Silva Features (version 0.9.3)

  Meta::

    Valid for:  Silva 0.9.3
    Author:     Martijn Faassen
    Email:      faassen@infrae.com
    CVS:        $Revision: 1.10 $ $Date: 2003/11/12 19:54:12 $

  Authoring

    * Through-the-web (browser based) structured document editor.

    * Editor produces structured XML which is displayed as HTML in a
      web page, or can be exported using the DocMa extension (i.e. as
      a MS Word document). This also future proofs the information.

    * Infinitely nested hierarchy of publications and folders to
      structure content.

    * Metadata per content object. Metadata is extensible; new
      metadata sets can be added. The metadata can be automatically
      indexed by the Zope catalog.

    * Ability to place dynamic elements in structured documents
      fetching information from a relational database or by calling a
      script, using External Data Sources.

    * All text stored as unicode, which means content in multiple
      languages can be mixed in single documents freely.

  Media

    * Images and files can be imported either singly or in bulk
      through importing a zip file. Whole directory structures can
      be imported creating Silva folders automatically.

    * Resize images for web publication. The original high resolution
      images can still be exported for printing.

    * Extensive abilities to position images in document text.

    * Support for Zope's External Editor allows editing files and
      images through your favorite editor (including MS Office
      applications).

  User Interface

    * Has its own through-the-web user interface with easy access to
      all features, including access keys. Authors can only access
      sections relevant to authors, while editors and chief editors
      gain more abilities in separate screens.

    * Also possible to descend to Zope user interface for fine-grained
      control.

  Workflow and versioning
    
    * Publication workflow: approval by (chief)editor is needed in
      order to publish content. Content can be published as well as
      expired automatically at a set time.

    * Versioning of content. Authors can work on new versions of
      documents while a previous version remains published.

    * Editor can manage publication status of large quantities of
      documents in one screen.

    * Silva can be configured to automatically send email to authors
      and editors for workflow events.

  Access management

    * Separation of responsibilities between author, editor and chief
      editor roles.

    * Delegation of responsibilities. Editors can approve for
      publication, chief editors can create new (chief) editors and
      authors. No one-person bottleneck holding up publication.

    * LDAP connection is possible using LDAPUserFolder. Search
      interface for people in LDAP when assigning roles, scaling to
      large quantities of users.

    * Group management (with or without LDAP). Groups can be defined
      in a LDAP or other data source, but can also be defined locally
      in Zope, as desired.

    * Virtual groups to allow cross-sections between other groups.

    * IP Groups allow groups based on IP address, to allow access to
      selective folders only from an intranet.

    * Ability to restrict content viewing access to individual users
      or groups of users with Viewer, Viewer + and Viewer ++ roles.

    * Users who do not yet have access to edit objects can optionally
      be allowed to request this in a user interface.

  Documentation

    * Extensive documentation for author and editors, as well as for
      site managers, designers and system administrators.
 
  Site management

    * Layout templates; flexible, customizable presentation using Zope
      Page Templates. Different sub-sites can have different
      publications and designs.

    * Configuration per publication of which content objects are 
      available for authors. It is also possible to completely disable
      certain content object site-wide.

    * Ghosts and Ghost folders allow presenting content in a different
      context than which they are authored in. This allows storing
      content in a structure paralleling that of the organization for
      access rights distribution and delegation, but reusing the same
      content inside topic oriented structures for web publication.

    * Virtual hosting support. Areas of the site can be exposed in a
      separate virtual host for both viewing and authoring.

    * Table of contents (TOC) elements can be included in pages to
      present the local structure of the site.

    * Link object to manage references to external sites within the
      table of contents.

  SilvaNews (extension)

    * Create and manage news items in Silva.
  
    * News can be aggregated from various areas of the site,
      reflecting the structure of your organisation.

    * Display news pages and agenda pages (for events).

    * Export news as RSS.

    * Show news from external sources using RSS.

  DocMa (extension)

    * External server that talks to MS Word using COM. This server can
      be integrated with the Silva server running on another machine
      (which can run Linux/Unix). Users import and export Word
      documents using the normal Silva user interface, which delegates
      the requests to the separate DocMa server. If desired the DocMa
      server can also be run standalone on the Windows desktop of end
      users.

    * Export Silva content to a MS Word document. A whole Silva publication
      consisting of many folders and documents can be exported as a single
      Word document.

    * Import MS Word content into Silva. A single large Word document
      can be automatically broken up into a structure of Silva folders
      and documents.

    * This allows round-trip editing. Large changes in structure in Word
      can be reflected into Silva.

  Technical

    * Open source & Free Software (BSD license).

    * Integrates with Zope Page Templates, DTML and Python Scripts.

    * Using Silva External Sources, ability to integrate with data
      coming from relational databases through SQL. Custom objects can
      also be created that retrieve data from relational databases.
 
    * Extensible Model/View/Controller architecture for both the
      editor and user interface.

    * Silva can be extended with new custom objects.

    * Can be configured to integrate with Apache web server and Squid
      cache.

    * Cross platform; runs on Linux, Solaris, Windows, Mac OS
      X and SGI.

<br />
Copyright &copy; 2002, 2003 Infrae. All rights reserved.<br />
See also "LICENSE.txt":license.txt
