I breathlessly brought and read this book expecting it to have information about the current leading CMS software vendor tools. It was disappointing to read my second high level book covering the conceptual overview mostly without any vendor /software tools evaluations such as Interwoven, Microsoft Content Management Server, RedDot, Ektron, and Vignette!

I had hoped that this book's title indicated that it would be different than Web Content Management: A Collaborative Approach [Paperback] by Nakano, Russell. This book gave me the high level overview. I read it BEFORE this book.

So where are these products /tools mentioned? Only in terse statements that had no meat. The reader was just left to decide "if you buy a CMS system as opposed to build it yourself then you are locked in to it!!

What most readers want are Methods - yes, provided, Overview - yes, provided and the Software tools reviews - no where is sight.

Save your money and read From "Chaos to Control"
September 17, 2002
From Chaos to Control
By John Clyman
PC Magazine online.

If the authors (four) had added this "Content" I would have given this book 5 stars instead of two.

Valdez Ladd

This is a very comprehensive book which manages to be both technical enough to keep developers happy and yet clear enough to be understood by managers. As a web developer with experience of working on a number of intranet and extranet projects under a variety of managers I would thoroughly recommend this book to all those involved in any aspect of managing a content-driven website or intranet.

A Content Management System, whether it's an actual application or a set of procedures, is absolutely essential for the delivery of a large amount of content in a consistent and structured manner. Once a website or intranet reaches a certain size, the benefit of having a rigid application in place as opposed to relying on people following procedures becomes clear. Every single piece of information on the system is catalogued, it is known who is responsible for it, and it can be easily found. Even when a website is small, adopting a content management system early means that the growth of the site is tightly controlled. Furthermore, there is a clear division between content and presentation, so that they can be changed independently of one another, which is an essential business requirement. And of course, the ultimate benefit of a CMS is that the responsibility for putting new content live and maintaining existing content can be handed over to the business users whom the content is meant to serve, thus freeing up valuable web developers for other projects.

A CMS can be a very complex beast, which must be tailored to the exact requirements of an organisation so that it best serves their needs. Additionally, an organisation must clearly define their needs and be prepared to modify their business procedures around the proposed system. This book goes into detail about how to go about how to help an organisation define their requirements and proposes a number of operating models for them to consider.

The question of whether to buy an off-the-shelf solution and customise it or develop one in house is one which lies at the heart of most systems management decisions - and CMSs are no exception. Which option to go for depends on a number of factors which are unique to each organisation - this book discusses these factors in detail, then goes on to describe all the things to consider when buying or building a CMS.

And that's still not the end of the story! Once the system has been purchased or built, it still needs to be implemented and the existing data needs to be migrated. This is a process that needs to begin long before the system is complete. This book shows how to divide up the responsibilities for migration and implementation, and discusses all the relevant issues.

Take a look at the authors' section, and you will see that this book has been put together by people with a serious amount of experience and expertise in this field. It has been thoroughly well researched and really does cover the entire process of choosing, building and implementing a CMS.

I will stress again, it is a must-read for all those involved in deploying content over the web!!

CMS technology (Content Management Systems) is becoming increasingly important, but surprisingly a lot of people still haven't heard about it, or more importantly, the majority is still trying to understand what CMS are all about.

The recently published book Content Management Systems, about 190 pages for eight chapters, is written by four geeks who offer the sharp perspective and the insights gained through hands on involvement, and targets the vast audience of newcomers to the field who are trying to define the most important parameters and schedule priorities for their CMS implementation.

The bottom line of the problem, writes Phil Suh in the first chapter , is that websites are a nightmare to manage unless built with CMS technology.

Interestingly, the second chapter written by James Ellis, addresses the concept of 'content as asset', and presents it from a process viewpoint: take stock of what you've got, work out the processes associated to the assets you are trying to manage - basically design the workflow . Here Metadata is labeled as an 'enabler' and the reader is reminder that calling someone an 'author' is not intended to offend.

Chapter 3 written by James Ellis explains how to handle templates and highlights issues relating to content presentation, while in chapter 4 David Thiemecke
Discusses the various technical implications of online publishing processes.

Dave Addey in chapter 5 and 6 - the latter co-written by Inigo Surguy - weighs the considerations underlying the tough decision: to build or to buy? And in chapter 7 he gives an array of advice on how to setup up an implementation schedule, and related production and testing issues.

In Chapter 8, co-written with Alyson Fielding, he advises on best practices to assist the project manager who needs to migrate content from heteregeneus formats - a vary common instance - into a new, uniform CMS environment.

Overall, the book tackles crucial technical issues that anyone involved in a CMS must face, but the pitch is accessible to most readers interested in the highly complex , and highly fascinating world of CMS

from content-wire.com

I am taking a course in church history and this is the book we are currently using. I find that the text gives a good view of what catholic have had to face here in the US. It begins in Colonial times and goes into the 20th century (the book was written in 1981).

However, alot of topics are given a brief look with some names and dates mentioned, but no real detail. This makes the book boring at times and it would really be bad if my instructer didn't explain things more in class. This is a real good glance at the Church and I would recommend it along with a book that gives much more detail. The American Catholic Experience by jay Nolan would be a good bet.

If only if you are an investor, and enjoy such books. This is the place to get it and read about this excellent book to help with Monetary Economic Thought.

Having spent time right around the corner from the West Barnstable, Massachusetts cemetery where Percival is buried and also being familiar with the USS Constitution Museum and the ship itself, I wanted to know more. This book's narrative does provide details about Percival's life and the U.S. Navy that he served in, but they seem a bit thin.

It seems that existing documentary evidence of Percival is sparse, or at least this book leads me to believe that. Percival's 1844-1846 circumnavigation of the world in the Constitution gets the longest chapter, and is only 35 pages long. Little context is given to this voyage, surely the most remarkable phase of Percival's career. According to Ellis, Percival commanded five ships (with gun ratings, which Ellis provides only infrequently): Dolphin, 12, Porpoise, 12, Erie?, Cyane, 18, and Constitution, 44.

At times this feels like nothing but the documented facts of Percival's life strung together as a report, with a focus on quelling any "controversy". West Barnstable resident Ellis certainly did a great deal of serious research, but I was hoping for something more than just a book length vindication of the charges of dishonesty David H. Long makes in his Percival biography (the only other full length treatment of the subject).

This is the second book I have bought written by these authors (Kally Ellis & Ercole Moroni). The first book I bought was full of outdated, useless pictures. I thought the cover picture on this book looked attractive and decided to give these authors another shot. You can't imagine my surprise when I found out that this was the same exact book as the first one, page for page, with the only difference being the title and cover. Same outdated, outlandish, and unuseable pictures of bouquets and headpieces. I have worked on many weddings, and haven't ever had a bride use any of the ideas in this book. I don't even show it anymore. The ideas presented are laughable to most people. I can't imagine a greater waste of money then buying this book has been.

If the meaning of liberty is the act of enslaving innocent men, women and children, (throughout their natural lives), then I completely agree with the "scholars" that compiled this book. If not, I disagree.
In the same vein, I would have no comments if any horizontal 'scholar' emerges tomorrow with a book titled, "Osama Bin-Laden: The Genius of Justice".
Well, this book, ("Thomas Jefferson: Genius of Liberty"), made mockery of its subject. It swarms with undeserved sycophantic accolades. Professor Ellis edited it shortly before he came of age. Its contents are no accident. Call it the irony of 'a civilized world'.
My dear, you will like this book if you are fanatical about anything U.S.A. However, if you are a conscientious patriot, who strives to be morally reasonable (no matter what), do not bother to read it. It does not worth your time. It contains more praise-songs than honest analyses. It profanes the very ideals that you would expect it to protect.
Thomas Jefferson and true liberty are at best, two parallel lines. They have nothing in common, and will never meet.

The authors didn't even know the difference between Jesse Livermore & Edwin Lefevre. In the bio about Edwin Lefevre, the authors simple pull segments from Reminiscences of A Stock Operator to describe Lefevre's life - They thought he was the main character in the book!! They write, "Edwin Lefevre was a self-styled Stock Operator from the early 1900s, who had been in the speculative game since he was 14".

The authors didn't even know that Lefevre was a writer (an author of more than 1/2 a dozen books) & that Reminiscences was about Jesse Livermore.

The above gives you an idea about how well this book was researched!

Save your money!