Duke University - Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Apostrophe (an open-source PHP-based content management system) is the primary CMS used by academic department and program web sites for Trinity College of Arts & Sciences and it is fully supported by Trinity Technology Services. Some features include:

In Context Editing

Apostrophe is very easy to use and flexible to change.  All editing is done directly on the page you are on.  Users can change page templates at the top without losing any of their content.  The slot types allow users to move slots up and down their pages so they are never locked into a set design.

Slot types include the following:

• Rich Text - adds a text box.  You can apply formatting and links to this slot by clicking on the edit button
• Slideshow - adds a single photo or, if you select multiple images, a slide show.  The slide show will display in the order you place the images.  Slide shows can be adjusted to run automatically or manually with arrows.
• Smart Slideshow - Create an automatic slideshow based on selected tags or categories.  This slideshow will automatically replace new images into the slideshow as they are uploaded into the media section.  You can also designate how many images you would like to rotate through.
  
• Video - adds a video.  You can browse the media gallery for current videos or upload a new one.  No video is hosted in the media gallery.  All video must be already posted on YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler or other external video hosting service.
• File - adds a PDF, Word, Excel, or Powerpoint File to your page.  You can browse the media gallery for current files or upload a new one. 
• Audio - adds an audio file.  You can browse the media gallery for current audio files or upload a new one.  No audio file is hosted in the media gallery.  All audio must be already posted on SoundCloud or offer an embed code.
• Button - adds a graphic image with a url link
• Raw HTML - adds any embed code: ie Facebook, Qulatrics form or Duke OnDemand
• Policy - adds selected policies from a handbook to your page 
• News - adds news articles.  Select the tag or tags of the articles you wish to display.  Tags are assigned to news feeds or individual news items in the Tubes admin area.  You can pull in news through RSS feeds or create an original post within Tubes. 
• Calendar - adds a calendar.  Select the tag or tags of the events you wish to display.  Tags are assigned to calendar feeds or individual news items in the Tubes admin area.  You can pull events into Tubes through RSS or XML feeds.  Departmental events are managed on the Duke Events Calendar.
  
• Person - adds a person's photo, contact information, and optional blurb.  This is generally used to feature a department member, such as the Chair, DUS, or DGS.  Select your department.  Then select the person you would like to display on the page.  Information is pulled from FDS, though once the person has been added you may select a different photo from the media gallery and add an optional text blurb.  People data must be edited in FDS: http://fds.duke.edu.
  
• Department - adds multiple department directories to your website. This feature is currently only available on the Trinity College website. The profiles and directory information are pulled from FDS and must be edited in FDS: http://fds.duke.edu.

More slot types can be developed and customized for specific projects

Learn more about editing content and slot types

Version Control

Each save to a slot creates a new history item. Reverting back to an older version is easy. Click the the history icon next to the slot to select a previous version!

Rich Media Gallery

searchable repository of images, videos, and documents by  keyword, categories, and tags. The Apostrophe CMS provides a scalable API that allows it to take advantage of third-party media web services. Apostrophe currently takes advantage of 5 third party media services:

• YouTube
• Vimeo
• Viddler
• Slideshare
• SoundCloud

Adding one of these particular services to your Apostrophe website gives you local access to all of your media, and its meta-data information, found within the third party site. Having local access to this information allows you to edit/change meta-data information that make sense for your site, while all the original information is retained on the third-party site.
 

Learn more about Apostrophe media tools

FDS Integration – dukePeoplePlugin (Duke specific)

The dukePeoplePlugin allows FDS integration via an XML web service. This web service provides faculty and course information to your website. With this plugin, comes the 'Person' slot type, which allows you to render an individual's information, as well as locally change/add information to their profile. In addition to the 'Person' slot type, this plugin also allows for the use of people and course template pages, which display your department/program information styled in a manner that fits your website.

Duke Event Calendar Integration – dukeTubesPlugin (Duke specific)

dukeTubesPlugin provides local curation abilities of Duke Event Calendar XML feeds and any RSS feed. All event/news items that have been added by an XML/RSS feed are stored locally within your website giving you control to make any necessary changes/enhancements.

Learn more about Tubes

Duke NetID Authentication/Multiple Permission Levels

All administrative functions require an end-user to login. A user is authenticated via shibboleth using their NetID/Password credentials. Site administrators can set varying levels of access to features, pages, etc... These permissions can be assigned directly to a user or to a particular group

Learn more about User management

Categories/Tagging

Categories and tags can be used on many elements within Apostrophe. These items help to create additional meta-data as well as provide organizational abilities that allow you to render particular elements into groups.

Easy Page-Tree Drag and Drop Reorganization

A sitemap tree structure which allows you to drag and drop pages and sections of your website around without the need to cut and paste.

Blogging

Apostrophe websites come with a tool blogging. Blogging can be tagged and categorized as needed. Additionally, when a blog is created, an RSS feed is also created which can be used by other sites to display your log locally on their site.

Learn more about the blog tool

Plugin and Application Development

Apostrophe websites follow the design guidelines and standards for Trinity academic departments and programs, and elements of the design, such as colors and banners, can be customized to match an organization's look and feel. Consultation regarding these elements or general CSS and frontend development questions is available.

Apostrophe is not limited to any set of templates and can be customized to match any set of style-guide standards outside of Trinity College of Arts & Sciences.

Apostrophe is based off of Symfony, which makes for a scalable environment. Integrating additional applications and/or tools can be much easier compared to similar frameworks and/or CMS's. This gives us the ability to offer powerful, customized applications in a fraction of the time that it takes other developers using other frameworks.