A Beginners Guide to Popular CMSs - Part 1: Open Source

Image via CrunchBase

From the first time online publisher to the multinational corporation, a significant proportion of the websites that exist on the world wide web today, perhaps around a third, are constructed using what are broadly known as Content Management Systems or CMSs. There are a vast array of CMSs available to any potential web site owner - many free, some commercial products. The following article looks at a few of the most popular, their strengths and weaknesses and what their technical requirements are from a web hosting platform.

What is a CMS?
The abbreviation CMS is short for Content Management System and the name conveys what is at the heart of these tools - they are systems which web authors can use to manage the content of a web site or web application. Many of the forerunners of today’s CMS were created as simple off-the-shelf packages which allowed users to run their own blogs and the concepts are still inextricably linked. However, from humble beginnings most have evolved to offer much more than that, to the extent that they are now heavily used by the even the most experienced web developers as the building blocks of advanced websites, utilising extensive support communities and wide ranging plugins and modules. They can therefore provide the uninitiated with an easy route into online publishing within minutes but also provide advanced users with valuable efficiencies and reliability in contrast with coding websites from the ground up.

The three most widely deployed content management systems on the world web today all use PHP (PHP Hypertext Processor) as the server side scripting language (the code that is run on a server and determines what data is delivered when a web page is requested). The first part of this article looks at these three CMSs.

WordPress
This CMS is recognised as the most used CMS on the web with estimates that it comfortably accounts for over a half of all CMS builds - almost two thirds in some surveys. The CMS began life as a blogging platform and is still, in its basic form, orientated towards this function, however a broad array of plug-ins and themes means that it also has the potential to be used for more complex web sites. Therefore, WordPress has become massively popular with personal bloggers and corporate web developers alike.

• Created: 2003
• Original use: Blogging platform
• Licence: Open Source (GPL)
• Popularity*:
• 59% of CMSs
• 17% of Websites
• Server-side script: PHP
• Database systems: MySQL
• Hosting OS: Various
• Benefits/Features:
• Easy to create basic website and/or blog
• Large community support
• Extensive plug-in system for additional functionality
• Customisable themes which change functionality as well as appearance
• In-built CSS and PHP editing
• Concerns:
• Basic themes can make basic sites appear similar
• Examples:
• https://cio.gov/
• http://www.rollingstones.com/

Joomla!
Formed as an offshoot of the older CMS Mambo in 2005, Joomla has gone on to be the second most used system on the web accounting for around 1 in 10 CMS builds (1 in 40 of all sites). It is particularly popular with those looking for a (free) powerful yet simple system that requires little or no knowledge of code but that allows flexible control over the site’s look and feel.

• Created: 2005
• Original use: CMS
• Licence: Open Source (GPL)
• Popularity*:
• 10% of CMSs
• 3% of Websites
• Server-side script: PHP
• Database systems: MySQL; MSSQL; PostgreSQL
• Hosting OS: Various
• Benefits/Features:
• Flexible template functionality to easily customise the look and feel site wide
• Inbuilt SEO & tracking capabilities
• Large extensions library to extend functionality and templating options
• Often available as a one click installation from web hosts
• Good usability for beginners/non-developers
• Concerns:
• Lacks ability to format uploaded media such as images
• Lacks versioning to store and revert to old versions of content
• Examples:
• http://www.getransportation.com/
• http://www.ikea.com.kw/

Drupal
Created originally as a forum platform, Drupal has become very popular due to its flexibility and is now used to build a wide array of website applications. The ‘out of the box’ Drupal build is known as the core and allows the user to add content to build a simple website, blog or forum, but the site is supported by an extensive community and it is the add-on modules that they create which gives Drupal its potential. Drupal is therefore commonly referred to as a content management framework due to its reliance on add-ons for functionality.

• Created: 2001
• Original use: Message Board
• Licence: Open Source (GPL)
• Popularity*:
• 8% of CMSs
• 2% of Websites
• Server-side script: PHP
• Database systems: Various
• Hosting OS: Various
• Benefits/Features:
• Modular design for adding and managing additional functionality
• Extensive number of modules available to enhance functionality
• Taxonomy system for organising and display related content
• Large community for support and module development
• Concerns:
• Can be demanding on hosting platforms due to Queries
• The administration pages in older versions aren’t user friendly
• The core installation is light on functionality (see benefits)
• Examples:
• http://www.whitehouse.gov/
• http://www.economist.com/

If you are interested in getting a site built in one of the CMSs mentioned above then you can visit Digital Design London or for those looking for a hosting platform for their new site, visit VDC Hosting.