Open Source Software and CMS - Joomla, Drupal, Typo3, Wordpress

What is open source software?

Open Source Software is a solutions architecture that many of our smaller or not-for-profit clients predominantly choose over proprietary or webdesigner built solutions. Why? Open Source has a much lower "total cost of ownership" and can can be run and administered by internal staff. Open Source software is governed by a license that prohibits:

• charging for use of the software
• closing the code (closed source)

These prohibitions apply to any modifications or releases based on the original code. (The most common license is the GNU Public License - aka, the GPL.)

Example Open Source Software Implementations

Examples of Open Source Implementations that we have been involved with or setup include:

• Joomla - Balance Internet, Retail Display Stands, Clark Rubber, and useasparky.com.au
• Typo3 - Biomelbourne Network
• Wordpress - RayWood.net
• Ruby on Rails - Business Essentials
• Drupal - NetOutcomes

These are popular platforms that you, the end user can maintain, update and change at your discretion.

The site www.opensourcecms.com and www.cmsmatrix.org have demo versions of over 300 open-source CMS including Drupal, Joomla, and Typo3. Most importantly, you can actually try the software. In many cases, you don’t even need to install the software to get a demo.As you experiment with the software, involve prospective users in the process. Have them try the software out, list what they would like to change, and how important those changes would be. Give them ownership in the process. Doing so will help them become invested in the solution and increase adoption.

What is a CMS (Content Management System)?

A CMS is a software tool installed on your web server that enables you to manage your site's features, content and users through an easy-to use browser-based interface.

Talking about Open Source CMS

This graph (source Google Trends) shows the top 5 most talked about "open source CMS". The results show Joomla, Wordpress, Drupal, Mambo and Plone.

Which Open Source CMS software should I choose?

There are many factors that should be considered when choosing the right Open Source CMS for your business,

A quality CMS should provide the following general features:

• identification of key users and their roles
• ability to assign roles and responsibilities
• ability to define workflow
• ability to schedule and publish content
• ability to limit access to content and functionality
• ability to administer the system
• ability to take site offline and perform maintenance tasks

We can help you choose an Open Source CMS solution

If you would like us to help you find, implement, design or build you an open source CMS based website, please contact us for a FREE Quote.

Let us help you choose the optimal Open Source Software for your business - Click here to contact Balance Internet today.