Simplify website management

Integrate authoring, reviewing, and publishing into a collaborative workflow with Adobe Contribute CS5 software, an easy-to-use HTML editor and website management tool. Increase web publishing productivity while simplifying oversight and approval tasks.

Quickly create and edit web pages collaboratively in a WYSIWYG HTML editor, without writing code. Adobe Contribute CS5 enables in-browser editing of text, images, and CSS for content authors, as well as drag-and-drop input of FLV, SWF, and PDF files. Managers can encourage creative web development while easily controlling website look and feel, as well as workflow, review, and version processes to produce static or dynamic websites with one-click publishing.

Many businesses and web developers are saddled with unwieldy content management systems (CMS) that cost huge sums of money to configure and customize, and equally large amounts of time for staff training - yet the results are often delayed site updates, bottlenecked HTML experts, and frustrated content authors. Similarly poor results are the norm when complex sites are managed with basic HTML editors that cant handle workflow-based authoring.

In contrast, Contribute CS5 delivers effective website management capabilities and yet is faster to deploy, easier to use, very affordable, and simple to scale up when needed. Web administrators, web developers, and content contributors who want to keep their sites current through collaborative workflows while maintaining site integrity can benefit from the power and simplicity of Contribute CS5.

With Adobe Contribute CS5 you can:

Update sites efficiently. Contributors can edit XML and Spry widgets natively, as well as create and edit text, hotspot images, CSS, FLV and SWF files, and more, all within the Contribute in-browser WYSIWYG environment. Ensure site integrity and shorten turnaround time by utilizing predefined content types, simplifying normally repetitive design tasks. Advanced search and replace works across multiple draft pages, allowing for content update with fewer actions. Multiple simultaneous reviews help shorten the approval process.

Increase contributor productivity. Enable content authors to take a more active editorial role by using features such as in-browser editing of text and images, dragging and dropping of FLV and SWF files, and direct modification of XML and Server Side Include files - all without writing code, and within a familiar WYSIWYG environment. Enhancements such as an in-line spelling checker, support for superscript and subscript, and the ability to define image hotspots give content authors easy control over tasks that typically fall to HTML experts. Content authors can test compatibility themselves by using the cross-browser preview and compare features.

Speed up publishing cycles. Establish workflow processes for collaborative authoring, reviewing, and publishing. To create additional predefined content types for a website, simply create new DWT or XML templates using Dreamweaver CS5 software and add them to the site. Subversion integration facilitates management and redeployment of previous site and page versions. Shorten approval cycles by enabling multiple reviewers to comment on drafts simultaneously. With a single click, publish updates to websites or blogs using FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, MetaWeblog, and Atom protocols.

Who uses Adobe Contribute?

Web developers who manage sites for multiple clients use Contribute to enable clients to handle much of their own site updates. By allowing access to only specific content types or certain page regions, designers can maintain control of site appearance and functionality. Clients can update blogs and other dynamic or static content on an as-needed basis, so developers can focus on writing code instead of on updating content.

Content contributors, marketing managers, and subject matter experts rely on Contribute to keep their websites current without involving a webmaster or developer. Updating text, tables, and even XML documents becomes the domain of those individuals with the greatest familiarity with the content. In-browser editing and multiple-browser preview enables better verification of updated content accuracy and its appearance on any platform, helping to better ensure the integrity of the web experience for site visitors.

Web administrators and webmasters use Contribute to ensure timely and compelling site updates by teams of content authors. By defining editorial workflows, managers can control the level of access content authors have and determine update schedules that keep websites fresh with secure and trackable edits. With WYSIWYG and in-browser editing of text, images, rich media, and even Server Side Includes (SSI) and XML, Contribute can enable teams to maximize website workflow participation of all team members. Managers can see more work being completed in a shorter amount of time, without costly CMS programming and time lost due to content-author training.

Top new features of Adobe Contribute CS5

Predefined content types

With predefined content types, web administrators can specify particular Dreamweaver templates, XML templates, and workflows that will be used when creating new pages based on content type. This allows new pages to be created quickly, drawing on existing site designs, preserving current page functionality, and defining content regions for secure editing by contributors. Set edit workflows to hold new pages for review or to have them go live instantly. Set expiration dates automatically as new pages based on predefined content types are created. The content types can be defined for both XML and HTML pages. Defining content types can greatly simplify the administrators task of site management.

Published pages based on content type can be tracked as a Smart List - an XML file providing the metadata about each publish operation of the content type, such as author name, date and time of publishing, and so on. This list can be used as dynamic data in another file or can be used as data for site analytics.

XML editing

Edit site-associated XML content natively, without having to leave Contribute in order to open an XML editor. Easily update the contents of XML files that are rendered by dynamic pages. Allow modification of XML element and attribute values, while protecting document structure elements such as nodes and tags. In the past, XML data editing has typically been assigned to an expert, but now content authors themselves can easily update XML data without fear of disturbing the underlying structure. This feature also enables editing of Spry data sets and other dynamic pages that render data content from an XML file, or even entire dynamic sites built using XML; the content author simply browses to the corresponding XML files to edit them.

Cross-browser preview

Another task that normally falls to web administrators is the dreaded browser compatibility check. With Contribute CS5, content authors can verify the look and feel of updated pages themselves, in multiple browsers. You can preview edited pages in three popular browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari, and they need not be installed on your system. Running Microsoft Windows, you can view three different browsers simultaneously in split windows for side-by-side comparison. In Mac OS, you can preview using any browser installed on your system. Just specify the browser or browsers for comparison, and theyre automatically launched when Browser Preview is invoked.

Spry widget editing

With Contribute CS5, content authors can edit data contained in a variety of Spry widgets, including data within accordion, tabbed, and collapsible panels. This is accomplished with the new Widget Properties button in Edit mode, which allows the user to access and edit the displayed data, and to change certain properties of the visual effects.

Multipage search and replace

Use the enhanced search-and-replace capability in Contribute CS5 to update information on multiple open draft pages. Streamline the update process by performing in minutes what used to be a tedious task. Search based on text, images, and other elements.

Subversion support

An important aspect of any web administrators duties is the archiving and redeployment of content. One of the most popular solutions for this task is Subversion, an open-source versioncontrol system. Contribute CS5 lets you work with Subversion with minimal configuration, or with the built-in Contribute rollback system. (Subversion is not included with Contribute CS5; see subversion.tigris.org for more information.)

Image hotspot support

Previously, programmers and designers usually added hotspots to images using specialized image-editing software such as Adobe Fireworks during the design process. Now content authors can set up hotspots themselves from within Contribute CS5, without having to roundtrip the images to the art department. Users can create multiple links to different parts of a single image with integrated WYSIWYG hotspot support. Draw one or more hotspots onto any image, and then add alternative text and URLs for immediate interactivity.

W3-compliant code when embedding SWF and FLV files

Embedding SWF and FLV files in a web page is traditionally a task left to the Dreamweaver web experts - and with good reason, as the coding required to ensure smooth and consistent operation across platforms isnt exactly the stuff you can copy and paste. Insertion of SWF and FLV files was possible previously, but now Contribute CS5 automatically creates Dreamweavercompatible web standards-compliant code when you insert the file into your page. This helps enable predictable behavior within the Adobe Flash Player while allowing cycle-accelerating drag-and-drop authoring in Contribute.

Server Side Include editing

Another task normally left to the Dreamweaver experts is the editing of Server Side Include files (SSI). These are usually small text files that are nested within a page, often with the goal of having them be updated more frequently than the rest of the page content. Contribute CS5 allows content authors to edit SSIs directly, eliminating another potential web-production bottleneck. Authors can choose include files from a list, and then edit the SSI data within Contribute.

This new capability of Contribute CS5 facilitates quick editing of included PHP, CFM, or any other SSIs from within a web-page edit workflow. When a content author selects a region in the page that is coming from an SSI, Contribute provides an Edit Included Files menu to quickly edit the included file. The user doesnt have to identify the Included files path manually by looking at the code.

Text and image enhancements

One of the strongest benefits of using Contribute is its word processor-like WYSIWYG editing environment, which facilitates the update process. With several new enhancements in Contribute CS5, this functionality helps Contribute take a big step towards becoming a real-time web page layout solution. Now content authors can create superscript and subscript text directly in Contribute. Image-editing capabilities are greatly expanded with direct editing of embedded images in Photoshop or Fireworks software, if the user has them installed. Changes are displayed accurately with enhanced CSS rendering.

Top reasons to buy Adobe Contribute CS5

True WYSIWYG web authoring - Enable content authors to see the results of their edits and additions instantly with enhanced CSS rendering, without writing code or knowing HTML. Contribute immediately updates edits to XML content and Spry widgets.

Collaborative publishing - Establish collaborative workflow processes to author, review, and publish content. Define different review paths at the template level, whether a single approval for an internal web page or multiple sign-offs for a public page.

Predefined content types - Define content types that specify the design template and review process that will be used automatically when a new page is created for that content type. Content type can be HTML or XML.

XML file editing - Edit XML file content without opening an XML editor. Easily update Spry data sets and other pages that render content from XML files or dynamic XML-based sites by editing the corresponding XML file.

Rich media support - Easily drag and drop images, FLV and SWF files, or PDF documents into your web pages. Contribute automatically uploads the dependent files to the web server when the pages are published in predefined locations.

Dynamic website editing - Add content to dynamic websites powered by Movable Type, TypePad, or WordPress. Simply define the Contribute connection with the proper settings, and site content is instantly available for updating.

Cross-browser preview - Verify the look and feel of updated pages in multiple browsers. Preview edited pages in any installed browser. Windows users can view three browsers simultaneously for side-by-side comparison.

Publish to websites and blogs - Publish with a single click to a wide variety of websites or blogs. Contribute is the one web authoring tool that supports FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, MetaWeblog, and Atom protocols.

In-browser editing - Allow authors to edit pages directly in a web browser with no need to open another application. The Contribute CS5 in-browser editor supports most browsers, including Firefox 3 and 3.5 and Internet Explorer 7 and 8.

Simultaneous shared reviews - Enable multiple reviewers to comment on drafts simultaneously with in-context collaboration tools for faster and more effective web publishing cycles.

System Requirements:

• Multicore Intel processor
• Mac OS X v10.5.7 or v10.6
• 512MB of RAM
• 1.4GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system or on removable flash-based storage devices)
• 1024x768 display (1280x800 recommended) with 16-bit video card
• DVD-ROM drive
• Firefox 3 or 3.5 required for the Contribute web browser plug-in
• Broadband Internet connection required for online services