MySource Matrix Evaluations

MySource Matrix allows you to include many powerful features in your site, which are becoming more and more in demand with the advent of Web2.0.  These features are easily created using the standard page templates included in MySource Matrix:

Social Networking

A social network service focuses on the building and verifying of online social network communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services provide a collection of various ways for users to interact, and MySource Matrix supports the implementation of such features as blogging and user contributed content (both discussed below). discussion groups, and file sharing. Discussion groups are implemented with the Invision Power Board  product via the IPB Bridge asset.

Mashups

In the music world, a mashup finds its origins notably in hip-hop and is the practice of creating a new song by mixing other songs, usually from different genres. In the webspace, a mashup is a website that merges content from multiple websites forming new and innovative services - not provided by any of the websites on their own.  As an example, Frozenbear.com merges Google maps and Singles to let you know where the single people are in your neighborhood.

Content sources for mashups are typically from a third party via a public interface or an API.  Other methods of sourcing content for mashups include web feeds (e.g. RSS (file format)" or Atom (standard), Web services and screen scraping.

Blogging

Blogging can easily be included in your site using out-of-the-box MySource Matrix tools. The Asset Builder and Simple Edit interface allow users to create blog entries, and you can allow users to add comments to your blogs, using the Comment asset. Blog entries and associated comments are included in your site using the Asset Listing page. 

Your blog can be set up to allow your bloggers to choose categories for their blog entries to determine which blog they are contributing to, and allow multiple users to contribute to the same blog if required.  Users can be dynamically notified of new blog entries by creating an RSS Feed for both your blogs and associated comments, and using the permissions system within MySource Matrix, blogs entries can be published as public blogs or can be restricted to a particular user group. 

Bloggers can tag blog entries with thesaurus terms so that they are displayed as "Related Content" using the Related Asset Listing, and using an appropriate Design Customisation, you can allow your blogs to be repurposed for mobile content.

Podcasts

MySource Matrix allows you to provide podcasts of your audiofiles, using the Asset Listing and Asset Builder pages.  You can provide an Asset Builder page to allow the podcast audio files to be uploaded as a File, allowing a category to be chosen for the podcast if required.  Podcast format Asset Listing pages can be created to list the podcasts for each category. 

Since podcast content cannot be text searched, you can set up your Asset Builder page so that metadata keywords are required for each podcast uploaded and your podcasts will then be included in search results, and can also be included in "Related Content" using the Related Asset Listing.  You can also allow users to add comments to your podcasts, using the Comment asset, and display podcasts and associated comments using the Asset Listing page.  

User Contributed Content

MySource Matrix provides powerful user contributed content functionality allowing site users to create assets such as pages, other content types such as reviews or files such as PDF documents, creating them in predetermined areas of your site. This is implemented using the Asset Builder page template to allow users to create a page or a news item, and users are then presented with the WYSIWYG editor on a simple web page interface allowing them to input new content using the Simple Edit Interface.

Pages or files can be created in a preset location in your site, or the Asset Builder page template can be configured so that users can choose a category for their pages or files from a preset list, and the uploaded pages or files are placed in the appropriate location in your site.  You can then also create an Asset Listing page which displays the newly created assets to site users on pages, such as a "News" or "White Papers" page.

Custom Forms

MySource Matrix provides a Custom Form page template that allows you to create web forms using a simple point and click interface.   You can create basic 'Contact Us' forms that send email to a designated administrator, or create complex forms that allow email to be sent selectively based on the information entered by a user.

The form interface is customisable and allows for the creation of a variety of form elements, such as text boxes, selection lists, and email addresses. Additionally, questions can be grouped into form sections and reused throughout the system to minimise form administration. 

The Custom Form page template also allows rules to be set on information entered into a form to ensure form submissions contain valid responses. For example, you may create a selection box and apply a rule that forces a user to select at least one option.

User Feedback

MySource Matrix provides a Custom Form page template that allows you to create web forms using a simple point and click interface.  You can use this template to create a user feedback form, and nest this form in the design of your page so that it is included on all pages.  All form submissions are logged within MySource Matrix and can be exported in XML format or CSV format, allowing them to be imported into spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel.  The individual submissions are stored as assets and may therefore be managed like other assets in MySource Matrix.

Send To a Friend

MySource Matrix also allows you nest a form containing a "Send To a Friend" field in the design of your page.  You can then flexibly define the contents of the "Send To a Friend" email, including the URL, the Subject, a message and a "From" email address, and additional "To" email addresses, as required. 

Members Areas

With MySource Matrix you can define areas of your site which require users to be authenticated with a username and password before allowing them access - Members Areas.   MySource Matrix hides content in Members Areas from users that do not have appropriate levels of access, including removing references from menus and navigation systems.

Related Links or See Also Areas

MySource Matrix allows you to easily include a "Related Links" or "See Also" section on your pages, using the Related Asset Listing.  This page lists pages or other assets that are tagged with the same thesaurus terms as the current page.  You can even set a weighting for a page when tagged against the term, and the pages will be ordered in the Related Asset Listing according to the weighting assigned.

What's New Areas

You may wish to include a feature area on your home page or section home page, automatically listing summaries of content loaded into a “What’s New” folder, for example. MySource Matrix allows you to easily do this by nesting an What's New listing in your home page, which lists summaries of the content of the “What’s New” folder, and a link to the full news item. The What's New page can be created to show the news items for a period such as the last 7 days, or to automatically list the 5 most recent items..

You would also create an Asset Builder page for authors of news items which automatically places the news items in the news folder.

Document Management and Image Libraries

The various content organisation and presentations tools in MySource Matrix allow for the simple creation of image libraries, document libraries, multi-media libraries etc.

MySource Matrix stores all content as “assets” including documents, images and files of any type (including rich media).  This allows for the easy creation of document libraries and image libraries.  All files are stored in their native format, including PDF files, Microsoft Office Documents, images, sound files and movies and these may be filed in one or more logical repositories (“asset folders”) and displayed in multiple sites. MySource Matrix provides the following functionality for all assets (including files):

• The ability to be loaded into the system via a browser. (MySource Matrix is an entirely browser based system)
• Security permissions for read and write permissions may be set for individual users or user groups
• Metadata may be captured, and flexible schema definition is supported
• All assets are versioned and must be locked (“checked-out”) before editing