2. Introduction
• Original SIA website
• Additional Units merge with SIA (SPI, SPS)
• The Staff
• The Plan
• Hire contractor - Night Kitchen Interactive
• Select Drupal 6 as platform
• Hire web developer
• Integration & Launch
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3. Smithsonian
Institution Archives
Original Site
Created in 1995
Old web tools (Claris, FP)
No standards
Images not optimized
***Not Maintained***
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5. The Staff
• Director of Digital Services
• Head of Web & New Media
• Social Media and Marketing Coordinator
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6. The Plan
• Outsource site design & • Images from SI-wide DAM
development
• Add EAD Standard Finding Aids
• Discovery Phase Fall 2009
• A maintainable environment for non-
• Implementation delayed, Final Launch tech staff (26 + 8)
Fall 2011
• Database-driven research sources
• Merge as many web sites as possible
• Add Collections Search
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7. Site Development
• Night Kitchen Interactive did original
discovery as well as final
implementation
• Drupal 6 was their recommended
CMS and proposal based on it
• SIA created a position for a web
developer to do ongoing expansion
of site and integration with other
sites and data
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8. Integration
• All blog posts from
blog.photography.si.edu imported
• 70% of original siarchives.si.edu site
was recreated from scratch!
• New design templates
• New organization
• Images via DAM (EDAN)
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9. How Was It Accomplished?
• Drupal 6 with PressFlow
• Contributed Modules:
• CCK
• CTools
• Views
• Panels
• Nodequeue
• Many more...
• Custom Modules
• Collections Search
• EDAN integration
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10. Why not Drupal 7?
• My first question
• Timing
• Contrib modules availability
• Released only shortly before our
target launch date
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12. DIY?
• Yes, definitely.
• But, with no experienced developer, impossible.
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13. DIY?
• Yes, definitely.
• But, with no experienced developer, impossible.
• 3 Experienced PHP developers across SI.
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14. DIY?
• Yes, definitely.
• But, with no experienced developer, impossible.
• 3 Experienced PHP developers across SI.
• IT unit with limited Open Source experience.
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15. DIY?
• Yes, definitely.
• But, with no experienced developer, impossible.
• 3 Experienced PHP developers across SI.
• IT unit with limited Open Source experience.
• Outsourced basic design was a must.
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16. DIY?
• Yes, definitely.
• But, with no experienced developer, impossible.
• 3 Experienced PHP developers across SI.
• IT unit with limited Open Source experience.
• Outsourced basic design was a must.
• But, with experienced PHP developer on staff, it could be
done in house.
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17. What Do You Need?
• Start with a Clean Slate
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18. What Do You Need?
• Start with a Clean Slate
• First comes Design
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19. What Do You Need?
• Start with a Clean Slate
• First comes Design
• Understand the ‘node’ concept as it applies to design
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20. What Do You Need?
• Start with a Clean Slate
• First comes Design
• Understand the ‘node’ concept as it applies to design
• Create standardized page templates - SIA has about 6
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21. What Do You Need?
• Start with a Clean Slate
• First comes Design
• Understand the ‘node’ concept as it applies to design
• Create standardized page templates - SIA has about 6
• What components of those pages can be reused?
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22. Architecture
• Web server - Apache or IIS (Nginx?)
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23. Architecture
•Web server - Apache or IIS (Nginx?)
• PHP 5.3+ recommended with Drupal 7
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24. Architecture
•Web server - Apache or IIS (Nginx?)
• PHP 5.3+ recommended with Drupal 7
• MySQL 5.0+ with PDO, SQLite 3.3.7+ (MS SQL & Oracle)
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25. Architecture
•Web server - Apache or IIS (Nginx?)
• PHP 5.3+ recommended with Drupal 7
• MySQL 5.0+ with PDO, SQLite 3.3.7+ (MS SQL & Oracle)
• PostgreSQL*
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26. Architecture
•Web server - Apache or IIS (Nginx?)
• PHP 5.3+ recommended with Drupal 7
• MySQL 5.0+ with PDO, SQLite 3.3.7+ (MS SQL & Oracle)
• PostgreSQL*
• Recommend separate database server preferably multi-master
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27. Architecture
•Web server - Apache or IIS (Nginx?)
• PHP 5.3+ recommended with Drupal 7
• MySQL 5.0+ with PDO, SQLite 3.3.7+ (MS SQL & Oracle)
• PostgreSQL*
• Recommend separate database server preferably multi-master
• Varnish with multiple frontends
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29. My Daddy’s CMS
• Old school
• Not designed for web from the start
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30. My Daddy’s CMS
• Old school
• Not designed for web from the start
• Generally document-centric
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31. My Daddy’s CMS
• Old school
• Not designed for web from the start
• Generally document-centric
• Enterprise oriented
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32. My Daddy’s CMS
• Old school
• Not designed for web from the start
• Generally document-centric
• Enterprise oriented
• EMC Documentum, IBM Enterprise CM, Oracle ECM Suite
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33. What a CMS Should Be
• Have a well defined growth model
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34. What a CMS Should Be
• Have a well defined growth model
• Open Source by Vendor
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35. What a CMS Should Be
• Have a well defined growth model
• Open Source by Vendor
• Dedicated central team
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36. What a CMS Should Be
• Have a well defined growth model
• Open Source by Vendor
• Dedicated central team
• A visionary leader, not dictator - CEO
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37. What a CMS Should Be
• Have a well defined growth model
• Open Source by Vendor
• Dedicated central team
• A visionary leader, not dictator - CEO
• Standard software development practices
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38. What a CMS Should Be
• Have a well defined growth model
• Open Source by Vendor
• Dedicated central team
• A visionary leader, not dictator - CEO
• Standard software development practices
• Uses accepted industry standards
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39. What a CMS Should Be
• Have a well defined growth model
• Open Source by Vendor
• Dedicated central team
• A visionary leader, not dictator - CEO
• Standard software development practices
• Uses accepted industry standards
• Revenue model based on training, support & service
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48. CON
•Steep learning curve for development
• Popular modules updates not always timely
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49. CON
•Steep learning curve for development
• Popular modules updates not always timely
• Architectural complexity
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50. CON
•Steep learning curve for development
• Popular modules updates not always timely
• Architectural complexity
• Core development model unclear
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51. CON
•Steep learning curve for development
• Popular modules updates not always timely
• Architectural complexity
• Core development model unclear
• Version number does not describe maturity
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52. CON
•Steep learning curve for development
• Popular modules updates not always timely
• Architectural complexity
• Core development model unclear
• Version number does not describe maturity
• Open Source
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53. Conclusion
• Drupal 7 would be my choice today
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54. Conclusion
• Drupal 7 would be my choice today
• Check for the functionality you need - is it part of core or the
module supporting it being actively developed for v7?
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55. Conclusion
• Drupal 7 would be my choice today
• Check for the functionality you need - is it part of core or the
module supporting it being actively developed for v7?
• What are your growth expectations? Drupal is a commitment.
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56. Conclusion
• Drupal 7 would be my choice today
• Check for the functionality you need - is it part of core or the
module supporting it being actively developed for v7?
•What are your growth expectations? Drupal is a commitment.
• Have an experienced PHP (preferably Drupal) developer on
staff BEFORE you begin site planning.
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57. Questions?
Contact Info:
C. Daniel Chase
chased@si.edu
dan@cdchase.com
@cdchase
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