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:
- Ease of use. The templating system and the content management
toolset would need to require minimal training and technical support.
- 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.
- 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.
- Platform independence. Not having to rely on one single vendor
for app server, operating system, or even database.
- 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.
- Flexibility on importing the various, and highly different
newsfeeds that are provided by newspapers.
- 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 online network utilizes a
second generation content management system that utilizes concepts
pioneered by Cofax.
We are not a Software Company. Can we use and support
Cofax?
"Mine is better than ours."-- Benjamin Franklin
No matter what publishing system you buy or build, a major part of
supporting it will be internal to your company. Particularily the areas of feed
conversion and transfer to the central database will need to be developed and
supported internally. These are the most crucial areas that need the most upkeep
and support. Keeping this piece of the technology within the company and not
owning the presentation system does not make sense. With Cofax you are not
dependent on any one vendor or your own systems staff. Its open modular design
allows you to go to different vendors for different needs at different times and
still own a reliable, supportable application.
Your systems folks are already supporting other software throughout the
company, and will continue to need to do so. Any publishing system that is
implemented will need cusomization from time to time, as new needs arise, by
publication. Someone will need to do that maintenance. A system the size of this
is not and cannot be simply turn-key.
Having the programming be open source will actually speed development
and maintenance time. Having the project maintained by an outside entity, one that has
economic concerns other than us, slows the process down and can act as a
roadblock. What if our needs run counter to the needs of every one of their
clients?
Cofax already supports 3rd party software. It is an open architecture system.
If needed, any layer can be built by a third party, using our components and
framework as its base.
For example, a vendor could build new editor's tools for Cofax using the
published APIs.
It's 'open'. Which is what other solutions you can buy are usually
not. Will they give you full access and modification capability to
their source code? Would you buy a car that doesn't allow you to open the hood
and see what's inside?
Buying software to publishing your content is not like buying
Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word demands no change in a users' processes in how
they do their job. It is at a lower level and is a replaceable component.
When you buy software on the scale of that of a SAP or a a major publishing
system, what you are buying is NOT just software, but the PROCESS to maintain
it. The business rules that define it's operation are in control by the company.
That is not where they should be in a fast moving field such as the web where
our business processes need to be able to change on a dime. It's fine for a
financial service, but not the Internet.
What are the benefits for me as a System Administrator or Developer?
You can build new applications from it's modular archetecture quickly and easily.
You can choose your own operating system, database (ODI, XML, SQL), servlet container
or replace the servlets entirely as a delivery method. You have the flexibility to choose.
It imports content from multiple sources (e.g. newspaper
back-end publishing systems, wire services, manual input using Editors tools,
databases, via web, ftp) and publishes it to a database. It then serves this
content to multiple mediums in multiple formats (e.g. As dynamic web sites, as
static web sites, as e-mail digests, to palm size PCs, to cell phones & pagers, to
affiliates's web sites as a content provider.)
From a site production staff's viewpoint, Cofax allows for complete separation of:
- Content
- Presentation
- Programming
- Site Management
Designers can work on the templates without any risk of breaking the code (Unlike in
ASP, ColdFusion, JSP, etc.)
Cofax's data store has import and export facilities, both real time as well as scheduled.
The data store can be local or at a foreign server across the Internet.
Article data is imported into the database using Java classes accessing XML data.
Due to this architecture it is very easy to add new news sources (newspapers)
to the database. All a newspaper would need to do is send an XML file containing
that day's articles and it would be available within the database.
To provide access to the article data a set of Java classes have been
designed to employ template based production of static and dynamic sites.
Due to the use of Java, you can build your display platform using any of the
popular technologies available, CGI/Perl, Active Server Pages, Cold Fusion,
or in philly.com's case, Java Servlets. This provides for easy implementation
and a quick return on investment. Our Java Servlet display classes are
provided with Cofax but are not necessary to reap many of Cofax's advantages.
What are the benefits for me as a Site Leader?
Saves people time
The automation and the tools make it much easier for the production staff to build,
change and maintain their sites. Staff has a lot more time to spend on higher quality
work rather than tedious repetitive manual building of sites.
Deploy your staff more effectively
Complete seperation of content, presentation, design, programming and site management
lets people concentrate on what they do best.
Get up and running quickly and at low cost
A small newspaper can be up and running on Cofax in less than a week and the cost of
setting it up can be a few hundred dollars to set up the import module and database
entries and templates!
You are not tied to one vendor
If you do decide to host a cofax site on your own, rest easy in knowing that it is
built on standard server software that has plenty of support available. Also, if you
have needs that cofax forfills the majority of, but not all of, know that unlike many
other systems, Cofax is open. You have access to ths source code and design. That means
you can contract out support and development to the vendor of your choice.
Automated updates & archives
Updates from feeds, such as your newspaper publishing system, are automated. Archives
are automatically maintained. Templates for a 7-day archive, one month archive, etc.
can be created within minutes.
Powerful Co-Branding & Flexible Syndication Features
Parts of Cofax are based on a system that was designed primarily for Co-Branding and
Syndication. This is where Cofax really shines.
No new client software to install and support
Journalists, editors, and designers need no new software installed on the computers.
All they require is a web browser and an internet connection.
What are the benefits for me as an Editor?
Makes packaging of content easier - no programming required
Articles are automatically archived and made available for reuse. Content can be
collected and republished in new formats, for new audiences. For example, columnist
sites or weblogs.
Handheld, cell phone, send by e-mail, and printer friendly formats are provided
out of the box.
Classification, Keywording, and Taxonomy management
Articles are classified and keyworded, allowing you to manage and reuse them easier.
Work in advance and pre-publish
Editors and journalists can work in advance and post material before publication.
Related material for an article can be posted before a newspaper generated story is sent,
allowing you the flexibility you need in scheduling.
Support multiple daily editions of a newspaper
For example, see the Inquirer links on the Cofax in action page.
Do breaking news, and online journalism
Cofax's unique toolset and features encourage and support providing breaking
news and online journalism.
Get more time to design, while reducing your workload
Design an entire site from as little as two templates. Cofax enables you to do
away with header and footer type includes.
Leverage what you already know
Most sites use standard HTML WYSYWIG templates. No programming is required.
Insured path for future growth
Templates are not tied into any particular language, making requests like "create a
cell phone version", or "create a printer friendly version", easy without any need
for programming. You can use plain HTML, HTML/CSS, XML/XSL, WAP/WML and several
other formats for the templates.
Flexibility
Although not necessary, sections, and even single articles can have their own templates
permitting you complete freedom to design a site as you see fit, with as little effort
as possible.
