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29th
JAN

Customizing Content Management Systems

Posted by admin | Filed under Internet

There are two options available to you when you are looking for a Content Management System. One is that you have your web designer create a Content Management System for you, the other option is that you pick up a ready-to-use content management system and make some changes to customize it to your requirement.Most small to medium sized businesses choose to use a ready-to-use Content Management System so that they can keep the cost of development within limits and be ready to use the software within a couple of days.

Most ready-to-use content management systems are simple to implement and requires some changes to make it match your web site. Customization of an existing Content Management System can be done by your web designer and once this is done, all it takes to make changes on your web site is access to the system.Making changes become as easy as editing a simple Word document. Listed below are some of web design elements which need customization when using a ready made Content Management System.

Look and Feel of all the pages which are delivered by the Content Management System. One of the first things which need to customized in the look and feel of the content management system driven pages.This can be done by adding a customized header and footer. One of the disadvantages of ready-to-use content management systems are that they do not allow for unique graphical display. Most of them are restricted to certain layouts and color schemes and you need to conform to that.

Link structure or navigation structure. The link structure need to be customized as per your web site and once this is done, you can just choose the page for which you would like to make changes to and do it with the Content Management System.The navigation structure should also allow you to add pages under a specific link as well as add a new link to the web site.

Administration set up for easy management of the Content Management System is required to be done at this stage so that you can assign permissions to different groups of people to manage the web site. You can also choose the type of editor (HTML or plain text) which you would like to use when creating the content and updating your web site.

Most people prefer HTML editors as they are very simple to use and are also known as WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors.Before customizing a Content Management System, you need to review the various modules available with the provider and choose the ones which are most relevant to you.

Some Content Management Systems may also provide additional modules such as shopping cart system, newsletter management system, user tracking system, advertisement tracking system etc.

Content Management Systems are sure to enhance the value of content as delivered on your web site and if you are tired of a web site which is as old and as the hills; it is time you upgraded yourself and got a CMS for the web site

Popular Content Management Systems for your web site

Choosing an off-the-shelf Content Management System requires a close evaluation of the ones which are available today. There are two choices here as well: you can buy one which is well known for its quality of service and overall product quality is good or you can use one of the free CMS’s which are available. The problem with free or open source Content management systems are that you cannot be sure about the trouble shooting aspect of the work and you can never be sure about the longevity of the company.
Some of the popular Content Management Systems are reviewed below. Their technology usage and general information about them are outlined as well.

Drupal: Drupal is probably one of the most advanced Content Management Systems available online. It is an open source product and is free for download. Since there are thousands of people who contribute to the development of Drupal, it is quite updated and has some of the best community tools and marketing tools which can be found within a content management system. Thanks to its popularity, you will have no trouble locating a web designer who is familiar with this system. This is one CMS product for which you can be rest assured about support as it has a large online support network.

MamboServer: Mambo is open source software which is very popular. It is free and extremely easy to set up. It is a scalable system and can accommodate simple web sites as well as large corporate web sites as well. One of the key selling points of the Mambo Content Management Systems is that it is extremely simple to install and use. Some of the features which are available in Mambo are advertisement management, media management, content syndication, easy to use administration system and a multi-lingual interface.

Open CMS: You might start thinking that the world is full of open source content management systems. OpenCMS is yet another open source Content Management Systems which is available free of cost. However, one of the key technological differences between OpenCMS and other Content Management Systems of their genre is that this system uses Java and XML technology and this makes it platform independent. OpenCMS developers believe that the system can support a wide range of web sites and is also suitable for large corporate applications.

Joomla!: One does wonder about the inspiration behind the various names of the Content Management System. Joomla! is one such application which is a high powered Content Management System which is available free of cost and is becoming quite popular with the development community. The product is available on the open source platform and is quite sturdy. Joomla! Is actually a continuation of the Mambo CMS system and the team originally designed Mambo before resigning from there en masse.

Typo3: Typo 3 focuses on providing an open source content management system which is completely designed for corporate intranet and enterprise level applications. It is one of the most professional open source content management systems and addresses soft issues such as branding, version control and even maintaining templates within an application. Typo3 is currently available free of cost but it will not be long before such advanced content management system companies are purchased by a large software company. You only need to pay for the customization and you can be rest assured that Typo3 will help deliver your web site content effectively.

For every free open source content management system, there is a content management system which is available on a paid basis. The choice of the right CMS should be governed by your requirement and your budget.



By: Mike Oslow

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26th
JAN

Use Joomla in Web Design & Website Hosting

Posted by admin | Filed under Web Design

I was recently asked by a potential client why I recommended Joomla! to be used for building their website. Let me explain the benefits of using Joomla versus using anything else, and by anything else I mean comparing building a website using some type of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, such as Frontpage or Dreamweaver, or building a website with a comparative type of software package. Joomla! is a Content Management system, which means that it is built to ensure that website pages can easily be maintained and updated. This includes for example, adding new pages or removing pages. This is the main advantage above building a website in straight forward HTML that would normally be the end product of using some type of HTML editor.But why Joomla? Why not something else like a Microsoft based product or another commercial product? Joomla is Open Source, which means that there are no licensing fees payable, that you have often pay for a Microsoft product or a commercial product Because Joomla is Open Source, there is a huge pool of community resources available to provide support or go to www.master-web-graphics.com

The Joomla community is huge worldwide as well as in local countries - there are often local user groups which are very well supported often even in small countries such as South Africa. There is an enormous pool of people supporting the product. The forum on the Joomla.org site has over 200 000 members all providing support and input into making Joomla! a better product. There are millions of sites worldwide (about 10 Million if you do a guestimate using Google) that runs on Joomla. It is therefore extremely popular and widely used which also means that it will never be difficult to find developers and people to support it.Because it is so popular, it also means that by now there have been quite a few books written about Joomla! from various perspectives to assist both the developer as well as the end-user. Some other good reasons to use Joomla!One of the most attractive features of using Joomla! is the fact that is so very easy to extend its functionality. You can build anything from a brochure website to a full-featured shopping cart or interactive membership site. This is because there are over 3500 add-ons and plugins available to extend its functionality. This ranges from shopping carts, image galleries, video plugins, forums, blogs, project management tools, etc etcThe Joomla templating system also makes it easy to change the look and feel of your site without having to redo the whole site from scratch you can visit www.impacts-audio.com

You can literally change the whole graphic design/look of the site in a matter of seconds while retaining the content. There are also over 2000 templates, most of them free, available to change the look and feel of your site.But again, why Joomla! Why not Wordpress, for example?I have to admit, Wordpress is also extremely popular and Wordpress also makes it extremely easy to add new pages. Wordpress also has numerous free templates available and it makes Wordpress an extremely attractive option to build websites quickly and easily but it must always be kept in mind that Wordpress is essentially a blogging platform. Although it also has numerous plugins available to extend its functionality, it just does not have the raw power with regards to its underlying infrastructure to allow it to easily plug in something like a shopping cart, for example.So what is the catch? It can’t be all roses?Having worked with Joomla! for a couple of years (and before that, with its predecessor, Mambo) I can tell you exactly what the shortcomings areJoomla’s membership capabilities fall far short of what they could be. There is very limited support for various access groups and access levels.Because it is so popular, it attracts a lot of attention and Joomla! sites get hacked - quite often. The only solution for this is to be aware of your server security settings and to upgrade regularly to stay abreast of the latest Joomla! security updates.Joomla! might be a bit top-heavy for smaller sites, although it still remains the tool of choice for even my smaller sites - it does leave room for expansion later without having to upgrade to a different tool or product!Joomla!’s native search engine friendliness in the older versions leave a lot to be desired, although this has received attention in the latest upgrade. Despite this drawback, most of my Joomla! sites perform well in the search engines due to judicious use of various plugins to rectify this shortcoming.Altogether, Joomla! is an excellent tool to build websites that are easy to create, easy on the eye and easily extendable.



By: subhash

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26th

Joomla-how to Use in Web Design?

Posted by admin | Filed under Web Design

I was recently asked by a potential client why I recommended Joomla! to be used for building their website. Let me explain the benefits of using Joomla versus using anything else, and by anything else I mean comparing building a website using some type of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, such as Frontpage or Dreamweaver, or building a website with a comparative type of software package.Joomla! is a Content Management system, which means that it is built to ensure that website pages can easily be maintained and updated. This includes for example, adding new pages or removing pages. This is the main advantage above building a website in straight forward HTML that would normally be the end product of using some type of HTML editor. But why Joomla? Why not something else like a Microsoft based product or another commercial product?Joomla is Open Source, which means that there are no licensing fees payable, that you have often pay for a Microsoft product or a commercial productBecause Joomla is Open Source, there is a huge pool of community resources available to provide support or go to www.javascript-magic.com

The Joomla community is huge worldwide as well as in local countries - there are often local user groups which are very well supported often even in small countries such as South Africa. There is an enormous pool of people supporting the product. The forum on the Joomla.org site has over 200 000 members all providing support and input into making Joomla! a better product.There are millions of sites worldwide (about 10 Million if you do a guestimate using Google) that runs on Joomla. It is therefore extremely popular and widely used which also means that it will never be difficult to find developers and people to support it.Because it is so popular, it also means that by now there have been quite a few books written about Joomla! from various perspectives to assist both the developer as well as the end-user.Some other good reasons to use Joomla!One of the most attractive features of using Joomla! is the fact that is so very easy to extend its functionality. You can build anything from a brochure website to a full-featured shopping cart or interactive membership site. This is because there are over 3500 add-ons and plugins available to extend its functionality. This ranges from shopping carts, image galleries, video plugins, forums, blogs, and project management tools, etc etcThe Joomla templating system also makes it easy to change the look and feel of your site without having to redo the whole site from scratch you can visit www.master-web-graphics.com

You can literally change the whole graphic design/look of the site in a matter of seconds while retaining the content. There are also over 2000 templates, most of them free, available to change the look and feel of your site.But again, why Joomla! Why not Wordpress, for example?I have to admit, Wordpress is also extremely popular and Wordpress also makes it extremely easy to add new pages. Wordpress also has numerous free templates available and it makes Wordpress an extremely attractive option to build websites quickly and easily but it must always be kept in mind that Wordpress is essentially a blogging platform. Although it also has numerous plugins available to extend its functionality, it just does not have the raw power with regards to its underlying infrastructure to allow it to easily plug in something like a shopping cart, for example.So what is the catch? It can’t be all roses?Having worked with Joomla! for a couple of years (and before that, with its predecessor, Mambo) I can tell you exactly what the shortcomings are:Joomla’s membership capabilities fall far short of what they could be. There is verylimited support for various access groups and access levels.



By: subhash

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

25th
JAN

Custom Content Management Systems: the Basics You Should Know Before Selecting One

Posted by admin | Filed under Web Design



The theme of online business industry is changing at a fast pace. This change is necessitating the demand for building dynamic websites. A website is called dynamic if it has the capacity to suggest over 500 database driven pages. In this regard, content management system or CMS helps a lot. CMS makes the complex process of building a dynamic website lucid.

Search engines are critical regarding the clumsy websites. But a website with more than 500 database driven pages can not be so simple in its outlook. To sort out this paradox, you need to hire expert web developer for content management system. They make the desired add-ons integrated with the CMS and make your website search engine friendly.

Though popularly the integrating CMS is phrased as CMS development, they are different processes altogether. Some developers misunderstand the customization of the website according to the needs of search engines as the CMS development process. But it is not the case and that is the reason why you need to go for an expert web developer for CMS. The most popular CMS are Joomla, Mambo and Drupal. All of these are open source CMS for PHP based websites. Wordpress CMS is very popular in the blogosphere and is free of cost. DotNetNuke is a major ASP.net based CMS to support any form of data storage.
Before selecting a custom CMS, make your homework properly. Go through the online review regarding various content management systems. You can also approach a web development company to review your website. These companies are known for their high level of expertise in the field of CMS integration and custom CMS. They will advise you regarding how to get a profitable and affordable CMS for your website.



By: Editor-123

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