Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > IT bods, can you help?

[phillc]

On the Content side of things, you should really try and make it easier for yourself by getting everyone else to supply the content. (Works well in theory of course).

Tools like:

A Wiki - A collaborative authoring tool that allows anyone with the right permissions to update the text of a page.

A Blog - Basically an online diary, but useful for teams to make announcements and keep track of progress.

A Content Management System - there's lots of good free CMS packages out there that you can easily download and use. The Desmodue website is run on a product called Drupal http://www.drupal.org This also allows pages to be customised, multiple people to add content etc

IMHO, getting more people involved in compiling and updating the Intranet content will make the whole thing better in the long run as people will feel a sense of ownership.

The easiest thing with the infrastructure side of things is to get a consultant in for a day to set it up for you. I reckon an IT student should be able to do it for beer money ;-)

[Edited on 10-5-2005 by phillc]

[AK]

are you an IT student then Phil?

C, now sorting a big mess in accounts on the S drive
(come back CEO, I want my usual job back )

[antonye]

WTF?!? Talk about confusing the woman!

All you need is the web server software (IIS - Internet Information Server) running on one (any!) of your boxes. This will then allow you to build a website.

IIS is part of the standard Windows build for 2000 / XP but is not installed by default, so you will need to edit your Windows setup (in the Control Panel) to add this in.

If you enable FrontPage extensions for IIS, you can then use the simple FrontPage client (which is installed as part of the Microsoft Office suite) to create web pages in a Word like editor. Then simply point FrontPage at your IIS server and it will update the website.

Nice and easy for an Intranet - no worries about security or anything.

[AK]

Cheers Ant

if you ever need help with any old 600 carbs & engine workings in return, I'm your bird!

C

[AK]

are you saying a reasonably intelligent PA cant work things out, with a little (lot) of help from her friends?

already half way there, as a youngster in Accounts is doing stuff in return for me sorting his mess out:P

C

[necroscope]

intranet's are a lot more secure than internet sites as due to their nature, there're invisible to the outside world. Wouldn't worry about Dos attacks or any scare mongering. Oh, and don't use frontpage, it creates huge websites - try Dreamweaver if you can get your hands on it. Use style sheets - easy to use. If you need any 3D content just give me a call!

[antonye]

Originally posted by weeksy
Where will she get the front page extensions ???

there's reasons we have security specialists, web designers, administrators etc etc....

FP extensions is an optional install of IIS, and you may want to check what my particular job is before assuming I don't know what I'm talking about

[antonye]

Originally posted by necroscope
intranet's are a lot more secure than internet sites as due to their nature, there're invisible to the outside world. Wouldn't worry about Dos attacks or any scare mongering.

My point entirely.

Oh, and don't use frontpage, it creates huge websites - try Dreamweaver if you can get your hands on it. Use style sheets - easy to use. If you need any 3D content just give me a call!

Doesn't matter - it's intranet so network speed is not a problem and ease of use is the priority here. Plus all the software can be installed licence free (ie, no cost) and it all works nicely together.

Now if you want a pukka Content Management System with workflow, lifecycles, staging servers, DMZ, and the like then drop me a line

[AK]

ooooh whatBIG words you boys all use

C, not wanting to be an IT geek, happy to stay as PA please

[necroscope]

C, not wanting to be an IT geek,

No................anything thing but that!!!