There are many open source content management software solutions
available on the internet. Just a quick perusal of the search
results for "CMS" and "Content management system" on Sourceforge
or any of the other popular open source software websites will
yield a virtual cornucopia of CMS tools, modules, plug-ins and
engines and templates.
Written using PHP and generally relying on mySQL or a similar
database to store configuration values and content, these open
source content management solutions generally provide an
excellent "out of box" experience but are also able to serve
those who wish to extend their site's capabilities as well as
modify the look and feel. Custom CMS websites are becoming more
and more popular, and there are many flavors of CMS to choose
from.
For the high static textual content, multiple author bases and
ease of use and template design, Drupal is an excellent choice.
This lean CMS is a great one for organizing lots and lots of
static text documents like scientific papers and academic
documents of all sorts.
For the more robust community based package that allows not only
for content organization, but also forums and other interactive
content such as moderation systems, banner ad trackers, and
member customization you can try PHP-Nuke and Post nuke for the
"everything you could possibly need and the kitchen sink" or the
"Swiss army knife" type approach.
Another contender for the community portal type high content
sites is the well designed "Geeklog".
For those of you out there who want to reap the benefits of
ecommerce, there is an open source ecommerce package called
OSCommerce that works right out of the box and can allow for
webmasters to easily create fully functional web stores complete
with shopping cart and user profiles.
No matter what type of content you intend to publish on the net,
be it blog or community site, there is an open source CMS
solution tailored to your needs.
About the author:
James Hunt has spent 15 years as a professional writer and
researcher covering stories that cover a whole spectrum of
interest. Read more at
www.content-manage
ment-guide.com
