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Content Managed Websites

What we do

Solution Canvas offer a full range of web development services based on the .Net framework. As Microsoft Gold Partners and achievers of the "Portals and Enterprise Content Management" and "Web Development" specialisations of the Information Worker competency as well as being the first company in the United Kingdom to achieve the Custom Development Solutions competency, you can be sure that we are well placed to help you get the most out of your web site and to maximise your return on investement.

Solution Canvas are experts in creating powerful, stylish and accessible content managed websites. We have specialist web designers and ASP.Net consultants and developers who can help ensure that your website meets it's full potential.

justia® [Web]

As an independent software vendor, Solution Canvas have developed their own in-house Content Management System called justia®[web]. This is a flexible and customisable system built to assist site administrators and users to be more productive and efficient.

As the system has been developed exclusively by Solution Canvas, we have expert knowledge of how to deploy and customise the product to suit each customers needs.

Read more about justia® [Web] and how we used it to deliver the website for Celtic Football Club here.

MCMS 2002 & MOSS 2007

When not working with justia [Web] Solution Canvas generally builds sites with Microsoft Content Management Server or Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server 2007. We can, however, work with a number of leading CMS systems as our customers require.

When using MCMS, we will utilise our extensive library of add-ons which we have built up based on customer requirements over the years. These extensions overcome many of the "out of the box" limitations of MCMS and are not available anywhere else.

MCMS and it's replacement MOSS 2007 enables companies to quickly build, deploy and maintain web site content across internet, intranet and extranet sites. Templates and browser based tools allow business users to create, publish and manage content, freeing expensive developer resources.

Solution Canvas has enhanced the standard Microsoft CMS feature set with a number of customisations which make it easier for our customers to manage and maintain their web sites. All of our web sites ship with these features as standard.

Improved editing capabilities

The basic Microsoft CMS page editing functionality has been extended through the use of third-party components and custom-developed editing placeholders. As a result, site authors have a rich functional environment that allows for the comprehensive creation and layout of content.

Editing help facilities

Page editing functionality is now supported by XML-based help content which assists authors in performing tasks specific to the current page template. The help system can be dynamically displayed or hidden within the actual page during editing operations. Image showing extended editing features in the MCMS framework

  • Automatically generated page headers with quick search and common pages.
  • Select from a range of "content areas" allowing selection of page elements per page.
  • Context sensitive help and instructions for authors editing content. Administrators can change the help per template.
  • Powerful custom placeholders for editing common lists such as events and venues.
  • WYSIWYG editor control.
  • Customised editing console that is significantly easier to use than the default CMS implementation.

Extended functionality through page and channel properties

The default CMS functionality has been extended through the use of custom programmatic properties. For example, pages have custom properties that allow HTML meta-tags to be generated by authors using a set of input text-boxes. Similarly, channels have been extended to support accessibility via keyboard navigation shortcuts.

Custom CMS page framework

CMS functionality has been enhanced through the use of a programmatic framework that enhances page templates with rich presentation controls. Templates also now have a common set of reusable functions that promote their flexibility and re-use.

Image showing extended controls in the MCMS framework

XML driven presentation

The custom programmatic framework underlying the CMS page templates uses XML content with applied XSLT style sheets in order to provide a flexible page rendering structure that can be easily modified.

Application website support

Our websites are supported by application services which integrate with Microsoft CMS in order to provide concrete business benefits. For example, an email service has been established that will notify approvers when new content has been posted to the sites. As another example, a monthly newsletter is sent to site subscribers based upon content summarised from programmatic interrogation of CMS.

Promotion of accessibility standards

All custom extensions to CMS that affect site presentation and content have been designed with accessibility in mind. For example, image placeholders have been extended to enforce the use of the alt text property.