TECHNOLOGY
| Content Management
Systems (CMS) on a Budget |
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Content
management systems (CMS) are critical to Web sites that often
update their information. In the world that we live in, it
is critical that a Web site be constantly updating information
if it hopes to retain a place of prominence in search engine
listings.
There are large numbers of
Web developers, including EREE Web that will use these low-cost
engines as a base for your site. This will save a great deal
of money for you in the construction of your site over time.
It will also give you complete control over your content with
no need to hire highly skilled Web site management or webmasters.
As usual, it is good to
start out with some basic definitions of what we are talking
about.
What is Content?
Content is, in essence, any type or 'unit' of digital information.
It can be text, images, graphics, video, sound, documents,
records, etc., or in other words, anything that is likely
to be managed in an electronic format.
What is Content
Management?
Content management is effectively the management of the content
described above by combining rules, process and/or workflows
in such a way that its electronic storage is deemed to be
'managed.'
What is the CM
System (CMS)?
The system itself is definable as a tool or combination or
tools that facilitate the efficient and effective production
of the desired 'output' using the managed content.
"A CMS is a tool that
enables a variety of (centralized) technical and (de-centralized)
non technical staff to create, edit, manage and finally publish
(in a number of formats) a variety of content (such as text,
graphics, video, documents, etc.), whilst being constrained
by a centralized set of rules, process and workflows that
ensure coherent, validated electronic content."
A CMS may support
the following features:
- The identification of all key users and their content
management roles.
- The ability to assign roles and responsibilities to different
content categories or types.
- The capacity to define workflow tasks for collaborative
creation, often coupled with event messaging so that content
managers are alerted to changes in content. This is especially
useful if editorial approval is necessary prior to going
live on the Web.
- The ability to track and manage multiple versions of
a single instance of content.
- The ability to capture content (e.g. scanning).
- The ability to publish the content to an archive to support
access to the content.
- Automatic formatting of layouts in predetermined ways
thus eliminating the need for html or coding knowledge.
Some of the most popular Open Source CMSs are:
http://www.joomla.org/
Joomla is designed to
be easy to install and set up even if you're not an advanced
user. Many Web hosting services offer a single-click install,
getting your new site up and running in just a few minutes.
Since Joomla is so easy
to use, as a Web designer or developer, you can quickly build
sites for your clients. Then, with a minimal amount of instruction,
you can empower your clients to easily manage their own sites
themselves.
Joomla Features:
- Completely database driven site engines
- News, products, or services sections fully editable and
manageable
- Topics sections can be added to by contributing Authors
- Fully customisable layouts including left, center and
right Menu boxes
- Browser upload of images to your own library for use anywhere
in the site
- Dynamic forum/poll/voting booth for on-the-spot results
- Runs on Linux, FreeBSD, MacOSX server, Solaris, and AIX
Extensive Administration:
- Change order of objects including news, FAQs, articles,
etc.
- Random newsflash generator
- Remote author submission Module for news, articles, FAQs,
and links
- Object hierarchy—as many sections, departments,
divisions, and pages as you want
- Image library—store all your PNGs, PDFs, DOCs, XLSs,
GIFs, and JPEGs online for easy use
- Automatic path-finder—place a picture and let Joomla!
fix the link
- News feed manager—choose from over 360 news feeds
from around the world
- E-mail a friend and print format available for every story
and article
- In-line text editor similar to any basic word processor
software
- User-editable look and feel
- Polls/surveys—Now put a different one on each page
- Custom page modules—download custom page modules
to spice up your site
- Template manager—download templates and implement
them in seconds
- Layout preview—see how it looks before going live
- Banner manager—make money off of your site
http://drupal.org/
Drupal is a free software
package that allows an individual or a community of users
to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content
on a Web site. Tens of thousands of people and organizations
are using Drupal to power scores of different Web sites, including:
• Community Web
portals
• Discussion sites
• Corporate Web sites
• Intranet applications
• Personal Web sites or blogs
• E-commerce applications
• Resource directories
• Social networking sites
http://www.opencms.org/en/
OpenCms from Alkacon Software
is a professional, easy to use Web site content management
system. OpenCms helps content managers worldwide to create
and maintain beautiful Web sites fast and efficiently.
The fully browser-based
user interface features configurable editors for structured
content with well-defined fields. Alternatively, content can
be created using an integrated WYSIWYG editor similar to well-known
office applications. A sophisticated template engine enforces
a site-wide corporate layout and W3C standard compliance for
all content.
OpenCms is based on Java
and XML technology. It can be deployed in an open-source environment
(e.g. Linux, Apache, Tomcat, and MySQL) as well as on commercial
components (e.g. Windows NT, IIS, BEA Weblogic, Oracle).
As true open-source software,
OpenCms is free of licensing costs.
OpenCMS Features:
- Advanced link management with the Content Relationship
Engine. The OpenCms internal link management has been greatly
improved to keep internal links intact after move/rename
operations. The user will also be informed about broken
links when deleting or publishing contents.
- Related resources with the Content Relationship Engine.
Related resources can now be published together with a file
or folder automatically. Content categories can be assigned
to each OpenCms resource.
- Restore (undelete) operation for deleted resources. Even
files that were deleted and are not visible anymore in the
OpenCms Explorer view can now be restored using this new
feature.
• WebDAV support. Full support for the WebDAV protocol
was added to OpenCms to make content editing easier using
external editors and synchronizing the resources with OpenCms.
- Publishing simplified with the publish queue. The publish
process was optimized to eliminate the waiting time for
a publish job to be finished. Content editors can now keep
on working while their changes are published in the background.
- Improved internal system roles and organizational units.
Internal system roles have been extended to assign them
to OpenCms workplace users. Organizational units enhance
the account management.
- Improved permission options and switch-user function.
The permission options have been enhanced to be able to
create complex permission scenarios more easily. The new
switch-user function allows administrators to switch to
another user in the workplace without knowing the user’s
password.
- Improved context menus. The context menus are now generated
using Ajax technology. Submenu structures were introduced
for a better usability.
- Search option in the OpenCms workplace. Search the OpenCms
workplace using the integrated full-text search engine Lucene.
- Configurable search options. The integrated search engine
has been enhanced to index fields definable by the user.
- XML content auto correction. Changing the XSD of structured
content items does not break already existing content anymore.
The content will automatically be repaired in the background
when editing it.
- Time Warp in OpenCms Workplace. A view on the Web site
contents of the past or of the future is possible using
this function without having to change release or expiration
dates of files or folders.
Other Resources:
Hosted Services
Clickability: Clickability
Platform
CrownPeak Technology: CrownPeak
CMS
Marqui:
Marqui
Squarespace: Squarespace
CMS
Commercial Open Source
Alfresco: Alfresco
WCM
Magnolia: Magnolia
CMS
Open Source
Plone: Plone
CMS
TYPO3: TYPO3
'http://www.contentmanager.eu.com/history.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_management_system
Open Source: The program must include source code, and must
allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form.
Where some form of a product is not distributed with source
code, there must be a well-publicized means of obtaining
the source code for no more than a reasonable reproduction
cost preferably, downloading via the Internet without charge.
The source code must be the preferred form in which a programmer
would modify the program. Deliberately obfuscated source
code is not allowed. Intermediate forms such as the output
of a preprocessor or translator are not allowed. http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd
If you would like to know
more about this subject, blog with me on the new Exec
MediaGroup Business Blog. If you are interested
in building or upgrading your Web site, call me at (702)
354-1826 or e-mail me at rebecca@erealestateexec.com.
Disclaimer:
We bring these items to you as a service and do not have
any affiliation with the creators, owners or developers
of products or services mentioned in this column. We cannot
be responsible for any negative outcomes regarding these
products or services.
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