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Open Source CMS - Joomla
One of the core solutions we use at NavigateTomorrow.com is the award winning open source content management system Joomla! (that was a mouthful!)
There are a number reasons we do this:
- We decided long ago that while building a site from scratch still has its value, most of the article/news/blog driven sites we do best fit into a CMS.
- CMS's separate the content from the design - so changing an entire site is pretty simple to do. (We just completed the update of a 3,000 page site by changing two files and uploading some images...)
- CMS's offer a simple user interface for updating and adding new content. (in other words, you won't keep paying an expensive web designer to keep your site up to date.)
Some Definitions:
(from wikipedia)
Open Source:
open source describes a broad general type of software license that makes source code available to the general public with relaxed or non-existent copyright restrictions.
In other words... mostly free.
Content Managment System:
is a computer application used to create, edit, manage, search and publish various kinds of digital media and electronic text.[1] CMSs are frequently used for storing, controlling, versioning, and publishing industry-specific documentation such as news articles, operators' manuals, technical manuals, sales guides, and marketing brochures. The content managed may include computer files, image media, audio files, video files, electronic documents, and Web content.
Why we like Joomla!
- Cross platform. Because its a web app - you can be on a PC, Mac or Linux box and keep your site up-to-date. Also, Joomla! can be hosted on a Windows IIS server or an Apache server (that's pretty much all of them...)
- Joomla! is an award winning CMS. Incredibly popular, it is supported by thousands of users and dedicated developers. At the time of writing, the Joomla! Forum has over 251,000 members. The forums are among the most active of any software available today.
- Extensions. Out of the box, Joomla! is very good, but because it is open source, many developers write software to "extend" the basic functionality of the core software. At the time of writing, there are 4,360 extentions for Joomla!. Everything from embedding videos to subscriber based content is available. Many of these are also open source (free), however some are commercial. The average cost for a Joomla! extension is around $25-$50 US.
- Security. Out of the box, Joomla! is secure. Often when you hear that a website has been "hacked" it is for one of three reasons: Insecure passwords; Insecure extensions; Insecure "core". The Joomla! development team is incredibly quick with releasing updates when issues are discovered. Last year, a Joomla! site was hacked at Stanford University. It turned out the administrator was using a simple derivative of his last name as a password... (dumb dumb dumb). The key here is keeping any extensions up-to-date, along with the core, and using secure passwords. (We'll help you select secure passwords, and keep your site up-to-date.)
- Templates. There are thousands... but we'll create one especially for you if you want.
- Joomla! is easy to use. Once your site is set up, an easy to use WYSISYG (what you see is what you get) interface makes content development a snap.
I could go "on and on"... but this gives you an idea.
I gave a presentation on Joomla! at the 2008 Internet Ministry Conference - you can watch the video here...(scroll down to session 2)
If your site is still "static"... or you need some help thinking the issues through... contact us for a free consultation.
Rod.
