Whether it’s Facebook or NYTimes.com, behind every Web site there’s a content management system.
At The NewsHouse, we have The Juicer.
Our production system – also known as a CMS [10] – allows us to add photos, articles, videos, audio, blogs, databases and more and then configures those into what you see when you type TheNewsHouse.com into your Web browser.
There are dozens if not hundreds of CMSs available, so as we were exploring those options in late 2008, we narrowed our choices to WordPress [11] and Drupal [12]. WordPress is a customizable version of the system that powers the popular blogging site [13] with the same name. Drupal is an open source CMS based on using PHP used by many media sites [14] and in October was adopted as the system that would run WhiteHouse.gov. [15]
[12]Weighing factors such as cost, flexibility and usability, we sided with Drupal. It was the more powerful of two and should serve as the platform for a site will be around for years to come.
It took about five months for McCormick & Winter [16]Web developers to design, build and test The NewsHouse, which launched in beta in June. And the work is not over as we continue to develop new features we want to implement.
During one of our initial brainstorming sessions, the Lead Producer team was tasked with naming the CMS. We considered nicknames such as “Carmello [17],” “Hal [18],” and “Blender” before the right term for an Orange-obsessed school was blurted out:
The Juicer.
So what you are seeing now is possible because our team tossed some content in The Juicer, let the code separate the pulp from the best parts and then poured out a tasty little Web site for you to enjoy.
To get a look at how The Juicer works, check out this video produced by Joe Blum [19] and Mike Morse [20]:
