A content management system (CMS) is critical to the success of almost every website, intranet, and undeniably crucial for the maintenance of websites. In recent times, open-source software has been seen as an increasingly mainstream part of the market. This has been fueled by the growth of the internet, including the continued market dominance of Apache, and the mindshare of Linux.
The field of content management systems (CMSs) has seen particularly strong growth in open-source solutions, perhaps in direct response to the very high prices that commercial CMSs have historically demanded. Open-source CMSs have now matured to the point where they should be considered side-by-side with commercial alternatives. This is not a reflection of ‘open-source zeal’, rather recognition that there exist sensible business alternatives to commercial solutions.
Open-source content management systems are typically developed using open tools, such as PHP, Perl, Python, Java and UNIX. Working in these environments reduces ‘lock-in’ with specific vendors or software packages.
Salient Features of Open Source CMS
Some of the common features of the entire open source CMS include:
- • Minimal cost
- • Extensive documentation
- • Easy Customization
- • Number of plug-ins developed
- • Constant upgrades
- • Timely improvisations
- • Healthy User Community for discussion
- • Additional capabilities such as SEO
- • RSS Feeds integration
- • Twitter and Facebook integration
- • Quick search
- • Rapid Problem Solver
- • Easy maintenance
Most Favorite Open Source Content Management Systems
Drupal Content Management System - Drupal is an open-source platform and content management system for building dynamic web sites offering a broad range of features and services including user administration, publishing workflow, discussion capabilities, news aggregation, metadata functionality using controlled vocabularies and XML publishing for content sharing purposes. Equipped with a powerful blend of features and configuration, Drupal can support a diverse range of web projects ranging from personal weblogs to large community-driven sites.
Joomla Content Management System - Joomla is an award-winning content management system (CMS), which enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made Joomla the most popular Web site software available. Best of all, Joomla is an open source solution that is freely available to everyone.
DotNetNuke Content Management System- DotNetNuke (DNN) is an open source web application framework written in VB.NET for the ASP.NET framework. DNN is a fast, easy and reliable Content Management System, which can give great looking website / blog. DNN is designed to use on the Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0, 3.0, and 3.5 platforms using Visual Studio 2005, Visual Studio 2008 or Visual Web Developer.
Why should you try the Open Source CMS
The open source CMS are free, so you don't need to spend money to test them. Usually, you end up paying a hefty amount to get a custom CMS built, and all you can expect before-hand is a demo. Demos will not provide enough experience with the CMS to discover its downfalls.
There are several active communities where you can seek help to handle any issues that arise. The ease of set-up and use is also an attractive aspect of the open source CMS, and there's enough documentation available so you may customize the CMS to suit your business requirements.iek6nca83z