What is the Web Developer's Toolkit?

The Web Developer's Toolkit is the application used by Health System departmental Web managers to develop and manage their departmental website. The Toolkit is really the front-end user interface to a fairly sophisticated Web Content Management System (CMS). A CMS is used to streamline the process of managing content through workflows and templates, and allow more effective management of back-end processes to include defining, standardizing, controlling, staging, routing, storing, and delivering content. At the heart of our CMS is the ease at which participants can add content to a website. This is done through templates and workflows that together takes the technical burden off the contributor and allows them to participate free from having to know HTML.

Advantages to using the Toolkit

Distribution of Work
Chief among the efficiencies gained in using a CMS is the simple act of giving content authors the tools they need to create webpages and, most importantly, doing so without requiring the technical knowledge that used to be a part of webpage development. Designers can design, writers and write, editors can edit, and technology folks can manage the CMS and support its users. The point is, without the technical barriers that were so evident in the pre-CMS era, people can help to develop and manage the corporate website within their existing roles sticking to what they know and do best. An easy to use CMS interface like the Web Developer's Toolkit makes this possible.

Consistency of Appearance
Separating content from design is a key benefit to using a CMS. This separation has value at several levels. Most CMS applications, including the Health System's CMS, are based on a selection of templates which are applied automatically as pages are created. For organizations like the Health System who consider their website a part of the overall brand strategy, a consistent template used across all webpages is no longer a choice it's a requirement. A CMS will help facilitate template use and provide a more consistent experience for users as they traverse the site.

Content Repurposing
The separation between content and design also allows content to be used or "repurposed" anywhere on a very large website; content is not tied to a single page. For Health System departmental Web managers there are several centralized resources from which content can be repurposed and used within your departmental site.

  • Physician's Directory
  • Research Faculty Directory
  • Health System Calendar
  • Clinical Trials

Site Flexibility and Growth
Developing and managing a flexible website with the ability to grow really comes down to a single value proposition, static vs. dynamic. Static sites where pages are hard-coded and must be "touched" individually to manage require more resources. Even the simplest site change can take on epic proportions when the change must be made to every page of the site. A CMS can help to alleviate many site management pains all together by serving up the core elements of the site dynamically, e.g., template, menus, etc. Suddenly a major change requested on a Friday afternoon doesn't require the fire-drill it used to. Making a design update which cascades through your entire site takes only minutes.