database design

As a Project Manager with a mandate to come up with a Content Management System for my organization, over the course of the past three months I've found the CMS Bible by Boiko simply essential, as most of the other 'bible' tech books I've read have been. He provides a very robust framework that you can follow in your project, if you have the time to read through its almost 1000 pages.

First, he delves into a very thorough discussion about the more 'phylosophical' topics of content (what it is, what is data, what is metadata, etc.) and content management at large. If you haven't gotten your feet wet with a CMS project before, the first 10 chapters (175 pages) will get you soaked with the type of dilemmas you are bound to face when you work on a CMS.

Then, he provides what could be considered a "recipe" to put together a CMS successfully (though no two CMS projects are ever alike, but a lot of them have similar characteristics). There are a number of chapters and sections specifically devoted to the steps required to ensure a successful outsourcing of the project, but the framework he provides is not limited to it: you can perfectly apply it to an in-house implementation. Also, he tends to paint the largest possible picture (with all staff possible, etc.) but you can very easily scale it down to the size and shape of your organization.

In general, his framework goes back once and again to the concept of the "Wheel of Content Management" where he connects the spikes that allow the 'wheel' to move: goals and requirements, audiences, publications, authors, acquisition sources, workflow and staff and access structures, all revolving around the central content component classes with metadata as the outside of the wheel, serving as a container for it all.

He doesn't wrap up the book without devoting enough space to XML and its close cousin, the DTD. He even provides a small VB app to convert Word content to XML, and that's still "only" on page 788. If you haven't noticed by now, this book is MASSIVE, and if there's any issue with it, that would be it: the fact that you will need to devote a long time to processing it. But all in all, the book with its companion web site is an invaluable tool for all Project Managers who have in their hands the responsibility of giving birth to a CMS for their organizations.

As a favor to another professor, Bob Boiko once taught a couple of sessions of a class I took at the University of Washington's iSchool. I was very impressed by his laid-back manner and his skill at making difficult concepts easy to understand.

I picked up a copy of CMB a couple of weeks ago and I'm currently a little more than halfway through it. Frankly, it may be the best computer book I've ever read. It's long, but the pages fly by. Everything is easy to understand. As a programmer who once built a small content management system, I thought I understood the basic concepts well. But Boiko's book has given me a whole new perspective on the subject. My company's next CMS will be significantly better thanks to him.

I heartily recommend this text to anyone interested in buying or building a content management system. It is one of the few books of the "Bible" series that truly lives up to its name.

As a "tecchie" in our IT department, I often have a difficult time articulating *why* we need a (or any) Content Management Systems *at all*.

This book provides 1000 pages of rationale for even the most inquisitive (and often adamant) management folk. And it does so in a very well-organized fashion *without* getting bogged down in "techspeak".

The authors are to be congratulated for a fine piece of writing that is very useful in planning, justfication, and implementation of enterprise-wide Content Management Systems.

I'd recommend it to *anyone* who is looking for a coherent detailed picture of Content Management concepts.