End User Experiences

A major concept behind Author-it Website Manager is that websites should be delivered as an end user experience. This means that content is optimized for individual users rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach.

Each experience is the combination of elements used to create a website -- the look and feel of the page (templates and stylesheets), the functionality, and the content. When a visitor arrives at the website, information about their system settings is collected from the browsing device (identifying the browser used, and their location and language settings). Author-it Website Manager compares this information with the experience and language rules that have been defined, and delivers the appropriate webpage.

The end user experience can be based on the type of browser used to view the content. By separating the content from the look and feel you can create a number of options for delivering your website to visitors, and ensure that content is optimized for viewing on the hardware being used. An experience can also be based on location when your content is localized. A viewer from France receives the content in French while a viewer from Germany receives the content in German, without having to take an extra step of selecting the correct language.

By separating content from formatting you are able to deliver the website as a number of different experiences. Each experience is created from a combination of templates, content, and functionality.

• Templates

  A template provides the structure for the page. The template contains a number of placeholders which represent the the final content or functionality that will be used in the webpage (such as text, menus, graphics, or programmable functionality). Templates can be created, or modified, in any HTML editor but must be saved using a .tpl extension.

• Content

  Content is created directly in Author-it, and is the information (text and images) delivered in the webpages. Using Author-it, books are published and transferred to subfolders in the Author-it Website Manager Review > Content folder.

• Functionality

  Functionality refers to the programmable aspects of the webpage. By adding functionality to a webpage you can include a search option, javascript menus, or random ads. A placeholder is added to the template at the location where the functionality will be displayed, and the substitution rules are defined in Author-it Website Manager.