The new website for the non-profit Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) features a roles-based content management system (CMS) that enables CHE to extend content authoring privileges outside its immediate organization. Staff and partners are grouped into different roles and can submit, edit and/or approve content depending on which privileges are assigned to their roles. The software allows CHE staff to tag some content so it is kept private to specific Working Groups, while allowing other content to be visible to everyone who visits the site.

A registration form allows visitors to apply to join CHE as a partner. In the form, applicants agree to a consensus statement and indicate their interest in joining Working Groups for specific regions or diseases. Once approved by CHE staff, new partners are automatically added to a directory that includes listings by state, organization type, and alphabetical listings. If the partner has a website, a link to the partner's website is automatically displayed.

To build the website, CHE first worked with a graphic design firm to create design mock-ups and an HTML template for the homepage. The template and image assets were then handed off to me, and I was tasked with setting up the underlying software to manage articles, menus, PDF uploads, images and the partner database. As appropriate, I modified the design template to suit different types of publications -- including event listings, scientific articles, links to policy papers, etc. -- throughout the website.

My other tasks included programming the partner directories; configuring the role groups and assigning appropriate authoring privileges; implementing the registration form; integrating an RSS feed on the homepage; and setting up a search engine.

The underlying software used throughout the website is a free, open source CMS called Xaraya.

Project URL:
http://www.healthandenvironment.org

Software Used for this Project:
Xaraya, Fluid Dynamic Search Engine