ABSTRACT
Contentmanagementsystems(CMSs)arechangingthewaytechnicalcommunicatorscreatetexts,particularlyinelectronicenvironments.Inthischapter,CMS meansacomputersoftwaresystemforcollaborativelycreatingandstoring content,althoughCMSisabroadlyusedterm(i.e.,amanilafolderistechnically aCMSbecauseitisonemeansofstoringandorganizingcontent).PriortoCMSs, technicalwriterswrotetextandgraphicdesignerscreatedvisualsthatwereedited mostlybypeopleandpartlybysoftware(e.g.,MSWord'sgrammarcheckerand HTMLeditorslikeRobohelp).TheintroductionofCMSshasinfluencedthe processofwritingitselfas"contentcreation"tobemanagedbytechnology; namelyaCMS,althougheventhecreationofthe"original"contentindocument productioncanbecontrolledbyCMSs.ThepurposeoftheCMSisto"save money,timeandresources"(Carter,2005,p.25),anditaccomplishesthese tasksbyfilingcontentasdatathatiseasytorecycle.Thegoalistocreatetext thatiseasilyretrievableandreusable,ataskthatisbestachievedwhenthe writingiscomposed"generically"andwith"'basic'modulesoftext"(Carliner, 2002,n.p.).ACMSworksbestwithshortblocksoftext:"Thelessinformation inthemodule,themorelikelythatitmightbereused"(Carliner,2002,n.p.); itworksevenbetterifthewriterfollowssomekindoftemplateorpreferably writesthecontentusingadocumenttypedefinition(DTD).ADTDcontains tagsorattributesthatlimitwhatcanbewrittenforthesakeofconsistentdocumentformatting.Therefore,technicalwriterseithercreatedocumentsaspotential templatestobereconfiguredbytheCMSor,asisthecasemorefrequently, composedocumentsnotasoriginaltexttobelatermanipulatedbutcomposing asaprocessofinputtinginformationorcontentthatagreeswiththeDTD.
