The Magnolia CMS and the U.S. Navy

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Submitted by Bryan on

A couple weeks ago, one of Magnolia's press people gave me a sneak preview of a case study for how the Magnolia CMS was being used by one of their partners in redesigning the recruitment website of the United States Navy, Navy.com. I was given the opportunity to write a story about the redesign before the case study was published online. It was a great opportunity I was being offered but I just wasn't able to find the time in my schedule to write the story.

Magnolia CMS LogoSo it is only fitting, that I at least talk about this case study on the Navy's use of the Magnolia content management system on Veteran's Day. The recent Navy.com was redesigned to be more interactive, more responsive to user needs, and better integrated with social media communities nurtured by the U.S. Navy. Additionally, the site needed to support the Navy’s recently launched new brand, “America’s Navy. A Global Force For Good™”.

As mentioned in the case study, integrators spent six months researching and evaluating open source content management systems. Their evaluation was platform-agnostic; they considered Java, PHP and Python solutions in their research. Key evaluation criteria were:

  • Easy to learn and easy to use for content authors
  • Short learning curve for designers and developers
  • Easy to integrate with custom business objects
  • Compliant with Web standards and accessibility guidelines
  • Scalable and robust

Magnolia CMS Enterprise Edition, together with the Magnolia STK and Blossom module, met all of these criteria. Navy.com is now running on Magnolia CMS Enterprise Edition with Magnolia STK and Blossom, Magnolia's instant Spring integration. The infrastructure supporting this site includes an Apache Web Server, Tomcat Application Server, MySQL Database, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Why You Should Adopt An ‘Accessible Content Strategy’

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Submitted by CMS Report on

The Content Wrangler: "Despite my best accessibility lobbying efforts, my project teams historically have deferred decisions about accessibility to future phases. There is a cost to delaying the accessibility discussion. As is the case with physical buildings, it is expensive to create content, then “retrofit” it for accessibility later. It makes more sense to design it (the building, or the content) from the beginning such that it benefits all users. This is the key premise behind Universal Design movement in the field of architecture (and later product design)."

ATutor 1.5.4 to be released soon

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Submitted by Bryan on
A new version of ATutor is expected to be released in late April 2007 with a beta version already available for downloading.  ATutor is a Web-based Learning Content Management System (LCMS) designed with accessibility and adaptability in mind.  The new version of ATutor, 1.5.4, contains quite a number of changes with the most significant changes listed below:
  • New Test Question Types: Ordering questions require the test taker to correctly assign given items in a particular logical order or rank, and Matching questions require students to pair question items in one column to alphabetized answer items in another column. And a first for any LMS, Matching questions can be presented in a graphical Drag-and-Drop interface. 
  • QTI 2.1 Test Question Export: Test questions can be exported according to the QTI 2.1 specification.
  • X-Sendfile Support: If installed and enabled by the webserver, ATutor will use the X-Sendfile header to send content files to the browser, which increases performance greatly.
  • Guest Tests: If enabled, guests to a course can now take practice tests.
  • Authenticated Access: Instructors can now allow access to their private or protected course to guests via the use of a secret URL.
  • Forum Post Editing: Students can now edit their own posts within a specified number of minutes.
  • Improved User Administration: Administrators can now batch update user accounts.
  • Saved Sent Messages
  • Profile Pictures
  • Adminstrator Enrollment Manager

Is your Internet site accessible?

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

This fork of Joomla to improve accessibility interested me

Accessible (a8e) Joomla! is a Joomla! fork that conforms to accessibility guidelines and web standards. A8e Joomla! will follow regular Joomla! releases. The project should implode when regular Joomla! finally conforms to the standards. Read More.

Accessibility of Internet sites is very huge within the federal government and addressed by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, 1998.

In 1998, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. Inaccessible technology interferes with an individual's ability to obtain and use information quickly and easily. Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, to make available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and to encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals. The law applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology.

About every Webmaster that I've talked to about accessibility, inside and outside of the federal government, agrees with the goals of accessibility. They're just not sure how best to design and manage their pages due to the rapidly changing online technology.