Posted by Tran on June 16, 2010 at 7:32pm
Hi
I work for a small newspaper with 1.5 editorial staff members.
I once worked for a newspaper company that had a great Content Management System made by Baseview.
However, that system is far too expensive for what I am looking for.
Still. After using Open Publish (a drupal-based CMS) to build our website, I really want a Content Management System for our print content. Does anyone know of any open source content management systems that might work?
Comments
Desktop publishing?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scribus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_publishing
I'm assuming you're looking
I'm assuming you're looking at a replacement for Baseview's (now Mediaspan Media Software) IQue/NewsEditPro software. You're probably not going to find any free open source systems specifically for print production - they're all geared towards web publication. Even if there was one, it would probably be like any of the free Exchange server replacements - while the server components are free, the plug-ins for Outlook that interface with the server are commercial software. I doubt you'd even find commerical let alone free Xtensions for Quark or InDesign that would interface with a CMS unless you're going to pay a developer to create one for you.
However, Drupal, with Views, CCK and even Workflow/Rules (if you want to get really fancy with your editorial workflow), could definitely be used to mimic most of the functionality of IQue/NewsEdit. Even column inch count for content can be roughly calculated using Computed Field and some PHP as there's approx. 30-34 words per column inch:
$word_count = str_word_count($node->body);$column_inches = $word_count / 30;
$node_field[0]['value'] = $column_inches;
If you're using OS X for your page layout, I had been doing some experimentation with Drupal and AppleScript to launch scripts from webpage links. I was able to create a rudimentary script that would be launched by a link on the Drupal site along the lines of
drupaltoquark://Drupal.Quark?node=4. The Applescript that link launched would use curl to download a text export of node 4 (text export was made using Views Bonus Pack). The script would then put the downloaded body of the node into a text box in a Quark document and apply a style sheet to it.There's some documentation on Remote posting/administration (with cURL, etc.) on Drupal.org as well as Using AppleScript and cURL to import Content from iPhoto into Drupal which had more details on using curl from the OS X command line to upload content.
I haven't had the time to pursue the concept further - I basically did it to prove to myself that if we ever decide to upgrade our aging IQue/NewsEdit system, it would be worth looking at building our own solution based on Drupal rather than remaining locked into an expensive proprietary system
Thanks!
It's way above my understanding at this point ...
I can't help but look at the way Drupal helps me manage online content and wonder if there are other applications for this CMS.
other applications for this CMS.
we're discussing using it in a "headless" mode; the workflow and services stuff means it's more than just a webby thing :)
Terminology and the rest besides, my mine thing with this thing is it lets people do too much - how do you define Drupal's capabilities, when it has so many way to extend stuff? :-)
More seriously, if you need to plug in to an existing workflow, that's do-able; plugging in to "3rd party" software is possble but more complex. You could look at the WebDAV stuff and also workflow, and there are loads of modules for file upload = workflow = whatever; it all really seems to depend on to what you need to integrate. At the web layer it really doesn't matter: at the moment I've got sites running on nginx, apache and lightttpd (all backed by mysql) and i've seen no differences in behaviour [apart from Apache vs. reasonable memory usage] so you can go ahead and work out what's best for your environment. The database layer also doesn't really matter; PHP stuff as "application server" is fairly normal (we're using php-fpm on some but not all). The thing that makes the difference is the workflow: if you can diagram your workflow, then it's possible to implement it - if you're a more typical SME and you cannot document the workflow, you're screwed. Then, that's true of any IT you come across. :)
The NewsEdit client is a
The NewsEdit client is a glorified word processor with some CMS-esque abilitites to assign categories, workflow status, users, etc. to stories; spell checker and thesaurus; track revision history; That's not that much different from what Drupal can do, especially with the various workflow modules:
Editorial workflow with rules
Content moderation module
Revisioning
Spell check module
There's also some newspaper-specific type features like column inch counts for story length (calculated as I showed above) and publication details about stories (page, publication, section - those would just be CCK fields).
The search capabilities of NewsEdit can be basically replicated using Views and exposed filters, though I'm not sure if it's possible to save exposed filter selections if users want to use the same search over and over again. There appears to be a few modules attempting to do that so maybe it is:
Views Saved Searches
Views Save Filter (Drupal 5 only)
As I said, the one part that you'd really have to work hard to implement, is the link between Drupal and your page layout program (Quark or InDesign), unless you are content with simply copying and pasting the text from the web browser. NewsEdit has a plugin, DragX, which provides that link between the Quark/InDesign and the IQue server. It changes statuses as you place the stories, and also can save changes made to the story back into the database. If you want that sort of functionality, you either need to develop a plugin for Quark/InDesign, or use Applescript as an interface to Drupal.
If you only ....
If you only have 1.5 FTEs, I'm not at all convinced that you have any need for a newsroom content management system. Seriously, our smallest daily just puts files into folders on a shared drive.
We are also looking for something like this
Like Yelvington, I'm not sure the original poster really need all the bells and whistles of a newsroom cms - but at my place we do. We are currently looking into replacing our old system, and are primarily looking at comercial solutions here in Sweden. The problem is that they are either expensive, or lack features.
The problematic parts with a DIY, is a gateway between the db and the layout program AFAICT. We would really like to have support for both Quark and InDesign, but Quark is the most important for us. We would also really want a print preview, but that is kinda secondary (or tertiary, or whatever). Is anybody else in our situation? Would it be realistic to pool resources? I have the beginings of a design doc - but it is centered around our current environment and integration with that. If there is interest, I could rework it and post it.
While a smaller operation
While a smaller operation doesn't necessarily need all the workflow bells and whistles of a newsroom CMS, having your content in a web-centric CMS like Drupal eliminates having to repurpose it for web publishing. A small newsroom can function just with text files, but then they have to (semi-)manually import the content into both print pages and a website.
As for the gateway between CMS and layout program, AppleScript does provide options for automating not just Quark and InDesign, but also some of the interaction with the CMS. If you're going DIY, it's an easier option than learning how to develop custom plugins.