so that a page could be saved but not published or saved and published.
It should be possible to edit and delete both new and previously created pages.
Options available for pages should include whether or not to place it on the main menu and on the Site Map.
The Administrator should be able to decide the location of a particular page on the Menu and the Site Map.
This could be done by showing the full Main Menu in the administration area with function to move pages up and down the Menu tree.
Only when a page is published should be viewable to the outside world.
All pages should contain the Header, Main menu, Footer, Right Hand side (See below) and any “Other Menus” selected. (See point 6 below)
The Header, Main menu, Footer, Right Hand side and any Sub Menus should be shown using “Server side Includes” or other method as appropriate.
Any change to any of the templates for headers, footers, menus etc should be reflected on all pages using them.
Frames should not be used
Other facilities for pages should be the Meta Tags for that page – Title, Description and Keywords.
A relevant reference to http://www.w3.org should also exist in the Header of each page.
Another Title in addition to the Meta Tag Title would be required for each page. This additional Title would be the Title shown for a particular page under the “Company Articles” section (see point 8 below)
The system should allow the administrator the ability to decide the name each page created.
The ability to create and store pages within certain Folders should exist. For Example, We may have pages which talk about Fruit. We would want the URL to these pages to be something like Http://www.ABC.com/fruit/apples.html. For pages talking about Cakes, we would want it to be Http://www.ABC.com/cakes/doughnuts.html and so on.
The URL of all pages created should have a HTML or PHP extension on them. No pages should have a “?” in their URL.
It should be possible to upload graphics, documents and other files to a folder and then display them on web pages.
The Menu System
The Menu creation system would be a big feature within the Content Management System.
The feature to create and name multiple menus is important.
It should be possible to create menus, decide which sections of the site they will appear on, and be able to have several different menus on the same page. See below.
The Main Menu will run down along the left hand side of every page in the site.
The menu system will be driven by the Content Management system.
When a page is written in the administration area we should be able to decide where in the main menu the page will appear.
There would need to be an option as to whether or not a page will appear in the Main menu.
Not all pages will appear in the main menu. They may only appear in “other Menus” see point 6 below.
The main menu should be able to expand in to sub-menus.
For example: A heading on the main menu might be Fruit.
When a user moves their mouse to the item Fruit, the menu should expand to show: Apples, Bananas, and Plums.
When a user then moves their mouse over Apples, the menu should expand further to show: Red apples, Green apples and Pink apples.
It should be possible to add new Headings and Sub Headings to the Main Menu and to move pages from one location on the menu to another.
The Site Map
The Site Map page should be a “mirror” of the Main Menu but in a different layout. (see http://www.example.co.uk/common/content_map/index.html)
When a page is added to the Main Menu, it should be automatically shown on the Site Map. The Title shown on the Site Map should be the “Friendly Page Name” (see 1. Naming and Location) in the attached “page creation.html” file
As the Site Map will “mirror” of the Main Menu, each Main Menu page should be shown on the Site Map in the same order it is shown on the Main Menu and under the appropriate Headings and Sub- Heading.
Additional Menus
See the attached BS2.jpg file
The “Other Menus” would display each page on that menu showing its “Page Friendly Name” as a hypertext link to each page.
These “Other Menus” may be shown on any page above or below the page content.
“Other Menus” can be displayed on a page in addition to the Main Menu (which is displayed on all pages)
When a page is created through the Content Management System, an option should be available to add it to an existing and / or new “Other Menu”.
Other Menus would be needed to link individual pages within the same category.
A different “Other Menu” would be required for each different section of the site.
For example – on www.example.co.uk there is a main Menu item under “Business Solutions” called “Business Start up” (see BS1.jpg). When you click on “Business start up” you can see that at the top of the page a new on-page menu appears with “Starting your business and how we can help”, “Preparing your business plan” etc. (see BS2.jpg).
This new menu links all of the “Business Start-up” pages to each other and is available on every page within the “Business Start-up” category. (See BS2.jpg).
It should be possible for any one page to have up to three different Menus on it. The main Menu and up to two additional menus. See http://www.example.co.uk/content/forums_bus_startup/index.html (see BS2.jpg).
The Content Management System should allow the administrator to decide where each “Other Menu” is positioned on the page. Either above or below the page content.
Once a page is part of an “Other Menu” that Menu should automatically update itself to include the new page and reflect this change on every page which uses that particular Menu
The opposite would happen if a page was removed
The Other Menus would display each page on that menu showing its “Page Friendly Name” as a hypertext link to each page.
Company Articles
(See BS1.jpg)
As well being displayed in the relevant Menu System(s), all published pages would also be displayed under the “Company Articles” section on the Home Page.
When a new page is published it would appear in the number 1 position.
Each page shown under Company Articles would display its “Articles Title” Please see the attachment “page creation.html”
The “Articles Title” for each page would also be a hypertext link to that actual page
When a further page is published, all other published pages would move down one place, so that the new page would go to the number one position and the previous number one article would become number two etc.
The page previously at the number ten position would drop off the Home Page.
On the Home page there would be a “More” link to another page where all other pages not appearing in positions 1-10 on the Home Page would be listed and viewed.
These pages would be grouped in batches of 25 with another “More” link pointing to the next 25 pages visible at the bottom. (See “Firm News” on the Home Page” of www.example.co.uk for an example.
The date on which each page (article) is published should be shown next to the Title
There would also be a “back” link to get back to the previously viewed 25 articles.
The flash graphic/ or other animation
The flash graphic should be striking and impressive. It should also convey the message that the site is clear, helpful and friendly.
The graphic could be a sequence which shows a person surrounded and being harassed by people (sellers) trying to sell them something.
It could then go on to show the logo float in from the right like a cloud causing all of the sellers to fall down.
The final sequences would show the cloud changing in to a professional looking, friendly man who warmly greats the harassed man and they shake hands.
The flash Graphic should only run once and then become static. It would only run on the Home Page. On all other pages, it should just should the static final image.
The logo
The logo could be the site name sitting on a cloud (in line with 1 above) or something else
Each RSS article should scroll along the page.
It should be visible on every page in the site.
The last 5 RSS newsfeed items should be shown on the Home Page
Other RSS newsfeed items should be shown in a similar way the Company Articles as above through a “More” link on the Home Page and RSS Newsfeed pages.
A BBC.co.uk news feed would probably be used. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3223484.stm#mysite for creating specific news feed content from the BBC.
The footer will contain some basic information about the website and will be the same for all pages.
The Footer would contain the “Printer this page” and “Email this page” function. See http://www.example.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=17876&d=101&h=126&f=127 for an example
It would also contain some Google tracking Software.
Changing the Footers for all of the pages in the site should be able to be done by simply changing the Footer template.
The right hand side section would contain some graphics and also the Site Search function.
The Right hand side of the page would be the same for all pages in the site.
Changing the right hand side section for all of the pages in the site should be able to be done by simply changing the right hand side section template.
Other Search Functions
Search functions for Google and Yahoo would also be needed on a designated page
An area where users can submit articles, comments and suggestions (can be a forum)
A site which is compatible with both Internet Explorer and Firefox (as many versions as possible)
The site should comply with http://www.w3.org/ current standards
Style sheet
A Style sheet would be required to govern the format of Fonts, Bullet points, colours and so on.