<html>
  <head>
    <title>Content Management System: Architecture Overview</title>
  </head>
  <body>
  <h2>Architecture Overview</h2>
  <b><a href="index.html">Content Management System</a></b>
<hr>

<p>The CMS architecture consists of four distinct layers.</p>

<img src=layers.gif border=1 align=left hspace=20>

<h3>CMS Application</h3>

<p>CMS includes a standard application interface that provides
extensive general functionality without the need for custom
development.  It is designed for rapid deployment in a broad
range of publishing environments.</p>

<h3>CMS Toolkit</h3>

<p>The standard CMS application interface is built on the CMS Toolkit,
a collection of reusable code libraries and interface widgets that
standardize and simplify interaction between the database layer and
the end user.  Developers can employ the toolkit to customize and
extend the application interface to suit the specific requirements of
individual publishers.</p>

<h3>Content Repository</h3>

<p>The Content Repository, a standard component of the ArsDigita
Community System (ACS), provides the foundation for storing and
managing content as structured data.  It consists of an extensible set
of data tables as well as a procedural API for all basic data
operations involving content.</p>

<h3>ACS Core</h3>

<p>The Content Repository is in turn an extension of the ACS Core
database layer.  The ACS Core implements an extensible framework for
managing all classes of data objects, including content.</p>

<hr>
<a href="mailto:karlg@arsdigita.com">karlg@arsdigita.com</a><br>
Last revised: $Id: layers.html,v 1.1 2001/04/20 20:51:09 donb Exp $
</body>
</html>