5 Open Source CMS for Websites

31 January, 2012 - CMS, Drupal, Issue 51 - January 2012, Issue 52 - February 2012, Joomla!, Lunarpages Blog, Tech Tips, Umbraco, Website Tools, WordPress

Open Source has been a “buzz word” for quite some time. Open Source Content Management Systems (CMS), like WordPress, has become increasingly popular because of its inherent cost structure (virtually free), ease of use, scalability, and workflow. With more people building their websites and blogs with open source CMS systems, we wanted to outline 5 of the more popular open source Content Management Systems for websites.

WordPress

WordPress is one of the most popular CMS available. It was initially developed for Bloggers but now has morphed into a framework for corporate website development. Some of the more popular WordPress websites are Lunarpages’ Blog, Mashable, Phone.com, Anderson Cooper 360, and many others.

Key Features of WordPress include:

Easy installation.
1000’s of high quality themes and plug-ins.
Easy to add popular and common features
Easy to administer

Drupal

Drupal was designed for mid to high traffic sites. Drupal is a powerful and expandable system that allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website. Some popular Drupal websites include: Penn State University, FastCompany, MTV United Kingdom, and many others.

Key Features of Drupal include:

Highly scalable
Large support base
Easy to use end-user interface
Very expandable
Large support base

Joomla!

Joomla is another common open source website CMS. It is recognized for its ease of use as well as for creating e-commerce, media portals, online communities, and fantastic looking websites. Widely known Joomla websites include IHop.com, TheHill.com, Linux.com.

Features of Joomla Include:

User Management
Polls
Search
Content Management
Menu Manager
Largest number of plug-ins

Umbraco

Umbraco was not designed to be a plug and play solution like Drupal or Joomla. Umbraco has become very popular with designers due to the open template system and ability to build in guidelines that automatically format the content writers provide. Also, it uses ASP .NET “master pages” and XSLT, so you won’t have to work with a heaped-together template format. Umbraco boasts that it powers more than 85,000 websites is one of the most deployed Web Content Management Systems on the Microsoft stack. Other sites utilizing Umbraco include: Heinz.com, SanDisk.com, and Speedo.com.

Key Features of Umbraco include:

Enhanced User Interface
.NET support
Tighter package integration
Built in media library
Widgets
Multi-level galleries

Pligg

Pligg was created with social networking in mind. The benefit of Pligg is the ability to create your own social network. Pligg enables the user to utilize social publishing software that persuades visitors to register on their website allowing them to develop and submit content while connecting with others. Some popular Pligg websites include Marketing Land, BizSugar, and FavShare.

Features of Pligg include:

Private messaging
Module system
RSS feeds
Multiple language support
Advanced comment system

More companies and individual are turning to open source CMS systems to build their websites. Are you using an open source CMS, if so which one and how has your experience been?

http://www.100webhosting.com/ Jasmine

Good list of CMS software. I like WordPress too, but I really cannot say the same for Pligg. I used Pligg once and was tired with cleaning up the website from spams and etc. Anyway, I am sure they have improved now. :)
Anonymous

Perhaps you guys could do an actual review / comparison of C5 vs other CMS’s (and wanna be CMS’s)…

With the recent release of Concrete 5.5.1 which got a major UI overhaul its really pretty slick…
Tom

I’m in alignment with Twizted. After dabbling in Joomla a couple of years and finding I needed a book open to get most tasks completed, I jumped to Drupal v7. Deja vu. An article in a magazine recently described Concrete5, and I replaced Drupal in an hour, finding content a breeze to add. Then menus tend to just work, and the wrappers for script that never worked in Drupal weren’t even needed in Concrete5. I rather enjoy spending time adding content that used to go toward reading and studying.
Anonymous

Well, I wanted to share information about another really good CMS that people should know about but since the admin of the blog keeps not approving and deleting it I guess it will just go unsaid. As a long time customer I have to say, sad Lunrpages.. just sad…
Cognidox

Have used Joomla, Drupal and WordPress. The big joy in using Joomla is the scope of the Extensions Directory. Whenever you want to do something you take a look there and nearly always “there’s an extension for that”. The category structure of the JED can be esoteric, but a search engine will usually get you to what you need. If the need for extensions isn’t a biggie, then WordPress gets you to a more stylish-looking solution so much quicker.
Hal Jordan

I tried setting up a Drupal website and finally deleted it after a few hours. I tried Joomla! and was very happy with its features, just perfect to host a website for my small group of people. I built a giant tower of complexity and then scaled it way back and put the effort into a phpBB discussion board. But I can hear all those Joomla! plugins calling to me…
poly64

I have been using Joomla! for quite some time now. I migrated to it from another open source CMS, phpWebsite, when phpWebsite underwent some major changes that I didn’t care for. I have found Joomla! to be rock solid but the learning curve tended to be rather steep after using phpWebsite for many years. I particularly had a rough time modifying my templates to work properly. The wide array of plugins and add-ons has made Joomla! a pleasure to use. I highly recommend Joomla!

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