Immediacy, a UK web content management software provider, has launched Version 5.1 of its content management system Immediacy CMS. The new release includes important enhancements that make sites more standards compliant. They allow sites managed with the system to be both XHTML 1.0 and accessibility compliant out of the box.
The kit allows site administrators to select the appropriate accessibility level, from A to AAA and includes built-in automated tests similar to those in the world-renowned Bobby for example. Editors can check the accessibility of their content at any time during the editing process.
This compares favourably with existing external checkers where content has to be published on the web, making it live to the outside world, before these checks can be run. Inevitably this means that some business users, who are currently submitting unchecked material, will be publishing content which fails to meet the intended accessibility standards. As a result the site as a whole is uncompliant until full checks are run and published errors fixed – this process can take weeks or even months. This creates poorer quality content and the delay exposes companies, even if temporarily, to prosecution under the recently enacted Disability Discrimination Act.
The technology also supports the 2,732 preferred terms laid out in the UK Integrated Public Sector Vocabulary (IPSV) – enabling public sector organisations to comply with mandated metadata standards.
Immediacy CMS 5.1 builds on Version 5.0 officially launched late last year. Version 5.0 was the first fully fledged .NET-based web content management system made available in the UK and has already been rolled out to more than 50 Immediacy UK-based customers.
Updates include:
Built-in XML-based accessibility checking so that non-technical users can test multiple websites chosen compliance levels prior to content being published.
Ability to update the built-in accessibility checker with approved source code as and when accessibility guidelines change.
Eliminating deprecated tags, rendering cleaner, fully compliant XHTML which enables application of rules website-wide to be more efficient and reliable – making the look of websites cleaner
Uses the .NET framework with its pure compiled code and optimised caching methods that help to make websites up to 5 times faster, more secure, robust and scalable.
.NET also makes it easier for developers to extend the system and quicker to deploy it Incorporation of new Integrated Public Sector Vocabulary (IPSV) terms published on 4th April 2005
The company is set to launch its new Document Management System (DMS) at Internet World this year. The tool uses all the advantages of the ‘Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning’ specification (WebDAV for short). WebDAV is an extension to the established Hyper Text Transfer Protocol or HTTP (the widely adopted internet communications standard) which is designed to enable document management across distributed organisations.