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CMS Made Simple Content Management System

A man who gave up working in his father’s metal shop to building a good, solid content management system, Ted Kulp has been actively developing and tweaking CMS Made Simple for over five years.  Since its early beginnings, CMS Made Simple has grown from one man to a team of over ten developers who’s passion shows in their commitment to this product.  While not showing as a top open source CMS program contender, this piece of software has a lot to offer and is slowly growing in popularity.

Features

CMS Made Simple offers quite a few features.  SEO friendly URLs is at the top of the list and is a refreshing change from the standard CMS URLs that require a bit of fancy programming or modification to work with the major search engines.

There are a number of integrated features making this product an excellent choice – help, file manager with upload capabilities and an audit log.  User and group management are included as well as a group-based permission system.

CMS Made Simple allows for a unique web site design with the ability to change templates with ease.  The included admin panel is not only available in English but supports many other languages as well.  The program also boasts several extra features available with add-on modules – WYSIWYG, polls, blogging and calendar add-ons are just a few offered.

Support

The CMS Made Simple web site offers several avenues for support should the need arise.  Full documentation is available online as well as an FAQ, user forum, mailing list and an IRC chat channel.  If this isn’t enough, the company also offers a direct e-mail connection to a developer to have support issues handled when all other support routes fail to garner a user the answer they need.

The development side of this company’s web site allows users to report bugs and request features – a nice addition for regular uses of this CMS program.  This area also shows current releases and a roadmap to future developments of the software.

Beyond software

Going beyond simply producing and offering a CMS solution, CMS Made Simple also offers professional services for developers needing more assistance or something more than just what the program offers.  Among these services are support contracts purchased on a per-site basis, software development to help with solutions outside the standard program and the ability to contract one of the company’s developers for large projects.

Testimonials

As with any open source CMS program that may not be as popular as the biggies on the market, knowing that the product is stable and used by others is important.  The CMS Made Simple web site lists out many satisfied customers with complete testimonials regarding the product.  This web page shows the product is easy to use and is well-liked by many web professionals and business owners.

Final Thoughts

It definitely isn’t one of the more well-known open source content management systems out on the web but it is slowly growing in popularity.  CMS Made Simple is exactly that – an easy to use open source content management system.  This CMS program is worth checking out.

A New CMS for ASP.NET Lovers

The market for ASP.NET CMS products is expanding rapidly.  Users now have another option for blending content management and the power of ASP.NET with Webaptive.  Just released by developer Striquent, Webaptive is an enterprise CMS available in premium and community versions.  The biggest draw to this program is its ability to incorporate content management functionality into existing applications without the implementation of third-party software development kits.  This is made possible by the presence of IIS and the stack of Microsoft .NET technologies.

Creating ASP.NET Applications

Webaptive works closely with the web server to add CMS functionality to your applications.  From within IIS, you can choose the application you want to enhance. Once you make your selection and a database is automatically created, you can then enable existing applications or develop new ones.  Because the method in which Webaptive associates itself with applications is specific to the ASP.NET framework, it is strongly recommend that you create your pages and applications using standard ASP.NET programming practices.

CMS Features

Though rich in ASP.NET functionality, Webaptive offers many of the same capabilities found in other CMS products.  For instance, it has a built-in WYSIWYG editor for easily creating articles and blog posts, a CSS editing facility, and support for multiple authors.  Some of its more advanced features include localization and campaign management as well content inheritance options for managers and administrators.  Another unique quality of Webaptive its seamless integration with Perifigure, Striquent’s sister product.  Perfigure is a powerful analytic tool that analyzes site performance and provides detailed statistics on traffic, marketing campaigns and several other business related activities.  These capabilities alone make Webaptive a very attractive CMS for business users.

Standing Alongside and Out from the Crowd

Marketed as a CMSaaS product, Webaptive shares a few qualities with similar hosted SaaS CMS solutions such as CushyCMS and Surreal CMS.  Many of these platforms work by mildly blending content management features into a web page or website.  Though effective for the most part, they are not all that intrusive in regard to the core technologies and as a result, only provide limited CMS functionality.  Although Webaptive performs in a similar manner, it goes beyond the basics by digging into the code at the ASP.NET application level.  This gives it the ability to interact with ASP.NET controls as well as the standard HTML elements.  When all components are properly configured, this CMS can truly help you take your web applications to the next level.  Another difference is that whereas most SaaS CMS platforms are hosted solutions, Webaptive can be downloaded, installed and configured on your own server.

Availability and System Requirements

The Webaptive CMS is currently available in three versions: Community, Express and Enterprise editions.  In terms of functionality, the Community and Express versions are nearly identical.  However, the community version is free and therefore does not come included with reliable technical support.  The Enterprise edition is the most powerful version of the product as it is equipped with many advanced back-end versions and of course, paid support.  In order to run Webaptive, you will need the Windows Server 2003 operating system or higher and an SQL Server database.  These elements are needed to support your ASP.NET applications and web pages.

Textpattern: The Text-Friendly CMS

In World Wide Web years, TextPattern is a mature CMS that has been around in alpha and beta versions since 2001 and finally distributed under the GNU GPL in 2004.  The product has been dramatically improved over the years and the most notable enhancements yet can be seen in the latest version release, TextPattern 4.20.  If you need an easier and more efficient way to manage your content, the features of this open-source CMS tool may be of interest.

Word Processing-Like Environment

One of Textpattern’s key features is Textile, an intuitive syntax that allows you to easily convert plaintext into well structured rich web content.  Often nagging elements such as hyperlinks, tables and image tags can be created with one or two markers, making it closer to working with ordinary text as opposed to complex code.  When you are ready to publish your content, Textile takes all marked copy and automatically converts it to clean, valid XHTML.  In addition, all articles you compose in Textpattern can be viewed in plaintext, XHTML or a rendered preview.

Versatile CSS Editing

Textpattern offers full support for CSS, offering two modes that allow you to customize and enhance the presentation of your site in different ways.  Manual CSS mode lets you to create or edit any CSS data directly from the administrative interface.  This enables you to quickly edit styles without dealing with the hassle that often results from uploading via FTP.  You can create your style sheets from scratch or by using one of many compatible WYSIWYG editors.  Automatic CSS mode is an advanced feature that utilizes an organized interface to make CSS parameters more comprehensive and manageable.  CSS can really enhance the performance of a website and Textpattern allows you to harness all the power of this optimal design technology.

Link Friendly

There are quite a few CMS tools that offer power and ease of use, but lack the features needed to easily increase visibility via the search engines.  This isn’t the case with TextPattern as the software excels in SEO-friendly pages and link management.  You can store an unlimited number of links in an unlimited number of categories anywhere you want on your site.  It also makes it simple to add news links through the built-in editor or a Javascript book marklet, which displays a popup window to use where ever you may be on the web.

Add-on Functionality

Although Textpattern is not supported by nearly as many plugins as open-source products like Joomla and Drupal, the platform is very extensible.  All available add-on components can be installed and maintained in a straightforward manner.  Once you have incorporated them, they can be easily enabled or disabled through the administrative interface where you can also access help and parameters used by supported plugins.

Conclusion

Textpattern is an open-source CMS product that is free to download and use.  The software requires PHP 4.3 or higher, MySQL 3.23 or higher and the Apache web server.  Its developer also strongly recommends the use of a Unix operating system, although it states that the software will “probably” work on any platform that supports PHP.  Being a free and user-friendly tool, you may want to check your system requirements and give Textpattern a test drive to see if it meets your needs before giving up your preferred CMS.

Simplified Content Management with CMS Made Simple

CMS tools are quickly replacing traditional web design and management utilities.  These software applications are robust and offer far more capabilities than your typical site builder.  Most CMS applications are usually dubbed as “easy to use” but in actuality, that is always up for debate.  Even systems like the world renown Joomla and Drupal especially, can be more than a handful.  You can find yourself in a jam when the community isn’t providing the level of support you need, which is often a harsh reality on the open-source market.  Unlike many others, one CMS that lives up to its name is an intuitive software package called CMS Made Simple.

What is CMS Made Simple?

CMS Made Simple is an open-source content management system that takes the complexity out of the management aspects.  The name says it all.  The platform is easy to install, set up and maintain.  Thanks to a user-friendly interface, managing all of your content is made simple, allowing you to save time by working more efficiently.  CMS Made Simple offers a unique ability that lets you create and run multiple websites while maintaining the content of each one independently.  Instead of spending time wrecking your brain on trying to figure out how the software is supposed to work, you can walk through a short learning curve and get your projects done much faster.  These are a few of many qualities bundled in CMS Made Simple.

Instant Search Engine Appeal

Before deciding on an CMS, it is good idea to research and find out how the software ranks in terms of SEO .  If visibility matters to you, it is important to go with a platform that is capable of generating URLs that appeal to search engines such as Google and Yahoo.  Even the mighty Joomla platform has its shortcomings in this regard.  In order to create your pages in a search engine-friendly manner, you have to install add-on modules, which presents more complexity to the inexperienced user.  CMS Made Simple has you covered from an SEO aspect by enabling the easy creation of search engine-friendly web pages to keep the spiders crawling to your site.  With this CMS, there is no need to install any add-on modules that may or may not work correctly.  This factor alone gives CMS Made Simple a huge advantage over some of the most highly touted open-source programs.

Additional Features and Capabilities

CMS Made Simple offers a fast and simple way to create a content-rich website and effectively manage all of its key components  Although most of the tools you need to integrate blogs, polls, and forums are available by default, this CMS is fully modular and highly extensible.   Aside from search engine friendliness right out of the box, the software also provides a facility for easy user and group management, a nice selection of built-in templates, a file manager, WYSIWYG editor, multi-language support and much more

A Simple CMS Choice

CMS Made Simple is light on server resources and runs efficiently with the support of a MySQL database on any server running PHP.  If you are hunting for open-source content management tools, this is one you definitely want to put on your list.

5 Tips for Choosing a CMS

Choosing the right CMS for your website can be a real challenge.  After all, there are literally hundreds of products on the market from open-source to commercial solutions.  While the right system all depends on your individual needs, these five tips should making choosing a CMS much easier.

1. What’s Your Goal?

No two systems are the same.  Some are suited for personal sites, some for publishers while others are specifically designed for corporate solutions.  Before deciding on a particular product, it is best to decide what you plan do with it.  Are you looking for enhanced blog functionality or looking to create a huge news publishing site?  Are you trying to build a corporate intranet or create a social network?  There is a vast selection out there and most systems are geared towards a particular purpose.

2. What Functionality do You Require?

Most CMS software has the ability to be greatly enhanced while others only support limited plugins.  You need to determine the level of functionality you require out of the box as well as flexibility that grants more power in the future.  CMS features range widely but here some of the basics you will find in the more popular products.

Forums – While forums are a common feature, not every CMS supports them.  The good thing is that forums can be incorporated in a number of ways.  For example, they can be custom built into a CMS or implemented via plugin.  If your project requires forums, be sure to do some research and find out how many come included or what method is required to incorporate them.

Polls – Polls are another hot CMS feature.  If you want to allow your users to vote on specific content, you will need a product that supports this feature.

WYSIWYG Editor - Short for What You See Is What You Get, the WYSIWYG editor can make your life as an administrator much easier.  This tool offers a simple word processor interface that gives you the ability to easily add text and pictures.  If you’re not proficient with programming languages, the WYSIWYG editor is one feature you can’t do without.

3. Compatibility

When deciding on a CMS, you need to keep your web host in mind and find out if they actually support the software.  For instance, there are some systems that are entirely based on PHP while others cater to Ruby on Rails and other languages.  Aside from the language, you need to know what database your host supports.  Some products are designed for MySQL, others are designed for MS SQL.  Versions are important as well as a CMS based on PHP 5 may not integrate well on a server equipped with PHP 4.

4. Customization

Depending on your goals, you may want a CMS that is easy to customize.  Rest assured because themes are widely available for most systems.  Drupal, Joomla and Mambo are just three of many products supported by a wide range of additional themes.

5. Support

Whether its open-source or commercial, finding a CMS that offers support is vital.  If you purchase a product, be sure that you can get technical support from the vendor.  If you opt for an open-source product, be sure to select one with an active user community