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All websites require content management of some sort, even if management consists only of transferring image and text files to a host server for publication using a previously acquired domain name, and then publishing the transferred content so that anyone can access it on the Internet.

This technique works well for blogs and other small websites that have little or no interactivity, few pages, and few contributors. This technique does not work well for large organizations that need to publish and frequently update collaborative and/or interactive content from many departments. For large organizations, content management systems designed to accommodate interactivity and multiple contributors, pages and page types, users and user groups, work best.

One such content management system is SDL Tridion. Widely used in Europe and gaining ground in the United States, this proprietary software platform enables large, multi-departmental organizations to, Wikipedia says, “deliver an interactive and targeted customer experience, in multiple languages, across multiple websites and channels.” Tridion can be used out-of-the-box or customized to an organization’s needs.

Organizations adopting Tridion to replace the platform for their existing website must “migrate” (i.e., move) content from the old site to the new.

The steps below explain how to migrate content to a Tridion platform that has been licensed, installed, and integrated with IBM Portal.

Migrate content to “building blocks”

In Tridion, content is stored in files known as content components or building blocks. These building blocks store content in small chunks that can be used on multiple webpages. Updates to building blocks appear on all pages containing them when pages are republished.

To migrate content to Tridion, complete the steps below.

1. Type the IP address for your licensed Tridion application in your browser.
2. When your browser displays the Tridion homepage, navigate to Content Management (Building Blocks).
3. Double-click Building Blocks to display the file directory, which contains folders created for your organization prior to the content migration/content creation effort.
4. Navigate to the folder (e.g., “About Us”) that is to contain the new content component.
5. Click the New Component icon on the menu bar. A tooltip identifying the gray box as a New Component appears on hover.
6. Using the file-naming convention established by your organization, type the file name for the New Component in the File Name field. File-naming conventions make file names consistent to ensure that content is easy to find and is stored and published where it belongs.
7. Click the Schema dropdown and select an appropriate schema from the list of 10 (list size varies with organizational needs) for the content you are migrating. For example, select the General schema for body text that is to appear in the center column of a three-column webpage. Or select the News Press Right schema for content that is to appear in the right column.
8. Click the Content Component tab to display the user interface for capturing headings, body text, and hyperlinks.
9. Click the plus (+) tab on your browser to display a blank webpage.
10. Type the URL for the existing site in the browser or select it from the browser’s dropdown list.
11. Navigate to the page you want to migrate.
12. Copy the headline from that page.
13. Use the Paste tool to paste the headline into the Headline field. (Using the Paste tool ensures that pasted content will be correctly displayed when published.)
14. Copy body text up to the first subheading and, using the Paste tool, paste into the rich-text field.
15. Click the Source tab to display HTML source code. Confirm that anchor tags for hyperlinks are correctly formatted and correct them if necessary. NOTE: You will have to create link components for these in a separate task. Remove unnecessary span tags and make any other corrections to HTML tags for headings, paragraphs, and lists.
16. Click Save, but leave the content component open.
17. Navigate to the Links folder in your selected content area.
18. Click New Component and complete the Name and Schema fields.
19. Click the Content Component tab to display the user interface for capturing the link name and link file path (file path to linked-to content within Tridion).
20. Complete required fields and save and close the link component.
21. Return to the open content component. Highlight text that is to be hyperlinked.
22. Click the Hyperlink tool in the top menu bar to display the hyperlink dialog box.
23. Select Component from the dropdown options list
24. Click OK and save your changes.
25. Click the Metadata tab and select appropriate categories and keywords. You may also type related terms in the Metadata field.
26. Click Save & Close to save the new content component to its Tridion folder.
27. Repeat these steps to migrate all content for each existing content area (e.g., About Us, Contact Us, Goods, and Services).

Next steps

In Tridion, building blocks are inserted in page templates that display webpages when published. Page templates reside in a “Structure Group” area of Tridion. Structure groups map to a website’s organization, and structure group names define a website’s navigation. For example, an About Us structure group, when published, would appear in the top navigation bar of a site, and all About Us sub-structure groups would appear in the left navigation and top fly-out menu.

To create pages, navigate to the structure group for the content area (e.g., About Us) that you are working in and open a new page template. Insert building blocks into the template in an order matching the organization of content on the existing site. Save the populated template, publish, and confirm your work.