web hosting

How to Find a Host for Your CMS

Unless you possess your own servers, you will need a web host in order to run a CMS package like Joomla, Mambo or PHP Nuke.  While most software do not require any fancy features to run smoothly, the actual results all depend on the host.  There are literally thousands of hosting providers out there and matching one up with your CMS needs can be somewhat of a challenge.   This article will provide a few tips to make your search a bit less painless.

Web Hosting Reviews

You need to learn more about different hosting providers before deciding on a service and one of the best ways to start is reading reviews.  There are numerous review sites online but you should be very selective on where you read them.  Some reviews are written by unbiased web hosting experts, some come from affiliates and some of the more unscrupulous hosts have been caught tooting their own horn.  You can get the best insight from a good mix of expert and consumer reviews as opposed to those that are hyping up companies like they can do no wrong.

When going over these hosting reviews, it is advisable to read them carefully and never put too much into one person’s opinion.  For instance, one customer may have had a terrible experience with a particular host while another may state that they are delighted with the service.  Everyone is picky in their own way and pleasing every single customer is simply not impossible.  Because of this, you shouldn’t get too alarmed when running across a few negative reviews.  You should however, start to get a little cautious once the number of negative comments begins to multiply.

Leverage Available Search Tools

Another good way to find a quality CMS hosting solution is to utilize your preferred search engine.  Google and Yahoo are both great tools that will help you move beyond reviews and delve further into the world of content management systems.  With the right search, you will run across sites and communities that can not only help you find a hosting service, but also a CMS that suits your needs.  Although the popular free systems get a lot of the spotlight, there is a lot more out there besides the open-source variety.  Content management is prevalent in many areas and a search engine can put you on the path to a wealth of relative information.

Chat with Prospective Providers

When looking for somewhere to host your CMS, it is never a bad idea to do a little conversing with the hosting provider.  After all, you will need to know what, if any scripts they have available as well as those they support.  There may be limitations that prevent you from running the CMS that delivers the most benefits.  Aside from making sure the host meets all the system requirements, you must also make sure they are able to provide you with a reliable service.  Content management can be a real drag on a server that is slow or constantly going down.

Is WordPress Really a CMS?

Blogging is still soaring in the Web 2.0 era and WordPress is easily the most popular engine on the market.  This multipurpose blogging software is used for everything from personal diaries to business applications, helping many achieve online notoriety and even more bring in consistent revenue.  Although WordPress is generally referred to as a weblog publishing tool, some are calling it a CMS.  Do you agree?  We don’t.  And this article will explain why.

In order to determine whether WordPress is a CMS or not, you should first become acquainted with the three main types of content management systems, as outlined below.

Open-source Systems – Software packages like Drupal and Joomla that are becoming more popular for small to medium sized ventures.

Enterprise Systems - Proprietary solutions like Microsoft Content Server.  This type of CMS is geared towards corporate users that require powerful business applications and frequent database interaction.

Home Grown Systems – These systems are developed in-house by webmasters who have specific requirements for content management.

When comparing the WordPress platform to the software in these classifications, it falls short as merely an over-hyped content delivery system.  Though it has a tremendous following and a number of benefits, WordPress doesn’t have what it takes to be called a real CMS.   In fact, it lacks several of the necessary protocols the average CMS provides as standard.  This includes update features, security tools, user permissions and more complex content management functionality.  When considering the all the capabilities it is missing, calling WordPress a CMS may be like unfairly moving it up in weight class.

Should WordPress be a CMS?

Perhaps the real issue should be whether or not WordPress needs to be more like a genuine CMS.  While this software gives you a lot, there are limitations and thus disadvantages.  Ask a fan of Mambo or PHP-Nuke and they will probably tell you that WordPress is highly inferior.

Despite the shortcomings, it still is a very efficient tool and rightly embraced by millions of users around the world.  It can also be a nice alternative to some of the more complex and intimidating content management systems.  For the most part, the user community is happy with the functionality and would probably prefer to keep things as they are.  After all, turning the platform into a true CMS would tamper with a relatively clean code and possibly cause the software to lose some of its natural appeal.  Besides, simplicity and ease of use are two of WordPress’ biggest advantages.

Conclusion

There is no denying the capabilities of WordPress.  The overwhelming enthusiasm the community shares for this platform is certainly warranted.   It is very cost effective and makes and ideal tool for small to medium sized operations and can even move up to a larger scale as well.   Be that as it may, tagging WordPress as a content management system is not inherantly accurate.   In order to earn that title, the software would require a major overhaul which would in turn, cause it to lose so much of the qualities that has made it so popular.

Introducing the phpWebSite CMS

PHP Nuke is responsible for many of today’s popular content management systems and phpWebSite is one of the them.  phpWebSite began in 2001 as a fork of the original PHP Nuke CMS.  It was released as open-source software under the GNU GPL and LGPL (Lesser General Public Licence), free to use, modify and redistribute.  In a very short time, phpWebSite was implemented with functionality that gave the system its own identity apart from PHP Nuke.   phpWebSite is now supported by a large community as well as a number of add-on modules that extend its functionality.

Common Usage

The phpWebSite application is mainly used by community groups and for educational purposes.  While it is available to the public for other uses, the software’s primary focus is serving staff at Appalachian State University.  In fact, phpWebSite was initially designed to make it easier for university staff to create and manage their websites.  Over the years, the system has been greatly enhanced with features you will commonly find in other popular content management systems.

phpWebSite Features and Capabilities

PHP is a fully modular, customizable software package, allowing you to install, modify and update numerous components.  Its customization is extended through a wide variety of themes and HTML templates.  Although phpWebSite extensions typically consist of common features like photo galleries, blogs and bulletin boards, these elements don’t offer the functionality of standalone applications like Coppermine, WordPress and phpBB.  Because many of phpWebSite modules are intended for university users, they tend to lack the features you would find in applications such as Joomla or Drupal.

By default, the phpWebSite CMS offers functionality that makes it useful in many situations.  Some of its major capabilities include:

Content Creation and Management – phpWebSite’s built-in tools allows administrators and users to create, display and manage content on the system.  This includes text, files, images links and other forms of content.

Content Organization and Navigation - With phpWebsite, you can easily organize and present your content in a way that is simple to access and mange.

Communication – phpWebSite is ideal for running a community-based side as the software enables communication through various mediums.  This includes email, internal messaging and data interchange among other methods.

Configuration and Administration – As the website administrator, you have the ability to assign administrative privileges to staff and assign other permissions to users.  phpWebSite allows you to effectively manage every member within the community.

Development – Because phpWebSite is open-source, anyone can write extensions to enhance the software.  The integrated development tools allow you to set permissions for your internal developers to custom build modules for the system.

Presentation – phpWebSite offers a nice mix of pre-designed themes but there are many options for customization.  If you are familiar with CSS stylesheets, you can design and incorporate your own templates.  If not, there are several themes available on the web, ranging from free to premium.

phpWebSite Requirements

The features and user-friendliness of phpWebSite makes it a good choice for an open-source CMS.   In order to get the best out of this software, you will need a server equipped with the Apache web server and PHP programming language.  Though the PostgreSQL is supported, MySQL is recommended.

Web Hosting with PHP-Nuke

When searching for a web host, you need to look for much more than storage space and bandwidth.  The overall quality of service is critical and should include around the clock support, tight security and redundant backups.  Aside from that, a host should be able to provide you with tools that add ease to the tasks of building and administering your site.  There are several programs that will help you accomplish this; a dynamic CMS named PHP-Nuke is one of them.

What is PHP-Nuke?

PHP-Nuke began as a fork of a news portal called Thatware.  The software grew to popularity very quickly and has spawned various systems of its own including PostNuke, DragonFly CMS and Xoops.  Though primarily used for automated news publishing, PHP-Nuke is a full content management system capable of creating dynamic websites for many purposes.  Its main initiative is to allow webmasters to create huge online communities where moderators and users can post content and make comments.  The core of PHP-Nuke is packed with features and numerous add-ons are available to enhance its functionality.

The PHP-Nuke CMS is scripted entirely in the PHP programming language.  In order to function, it requires server components that support the language such as Apache and an SQL database like MySQL or Postgre SQL.  Under the GNU General Public License, the source code of PHP-Nuke can be freely distributed and modified.  The latest version, 7.5, is the first to come with a $10 download charge.  Depending on the web host, you could get this amazing CMS as a part of your monthly hosting plan.

PHP-Nuke for News

PHP-Nuke comes included with various modules.  One you are most likely to try first is the News module.  This component allows you to place news items in different categories and automatically sorts them by date on your homepage.  Another module is for archiving which enables easy indexing by users and the search engines.  When site members submit their content, you have the final say on which articles are approved and can manage the entire process from a simple administrative panel.

Whether you want to publish news and articles or simply a huge site for your business, PHP-Nuke can help you get it done.  Here are some of the features:

Advertising - Easy management of your advertising campaigns with support for HTML, JavaScript and Flash

Encyclopedia - A robust module for managing terms, phrases and their definitions

Forums – Simple implementation and management of discussion forms

Members List – Displays a full list of all the members on your site

Search Engine – Allows users to easily find content on your site

News Submission – A simple form that allows users to submit news and articles to your site

Private Messaging - Allows members to communicate or block out other members

Avantgo – Service that offers a mobile version of your last 10 published articles

Conclusion

On its own, PHP-Nuke is a dynamic CMS capable of building amazing websites.  With the aid of add-on modules, the system is greatly enhanced with twice the power.  If a thriving online community is something you are after, you stand to benefit tremendously from a web host that offers or supports this software.

The CMS Drives the Hosting Industry

Considering the opportunities the internet offers and heavy competition across multiple industries, the simple website that may have sufficed years ago is no loner enough for today’s online business owner.  As content is the major key to generating traffic, the CMS has become one of the hottest commodities in the web hosting business.

More commonly known as a CMS, a content management system is a type of software used to create, edit and manage content on a website.  These robust systems enable processes and workflows to be streamlined and typically involve the organization, categorization and structuring of information.  This technology allows you to store content as entire documents or configurable components, all while maintaining the links in between, making the CMS is great tool for search engine optimization.  Most systems enable the complete control of a website from working with scripting languages and building pages to managing files and actual programs.

Years ago, most web hosting companies only granted their clients with access to areas that permitted them to upload content to the server.  Rarely did they provide a means for controlling management and the structuring of data.  Even corporate users were limited as the tools provided didn’t allow them to monitor what changes had been made to their sites and who made the alterations.  With a CMS, users are fully equipped with tools that offer extensive control over the management functions of their website and all of its content.

Due to mass popularity, web hosting customers with a large amount of content now have various options for implementing content management systems.  With the development of open-source solutions, providers are offering these programs for next to nothing as a part of their monthly hosting plans.  Some of the options you will commonly find are Joomla, Drupal, PHP-Nuke, Mambo and Xoops to name a few.  Here are some other choices on the market:

OpenCMS

Hence the name, OpenCMS is an open source content management freely available to developers and users.  This software is preferred by many small to medium sized businesses as it enables them to create highly customized sites with interactive functionality.  OpenCMS supports a number of web-based programing languages including PHP, XML, Java, JSP and several others.

Microsoft Content Management Server

The Microsoft CMS is more suited for larger enterprises.  This system offers transparent content management and integration along with data transformation and syndication, all of which seamlessly combine various information and business processes.  The Microsoft solution is more advanced than most open-source packages as it has the ability to present information based on the customer’s needs.  The major difference between the Content Management Server and other systems is that it is a Microsoft commercial product, and therefore more expensive.

Regardless of what your requirements are, there is sure to be a CMS out there for you.  These programs go far beyond the basic tools offered by a provider and have the power to transform your site into an interactive, user-friendly platform.  As nearly every host is offering some type of system, it’s safe to say that the CMS is a driving force in the web hosting industry.