Below are the blog entries for January 2009
Cascade Server 6.4 Webinar Now Available
By Uran Piedra
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 at 9:30am
As we mentioned in a recent blog post, our first feature related webinar was a huge success! We had 135 people join members of our engineering team to see a walk through of the new features and functionality in Cascade Server 6.4 from the people who developed it. Due to the popularity of this webinar, we've made the video available on our site. So, in case you missed it or you just want to see it again, be sure to check it out!
As the year draws to a close, we here at Hannon Hill would like to take a moment to thank you for making 2009 such a great one! We appreciate your continued support as we strive to improve our product and services, and we look forward to bringing you great things in 2010. Happy Holidays!
Category
- Commentary
Is your CMS Mac-Friendly?
By Morgan Griffith
Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 2:30pm
With the upturn in Mac software and hardware use over the past few years, one thing to keep in mind when shopping prospective CMS systems is Mac-compatibility.
Since we often are working with clients and prospects in higher-education who run shops diverse in Mac and PC-use, we've found that the ability to run Cascade in a wide variety of server and client environments has been a tremendous benefit.
Because Cascade Server's client application is a zero-footprint web application, the only software required for users to access the system is a supported web browser. Furthermore, because Cascade Server is built on Java, which is platform independent, Cascade can run on any variety of platforms including, among many others, Apple OS X Servers.
Additionally, the Cascade Server web app is accessible by client machines that run a wide variety of browsers, including the most common Mac browser, Safari. One thing that makes Cascade especially beneficial for organizations operating Macs, is the seamless WYSIWYG utilization in Safari. Some of the CMS solutions from the handful of vendors with Mac-compatible systems provide "limited" Safari support when it comes to nuances such as these.
So what does this all mean? When you use Cascade, because of its Java open architecture and platform independence, you are able to run Cascade in a heterogeneous client and server environment, or an all-PC, Linux, or Mac shop. Furthermore, for end-users, when it comes to Mac use, Cascade is a zero-footprint web application, requiring only a supported browser.
Category
- Commentary
Brainstorming for the 2009 User's Conference
By Morgan Griffith
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 1:05pm
As 2009 gets off to a great start, we've got some great projects we're working on here at Hannon Hill: a Cascade Server release that's right around the corner, an exciting new product in eCrowds, and planning for the 2009 Cascade Server User's Conference. As we get the organizational end of the conference together -- locking down our venue, attending caterer tastings (hard work, but someone's got to do it), evaluating our new office(!) for open house feasibility -- we're also beginning to lay out the part of the conference that we realize is truly most important: the presentations.
At last year's conference, we were lucky enough to feature a wide variety of presentations from a group of some of our most knowledgeable, informative, and engaging Cascade Server users. In laying the groundwork for 2009, we'd like to hear from the people who it matters to most -- you, our users and conference attendees. Which topics were most interesting and useful to you? Which topics would you like to see be expanded upon? Were there any topics that we completely missed out on? Already have an idea for a topic you'd like to present on? Let us know the answers to all of these questions, and any other comments or ideas you may have concerning the presentations for our 2009 Cascade Server User's Conference, in the comments section of this post. If you've got any suggestions you'd rather not post publicly, feel free to pass them along to me at morgan.griffith@hannonhill.com.
As we get into the details of planning this year's User's Conference, we're already getting pretty excited about it, and we hope that all of you are as well. We look forward to hearing all of your ideas about presentation topics, and more importantly, using them to make the 2009 Cascade Server User's Conference even more beneficial and engaging than last year's.
Category
- News
Services Integration Spotlight -- Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Emory University
By Uran Piedra
Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 10:00am
Following the August 2008 launch of the redesigned Emory University website using Cascade Server, the Woodruff Health Sciences Center recently underwent a site renovation as well. The redesign, which was integrated by the Hannon Hill Professional Services team, provides Emory with two immense benefits-- the ability to unite of all the insitution's divisions under one enterprise content management system, while also maintaining a consistent look and feel across its branches.
Though a complete revamping of a content rich website from an institution with a highly decentralized model was no small feat, the redesign was made easier by electing to use Hannon Hill's rich and flexible CMS, Cascade Server to manage both the main Emory University site and the Woodruff Health Sciences Center site. Health Sciences Communications Specialist Wendy Darling says of her experience, "I was impressed with Cascade Server from the very first demo, and when it came to actually using the system, Hannon Hill didn't let me down. The system is very well designed – easy to use, intuitive and fast. When Hannon Hill's team told me the basic skeleton of our site was ready, I was able to jump in and get to work right away. The more I worked with the system, the more I appreciated what a great tool it is. A couple of recent upgrades have made me even more impressed. Cascade Server really delivers."
Included in the new site are multiple dynamic regions and RSS feeds that include recent Emory announcements and stories, as well as a 'Newsletters' region that highlights specific news items from the different areas of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center. Additionally, the site contains other impressive features such as an emergency alert system and a more user-friendly information architecture that enables any of the Center's constituents to find specific information with ease.
For more information about the redesign, visit Woodruff Health Sciences Center's About This Site page.
Category
- News
Look Out for New Sites and Roles in Cascade 6.0
By Chris Armistead
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 at 2:45pm
I wanted to give all our users a heads-up about the upcoming release of Cascade Server 6.0 slated for the end of this month. The winter quarterly feature release of our award-winning CMS solution will contain two major additions: New Roles and Sites. Both of these features are intended to help manage large Cascade implementations, more users, and more highly de-centralized, independent business units.
Cascade 5.5 added Custom Roles which allowed administrators to toggle the available abilities of the 5 default/pre-defined roles available with Cascade. New Roles in Cascade 6.0 will give administrators the ability to create totally new roles with completely customizable capabilities to meet the unique needs of different organizations and departments.
Additionally, Cascade 6.0 will introduce Sites as top-level objects that are managed in an interface similar to that of other Administration Components. Users will be able to switch between Site contexts using a drop-down menu that will reveal components specific to the selected site based on a user's role and related access rights. Sites will also allow users to inhabit different Roles in different Site contexts.
Hannon Hill is very excited about the release of Cascade Server 6.0 later this month, and wanted to make sure we give our users a heads-up about the exciting upcoming release. Please stay tuned for more details in the very near future!
Category
- News
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