Introducing the Cascade Server 5-Series - Improving the User Experience!

By Chris Armistead

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 11:00am

As one of Hannon Hill's newest additions for 2008, I feel I should introduce myself for my first blog entry.  My name is Chris Armistead and my role here will be as a Product Coordinator - meaning I will be the link between our marketing and engineering teams.  Coming from a web marketing background, I was already somewhat familiar with Content Management Systems like our product, Cascade Server.  But my experience was in describing the importance of good content, not actually creating it myself.  So I was a bit intimidated on my first day here when I was given a set of technical guides and sent on my way to learn about Cascade.  Isn't there is a big difference between explaining the benefits of a CMS and learning to use one yourself?

I admit, it was a little overwhelming at first.  I was learning the Cascade Server terminology and discovering how to publish a website - all on my first day!   But once I got started, it wasn't nearly as difficult as I was afraid it would be.  Creating, editing and publishing content was just the beginning.  I even learned how to create a workflow for content to go through a series of approvals, as well as several other high level administrator functions.  Maybe there wasn't that big of a gap between understanding a CMS and using one yourself after all!

After successfully going through the Technical Intros, when it came time to further expand my knowledge of Cascade, I was at no shortage of resources! Our expansive collection of demos, webinars, white papers, and our comprehensive Knowledge Base gave me a plethora of information at my fingertips. Now, after only a week of working at Hannon Hill, I feel confident in my knowledge of the product. Using a CMS really is easy; I can't speak on other products, but through my experience with Cascade, I have truly come to an understanding of just how important web content management is for organizations and businesses with a growing need to establish a strong web presence.

Even though I was pretty proud of myself for what I had learned, I have to give credit to the engineering team on this one.  Cascade Server is such an intuitive system; publishing content was simple with only my basic knowledge of common computer programs;  and it's all laid out in a manner that introduces concepts and terminology in a logical manner, so I could back up a step if I needed to without getting lost.  

By the end of my first week, I felt like an old pro.  But of course, the Hannon Hill team is constantly working to improve the product and streamline the user experience with Cascade. The 5-Series releases throughout this year will focus on this same goal- even better user experiences. The engineering team is always working around the clock to continue enhancing Cascade Server and make small behind-the-scenes changes that ultimately come together to make the process of managing and creating content with Cascade a vastly simpler and more efficient process.

As of this week, Cascade Server 5.1 is now available, and offers a variety of new features that all seek to accomplish this goal - improving the user experience with Cascade. Cascade 5.1 boasts new features such as Quick Links, a new Advanced Tab, and an enhanced Template Import Process. 

Quick Links gives the user a convenient pop-up on every page of the most frequently-used features such as the dashboard and his or her recent history, resulting in less time and page loads in getting from Point A to Point B.    

    

The Advanced Tab will also simplify the user experience by consolidating several less frequently-used tabs in one place for a more user-friendly interface.

Our new Template Import Process has automated all the routines/logic that were checkbox options before to ensure that any user can simply submit a template and have it handled in the expected manner. Basically, our new Template Import Process is a one-stop-shop for all of your template handling needs. 

I'm enthusiastic about this upcoming release and the continual improvements our team is making to ensure Cascade Server is a trend-setter in the CMS marketplace. All three of these new features reflect Hannon Hill's commitment to making Cascade Server as intuitive and efficient as possible - improving the user experience by providing logical defaults and simplifying the user interface. We hope you enjoy! Don't forget to check back here for new Cascade Server 5 Series upgrades and features. 

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