Content Management Systems

Transcription

1 Content Management Systems By multiple authors, see citation for each section Overview This reading includes two documents that explain the concept behind content management (CMS) systems and why you would choose to develop your Web site using one. Web Words Explained: Content Management System By: Tabatha Patterson Introduction The meaning is supposed to be simple. The omniscient information source known as Wikipedia currently defines a content management system, or CMS, as "a system providing a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment"... Say what!? Simply, a CMS is software that allows you to quickly and remotely log into your site, edit the appearance, manage your site's users, post blogs, articles, and other content, and just generally organize the information that appears on your site. Not only does the CMS allow the administrator to make these changes, but it allows other users to do the same (with the correct settings in place of course). This makes it easy for you to delegate work to employees or bloggers and get them to create pages and articles for you (wink, wink). If you're new to website management, the CMS is very important. It allows you to enter your site without having to find and edit each page in the seemingly complex maze that is your local site server. 1

2 What you'll love: The CMS allows anyone to edit your site, if you let them. All they need is their own user profile. As the site admin, you can set levels of approval for publishing content. This means you can set permissions for each user easily. In Drupal, these are found under the "People" tab. A content management system is inexpensive to maintain. Drupal, for instance, is open source, and free to download and use. A theme is automatically used across your site. This means you apply your site design once and each page looks the same. Once the theme is applied, you can then change the information and structure of each page while maintaining a cohesive look and feel. You don't need to know complicated coding to build a simple, clean website. Once the site is set up, you will be able to submit various content types to the site. These can be created to restrict and guide the structure of your content. This is a good way to fool-proof your site design. What you'll need to know: HTML. Yes, that's right, you'll still need to know basic HTML. In Drupal, there is a way to add a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor to your pages. However, if it's not enabled, knowing a few basic HTML formatting tags will help you a lot. You can search for the right tags and learn how to use them at W3Schools. How to save a draft and publish a page or article in your CMS of choice. It's not always the same, especially in a flexible content management system like Drupal. When I first began using Drupal, I found that there is a pull-down menu near the bottom of each article or page titled "Publish". Before clicking save, remember to uncheck the box if you want to save your work for someone else to proof, or to save and review before publishing. How to install updates. Sometimes installation can be simple, other times you have to follow a few steps. A quick search in Google will usually yield an easy to follow guide since many of the best and most popular content management systems are open source. 2

3 Let's Review: Basically, building your site with a content management system makes your site easy to edit by signing in to your account from any location. It's a low cost way to maintain cohesive sites with multiple types of content. If you're looking for ease of use when building your site, using a content management system is a great way to get your web presence up and running Source: Patterson, Tabatha. "Web Words Explained: Content Management System." LevelTen Dallas, TX. N.p., 10 Feb Web. 02 Jan < Continued on next page 3

4 Want To Build A Website. Do I Need a Content Management System (CMS)? By Scott Clark Introduction Since everyone has blogs and profile pages these days, you may want to create a website of your very own. Do you need a content management system (CMS) to make life easier, or is the old system of updating a file manually and uploading it to your server good enough for today's web developer? What Can a CMS Do For You? Web developers initially developed a website by creating web pages on their local computers, using an FTP program to move those files over to their web server, and then those pages became available via their website. If any changes were needed, they would begin the process anew by going through the process again. Some simplified the process by using Server Side Includes (SSI), which cut the number of pages that needed to be updated down, since an include which contained the site's menu could be updated and used throughout the site without any additional changes being required. The problems began when a website went beyond the traditional "brochure-ware" design and delved into dynamic content, fresh material and live communities. Websites need to be able to be updated daily, with different people adding content as it becomes available, along with some content that is updated automatically through the use of RSS feeds. Content Management Systems came to be a useful part of a web developer's toolbox. The problem then came to be, which CMS is best for me? How much is it going to cost me in terms of money and a learning curve? What features does each CMS offer that my business requires? In this tutorial we'll discuss a few free (and almost free) CMSes, tell you what they offer, and help you get started with your own website. Open Source CMS to the Rescue Although there are many open source CMSes available, we're going to focus on those that are based upon PHP. The following CMSes are thus PHP-based, and use a MySQL database. The advantages of using such a CMS include portability, support and a large developer base with frequent updates and improvements. We will discuss the following four CMSes: Drupal - a free open source content management system written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License Joomla - an open source content management system platform for publishing content as a Model view controller (MVC) web application framework WordPress - an open source CMS, often used as a blog publishing application, and is the most popular blog software in use today 4

5 Drupal Drupal is currently up to version 6.17, with working ongoing for version 7, a much anticipated release. Drupal's built-in functionality, plus the thousands of freely available add-on modules, provides developers with much-requested features including: Electronic commerce Blogs Collaborative authoring environments Forums Peer-to-peer networking Newsletters Podcasting Picture galleries File uploads and downloads Installing Drupal is fairly straight-forward: Create a MySQL database, upload the Drupal package to your web server, following the on-screen instructions via your web browser, and configure your new website. It's a bit more complicated than that, but we've already written an article about it, so that saves you even more time. Once you've got it up and running, you can select from thousands of free themes, select some modules and get to tweaking your site and adding content! Joomla Like Drupal, Joomla enables developers to build complex web sites and online applications. It is built upon PHP and MySQL, is free, and can be used to create: Inventory control systems Data reporting tools Application bridges Custom product catalogs Integrated e-commerce systems Complex business directories Reservation systems Communication tools The Joomla CMS has a very large developer base, and its core "out-of-the-box" features include: User Management Media Manager Language Manager Banner Management Contact Management 5

6 Polls Search Web Link Management Content Management Syndication and Newsfeed Management Menu Manager Template Management Integrated Help System Web Services Extensibility Installation is much the same as with Drupal. Create a MySQL database, upload the Joomla package files to your web server, point your web browser at the installation file, and follow the on-screen instructions. Then, customize your installation, work on the theme, and post some content! WordPress WordPress is the most popular CMS in use today. With many thousands of Wordpress sites alive today, the software is supported by a large developer network--it's hard to find a question about Wordpress that hasn't already been answered. WordPress provides the following features to developers: Full standards compliance WordPress Pages WordPress Links WordPress Themes Cross-blog communication tools Comments Spam protection Full user registration Password Protected Posts Easy installation and upgrades Easy Importing XML-RPC interface Workflow Typographical niceties Intelligent text formatting Multiple authors Bookmarklets The first step to using the CMS is, like the others, to download the software. If you don't want to host the CMS on your own web host, you can also signup on the WordPress site and use their servers and resources to host your site/blog. Also, you will need to create a new MySQL database, like all the others we have discussed. The difference is that you will need to edit the WordPress configuration file, wp- 6

7 config.php, and add the database details for the database you just created. Once you've done that, you upload that file, and all the other WordPress files, to your web server, and use your web browser for the rest of the installation process. Source: Clark, Scott. "I Want To Build A Website. Do I Need a Content Management System (CMS)?" I Want To Build A Website. Do I Need a Content Management System (CMS)? HTML Goodies, n.d. Web. 02 Jan < Build-A-Website-Do-I-Need-a-Content-Management-System-CMS.htm>. 7