Announcing the launch of Sitekit CMS 7.0

Sitekit is proud to announce the launch of Sitekit CMS Version 7 at the IMS show on 28-30th November at Olympia, London.

Sitekit CMS v7 is a major milestone in the development of Sitekit CMS. The product design team has incorporated valuable feedback received from Sitekit customers and partners and also the latest developments in browser-based software usability. The new styling is designed to match the next generation of Microsoft Windows™ operating system - ‘Windows Vista™.’ 

Sitekit CMS v7 will load automatically when users log on to the Sitekit CMS Control Panel using their normal login procedures, so the upgrade process will be seamless and there is no need for additional user training as Sitekit CMS v7 retains all key elements of previous versions. To find out more about Sitekit CMS v7 please download the PDF guide or contact us directly.

Sitekit CMS v7 delivers a step change in performance and efficiency through improved visual styling with optimised screen layouts. Sitekit CMS v7 users will notice several improvements to the Sitekit CMS Interface:

• Efficiency of the Interface - From feedback and research we have improved the use of space ensuring the information and tools you need for a task are immediately at hand.
• New Buttons - To improve speed of editing and site a management - new ‘home’ and ‘logout’ buttons are always available.
• Accessibility - Text now resizes to assist Sitekit CMS users with small screens or visual impairments.
• Clarity - Using colours and styling to ensure related information is grouped together.
• Presentation of Tables - Colour banding to ensure even large tables are easy to navigate.
• Consistency - In the editing process, action buttons are located in same location no matter the page.
• Information Markup - Increased the number of prompts to assist users.
• Action Feedback - Improved confirmation from Sitekit CMS on completion of an action.

For further information please telephone Sitekit on 0870 1999 991 or email

Changes to the Sitekit CMS Interface

The Sitekit CMS Interface has been updated to further increase usability by improving the clarity, consistency and accessibility of the interface. This major improvement is a direct response to partner and user feedback.

No new training is required, although we have improved the visual design of the interface, we have been careful to ensure, the positioning and naming convention of every module remains the same.
We’ve not changed how it works or where anything is, just made it easier and more intuitive to use.
The following points highlight the key changes in Sitekit CMS v7.

Greater efficiency

More efficient use of screen space for trees, use of style-sheets throughout the Sitekit CMS Interface ensures not only consistency but also faster loading of pages whilst editing. The Sitekit product development team have revised background coding to the interface improving performance whilst enabling future personalisation options of providing ‘skins’ for the interface.

Improved Accessibility

The text in the Sitekit CMS Interface now resizes according to the browsers text settings using relative text size values, enabling partially sighted users to be able to use the product. (Note: The exception is the text used for tree structure which is a fixed size, as it would become confusing when the text wraps on scaling.

Greater Clarity

Related information has been grouped together in boxes making it clearer what information is related to and which associated buttons apply, ensuring users can identify related information with ease whilst editing their site.

Consistency

The action buttons on all module stages are arranged similarly now. The action button is on the left and the cancel option is on the right (following the Microsoft Windows standard). The distinction between action and cancel has been further enhanced using consistent colours. All actions that make a change to the data have a cancel option.

Information Markup

Where appropriate additional information is displayed to the right of the relevant form entry box with an associated ‘i’ icon. The number and text of these helpful information blocks have been increased.

Clearer Presentation of Tables

Easier to read tables with alternate row colours and smaller font sizes. This enable more information to be presented without confusing, these are applied consistently through all revised areas.

Icons

Icons have been added to each module to provide additional visual cues about which module you are currently using. These may be tied into the menu display.

Action feedback

On making an action in the CMS is was often difficult to see the result. All action responses have been separated into 3 types (below) and give greater prominence in the interface). They will generally appear at the top of the page beneath the module title HR.

Extra buttons

On the top menu there are now options to go to the home page of the relevant site or to log out.