The book "Microsoft Content Management Server 2002: A Complete Guide,"
was written by five authors and weighs in at just under 1150 pages.
But given the book's subtitle--"A Complete Guide"--neither of those
facts should come as a surprise. The book covers a considerable amount
of material. So much material in fact that it's not reasonable to
expect that one, or even two, authors could discuss all aspects of
Microsoft Content Management Server (CMS) 2002--a product hailed, at
least by the authors of this book, as the "future of building Web
sites."
In the book's opening chapter, the authors describe CMS as
representing a "dramatic departure from conventional methods of
building and conceptualizing Web sites." They add that CMS "offers
significant improvement in how Web sites are built and maintained, in
terms of both economies of scale and time savings."
You don't need to read much of the book before you realize that the
authors are enthusiastic about what CMS has to offer. In fact, they
strongly recommend that you "implement CMS in your
environment--especially if you manage a large number of Web servers
with content that often changes." The three major reasons the authors
advocate the use of CMS are its scalability, its flexibility, and the
extensibility that it provides to Web sites. The authors also claim
that "CMS 2002 can reduce costs and improve customer relations while
allowing you to build an outstanding Web site that is rich in
features, design, and up-to-date content."
Anyone involved with Web development, whether you have Web
developer in your title or you're a systems administrator who, among
other duties, is responsible for managing your company's Web site,
will gain invaluable practical knowledge from the book. Be aware,
though, that much of the book's material is technical in nature.
The book's 37 chapters and two appendices are organized into 10
parts, giving you some flexibility in the way that you choose to read
the book. For instance, if you're looking for an introduction to CMS,
you can turn to Part I, "CMS Fundamentals," which covers the purpose
of CMS, the different features that Microsoft has incorporated into
CMS, an overview of CMS architecture, the planning that's required for
a successful CMS implementation, and installation advice. Or, if your
primary area of interest is site administration and security, you can
go directly to Part IV, which addresses concerns related to setting up
appropriate user rights, using the Server Configuration Application,
and ensuring that your CMS site is secure. The authors devote the
remaining parts of the book to content authoring and publishing,
creating the site framework, site deployment, the Publishing API,
extending CMS, CMS performance, and moving forward with CMS. Part X
contains the book's two appendices. The first appendix is an HTTP
reference that's useful for anyone who needs a summary of HTTP
requests and responses, including format, methods, headers, and status
codes. The second appendix is a handy Publishing API reference.
To make the book as practical as possible, the authors use a
running example throughout the book to illustrate how to implement
important CMS features in real-world Web site development. All the
source code for the examples that the authors refer to in the book is
available on the book's companion Web site at
http://www.awprofessional.com/titles/0321194446. On the book's
companion Web site, you'll also find a table of contents and a sample
chapter titled "Working with Containers." Containers are "virtual
storage spaces," and the book's authors sum up their importance when
they state that "in CMS, managing the publishing environment means
managing virtual storage."
The authors acknowledge the limitations of their own book, or
indeed any other IT book, when they state that "no technical book has
ever been written that can answer all the questions for every reader
who picks it up." But if your role or the roles of the people who
report to you involve installing, managing, troubleshooting, or
developing a CMS 2002 environment, "Microsoft Content Management
Server 2002: A Complete Guide" is worthy of your consideration. You'll
find between the book's covers a wealth of comprehensive information,
advice, and tips.
Microsoft Content Management Server 2002: A Complete Guide
Authors: Bill English, Olga Londer, Shawn Shell, Todd Bleeker, Stephen
Cawood
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Published: October 2003
ISBN: 0321194446
Paperback, 1136 pages
Price: $54.99