Content Management Systems
A Content Management System, or CMS for short, is a web based application that allows non-technical users to manage the content of a website. These applications are built using web technologies such as PHP or the .NET Framework and utilise a database, for example, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle or SQL Server, to store the website information.
Below are some examples of Content Management Systems in use today:
Drupal
Drupal is a free and open source CMS that is built using the PHP scripting language and utilises a database such as MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQLite. It has a community of over 630,000 to help in its development and is used by anyone from small businesses to global corporations. Although Drupal is a very customisable CMS, from a development point of view, it does have a steeper learning curve than Joomla and WordPress, the other PHP based CMSs discussed here.
How Tos and Useful Stuff
- Setting up your home page.
- Clearing the theme cache.
- Installing modules.
- Updating modules.
- Installing themes.
- How to build a sub-theme based on the Zen theme.
- Create a custom content type.
- Resource guide: Drupal for membership websites.
Useful Modules
Hippo CMS
Hippo CMS is an open source CMS built using the Java programming language, that is said to be easy to integrate with other systems. There are two editions available, a free community edition, together with an enterprise edition.
Hippo CMS can respond to visitors by showing content based on their preferences, history of past visits and even their location. It can also show content that is relevent to the current day of the week. The rules for determining this targeted content can be defined within the CMS and it is possible to emulate different types of users to preview how the website would look for them. The behaviour of visitors can also be monitored in real-time, so there can be a quick response to changes in their habits.
How Tos and Useful Stuff
Joomla
Joomla is a free and open source PHP based CMS that utilises a database, either MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQL Server. It is used for anything from personal to global corporation websites. As with Drupal and WordPress, it has a large community to aid in its maintenance and enhancement. It is also known for its ease of use.
How Tos and Useful Stuff
Plone
Plone is a free and open source CMS that is built on top of the Zope Application Server, which is created using the Python programming language.
Development on Plone started out back in 2000 and was first launched in 2003. The Plone Foundation are the main driving force behind the development of the project, together with significant support from the Plone Community.
From a security point of view, Plone is said to have the strongest security functionality of all the open source CMSs. This has meant that it has become popular with security conscious organisations and even United States government agencies such as NASA and the FBI.
How Tos and Useful Stuff
Umbraco
Umbraco is a free and open source CMS that is based on Microsoft's .NET framework and developed in the programming language C#. Like the other CMSs discussed here, it can be used with a MySQL database, however, with it being based on the .NET framework, it works with a number of different editions of SQL Server as well. When compared to Drupal, Joomla and WordPress, it has a relatively small community to aid in its development. As with Drupal, from a development point of view, it also has a steep learning curve.
How Tos and Useful Stuff
General
WordPress
As with Drupal and Joomla, WordPress is a free and open source CMS built using PHP. It also utilises a MySQL database. WordPress was originally created in 2003 purely as a blogging tool, but has now developed into something that can be and is used for large corporate websites. As with Joomla, it is also known for its ease of use.
Official Documentation
- WordPress Editor.
- Categories.
- Tags.
- Comments.
- Media Library.
- WordPress User Roles.
- General Settings.
- Writing Settings.
- Reading Settings.
- Discussion Settings.
- Media Settings.
How Tos and Useful Stuff
- WordPress Releases.
- Teamtreehouse.com.
- Ultimate beginner’s guide to WordPress.
- Best WordPress cheat sheets and code resources.
- Creating a static front page.
- How to include Javascript and CSS stylesheets in WordPress.
- 10 top WordPress resources.
- 5 things you must look for when selecting a WordPress page builder.
- Understanding and working with posts in WordPress.
- Best WordPress cheat sheets and code resources.
- How to customise the WordPress Dashboard to minimise confusion.
- Understanding how WordPress images work (for better responsive design).
- Beginner tips for getting started with WordPress development.
- Installing and using PHPMyAdmin with WordPress.
- Tips for best practices in WordPress development.
- The ultimate guide to boost WordPress speed & performance.
- More tips for best practices in WordPress development.
- Final tips for best practices in WordPress development.
- How to effectively validate a WordPress website.
- Implementing the EU cookie law into your WordPress site.
- Understanding and working with data in WordPress.
- Understanding and working with relationships between data in WordPress.
- Understanding and working with content types in WordPress.
- Understanding and working with user data in WordPress.
- Build a custom WordPress user flow — part 1: Replace the login page.
- Build a custom WordPress user flow — part 2: New user registration.
- Build a custom WordPress user flow — part 3: Password reset.
- Exploring WordPress custom fields and why they're important.
- Building a custom WordPress login form with Flat UI.
- Building a custom WordPress registration form with Flat UI.
- Display blog posts on any page (with navigation).
- 50 filters of WordPress: An introduction to filters.
- Installing WordPress in the Amazon Cloud.
- Moving WordPress: Moving your site manually.
- Establishing a Dreamweaver CC and WordPress workflow.
- Create a simple CRM in WordPress.
- Build modular content systems in WordPress.
- A launch check list for professional WordPress websites.
- The ultimate WordPress security guide – Step by step (2019).
- Creating your own widgets using various WordPress APIs: Introduction.
- Switch from CSS to Sass in WordPress.
- Supercharge your local WordPress workflow with Gulp and Browsersync.