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Digital Transformation

WebSphere Portal Content Template Catalog IV

At Connect 2013 I attended Chris Berry’s and Mark Hampton’s session titled Deliver Rich, Multi-Channel Websites in Minutes with IBM Web Content Manager Content Template Catalog (CTC.)  The CTC  is a large set of predefined templates and content that provides a fully populated content driven site in portal 8 which can be used as is or as a starting point for more customized content driven sites for an organization.  Additionally the CTC also implements a responsive UI design which allows delivery to mobile devices without having to create a separate mobile site.  I will summarize some of the key highlights in CTC4 in this post.

CTC Overview

  • CTC4 requires the portal 8 update released in January, 2013
  • Free package available from the portal catalog
  • Provides a set of content types, templates, rendering plugins, theme, styles and more
  • Contains over 20 common types of content with associated components like lists, slideshows carousals, etc.
  • Page templates and pre-configured portlets
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO,) analytics metadata, print media, social media integration, etc

Theme Overhaul

  • CTC4 theme had an overhaul – it’s gone
  • Contains styling, scripts, layouts and palette modifications packaged as a profile in the base theme
  • CTC4 styles and layouts will appear in the base theme

Responsive Styling

  • CTC has 2 sample styles which implement responsive design
  • Component level styling also inherits the container it’s placed in

Device Detection

  • Device detection is built in the theme
  • Includes appropriate styles based on the device
  • Implemented via a rendering plugin

In-place Editing

  • Probably the biggest feature, CTC4 utilizes a new set of features that allow content to be marked up for in place editing
  • Presentation templates and components utilize new markup, including patterns for dealing with non-visible data
  • Tag library implements these new actions such as auto creation of drafts

Localization Updates

  • All design artifacts have been localized for language support
  • Design text fragments use a plugin that can retrieve translated text from a resource bundle
  • Plugin takes parameters for text replacement to support languages with different syntax

New Components and Templates

  • New grid navigation components
  • All templates and components are responsive and support smaller screens
  • New search templates which can be added to site to allows scoped searches
  • Video content type is now available

Upgrading from CTC3

  • CTC3 to 4 upgrade is supported
  • Themes will need migration but rest of content can be installed on top of existing CTC4
  • Customized pieces can then be updated to use new features or left as is
  • Definitely do the upgrade in a test environment first

The CTC has significantly improved with each release.  If you are a portal customer using WCM, download the CTC and see what it has to offer.  If you are not a WebSphere Portal or WCM customer, the CTC may help make the case for ownership.

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Glenn Kline

Area Vice President, Custom Development and Mobile Solutions

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