UCM 11g - out now!

Oracle finally released the new and improved UCM 11g! Yeah, I'm a bit slow on the announcement but that's because Australia was in bed last night when it was released. You can download it here but crikey, it's a big download! Looks like the WCM and just about everything else is bundled inside. Full documentation here.

From what I've seen there's no new killer features, all the work is under the hood. Faster checkins, better performance, login/logout authentication, integration with WebLogic. The downside is that all the performance improvements mean more grunt is needed from your hardware, but it hardly used much anyway.

I've already commented on the WCM improvements in my previous post but apparently the ability to drop SiteStudio editbale content into any non-SiteStudio website is a big ticket item (they're touting JDeveloper as their IDE of choice.) Also, DAM functionality is improved to better support flash objects, PSD files and selecting image renditions (previously renditions required a custom component to select them, I guess it's been rolled into the system.) The Desktop Integration Suite features are upgraded, good for users who rely on Contribution Folders.

Fortunately they've provided some info on how to upgrade from 10g so the question is, how long before we're all using 11g?

*** UPDATE: There does not appear to be a way to use UCM 11g without using WebLogic. This contradicts pre-release reports that said WebLogic was not compulsory. You should read this to understand it.

Copy a SiteStudio site? Even easier!

SiteStudio 10gR4 (546) is chock full of awesome new features, one of which is a new way to replicate your site. Yes, the previous article I just wrote about replication is already obsolete. Ha!

The new feature is section level replication and it's pretty nifty. It is enabled via the Designer application and it adds a new section property, called "Ready to replicate." If you switch region content anywhere on a webpage, the property automatically changes to false. You can see this on your webpage in the contribution mode banner as a "replicate" or "don't replicate" button. Now I have to confess... I haven't got a system set up to test this new replication functionality but I assume it is all part of the Manage Site Replication page*. Archiver should rebuild the project file on import and ignore the sections where "Ready to replicate" is false. Why did I say Archiver "should" rebuild? I haven't found a shred of documentation to explain any of this stuff, I'm just guessing (it only got a mention in the release notes textfile.)

Some other awesome features in recent SiteStudio releases include:

• Compare renditions - any renditions, not just the latest! On the Content Information page, in the revision history table, a new column is appended that allows you to compare the current revision to any other revision, future or past.
• Setting a default page name (instead of manually changing index.htm)
  SSDefaultUrlPageName=default.html
  
• Downloading images and documents from a friendly URL (the current directory) not the WebLocation (buried in the /groups/public/documents directories.)
  SSEnableDirectDelivery=true
  
• Oh and those stubbornly clinging to the Ephox editor, don't forget the "ondemand" editors option that was included a few releases prior. It lets you say how many elements get loaded automatically and how many must be clicked on to load. If your page has more than three or four elements then Ephox (Java) is likely to hang your machine, so this setting is a godsend.
  SSUseOnDemandEditors=true
  

There's more great features too, so do yourself a favour and upgrade.

* UPDATE
Section Level Replication works great! I was right, it works via the "Manage Site Replication" page with Archiver. Note that the project file's native file is modified to exclude sections but not the weblayout file. Strange but true.

Get Enhanced Contributor Editing!

My contributors can add headings, delete rows and auto-insert image ALT text. Can yours? No? Ha!

Well, now they can too, using these replacement HTML Object Properties forms. I have rewritten the standard forms and bundled them together for you to download.

List of new functionality:

• Apply "auto-styles" (CSS class) to text, paragraphs & tables
• Convert or remove text formatting (FONT, SPAN, BOLD etc)
• Convert paragraphs from/to headings (H1 to H6, P, DIV etc)
• Convert table cells from/to table header cells (TD or TH)
• Edit or delete table rows
• Calculate image download size & time (popup alert for oversized images)
• ALT text for image auto-inserted from the image's "Title" metadata
• Set image dimensions & keep aspect ratio
• Set type of numbered list & starting number

Note that no core CS or SS code is modified.

I included a readme.txt file with instructions, disclaimers and other fancy words. Enjoy!

• Download Replacement HTML Object Properties forms (ZIP, 19kb)