'Net Features : content management

Student Developers Try to Crack Joomla's Core

Michael Garrity — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:00:00 GMT

The widely used open-source content management system (CMS) Joomla will be participating in the Google Summer of Code program to allow students 18 and older to contribute to the company’s CMS core.

Google Summer of Code is an international program that gives students stipends (up to $5,000) to write code for open-source projects.

Eight different students will each be working on a separate project, and when they’re finished their work will be considered by Joomla for inclusion in its platform. Among the assignments are creating APIs for integrating Facebook and Google services onto a Joomla-powered website, MediaWiki APIs and multi-language options for Joomla installation.

Summer of Code ends on August 24, but the codes won’t be moved immediately into the Joomla CMS core; rather, they will continue to be developed, and may even be used by extension developers. Many of the projects involved in the program are focused on the Joomla platform, providing the infrastructure for the future development of the CMS and other applications that build upon it.

The Joomla platform generously allows developers to create multi-purpose and multi-device apps (including mobile and cloud computing applications) and enterprise systems that can be run independently of its core CMS offering.

Students working on Joomla projects span the globe, coming from Brazil, Sri Lanka, the United States, Romania and France.

Best of 2011 - Content Management Systems

Michael Garrity — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:00:00 GMT

The right content management system (CMS) can make all the difference in the world when it comes to Web success, especially for small businesses without big budgets to dedicate to IT and Web development (although some of the largest brands in the world utilize content management systems as well, so it’s hard not to stress their importance).

If you’re not already using a CMS, you probably should be (considering it, at least); and if you are, are you sure that it’s the best option? Here are five CMS companies who had great years in 2011, and could be your saving grace in 2012.

Joomla
You’ve probably at least heard of Joomla before. Because it is a free open source website creation tool, it often gets compared to Drupal as a sort of WordPress.org knockoff, but in reality it is a much better system. Like both WordPress and Drupal, Joomla allows you to build websites and Web applications, and you can increase their functionality and flexibility by adding “extensions” (feature add-ons similar to WordPress plugins). As a plus, the most updated version of Joomla is even easier for new users to manage thanks in part to refined admin panel, which makes it ideal for some not-so-savvy business owners looking to make it big on the Web.

concrete5
Though aimed at marketers, this free open source CMS is a useful tool for any Web professional, specifically because users are able to edit content on the site directly from the page. This primary feature provides “blocks” that can contain text, images or more complicated content like image slideshows, comments systems, file lists, maps and more. The CMS also allows users to connect their websites to the concrete5 Marketplace to automatically upgrade software and downloaded or purchased add-ons.

ImpressCMS
This simple, secure and flexible community-developed CMS is a great fit for businesses of any size. It is database-driven and fully modularized so that users can install the modules that possess the features they need and don’t have to bother with those that they don’t. It also features multi-byte language support, a theme-based skinnable interface and worldwide support through the ImpressCMS community.

CMS MadeSimple
CMS MadeSimple is a free, lightweight content management solution that is especially applicable for smaller sites. Its robust user interface includes a Web-based administration section for theme, template and stylesheet development, the installation (and updating) of add-on modules, configuring blocks of content on a page and managing user groups and permissions.

Etomite
For those who need to bolster their SEO practices, Etomite is the ideal CMS. Because it allows the end user to control almost everything about a website, from layout to meta tag generation, users can more easily optimize their sites for search engine results pages. Some of the key features include: Word processor-like (WYSIWYG) document editing to add tables, images and formated text to a page without HTML knowledge, a modern and intuitive interface, template-driven page design and free support. In addition, this CMS can also be incorporated with AJAX functionality without any AJAX system knowledge through a backend editor.

Clickability Corporate CMS Enhancements

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:12:00 GMT

Web content management solution Clickability announced the availability of several enhancements to its corporate solution last week including mobile device delivery and global brand management capabilities. I was fortunate enough to take a briefing on Clickability and if you're in the market for a premium commercial content management solution for your enterprise, there are few better products on the market.

The WCM (Web content management) platform is perhaps the first to easily deliver and receive content from browser-enabled mobile devices (smartphones, PDAs, etc.). For example, Clickability customer Philly.com has been publishing to the Amazon Kindle for more than six months, while Gray Television affiliate sites now allow viewers to contribute news via their mobile phones. Does your CMS do that?

Clickability is also making it easier to manage broader, more global brands - exceedingly important in an age where companies go beyond regional borders and feature multiple brands. The updated Clickability platform also enables publishing in virtually every language, including those requiring right to left text entry, and adds new ways to associate and manage related content, expediting the translation and localization process.

Another interesting aspect of the corporate solution from Clickability is its consolidation and integration with various SaaS providers. Companies are able to seamlessly integrate solutions from providers such as Google, Baynote, Eloqua, Exact Target, Omniture, SpringCM, Widen, Pluck, The Port and Salesforce.com.

SEO for CMS

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:48:00 GMT

Content Management Systems (CMS) play an important, yet low visibility role in how well content can be ranked on search results pages. With as many CMS offerings as there are SEO best practices, understanding how SEO-friendly your CMS is (and what you can do if it is not) is imperative to your success. Take a look at these search engine optimization modules for content management systems.