CityDesk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CityDesk is a proprietary Content Management System created by Fog Creek Software, which was founded by well-known blogger, author and software usability specialist Joel Spolsky.
CityDesk differs from most Content Management Systems in that it resides as a client-side application. It uses templates and a simple database structure to generate static web pages that are uploaded to a web server by its built-in FTP client. CityDesk runs on Microsoft Windows, and uses the Microsoft Jet Database Engine. This architecture makes it particularly suitable for smaller, information-rich sites whose users reside on a single network in a Microsoft-centric environment.
The unusual architecture brings with it some significant advantages. CityDesk's client-side model allows a relatively rich and responsive user interface. The CityDesk application itself is well-tested, mature and extremely user-friendly. The program help file is written in simple English and provides easy-to-understand solutions to common site-creation challenges. The program can be scripted with batch files to allow post-processing of pages by other applications. And CityDesk's page editing interface creates XHTML-compliant code.
CityDesk's data management is more flexible than might at first appear: a CityDesk plug-in, HTML DBScript, allows CityDesk to access data and generate pages from any Windows ODBC-compliant database.
The architecture creates two obvious issues. Data added to the system goes "live" only when a user makes a decision to publish it - although this will be at best a minor disadvantage for many users. And users outside the network cannot interact directly with the system without the use of an external database and a scripting language such as PHP, JSP or ColdFusion. However, the system can be used to hold and manipulate templates and pages written in these languages.
Used in this way, CityDesk becomes a higher-level page-management system. Its combination of power and simplicity has attracted a small but enthusiastic group of users, who have used CityDesk to address a variety of site-creation challenges.
The last major release of CityDesk was version 2.0, on August 25, 2003. In line with Joel Spolsky's policy of not discussing new versions, Fog Creek has since made almost no statements on future upgrades. However, in a 2004 interview with Australia's Age and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers, Joel Spolsky pointed to limitations in the client-side CMS model. CityDesk, he said, had "never really succeeded in selling to organisations with more than two or three people". Although Fog Creek has not said as much, it seems likely that CityDesk is not in active development.
[edit] External links
- CityDesk
- Fog Creek Software
- Working on CityDesk 5 articles about the development of CityDesk
