Softpanorama (slightly skeptical) Open Source Software Educational Society

May the source be with you, but remember the KISS principle ;-) Softpanorama Search

Content management

In my view the simplest and the most popular content management systems are email browsers. Here you can view outline, edit each message, sort by date, from, subject, etc. Typical mail client is in essence a primitive (or not so primitive in case of Lotus Notes) text database.  The only bad thing is that  the headers are not that flexible ( although you can add any X-headers to mark you content they usually cannot be processed in the email browser).

For example you can write a script which create blog entries from emails. In this case you can manage blog using regular email client. You can use some standard attributes like  Date, Target (TO,CC)

• <--To:
• <--CC
• <--Date
• <-- Rating
• <-- Subject

Simple content management system does not mean that it is not powerful and always mean that it is flexible. As such they can beat their more complex brothers and sisters in many areas.  One also needs to understand that one size does not fit all: in essence   Blogs, Wiki,  Helpdesks, Bug Tracking Systems are all content management systems with different strong and weak points and different specialization.

Many complex content management systems like infamous Documentum betray Unix principle and create a monster that is counterproductive.

Old News ;-)

freshmeat.net- Project details for WikyBlog

OpenSourceCMS

This WikyBlog is a great software, different to Wordpress, but it needs less resources if you got much traffic on the blog. I tested it, great cms.

aphpkb website

Andy's PHP Knowledgebase using MySQL is a database driven knowledgebase management system.
It includes bookmark friendly URLs, Q&A, easy search with browsing by category, article submission,
a powerful administrator interface and a professional and attractive interface.

Features include:

• Bookmark friendly URLs
• Streamlined Install
• Question and Answer functions
• Category View
• Keyword Search
• Article Submission
• Comment Submission
• Suggest Category

Knowledgebase Admin features include:

• Statistics
• Article and Comment Approval
• Cateogory Utility including:
  • Add Category/index.php?option=changelog
  • Approve Category
  • Delete Category
  • Edit Category
• Approve, Edit and Delete Articles
• Approve, Edit and Delete Comments
• Answer and Delete Questions
• View All Articles
• Change Admin Password

freshmeat.net Project details for SPINE

SPINE is a Web-based Content Management System. It features mixed static/dynamic content, separated template and content administration, granular privileges, user-friendly URLs, and plugins.

drupal.org Community plumbing

Is Drupal right for you?  Probably not :-)

Drupal is a highly configurable, modular content management system. Before you can answer if Drupal is right for you, consider a couple of questions: Which type of Drupal user are you, and what are your needs?

Below is a list of common user types followed by Drupal features. If the features meet your needs and you have the skill-set required to implement them, Drupal might be a perfect system for you. (See the list at the bottom of this page for more on required skills.)

I'm a Blogger and I need...
 

• single- and/or multi-user blogs
• to categorize content
• commenting
• trackbacks
• custom style and layout using sample or custom themes
• image and/or other media support using contributed modules (i.e., plug-ins)

Skills needed: end-user, administrator

I'm evaluating Drupal for my organization/company and we need...

• customizable user roles and permissions
• robust security model
• scalability
• to configure and extend functionality to meet specific business needs
• a support infrastructure (documentation, community, etc.)
• to categorize content
• additional features/functionality

Skills needed: evaluator, end-user

I'm a community organizer and I need...

• community members to easily share ideas (blogs, forum, files, etc.)
• members to have tools to help them self-organize
• a site that can evolve as the community evolves (keeping up with the state-of-the-art of interactive web sites)
• a support infrastructure (documentation, community, etc.)
• customizable user roles and permissions
• a site that is safe on the web (security, spam, trolls, etc.)
• a special distribution of Drupal and contributed modules that come preconfigured with community relationship management tools like CivicSpace.

Skills needed: evaluator, end-user, administrator, site developer (to some extent)

I'm a small business owner and I need...

• to set up the site myself
• custom style and layout using sample/custom themes
• customizable user roles and permissions
• a system that is scalable and adaptable to the needs of my changing business
• to categorize content
• a support infrastructure (documentation, community, etc.)
• e-commerce support for
  • shopping carts
  • premium paid content subscriptions
• to configure and extend functionality to meet specific business needs

Skills needed: evaluator, end-user, administrator, site developer (to a limited extent)

I build or design websites for clients and I need...

• to create a custom look and feel with my own themes
• additional features/functionality
• to easily provide support to my clients
• access to a community of designers and developers

Skills needed: evaluator, administrator, site developer, developer (to some extent)

I'm a programmer and I need...

    * a robust, well-designed, modular system that I can customize and extend
    * well documented APIs
    * system and architecture documentation and coding standards
    * access to a community of other developers
    * a rich feature list

Skills needed: administrator, programmer

Do you know what type of Drupal user you want to be? If you do, review the skill sets below to see what you'll need to get started:

• Evaluator: Familiar with web terminology and concepts.
• End-user: familiar with browsing, clicking, submitting web pages, selecting options.
• Administrator: Manage roles, select themes, categorize web pages (content), configure module settings, install and upgrade software and databases, apply security fixes.
• Site designer/developer: Install software, design style and layout (with css and minimal php), build and deploy websites, evaluate contributed modules, work with LAMP.
• Programmer: program in php, administer databases, program through a well-defined API, design database objects, evaluating existing solutions and apply patches, collaborate with other developers

Now is a good time to learn more about Drupal. The Case studies section examines typical types of sites that use Drupal and gives links to real sites of each type. This section includes a listing of hundreds of Drupal sites.

In the Feature overview we survey some of the most important and commonly deployed features of Drupal.

A discussion of the merits of using Drupal over writing a custom Web-application framework to support your project is presented in Rolling your own system vs. using Drupal.

• Gallery: Images and links to the home pages of Drupal sites
• Case studies: descriptions of different types of sites and links to them
• Feature overview
• On backwards compatibility: the drop is always moving
• Typical Drupal applications
• Rolling your own system vs. using Drupal
• Drupal for Information Architects: an overview of configurability
• Drupal for professional consultants: an overview of typical client requirements

‹ HOWTO: Enact change within the Drupal communityupGallery: Images and links to the home pages of Drupal sites ›

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Recommended Links

freshmeat.net Project details for SPINE

SPINE is a Web-based Content Management System. It features mixed static/dynamic content, separated template and content administration, granular privileges, user-friendly URLs, and plugins.