Toronto, January 3, 2011 – New Media Architects Ltd. is pleased to announce the latest release of Baseline CMS Version 3.2.0.

The following is a summary of all the exciting new features:

Task scheduler

A task scheduler service was added to Baseline CMS internal processes to identify and manage scheduled tasks. These tasks are added to a queue, and then processed at a specified time. The new functionality has facilitated the development of content syndication from Baseline CMS to social media networks and RSS feeds. It has also resulted in improved performance for server and application caching.

Social Media integration

Baseline CMS now allows you to syndicate content directly to your social networking accounts. When content is ready to be published on a social networking site, you can simply select a checkbox for each available social media account, then save the content item. The content will be published automatically to the chosen sites.

Currently this feature is available for Facebook and Twitter, but will soon support other popular social media platforms.

Figure 1: Twitter integration

Event calendar with downloadable data

Event lists can now be displayed in a customizable, interactive calendar format. The calendar is dynamically populated with Event Content Items that are listed within a given Classification node. Instead of displaying countless events in a long list that require users to browse by scrolling, the calendar format provides users with a more comprehensive and intuitive way to find events.

By clicking on events displayed in the calendar, users are able to preview event details in a small pop-up window. A link to the full event listing is provided in the details window (Figure 2.) The Event Details pop-up also contains a link that allows users to download event data in an ".ics" file; and then open this file in Outlook, or any other iCalendar application.

The calendar is available in three different modes: month view, week view and an agenda-style day view. Users can switch between these modes with a simple click of a button.

Figure 2: Event Calendar - Month view with details

Classification node Display Objects

In the latest release of Baseline CMS, functionality was added to allow Display Objects to be inserted into the top of Classification node pages. The implications of this change are enormous. It now means that website Administrators have more options for displaying specialized content throughout an entire website.

Previously, Display Objects could only be located in specific areas of a website interface. Now, any type of Display Object can be used on any Classification page; and any number of Display Objects can be embedded on a given page – or even reused on multiple pages.

This new functionality offers far more flexibility, since you can now create and manage Display Object content separately – in the Display Objects Instances area of the CMS – without having to worry about how it would affect the rest of the Classification page content.

In previous versions of Baseline CMS, this could only be accomplished by adding some custom code to the page introduction using the HTML Editor. This would require some advanced knowledge of coding languages and how they are handled within Baseline. If this content ever needed updating, the code would have to be edited manually the same way - for every Classification page on which it appears. By using embedded Display Objects, you can make changes to a single object and it will be updated simultaneously for all instances of it in use on the website.

Similar functionality is being planned for future releases of Baseline that will allow Display Objects to be embedded in Content pages.

Figure 3: Display Object (Image Gallery) on a Classification page

MultiImage Display Objects

A collection of new Display Objects were to extending Baseline's ability to display images and related content in a variety of ways. These MultiImage Objects display a sequence of images with built-in controls that allow users to select and view each image with their respective caption.

Features common to all MultiImage Objects include:

• The ability to add images from Baseline Storage
• Titles and captions for each image
• The ability to link to associated content or external websites
• Optional, text-based descriptions
• An “autoplay” setting that controls the timing of automatically scrolling images

The new MultiImage Display Objects come in four different configurations:

Image Gallery

Images are displayed with caption overlays and thumbnail images are used for navigation. Controls are also included for scrolling thumbnails.

Figure 4: Image Gallery as seen on www.nma.ca

Image Slideshow

Like the Image Gallery, images are displayed with caption overlays and navigation controls, but the Image Slideshow has a simpler interface that does not include thumbnail previews.

Image Carousel

Images rotate horizontally with a text description in a single “frame.” Navigation controls are used for scrolling through frames, and an option for custom controls is available. The Image Carousel comes in two formats: Left image & right text (Figure 5), or Right image & left text.

Figure 5: Image Carousel as seen on www.nma.ca

Tabbed Carousel

Images are displayed with caption overlays, and vertically scrolling tabs are used for navigation. Tabs include a thumbnail of the image with an accompanying title.

Figure 6: Tabbed Carousel

Miscellaneous updates

In Baseline CMS Version 3.2.0, a number of other significant improvements and updates were made. These updates are detailed below.

Upgrades to TinyMCE Editor

In Baseline CMS version 3.2.0, the TinyMCE editor was upgraded to version 3.3.9.2. The upgrade included a number of fixes, particularly for IE 9.

Other notable new features and improvements include:

• improved functionality for MS Word import and spell checking
• the ability to embed multimedia
• better handling of inline styles and list types
• plus a number of interface improvements

Improvements to Display Objects

In an ongoing effort to improve Baseline templates, some general improvements were made to a number of Display Objects. The code for some Display Object templates was updated to comply with current web standards; and some of the less commonly used Display Objects were discontinued.

Usability and interface improvements

The import functionality for People was updated to display warnings that identify errors within imported lists - thus preventing any bad data from being imported.

A number of improvements were made to the CMS interface. These include new text-based tabs on Classification detail pages and template pickers to replace the older graphic tabs. Additionally, all template graphics displayed in pickers for Classifications, Content Items and Display Objects were updated.