About

> What is Cofax ?

Cofax is a Web-based text and multimedia content publication/content management system. It was designed to simplify the presentation of newspapers on the Web and to expedite real-time Web publication.

Cofax, at it's core, is a framework of software modules and tools to manage and deliver news content from different sources. It was developed using Java, database, and XML technologies. It is easy to use and implement.

In some ways, it is similar to commercial products like Vignette StoryServer, FutureTense Internet Publishing System, and Pantheon Builder, but costs much less to implement, maintain and use.

Cofax is Open Source software developed mostly by KnightRidder.com/Philly.com staff working with a host of open source developers who contributed code.

> Why was Cofax developed?

"If you want something done, ask a busy person." -- Benjamin Franklin

The Cofax Software was mostly developed by the Technology Staff at KnightRidder.com/Philly.com working with the philly.com Production staff and The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper staff. Feedback from other Knight Ridder newspaper users of Cofax also shaped the product.

Close interaction between the users and developers of the toolset greatly benefited the finished product and has had much to do with it's success.

Other people have also kindly contributed to the development of Cofax as an Open Source project.

The initial motivation for the development of Cofax was to set up automatically updating columnists sites for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

In 1995, the Philly Online Staff developed pin, a system to automatically publish the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News newspapers on the web.

In 1996, the Philly Online staff came up with the concept of a product called the Packager or pin version 2 which would automate the building of special packages and sites using the newspaper's content.

In 1996 and 1997, Philly Online created Co-branding software for use by the Sports Network. In their own time, some of the same developers created other Open Source software.

Knowledge and code from several earlier projects, both Philly Online's projects and independent Open Source projects was used in the development of Cofax.

In 1999, Cofax (then called Goon) was developed to replace the pin system.

Produced in an environment intimate to its customers, with a low budget ceiling, a number of specific benefits were sought after and achieved:

1. Ease of use. The templating system and the content management toolset would need to require minimal training and technical support.
2. Content/Design/Logic seperation. Content creators and designers must free to create without needing technical support. System logic can be changed without requiring changes to design or content.
3. High performance/scalability at reasonable cost. The largest sites on the Knight Ridder network were serving tens of millions of page views a month. The new system would need to support that and more.
4. Platform independence. Not having to rely on one single vendor for app server, operating system, or even database.
5. Database logic independence. A fatal flaw of most similar systems is their tieing to one database schema and platform. Changes to schema in most systems require massive changes to source code. It was a goal to solve this technological problem.
6. Flexibility on importing the various, and highly different newsfeeds that are provided by newspapers.
7. Static site look and feel. URLs were to be simple and navigatable. Sites should be indexable by standard search engine technologies.

The Cofax project achieved these goals and much more.

Initially rolled out two of the largest newspapers in the the Knight Ridder chain, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, Cofax adoption took place for the majority of the newspaper chain on a voluntary basis after hearing word of it's impressive capabilities.

Today, the entire Knight Ridder newspaper network runs on their Single Digital Platform (SDP) content management system that is a direct Cofax derivative. Thanks to the continued contributions of organizations and individuals across the world, the open source Cofax (now in the version 2 series) has developed into an equally or more capable content management system.

> Is Cofax for real? Where can I see it in action?

"One today is worth two tomorrows; never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today."-- Benjamin Franklin

Cofax is here today. It's been in production for over two years and has served hundreds of millions of page views for Knight Ridder and a growing list of independent companies.

Please see our Cofax In Action page for live examples.

> The people behind Cofax

This is a partial list of contributers to Cofax.

Note: (*) means there is a corresponding note below.