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
Report #4: System Design
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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Members
By-Laws
About
Photos
Levels
Newsletters
Knights of Columbus
Content Management
System
Officers
Council History
Contact
Information
Form 100
Charter
Members
Links
Grand
Knight
History
Insurance
Info
Events
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
Report #4: System Design
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.
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