Latest News from Steve Drucker

CommonSpot 4.0 from PaperThin, Inc.

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 00:00:00 EDT

CommonSpot Content Server, developed by PaperThin, Inc., has been simplifying Web site development and authoring since its introduction in 1998. On April 8, 2004, the newest generation, version 4.0, was released. Web Content Management products usually seek to empower nontechnical users by allowing them to modify Web content from their desktops;

LayerIT Content Management System from LayerIT AS

Tue, 12 Aug 2003 00:00:00 EDT

After evaluating and deploying a number of content management systems over the past five years, I guess I've become a bit jaded. Frankly, they all just started to look the same. To be sure, each one has core strengths and weaknesses. Each is usually geared to fit a certain vertical market (education, for example), and many have similar levels of functionality. All of them have significant usability issues - particularly when authoring content that requires HTML tables.

Blueprint 1.5 from Ivis Technologies, Inc.

Fri, 28 Feb 2003 00:00:00 EST

Over the last nine years, I must have coded at least 100 ColdFusion applications. Many of these contained similar features - calendaring, e-commerce, content management, and dynamic survey forms. Several were 'one-offs' - based on work done for previous customers with some modified behavior and rebranding. Others were architected to work in either a dedicated or 'Application Service Provider' mode. All of them required an administrative interface with an accompanying security model that required a significant amount of time to reimplement.

CMS 200 from Ektron, Inc.

Tue, 07 Jan 2003 00:00:00 EST

I have always considered Ektron's eWebEditPro to be the best, easiest to integrate, and most innovative Web-based WYSIWYG component available. Many software vendors apparently concur with this assessment, for you can find the product embedded in a number of CMS systems ranging from Allaire Spectra to Microsoft Content Management Server 2002.

CommonSpot Content Server 3.0 from PaperThin

Fri, 04 Oct 2002 00:00:00 EDT

Currently there are more than 200 commercially available content management systems (CMSs). Each has strengths and weaknesses relative to the others...belying their underlying middleware platform and customer history.

Great Philosophers of Software Developers

Thu, 05 Oct 2000 00:00:00 EDT

Men at some times are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. —Julius Caesar, Act 1: Scene 2

Session Management The Hard Way

Mon, 18 Oct 1999 00:00:00 EDT

Developing a data-entry interface for managing pesky lookup tables can be a laborious task for even the most seasoned CF developer. These tables usually include a few simple data fields - an identity column for use as a primary key, a text descriptor and perhaps some ancillary information that needs to be managed through a Web-based data-entry interface

Putting It All Together

Fri, 23 Jul 1999 00:00:00 EDT

A common function of ColdFusion applications is the query-by-example interface (QBE) that allows end users to select from a list of properties in order to find matching records. It generally involves creating a simple HTML form. Based on end user input into the form, you construct and execute a SQL query on an action page, displaying the results to the user.

Enter the Scalability Zone

Thu, 06 May 1999 00:00:00 EDT

Over the past three years as an Allaire partner, I have been involved in countless marketing presentations where I touted ColdFusion as the best solution for producing Web-based applications. During this time other product vendors, instead of selling against CF based on feature comparisons, have instead focused on peripheral issues. Throughout the CF 2.0 product cycle, I would routinely be questioned about Allaire's staying power in the market, financial performance and capital inflows. Allaire's rapidly expanding market share and IPO silenced those critics. During the CF 3.x product cycle, our competitors shifted to attack CF as an unsuitable product for the enterprise, questioning whether it could 'scale' to support an unlimited number of concurrent users.