Content Management

What is "content management"?

Content management is the practice of creating and publishing web page content, including text, images, links, and tables. Traditionally, this has been done with web design software (such as Microsoft FrontPage, Macromedia Dreamweaver, etc.) or by coding HTML directly to build web pages.

The traditional approach to web content management may work acceptably for small web sites but presents challenges when dealing with maintenance of large, diverse web sites with numerous editors.

For managing the web content on its primary web site, www.csuci.edu, CSU Channel Islands uses Serena Collage as its official web content management system.

Collage and Official CSUCI Web Sites

To ensure consistency of the University's digital brand as well as the continued accessibility of web content, all official administrative and academic content which uses the CSUCI digital brand should reside in CSUCI's official web content management system wherever possible. Exceptions shall be made for special cases as well as web sites hosted by 3rd parties per agreement with the University. Please contact Web Services for more information.

What is Collage and what does it do?

Collage is a web content management system which enables owners of CSUCI web content to:

• simplify web content creation, management and re-use;
• create, edit, and publish well-organized, content-rich web pages via a web interface;
• maintain visual and navigational consistency with University branding; and
• better manage web accessibility and Section 508 compliance.

Collage uses a template-based system to separate web content from web page presentation, making it easy to reuse content.

Who uses Collage, and who can use it?

Collage is used by web content owners and editors whose web sites are found on www.csuci.edu. Selected academic and other programs not part of www.csuci.edu are also using Collage.

Use of Collage is available for CSUCI users whose web sites whose content resides on www.csuci.edu. Other departments, programs and areas may contact the Help Desk to determine if their web content can be managed through Collage.

How do I start using Collage?

Before you receive your access information for Collage, you must attend two Web Technology workshops:

• Web Accessiblity I
• Introduction to Web Content Management with Collage

During the "Introduction to Web Content Management with Collage" workshop, you will receive a user name and password to access Collage. Once both of these workshops has been successfully completed, you may submit a request to the Help Desk to request access to your organization's content in Collage.

Step-by-step instructions for using Collage may be found in the "Documentation" section of this page.

How do I get help with Collage?

Please contact the Help Desk to open a work order. A Web Services technician will then be assigned to assist you with your Collage issues and questions.

Documentation

• Introduction to Web Content Management with Collage (PDF, 1.8MB) - a step-by-step guide for using Collage at CSUCI (updated May 2006)
• Collage System Documentation (in PDF format) - complete Collage system and usage documentation

Installation Notes

To run Collage, you must:

1. Use a computer which has internet access
2. Use only supported web browsers. Currently supported browsers are:
   1. Internet Explorer 6 and 7 for Windows
   2. Firefox 1.5.0.x for Windows
   3. Firefox 1.5.0.x for Mac
3. Install the correct Sun Java Virtual Machine (JVM) (see the "Downloads" section on this page for more information).
4. Verify that you have only one Sun JVM installed. On Windows, this can be verified by going to the Windows Start Menu > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, and checking the list to see if there is more than one entry which begins with "Java" or "J2SE".
   1. If you have more than one JVM, all but the correct JVM must be uninstalled.
5. Verify that all other required components are installed on your computer. To check:
   1. In your web browser, please go to:
      http://collage.csuci.edu/servlet/checks/check_classic.jsp
   2. If you see a green "No problems detected :) " message at the bottom of the screen, then all required components are correctly installed
   3. If you see a red "Problems detected" message at the bottom of the screen, please:
      1. Click on the "Copy Result to Clipboard" link on the page
      2. Create an email and paste in the results (use Edit, Paste or CTRL + V).
      3. Send the email to the Help Desk. This will help Web Services diagnose the problem. 
6. Verify that your browser's popup blockers are not blocking popups for the domain collage.csuci.edu
   1. This includes built-in popup blockers in Internet Explorer and Firefox, as well as third-party popup blockers such as Google toolbar.

Downloads

• Click to download Sun Java Virtual Machine J2SE 5.0 Update 11 (Windows EXE, approximately 16MB) - Version 1.5.0_10 or greater is the only supported Java Virtual Machine (JVM) for Collage. This is required to use Collage on Internet Explorer 6.0 and Firefox 1.5.0.x or later on Windows. Other JVMs may work to greater or lesser degree.