Features

• Link Management: The environment includes the capability to manage links between globally developed pages so that they function properly when integrated into a single site. Rather than developers relying on their memory or notes about agreed upon structure, the system maintains all link and webpage names. The idea is to have a central repository of all site links developed within an organization. Additionally, this repository tracks links between pages and automatically detects changes that cause dead links. Frequently, modifying existing pages can destroy incoming links to that page from elsewhere on the site. Broken links make websites appear poorly maintained. This feature protects against this problem by repairing dead links or alerting developers, as necessary. Another capability supported by link management is the power to automatically create a site map. Site maps are of immense use to both developers and visitors to the site and can be easily updated from the link repository to reflect changes.

• Traffic-Based Link Suggestion: This feature tracks information about the users navigation patterns. It tracks how a user who come to a certain page hop on to other pages. And with the help of a collaborative filtering tool tries to find a pattern among the information these users seek. This information provides a valuable resource when setting internal links within a large site. It provides handy input to the link manager thus enabling more efficient integeration of the web site and drastically improving a visitors experience with the site.

• Content-Based Link Suggestion: When new content is added onto a site, this feature will generate a list of suggested links to make the developer aware of other sites within the website having similar or related content. This feature will enable the developer to link to sites which will help enhance their site.
• Content Update Reminder: This feature of our application keeps track of when the page was last updated and when it is due for revision. And if the promised changes are not incorporated it sends an email message/reminder out to the author or person in charge of the page notifying in this regard. Based on the nature of the information - highly volatile vs. stagnant, the author could choose how often he/she would like to be reminded of pending updates.

• User Email Alert: As a user sensitive feature, users of the website will be able to specify whether they wish to subscribe to email updates for specific areas of interest within the website. This will allow the visitors to be aware of recent changes in online information in their areas of interest. Another use of this capability would be in the collaborative environment. This feature can be customized to alert less-active group members of revisions/updates within the "private" collaborative environment.
  

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• Access Control / Permission: When many people are working on a particular website or document, it is important to keep track of who is working on a site, as well as who should not have access to the given site, when it is in a private workspace. "Access control" identifies group members with the right to access and perform changes. Individuals can also be given limited permissions, where they have the right to access but can only leave comments (annotation) on a particular web document. "Access control" prevents those without permissions from accessing the given sites. To publish the site, the document must be copied from the workspace to the "public" domain.

• Version control: The application maintains copies from each stage of development for every document. This means that a distinct copy of each version of a given document is saved. The application keeps track of who creates new versions and of what changes are made to the document. This guards against accidentally overwriting a valuable earlier version of a document with a new version differing substantially enough from the previous version as to destroy important elements. With this robust version control, rolling back to a previous version of a webpage or even of an entire website is quick and will always be possible.

• Backup: In addition to the version control mentioned previously, the application manages regular backups of all stored documents to any location on the network to provide further protection from accidental data loss.

• Quality Control: When many users are involved with Web development, it is difficult to make sure that everyone is following the expected style guide or developing in a professional manner. This optional feature requires completed sites to be reviewed and approved by an editor who will determine if a site is ready to be published.

• Labor Tracking: The purpose of "labor tracking" is to log who is "checking out" particular documents and for how long. This log will allow work group members to see who is editing a particular site and who is responsible for the latest revisions. The "time tracking" portion of "labor tracking" can be used as a gauge for administration. This tally on the amount of time and labor a document is requiring can be used as a guide to optimize the distribution of labor. For example, if a particular site is being constantly checked out for editing, the work group in charge of this area may be one requiring strong labor force. On the contrary, a site being less frequently edited, even though the site maintains volatile information, may also signify that a stronger labor force is needed in this area.

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• Standard Network Browser Interface: This application is designed to seamlessly integrate with a standard network browser such as Netscape and/or Internet Explorer. This eliminates the need for a separate interface which applications like Lotus Suite require. This also facilitates the ease of use, ease of learning, and accessibility from any place, thus aiding roaming features. It also reduces the cost of ownership for any organization.

• Remote Access: The remote access feature facilitates easy access of the site from anywhere, thus securely enabling outsourcing of web development. This feature also supports "roaming" to allow anyone with proper permissions to have access to a particular website from the desktop computer in their office, from a laptop on a plane, or even from an overhead computer at a conference. This benefit is largely due to the platform independent nature of this application.

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• Real Time Collaboration: This capability of our application enables authors to simultaneously view documents and exchange ideas about them in real time. Or, in other words, "chat" about the document under preparation. When a person working on a certain document wishes to exchange ideas or seek input from a another person, he or she can activate a chat discussion with this person with the click of a mouse. Our application also offers the choice to be connected over an "Internet phone", which enables a direct immediate form of communication. The advantage is that the author could actually make changes in the edit window of the document while speaking to the person and have the changes displayed in front of the other person in real time, thus enabling realtime feedback and collaboration. This could drastically reduce the total time it takes to get a site from conceptualization phase to final public phase. This functionality can be particularly useful when conflicting versions of a page require reconciliation, as mentioned later.

• Annotation: For collaborated authoring of websites, there may be a need for work group members to leave notes to other members regarding particular points on a given page. "Annotation" is the most effective way to leave notes on the document without affecting the content of the page. These notes can be used for the purpose of reminders or to give constructive criticism. Comparable to physical "post-it" notes, these notes will only be visible on the documents in the "private" workspace. Therefore, when the document is published in the public domain, these notes will not be seen by the public.

• Replication/Reconciliation: The application supports multiple, distributed development by permitting more than one developer at a time to work on a specific document. Distinct, mutually-exclusive changes are combined into a single, complete version of that document. Whenever overlapping, conflicting changes are made, the application flags these contentious sections for review and reconciliation into a coherent single version. At that point, notification email can be sent to the individuals making conflicting changes. They can then work together, possibly with the real time collaboration environment, to resolve the conflicting modifications.

• Style guide/template management: The application supports development and management of global style guides and templates. This capability is valuable for helping developers adhere to the style conventions and layout desired by the organization as a whole. This feature enables developers to easily establish a consistent look and feel across the entire web site

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