Turbomilk

Estrada

Author: Yegor Gilyov
1 December 2004

Estrada is CMS developed by Gandalf Development. It’s one of the first commercially available CMS. Estrada is primarily used by universities and federal agencies around the United States.

The Challenge

Estrada is ECMS developed by Gandalf Development. It’s one of the first commercially available CMS. Estrada is primarily used by universities and federal agencies around the United States. The system is fully customizable including GUI appearance.

Several clients of Estrada came across the idea of diversifying their interfaces by adding unique icons. First of them was VISN7. Later it was joined by EES, VMI, UAB SHRP and VISN8.

Estrada is developing. New functions and types of objects appear requiring additional icons. The development of unique icons for each client is a labor and cost intensive process. Our task was not so easy — to create a scalable and adaptable solution.

The Process

We needed simple and at the same time stylish icons. The idea of using popular 3D-icons was rejected from the very beginning. We adopted the “flat” style which met all the assigned requirements.

We have identified three icon categories:

1. objects/files
2. actions
3. block management commands

Each category has its own style. For instance, the shades of the icons of the second and the third groups seem to call out “click on me”. The block control commands share simpler shapes and limited palette. These icons seem to be in the background of the objects and actions.

The strict color solution of the first set of icons gave us the possibility to create new versions by choosing the palettes appropriate to the client.

The Result

Estrada for VISN7, UAB SHRP, ESS and VISN8 gained a special and unique appearance. Everyone was happy with the result.

Gandalf Development, Inc. utilizes Turbomilk services to provide the highest quality of Web design and interactive media to its customers. The company is also planning to use Turbomilk to develop the next generation of its flagship product, Estrada Enterprise Content Management System Dmitri Glazkov, Chief Technology Officer

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