What is a CMS?
A CMS is a Content Management System that gives your business complete control over the content of your website. With this in place you have the ability to manage content, user accounts, style and design – the list is as long as your business requirements. What’s more, this can all be administered by non-technical staff in an extremely simple, user-friendly way, instantly and from anywhere.
In short, a content management system simplifies the task for you and means that you can keep your website up-to-date without having to rely on outside expertise.
Introduction to open source software
Open source software is software that the owner permits other users to use, change, or redistribute, unlike proprietary software there is no licensing fee, so it’s essentially free.
Interesting survey
A survey conducted is the US recently found that American companies and government organizations are saving millions of dollars with open source software. According to the collected data, approximately 87 percent of American organizations use open source software compared to only 33% of companies within the European union.
Here is a list of web based Content Management systems we have compiled that are suitable for small to medium sized enterprises.
Contao
Contao is an open source content management system (CMS) for people who want a professional internet presence that is easy to maintain. The state-of-the-art structure of the system offers a high security standard and allows you to develop search engine friendly websites that are also accessible for people with disabilities. Furthermore, the system can be expanded flexibly and inexpensively. Easy management of user rights, the Live Update Service, the modern CSS framework and many already integrated modules
dotCMS
dotCMS removes the technical issues that have long slowed the pace of website change, allowing organizations to move ideas to market in days, not weeks. dotCMS -grade web content management system is java based and open source. This combination has created a unique model – a sophisticated development architecture, the innovation of open source, ease of change – all backed by a commercial organization. Web Designers or content editors can make 95% of the changes in dotCMS. dotCMS is priced 30% to 70% below enterprise-grade closed source providers
CMS Made Simple
CMS Made Simple™ is an open source ( GPL) package first released in July 2004. Its built using PHP that provides website developers with a simple, easy to use utility to allow building small-ish (dozens to hundreds of pages), semi-static websites. Typically our tool is used for corporate websites, or the website promoting a team or organization, etc. This is where we shine. There are other content management packages that specialize in building portals, or blogs, or article based content, etc. CMS Made Simple™ can do much of this, but it is not our area of focus.
SilverStripe
With the SilverStripe CMS, website editors don’t need be familiar with complex web applications—or even know HTML. You can get started in very little time—a typical training session with one of our clients takes no more than an hour or two. You and your staff can quickly start taking advantage of powerful features. SilverStripe CMS generates search-engine friendly and accessible websites
Umbraco
Umbraco is a fully-featured open source content management system with the flexibility to run anything from small campaign or brochure sites right through to complex applications for Fortune 500’s and some of the largest media sites in the world. Umbraco is easy to learn and use, making it perfect for web designers, developers and content creators alike.
ImpressCMS
ImpressCMS is a community developed Content Management System. With this tool maintaining the content of a website becomes as easy as writing a word document. ImpressCMS is the ideal tool for a wide range of users: from business to community users, from large enterprises to people who want a simple, easy to use blogging tool. It is a powerful system that gets outstanding results and it is free! The system is highly scalable and it can be used for example as an intranet for a company with 20,000 employees as well as for building a simple 5-page website for the promotion of your company
TYPO3
TYPO3 is an enterprise-class, Open Source CMS (Content Management System), used internationally to build and manage websites of all types, from small sites for non-profits to multilingual enterprise solutions for large corporations.
It can run on most standard hosting services that offer PHP and MySQL TYPO3 users (editors, administrators, etc.) only need a browser to access the backend administration .A community this large around the world means that it’s always possible to find support, and a library of documentation, tutorial videos, and books are available in multiple languages. It is a very active project with frequent updates, regular releases, a dedicated security team and a solid roadmap.
Cushy Sms
The easiest way to change content. Its one Versatile, Fast , Easy , Free to use. You define what’s editable and Cushy will take care of the rest. Automagically handling text, html and images. Define editable areas of your pages with a few CSS classes. Provide FTP details and you’re done. No programming required and no server requirements. You won’t even need to train your clients.Unlimited free usage. Upgrade to the optional Pro plan for custom branding, color scheme and RSS feeds.
Frog CMS
Frog CMS simplifies content management by offering an elegant user interface, flexible templating per page, simple user management and permissions, as well as the tools necessary for file management. Born as phpRadiant in January 2007, Frog CMS is aPHP version of Radiant CMS, a well known Ruby on Rails application. Although the two applications still share a family resemblance, Frog is charting its own development path.
MODX
Get MODX Revolution and experience the future of content management today. T here are no systems comparable to MODX when it comes to creating robust sites, exactly how you want them to look, with zero creative restrictions. MODX thinks the site building tool should fit your creative vision, not impose restrictions and force compromises.
We hope you find these resources of use..
The TIB team..