Hosted provides the capability for getting stories online and ready for print all at the same time. The Article Asset editing window has additional features that the regular hosted environment (BLOX CMS) does not have which includes Depth, Slug, and Budget information that the Copy Desk (Designers/Page Creators) need. Workflows and Slugs are heavily dependent upon for the Appliance side of BLOX Total CMS Hosted but are nearly meaningless to the online environment. Regardless, both environments need to be addressed when creating an Article Asset in BLOX Total CMS Hosted.

How it Works

Everything is connected via a hosted environment, the Internet. The original version of Total CMS required a BLOX Total CMS server (appliance) installed physically at your facility. Total CMS works with the Hosted environment as well. With BLOX Total CMS Hosted, server installations are not necessary (they are optional). The installation process includes the creation of various shared files that have configuration scripts and XML files that are put on your network. Each computer that needs access to them will have shortcuts created. These files create the BLOX Total CMS menu, the integration part of BLOX with Adobe InDesign.

On-Site InDesign training is the last phase in preparation for going live with both BLOX Total CMS Hosted and BLOX Total CMS. The training focuses on how to use the BLOX functionality that is integrated in Adobe InDesign for Designers/Page Creation teams. For reporters and editors, the training focuses on how to create/write assets and setting up the asset for the Print side of publication.

When Reporters, Photographers, and/or Editors create their Assets in the BLOX Total CMS Hosted Admin, they are immediately available for use in InDesign. Based on Workflows, content is flagged for Print on the printing environment and is published to the website on the hosted environment.

The Article Asset has a series of Print Properties that are used to address the requirements that the Design/Page Creation Teams need to create the printed page. This information is used to help build the Budget. The printed page gets digitally converted to PDF files and creates the e-Edition files for the website.

Local Network Specifications

BLOX Digital recommended in-house server specs for Hosted Total CMS:

• Fileserver requirements are: minimum 1TB storage shared over SMB, with a recommendation of 3-10TB (unless you're operating a large production hub, 3TB is plenty).
• Performance sizing depends on the number of simultaneous users.
• Network connection should be gigabit or better and capable of 1-3 megabit transfer rate per client.

Editorial Assets / Article

The Article Asset editing window has another section added to the right called "Print."

Within "Print" there are two sections (General and Publication) with properties that are filled out. They are not mandatory, rather available for newsrooms that may want specific information regarding that specific Article (story). This information is used to help build the Budget.

General

This information is used to communicate to the Copy Desk or Design Team about the article.

• Ready For Print - This is a Flag that gets set from InDesign when an Article is placed on to a page.  This can be done automatically based on a Workflow Process.
• Slug - This is the file name for the Article.  It is different than the story.  Slugs are used to organize assets.  A naming convention is strongly recommended.  For example four digit year, two digit month, two digit day, a three digit code, and a descriptive title (20171005-spt-cubslosegm3nlcs).  Slugs are all lower case and no spaces.  Naming conventions for undated Slugs could use a special character.  For example, 2017####-spt-cubslosegm5nlcs).  Once a publish date has been determined, replace the #### with the actual date.
• Headline - The Web Headline will be the Title of the article.  For the website, it can be as long as you want it to be.  However, in print, there are space constraints to take into account.  Use the Headline field to suggest a Print version of the title.
• Subheadline - If a subheadline is desired for the printed version, enter it here.  The subheadline for article on the website is found under Other / Miscellaneous Properties / Subheadline.
• Jump Keyword - This is for the Copy Desk/Design Team who is actually building the pages for print.  They'll likely have the final say but you can use this as a suggestion.
• Jump Head - This is a brief heading for the Jump (ie: Barn Fire).
• Notes - Any notes you want to communicate to the Copy Desk/Design Team to take into consideration.  For example, if you relate two Child Images to an article for the website but you want a specific one used for print, enter a note stating which image to use.

Publication

This information is more specific to Budget information.

• Publication - If you have multiple publications, they'll be listed in the drop down menu.  If only a single publication exists, it will populate this field by default.
• Publication Date - This is automatically set for the next days date, however, you set the date for publish in this field.
• Edition - This is for e-Editions.  This is based on the specific setup and what is used.
• Zone - This is for e-Editions.  This is based on the specific setup and what is used.
• Section - This is A through Z and is the letter identifier of the section of the paper the article is to be placed (ie: section C for Sports).
• Plate - This is also known as a Module or the layout template to be used for the page creation.
• Page - This is a numeric number to identify the page number the article gets placed on.
• Assigned Depth - In the article asset editing window, there is a gear icon below the WYSIWYG.  In those settings is the option to Show Stats.  If selected, the Word Count, Character Count, and Depth information will be displayed.  The depth is in inches and it is calculated by average newspaper column widths commonly used in newspapers.