Knights of Columbus Council 5510 Content Management System

 

System Design

 

Chris Ozoniak

 

Dr. Benjamin Bishop

 

10/9/10

 

Submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements of

MIT 490 – Information Technology Projects

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Introduction

The goal of the Knights of Columbus Content Management System is to create a Web

site that is easily manageable for the Knights of Columbus 5510 Council. It needs to be a Web

site that is easily modified by members of the council in addition to the webmaster. It also

needs to have a more modern look and feel that will encourage users to be interested in the

site. It will require integration with social media to increase traffic flow to the site. It is

designed to help others learn more about the Knights of Columbus, and the Knights of

Columbus Council 5510. The Web site will feature various forms of content from the Knights of

Columbus, including pictures and possibly videos. The site will be built using WordPress, a

Content Management System. This Content Management System will allow members of the

council to update and create new events, and to update other parts of the Web site. The

management of the site will not involve any further coding beyond what is used to create the

CMS. The ultimate creation of the site will be through HTML, PHP, CSS styling and photo editing

software such as Gimp or PhotoShop for creating banners and images for the site.

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Levels

Knights of Columbus Content Management System

Levels and User Interface: Index

When a user goes to the homepage, either from koc5510.org, or from another part of

the site, they will be shown the Knights of Columbus’ latest news through a news feed, and 14

links that will navigate the user through the site. The user has the option to go through the 14

pages, About, Members, By-Laws, Photos, Newsletters, Officers, Council History, Contact

Information, Events, Links, Insurance Info, Grand Knight History, Charter Members, and the

Form 100 page.

Subpage: About

Members

AboutBy-Laws

Photos

Newsletters

Officers

Council History

Contact Information

EventsLinksInsurance Info

Grand Knight History

Charter Members

Form 100

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When the user chooses to go to the About section, they are brought to a page with a

brief description of what the Knights of Columbus are. The user will obtain knowledge about

what the Knights of Columbus do for their community as well as a brief history of how the

Knights of Columbus was started.

Subpage: Members

The Members page is designed to be only accessible by members of the Knights of

Columbus 5510 Council. A correct username and password will be required in order to obtain

any access to the site.

This page will be immune from hacker attempts to infiltrate it through SQL injection or other

techniques. The Members page includes sensitive data about members of the council, such as

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their telephone numbers and home addresses so it is vital that this information be as secure as

possible.

Subpage: By-Laws

The By-Laws page, similarly to the Members page also contains sensitive information to

the council. A username and password that are different than the Members’ page will be

required to obtain any access to the page. The By-Laws page contains all the rules the council

sets for itself or the Knights of Columbus Supreme have set.

Subpage: Photos

The Photos page will be one of the more involved pages of the site. It will include

several plugins, the first is a photostream plugin. The plugin will allow for a Flickr gallery to be

streamed through the site. It will include a quick gallery of recent photos, photosets, and most

popular photos. A LightBox plugin will be installed on top of Flickr gallery that will allow for

overlay of images on the current page. The user will be able to navigate through photos in the

gallery using LightBox.

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Subpage: Newsletters

The Newsletters page will include all of the past newsletters that have been mailed out

to members, rather than the pamphlet form they are mailed out in, these newsletters will be in

a web-based form, such as Issuu or something that is embeddable into the site. The user will

be able to navigate through an archive of older newsletters if the particular newsletter they are

looking for is no longer listed on the Newsletters page.

Subpage: Officers

The Officers page will include a current list of the Officers of the Council. The current

page has the officers listed in a table, but I am considering making it a two-column display

rather than a table.

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Subpage: Council History

The Council History page includes a history of the Joseph F. Lamb Council, particularly

how it was named and how it was formed. It also includes details on how and when it was

instituted. It also details the numerous awards the council has received over its 46 year history.

One example of this is Council 5510’s distinction of being the designer and creator of a new flag. The

flag has red letters, which spell out “ONE NATION UNDER GOD”. The letters are on a white outline of the

United States sewn onto a blue background with the Knights of Columbus emblem in the lower right

hand corner. The flag is trimmed with gold fringe. This symbol of patriotism, attractively assembled by

talented ladies of the Council, has been proudly carried in all parades and is displayed at all proper

functions.

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Subpage: Contact Information

The Contact Information page is relatively simple in nature. It contains the address for

contacting the council, a PO Box number, a phone number to reach the council, and the email

address of the Grand Knight.

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Subpage: Events

The Events page contains a newsfeed and a calendar of all upcoming events for the

council. The calendar is able to be navigated through by month, and a mouseover will allow the

user to see more details about that upcoming event. The Events page will also be linked into

the main news feed on the homepage.

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Subpage: Links

The Links page contains links that allow the user to easily access other Web site related

to the council. The first link is to the Knights of Columbus Supreme, KOFC.org. The site

contains information about the Knights of Columbus at the highest level. It includes

information about the Knights of Columbus, what they do, how to become a Knight, and

information about Knights of Columbus insurance. The next link is to the New Jersey Knights of

Columbus site, njkofc.org. It contains a page of State Officers and Directors. It also contains a

list of Programs, Forms and Manuals, and Councils, Chapters and Assemblies. The next link is

an email address for Knights in Action Columbia Magazine. The next link is to the Diocese of

Paterson’s official Web page. The next link is to Catholic Charities. The last link is to the

Department for Persons with Disabilities (DPD)’s site, dpd.org. The Knights of Columbus 5510

often has fundraisers for DPD.

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Subpage: Insurance Information

The next page, Insurance Information has information from the Council’s Worthy

Insurance Agent; it includes useful information about the Knights of Columbus’s insurance

policies. It includes contact information and a business card from the Insurance Agent himself.

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Subpage: Grand Knight History

The Grand Knight History page includes text of the past Grand Knights of Council 5510,

and the years of their service. It also includes a small image of the individual Grand Knight.

Subpage: Charter Members

The Charter Members page includes an image of all the charter members of Council

5510.

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Subpage: Form 100

The Form 100 page is used for downloading an image of the Form 100 document which

is used when applying for membership to the Knights of Columbus.

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Backend

As mentioned previously, WordPress has the ability to install plugins that will be used

for viewing pictures, calendars and other features.

LightBox 2 is used to overlay images on the current page. It is useful when paired with

an image gallery tool.

Each page of the site is created separately through the menu of WordPress, within each

page a new post can also be created. Posts will be displayed in a descending way of order from

most recent to oldest. Older entries will be placed in an archive.

User Management

WordPress and other Content Management Systems allow for specified roles and user

abilities. In this case there will be two levels of access, an administrator level, and a contributor

level. The administrator will be able to configure various settings of the CMS and will be able to

add pages and posts. The contributor will only be able to update the site through the creation

of posts or the modification of content on the various pages.