This is part of a continuing discussion on the four distinct functional aspects of GATE Village's technical infrastructure. This topic focuses on the functionality for the novice or less experienced user.

I believe that the web itself is ubiquitous enough that typical consumers do not have difficulty with virtually any web browser-based interface... they know almost instinctively what Tabs and Menus are (even if the names themselves aren't familiar); they understand what will happen when they click on a web link (or at least they think they do); and they appreciate that content can be delivered from multiple places simultaneously.

What isn't necessarily intuitive is how to create web pages that are attractive and functional such that Internet users (consumers) can use their net instincts effectively. The Village provides lots of support for this task in the form of ready-made functions and powerful yet simple WYSIWYG editors. As well, we make it incredibly easy to embed content from other places within and without the Village, often (as in the case of SHOUTouts and Glossary Items) without having to do anything special at all.

When used as a business Intranet, it is less important that each page be visually unique in the Internet... in these cases it is the content itself that is important. The Village offers blogs, forums, images galleries, and event publication that are easy to use and provide default values/templates that allow anybody to use them. These interfaces are, by default, themed with the GATE Village brand but that is easily changeable. We even offer workflow capabilities to ensure (for instance) that content is reviewed , edited, and approved before publication.

But we don't stop there because we want to enable if not the novice certainly the willing user the ability to create sophisticated pages suitable for the public without necessarily having to be or work with an expert Web Designer. The Village offers both a growing suite of ready-made content types for reuse by Village members as well as the Panels module which provides the ability to create structured, single- or multi-column web pages that are built via a web browser using a drag-and-drop interface that can easily access any (authorized) information object within GATE Village.

Panels come with 8 predefined panel layouts as well as the ability to create your own, custom layout. This technology is highly suitable to members wishing to create their own, structured layout using GATE Village content but bypassing some or all GATE Village-supplied and themed content. In other words, Panels provides the ability for (authorized) members to take nearly complete control over the web page content.

GATE Village utilizes panels for our own web page development (why not? they are so easy and yet powerful) so there are plenty of examples  to peruse, like the GATEPost (our monthly newsletter), our Account Benefits pages, or even our public home page. Content creation has never been so easy.