pI've previously mentioned some of the a href=http://www.yelvington.com/node/508assumptions and assertions/a behind the site management toolkit we're developing at Morris. One key assumption is that editors should be able to determine page layouts -- something that's just not possible with a lot of template-driven content management systems. Here's how we're making that work./p pEditors begin by seeing the site pretty much as everyone else would./p pimg src=http://www.yelvington.com/files/jax300.png alt=New homepage//p pBut if you look closely -- and if you have the permissions that comes with an editor's role -- you see a series of tabs across the top of the main content area on the homepage. /p pimg src=http://www.yelvington.com/files/tabs300.png alt=Tabs show if you have permissions//p pWhen you click on the content tab, you get a layout dummy. This is accomplished using the Drupal contributed Panels module, written by Earl Miles./p pimg src=http://www.yelvington.com/files/layout300.png alt=Page in layout-dummy mode//p pElements can be added, temporarily disabled (notice the ones that are darkened), dragged and dropped from cell to cell, and so forth. This makes it possible to easily relocate or replace components./p pBut it's not something that you should emhave/em to do in order to update and maintain a site throughout the workday. The actual components displayed on the page are dynamic blocks. Their are determined by applying business rules to the underlying data (stories, images, blog posts, etc.) /p pFor example, one block might list half a dozen of the most recent AP national news stories, while another might feature a picture and headline from the story currently top-ranked by editors. When fresh content is available, the site can automatically change without human intervention./p pThese blocks are all defined and generated using another Drupal contributed module, Views. It's also written by Earl Miles, recently honored as a href=http://drupal.org/earl-miles-merlinofchaos-2008-MVP-OSCMS-Drupal-packt-awardDrupal MVP./a Web producers can learn Views, but it's not something I'd want to have to teach to the copy desk. /p pA lot of the work that's been going on in Jacksonville over the last month or so has been the development of a library of these Views components and corresponding HTML template work to tailor their output./p pThis combination of Views, Blocks and Panels is used to manage not only the home page, but also major section fronts such as Sports, News and Interact. /p pBut editors -- not Web geeks, but journalists -- also can create such pages from scratch. It's a straightforward process. You start out by selecting a layout grid from a library./p pimg src=http://www.yelvington.com/files/create_layout300.png alt=New pages can choose from a set of options//p pIf you don't like any of the choices, you can also create a custom layout by specifying the number of rows, then the number of columns in each row, and the widths (in pixels or percentages). It's just a matter of filling out a form and no HTML is required. /p pThe resulting grid then can be populated with blocks from the library, or arbitrary content blocks. If you create arbitrary content blocks, you're beginning to get into a requirement that you understand some HTML, but you're still insulated from the complexity of the complete page./p pThe page is automatically wrapped in the site's standard design, including the required advertising positions, navigation, and branding./p pThis makes it possible to quickly create topics pages or special presentations for complex major news stories. /p pExisting pages can be copied, reworked in a private mode until they're finished, and then swapped into the live positions. This makes it possible to have a really special homepage when it's time to publish a really special project./p pI'll have some more detail on these tools in coming days./p

pimg class="float_right" src="/~~/f?id=4900a23c796c7afc0024ed1fmaxX=290maxY=155" border="0" alt="Titanic.jpg" title="Titanic.jpg" width="290" height="155" /The dean of newspaper analysts, Alan Mutter, says that a href="http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2008/12/where-extreme-cuts-may-come-at-papers.html"demolished newspaper companies are finally preparing to make extreme cost cuts to save themselves/a. The level of these cuts will vary depending on the speed with which the companies' revenues disappear, but at least the industry appears to finally be moving beyond denial:/p p style="padding-left: 30px;"[P]ublishers are systematically reviewing every aspect of their businesses with an eye to saving a buck any way they can.br /br /They are preparing cascading contingency plans that can be implemented according to the degree that sales might decline. The industry's revenue crisis is detailed a href="http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2008/11/newspapers-eye-extreme-cuts-as-crisis.html"here/a in the first installment of this series... Here's a glimpse of what may lie ahead:br /br /The list of potential expense reductions includes strongsqueezing staffing, shuttering bureaus, carving out layers of middle management, telescoping multiple sections of the paper into one, tightening newshole, scrapping syndicated features and wire serevices, axing op-ed pages and book sections and eliminating classified ads on certain days of the week./strongbr /br /In an example of what could become commonplace, the Newark Star-Ledger stronga href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9415AC00show_article=1"reduced headcount/a by almost half in the fall by threatening to close the paper by the end of the year if its cost-cutting targets were not met/strong. The reduction was enabled through enriched severance benefits and concessions from labor unions throughout the plant.br /br /Another alternative will be to strongask employees to accept voluntary pay cuts, to agree to work longer hours, and to ease manning requirements and other work rules. Bonuses may be reduced or eliminated/strong for the fortunate few who still would have qualified for them.br /br /Publishers will strongoutsource anything that makes sense, including ad sales, ad composition, copyediting, page layout, printing, customer service, fleet maintenance and delivery/strong.br /br /Many newspapers will look to strongselling their historic downtown edifices/strong to raise operating capital and repay debt. If they can't outsource printing, they will move their presses to the warehouse district of town and relocate the administrative, ad and editorial staffs to rental space in class-B locations.br /br /Continuing a trend that began this year, publishers will be seeking to strongpartner with neighboring papers /strongto save costs on ad sales, content generation, printing and delivery.br /br /If the economy deteriorates too far too fast, partnerships of convenience may give way tostrong outright mergers/strong in markets shared by multiple newspapers.br /br /This would be especially likely in cities where one or both of the properties is financially distressed, enabling the publishers to argue that the traditional antitrust objections to such transactions should be waived in the interests of preserving the editorial voice of at least one surviving publication. To make a merger more palatable to regulatrs, the publishers might agree for a while to have the surviving paper continue printing some features carried over from the one that does out of business...br /br /Things could get particularly dicey for individual, free-standing publishing companies like the Star Tribune, Boston Herald and Philadelphia Media Holdings, the latter of which may find it increasingly difficult to sustain the publication of both the Inquirer and Daily News.br /br /Even though this is the worst time in history to be selling or financing a newspaper company, several operators, including Copley, Cox and Journal Register, have put publications on the block. Journal Register, which was among the first of the many precariously financed publishers to default on its debt, has stated that it will close papers it cannot sell.br /br /Companies like GateHouse Media, Lee Enterprises, McClatchy, MediaNews, Morris, New York Times Co., Philadelphia Media, Star Tribune and Tribune are obligated to improve their profitability in the coming years to repay the principal and interest on money they have borrowed to make acquisitions.br /br /In the event the publishers are unable to meet those obligations, their creditors will move in to slash expenses; attempt to sell off assets to generate cash, and take every other step necessary to sustain the properties as going concerns.br /br /This will last as long as the newspapers continue to generate operating profits. But it is highly unlikely in this environment that any creditor would provide additional cash to prop up a money-losing newspaper./p pRead more on a href="http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2008/12/where-extreme-cuts-may-come-at-papers.html"Reflections of a Newsosaur /a/p pstrongSee Also: /strongbr /a href="http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/11/cash-crunch-at-new-york-times-nyt-400-million-due-in-may"New York Times Cash Crunch: $400 Million Due In May/a/p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/m9iM9z-k-ILLsnAaNM84jKtOaK4/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/m9iM9z-k-ILLsnAaNM84jKtOaK4/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=2MwUdKkb"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?i=2MwUdKkb" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=IpcvDAxc"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=52" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=97UzrSK0"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=80" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=vjzbAlXv"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?i=vjzbAlXv" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=Lh6c3FsQ"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=131" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=WwGrign0"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=336" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=EI8IsfM1"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=dYFWroBG"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=50" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~4/UTwS4YHez34" height="1" width="1"/