Customer Reviews

The Definitive Guide to Interwoven TeamSite (Definitive Guides)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First let me say that I have never seen a formalized methodology such as the Rational Unified Process wrapped into a book on Content Management, let alone such a title demonstrate how to incorporate those practices into CMS work. I found this to be a novel concept and one that I feel will add a lot of value to my future projects. The authors share their expertise, not only with technical TeamSite implementations details, but also with some softer skills related to everyday IT/CMS life ( i.e., project management, requirements management, project deployment, and marketing). The book is broken up logically enough into sections which map to the specific RUP phase being discussed. Detailed coverage is given to TeamSite 6.5, with some additional coverage of TeamSite 6.7. Most of the Interwoven products are discussed, explaining why certain products could be selected, what their purpose is, and the value that they may add to an implementation. The authors also provide coverage of how to define a taxonomy in MetaTagger, using OpenDeploy and DataDeploy, using LiveSite, TeamSite Front Office, TeamSite Search, as well as extremely handy FormAPI and FormsPublisher references. Thank you and well done!

I have been using Interwoven for almost a year now, and I have already learned some things from the book. The RUP coverage is not as heavy as I would have liked; however since the focus is really on TeamSite and best practices for using TeamSite as an eCMS system, I can't subtract much for this reason. The authors provide excellent coverage of TeamSite 6.5 and also provide business information that is lacking from so many CMS books these days. This book is a great book for TeamSite up and comers as well as business users of TeamSite. The price is a little steep, but overall a very good book and worth the money.

It is not easy to give an overview of the TeamSite product line in 537 pages, but Hastings and McNeal do an admirable job of covering project methodology, an overview of the entire TeamSite product line, and a deep dive into TeamSite templating and workflow.

This is certainly not everything there is to know. TeamSite is an almost infinitely configurable product, but you will not find as good an overview and introduction to TeamSite as this book. And that is not just because this is the only book on TeamSite out there; you won't find this kind of overview in Interwoven's manuals or Training materials either.

I highly recommend this book now, but if it comes out in an expanded second edition for a little less money it will be a no brainer.

This book is mainly about TeamSite 6.5. It is well written and the authors are consultants with a great deal of experience in the CMS or eCMS area.

It starts with a CMS definition that includes MIME/Metadata, etc. then builds on these by adding templates. workflows. Then there is the good explanation for practical aspects such separation of data and presentation,and MetaData creation and access management.

After these, it looks at a project aspects such as Scope, and other RUP definitions. Although this is somewhat brief as it should be. Part 2 is the Inception Phase. There is more information regarding MetaData here and Index/Search management with a brief introduction to LiveSite 2.2.

Chapter 7 is an excellent practical info about building the repository, while Chapter 8 is excellent description of using FormsPublisher. This book is technical but it also helps us understand the business/finacial aspects of wsebsites as well. For example, Chapter 9 talks about Return on Investment (ROI) as well as Time to Web! Chapter 10 and 11 talk about TeamSite Tools and Files and Data using Open Deploy and others.

Chapter 12 is totally devoted to WorkFlow. Moving on to Chapter 14, it does a good job of defining roles, in 15, it talks about Interface Needs. That will take you to Part 4 which is the construction Phase.

This book, provides a deeper insight and understanding of CMS. Even though this book is written for TeamSite,most of the concepts and information can easily help with other CMS and eCMS tools as well.

I worked for several project teams at large companies who wanted to implement a CMS. It always turned into a long, drawn-out process, because there was never a guide to refer to or a book worth reading. So, basically, no one knew where to start. This book gives you all you need to know. My current team actually purchased this book recently as we are in the final stages of an implementation. It has helped tremendously. I would recommend this as the bible for any team getting ready to start a CMS implementation. Trust me. I've worked on four CMS teams and this book hits the nail on the head. I think I'll just tell my next company to hire the authors.

The book is fairly helpful, and did bring to light a few new ways of thinking about interwoven. However, many of the examples seem to be incomplete and only scratch the surface, leaving the reader needing/wanting more information.

The content is good, but the Kindle version of this book is horrible. The table of contents doesn't actually link to a specific page so there is no way to easily get to a particular chapter. Unless you just want to read it from beginning to end, this makes this book almost useless as a reference.

This book leaves out allot. Good luck trying to get some of the examples to work. Many of the files are missing. It seems like the main objective of the book is to make a dollar since there are not allot of books on the topic outside of the Interwoven community.

An example of the poor quality of the book is in Chapter 16. The book talks about navigation and says it will go into more detail in chapter 15. However you are already in Chapter 16 and 15 is actually about workflows.

The reality is if you are implementing Interwoven CMS you need to buck up and take their developers series class. If you already know how to program you will be fine. If you try to use this book as a resources it is pretty much worthless.

Save your money and join the devnet community it's free and way more helpful.

You have to understand first that I "grew up" in content management systems with "Joomla!," which is an open-source, fully-integrated application that gives you one pilot seat from which to build your web site. (www.joomla.org) With Joomla!, you create your information architecture, add in components, and pick out a template, and you have a fully-functioning web site in no time. You don't have the versioning and audit trails of other cms tools, but you have a whiz-bang web site that's easy to manage and incredibly extensible. Now faced with implementing TeamSite, I just can't believe that anyone would choose this behemoth over Joomla!. Nevertheless, the question that NO ONE can answer for me, not Interwoven and certainly not the "definitive guide," is "How do you actually build a web site with it?" It seems that Interwoven and this book assume that you have teams of programmers who have always built all their sites one file at a time. They start from scratch and script their little hearts out. This book may explain the installation and general templating procedures of TeamSite, but it doesn't explain the general approach to building a web site with it. There are many, many gaps, and it's not very helpful for non-programmers or first-time CMS builders. So, if you're buying this book as a pre-purchase decision, I'd suggest looking at Joomla!--chances are, you'll be happier with it, and it's free.