Joomla, Drupal And Mambo CMS

It cannot be denied that one of the most practical business marketing solutions is web hosting. Since the demand for such has grown over time, the number of web hosting services has also increased significantly. With this, web hosting plans also become more affordable and cheaper. Due to the emergence of many hosting services, the competition has become stiff, resulting to cheaper hosting plans. In fact, there is practically no web host that offers more than $20 for web hosting services nowadays.

However, quality should never be compromised with cost. This means that aside from the cost of the hosting plan, it is also important to consider the features and the options that a particular hosting company offers.

While there are a lot of hosts that offer plans at low rates with Stone Age options, there are some web hosts that offer cheaper plans with amazing hosting features. Among these hosts is iPage hosting. Indeed, iPage is leading the hosting industry with an incomparable package. One of the features that iPage offer is Content
Management System. CMS enables individuals to build websites and powerful online applications.

One of the aspects that should be considered in a Content Management System is its ease-of-end use and extensibility. Among the most awarded content systems are Joomla, Drupal, and Mambo. These content systems are hosted by iPage as well. As such, many webmasters and owners prefer iPage hosting service because it supports content systems over a secure web server.

But, why is there a need to consider content systems in finding a web hosting service? This is because a CMS keeps track of every piece of content on your website, whatever the type of content is. Moreover with CMS, there is no need to keep track of your content because CMS does it for you. As such, the creation and maintenance of a website becomes easier with this system.

Among the different content systems, Joomla is one of the most preferred. Joomla is easy to install and easy to use. In fact, many hosting services offer Joomla in a single-click installation procedure. As such, you can get your new site up and about in no time at all.

On the other hand, Drupal is also equally favored by clients. It is a free software package that allows anyone to easily publish a wide variety of content on a website. Moreover, it also allows the client to manage and organize the contents conveniently. This is probably one of the reasons why hundreds of people are using Drupal in the management of their endless variety of sites.

Finally, Mambo is also another content system that is used for all types of websites. Mambo can be used for simple websites and for complex corporate applications as well. It is most commonly used to power government portals, ecommerce sites, community sites, corporate intranets and extranets, and even church sites.

Seven Standout Features in Drupal 7 Development

Drupal is an open source content management system written in PHP/MySQL and renowned for its modularity, simplicity, and granular control have helped make it a immensely popular open-source solution. Drupal CMS boasts of over 5800 contributed modules and variety of themes. Drupal CMS has been widely adopted by over 7.2 million sites including social networking sites, news, blogs, forums, media, entertainment, charities, politicians, corporate and many more. Drupal won the hall of fame award in 2009, several packt open source CMS Awards and won the Webware 100 awards thrice. Drupal has a large community following with over 830,000 users and 2000 developers.

Drupal has done everything right but lagged behind in a few key areas. The upcoming release of version 7 promises to correct these shortcomings and add even more power to this amazing system. The final release of Drupal 7 is expected in the early 2011.

Usability

The usability features enhanced with more menus and panels. Previously obscure settings are now easier to find and interfaces are better organized. These UX improvements will certainly helps more users to conveniently use the CMS.

User Interface: Drupal 7 is inducted with a new user-friendly interface that makes it easier for users to navigate and work on their drupal site.
Shortcut Bar: Shortcut Bar allows the user to add their own shortcut to handle and manage their site. It also allows saving variations of the shortcut bar, so as to utilize different shortcuts bars based on user activity.

Editing Page: Drupal 7 is now equipped with administrative links to edit existing page elements on each web page, without visiting an administration page first to edit. This feature provides a nice simple interface and seamless capability with editing the content on pages.

WYSIWYG editors: Drupal 7 provide improved support for integration of WYSIWYG editors.

Meta data: Drupal 7 accords permissions with more meta data capabilities.

Themes

Drupal 7 has included three new themes, Bartik, Seven and Stark. Users can now install contributed themes directly from the Appearance admin screen.

Database layer

The new release also features a new database layer providing wider support for other DB platforms and it improves scalability and integrity. For developers, they have added a query builders for INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, MERGE, and SELECT queries. Advanced queries are automatically compiled to work with the appropriate database server, which also increases the portability of drupal.

SQLite database support

SQLite allows hosting of smaller drupal installations without providing them database access.

jQuery UI

jQuery UI 1.8 added as it allows improvements to drupal's UI.

Node access control system

Node access control system has been improved and is now much better than that of Drupal 5 and Drupal 6

Popular Modules Integrated now with the Core

There are plenty of useful modules which almost every site has to download, install, enable and configure. Drupal 7 will now include some of those popular modules directly in to its core framework as they are widely used. Drupal 7 will integrate them into its core framework.

Drupal 7 has proved with its many new features and functionality that it is one of the best and flexible CMS that has taken its usability to a whole new level in drupal development. Our drupal developer is keenly awaited for making a greater and more powerful CMS to power your sites.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Samantha_Louie

Types of Content Management Systems

Today there are thousands of content management systems available on the Internet. Each serves different users by offering unique features according to their actual needs. However they all work under the same standard.

There are four main types of CMS (content management systems) in which we could cover most of which exist. These four types are:

1) Custom made (in house)
2) Commercial
3) High-end
4) Open source

Tailored
They are content management systems created within a company. Are developed by staff from the same organization. You could say that "no two are alike." As a result, all aspects of the system serving the specific needs of the company. The main theme is the development lies with the internal staff to correct the mistakes and create patches.

Commercial
Is offering content management systems is the widest since there are plenty of options either in prices, plans and features. Unlike custom-made (in house) these are rarely personalized. It is also difficult to determine the functionality of the software initially as the company has what they want you to see.

High Range
Of the thousands of systems of content available on the market only a few of them might fall into this category. One of its main features is the reliability that you have to get a robust and quality. Unfortunately this is also reflected in their high prices, since they tend to be very expensive.

Open Source
This essentially means that the software or content management system is available for anyone in the world for free. The main advantages seem obvious but the price is free! And these systems are completely customizable from its source code open. They say many disadvantages of these systems, however, strongly believe and advocate these software. For me the best that exist.

While once we know the major groups of content management systems that exist. The decision to acquire one or the other depends on your needs. If you are a company and have information technology staff, it is worth thinking about developing a house or invest in a high range.

On the other hand, if you do not have qualified personnel and the price can be an obstacle would be worth purchasing one of open source.

The Revolution Initiated by CMS

Dreams are the wings on which reality soars. The global exposure that CMS provides to its students is the reality on which the dream of a united world lives. The 31 international events organised by the institution contribute to fostering a spirit of unity among them. They are made to realise that the competitions are not to widen the chasm between them and their counterparts from other countries, but to show them that the global exposure under the Broader Education Model for the 21st century that CMS strives to provide to its students ensures that they emerge as successful world leaders in day-to-day life, that they excel in whatever field they choose to embrace, and this is done by arming them with wisdom and knowledge pertinent to the contemporary ages. This way, students from CMS perform better in examinations and competitions than the national average. The competitive atmosphere in CMS adds to the values of the education imparted here.

But the story doesn't end here. The institution goes ahead in spearheading a revolution in peace education. For more than 50 years of its existence since 1959, CMS has been making consistent and concerted efforts to instill the values and importance of peace to its students. The values of tolerance and peace are highlighted by the World Peace Prayer and mock sessions of World Parliament organised at all major events. Such events serve as a platform where children can put forth their views. CMS aims to be the voice of the children of the world, it aims to lead the children to a world with peace and harmony. CMS envisages a united world that could be brought together only by a common international law.

The law of the land forms the real boundary between nations of the world. The existing physical boundaries typically demarcate different areas where different legislations are practiced. Nations can never be one as long as different sets of laws govern different nations. Unity could be possible only if there were a common law and order all over the world. This is where the judiciary could help.

The judiciary from different countries should come together to decide a common international law applicable and enforceable over all the nations of the world. this would help in maintenance of international peace and security.

Maintenance of international peace and security implies the prevalence of worldwide peace. This implies that peace should reign over all the nations of the world. peace is the greatest need of the hour, and it could be achieved only by living as a united whole.

To wage a war against war, children must be taught that the greatest sin before the world is a disruption in the recognition of things as a universal entity. a revolution needs to be initiated, and it would be a bit different from the kind witnessed in political circles. It would be a social revolution more potent and powerful than the Russian Revolution.

Open Source CMS Solutions

Open Source Content Management System is the type of site you shall use and that's why you have more control over the changes and updates, add quickly features (at low development costs) and also have an interactive and accessible website. Open Source CMS solutions also have a pretty large community behind and that's always a good indicator for reliability.

A big part of business owners finally choose closed source administration systems but, even if nothing is wrong with this approach, you might be able to get even more worth with a open source solution (and with the community's support also). These days there are a lot of open source CMS solutions around and here are a few of them:
Joomla!: Has been designated in 2009 the most popular open source content management system on the web and that's because it features lots of plug-ins, widgets and even templates.Wordpress: Also does not need any introduction. Millions of sites on the web make use of it's services. Has surpassed others and has become the most popular CMS in use today.Drupal: Is also a popular and powerful content management system. It allows easy management, organization and content publishing on a website and has been growing since its release back in 2001.SMF: Even if it's not as renowned as vBulletin or PhpBB, it still is one of the most secure forum software available. As a serious online business also needs a forum for support and not only, it's a good solution since it implements easily and it's SEO friendly.

Content Management Systems (CMS) Platform

C M Mess

Content Management Systems (CMS) have been around for quite sometime. I observed various issues with the earlier Web CMS's from both a technological perspective and a user point of view. Circa 2005 I worked for a small, local web design company when the first breed of CMS's were becoming popular. The premise was that if we could allow our clients to update their own websites then this would provide relief to our customer support team to provide assistant in other "more pressing" areas.

The problem was that although we were able to assign a member of the client's team to be the responsible owner of the content and provide the necessary training to utilise the plethora of features of the CMS, we failed to realise that the responsible owner was neither an expert in writing effective web copy or a marketing expert. Afterall, we were working with predominantly small businesses who are used to assigning their teams to multiple tasks. Therefore, multitasking and being generalists were traits of the majority of their team members.

Validon't

From a technological perspective, the CMS's were throwing up all sorts of anomalies which our development team and the original 3rd party vendor of the CMS were tackling on an adhoc basis. We also had limited resources and our main problems were Web Browser compatibility and the fact that the CMS that we were using would invalidate any clean code that we had managed to pass through a W3C Validator.

That is in the past though and many modern day Content Management System's can provide clean, valid code and that is fantastic but many of the issues that I have raised and a few that I haven't raised still crop up. Clients still require CMS training but many of the clients I speak to have already had at least some experience of using a CMS. This does help to decrease the learning curve. But what about the lack of web writing expertise? Well, this is still an issue but, thankfully, there are many solutions.

Riding the Gravy Train

Internet Marketing firms such as ourselves now run courses and seminars which tackle issues such as writing effective web content. Half a day's training won't give you the skills and experience of a bona-fide web journalist but it should provide a sound basis to become a competent content writer. Long term this should provide a better return on investment for the business. Though outside the scope of this article, it would be interesting to compare the correlation between staff who are sent on training courses to update their company's blog and those who are sent on the courses to update the actual website.

Content Management System and SEO

Running a search engine optimization campaign requires appropriate content. Content management systems (CMS) have been introduced in the market to take care of the labour put in creating a unique content every time. CMS is a software that provides website authoring and administration tools. These tools are specially designed for users with less knowledge of web programming languages or markup languages. CMS lets you create and manage the site content with ease.

But are they really effective at doing what they are created for, lets find out -

There are a few problems that Search Engine Optimization professionals at SEO firms have encountered while using CMS systems. These systems can take the campaign for a toss as many of the CMS systems were not designed as per the search engine marketing requirement.

Meta Tags -

Meta tags contain the information of the page. They are scanned by the search engine spider to evaluate the content of the page. However important this feature may be, many CMS systems do not allow the addition of relevant TITLE and DESCRIPTION Meta Tags to the content. This drawback of the CMS system can damage the SEO campaign seriously.

Dynamic URLs -

Search engines index a limited amount of dynamic pages. These dynamic pages are determined by the page URLs containing special characters like %or & or =. The search engine spider finds it difficult to handle dynamic URLs strings.

Hence a URL like http:// sample.com/page.asdc?iv=143&session=234234wrwresf¶m=xzfdch will not get enough results, but the URL http:// sample.com/products.asdc can do a much better job.

The problem of indexibility and session ID are very common with the CMS system.

No Keywords in the URL -

CMS systems mostly do not let you create a URL with the keywords included. A keyword rich URL is highly important from the SEO point of view. It gets better page rankings.

Most of the CMS users are not aware of the SEO requirements while creating the content and SEO professionals require training to operate the CMS system. To help the content authors you can download the readily available online and desktop tools that will help to analyze content and report on how it is likely to perform in search engines. However, the use of SEO tools is time consuming and users need to keep switching between tools to create content and analyse it.

Approaching a Search Engine Optimization firm is a good idea to SEO the business as they take care of all the technical problems encountered using CMS. The SEO firm will gain complete understanding of the technical makeup of your site before launching the SEO campaign.

RyzeUp is a boutique Search Engine Marketing Agency that delivers high quality outsourced SEO, PPC, SMO, E-mail Marketing, Affiliate Program Management and Link Building Services to Digital Media and Internet Marketing firms worldwide.

How to Choose a Good and Best CMS

Content Management Systems are now best practiced globally for delivering effective online business communications. They make it easy for non-technical administrators to manage online content of all kinds, and eliminate the typical issues with ad hoc management of online content and hand-building web pages. Enterprise content management solutions are real solutions not cosmetic solutions, to requirements for communicating and engaging with customers, staff and suppliers.

A good CMS can de-clutter the technical infrastructure which may be sit beneath a plethora of business applications. A good CMS can provide a platform on which to build business applications for daily use and integrate them into an easily-navigated portal for employees, customers or suppliers, which can be accessed from anywhere and from any device with Internet access.

Streamlining administration procedures means increased efficiency. If you choose the right CMS for your business it will be cost-effective from the outset, providing highly adaptable, fully tailored solutions for even the most complex business requirements.

What do you need in a content management system?

The real beauty of such systems is that they're extremely adaptable for any type of business. What you need, in this case, is what you'll get. All you need to do is define the needs. You can even project ahead for expansion, and create your own management system.

For example, do you need:

* E-commerce?

* Order tracking?

* Reporting systems?

* Marketing?

* Forms?

* Shipping rates?

* Services FAQs?

* An easily manageable online system?

* A fully integrated Local Area Network?

* Human Resources capabilities?

* Financial management capacity?

These capabilities are standard for the best quality CMS. If you want a single stream, no-fuss, very easy to manage full service system, they're exactly what you need.

Content Management Systems and best practice - A natural combination

Best business practice is a very unambiguous concept. Efficiency and accessibility are the critical factors. Best practice is built in to a good content management system. By definition, integrated content management is geared to serve the whole business process, from clients browsing the website to accountancy.

Content management systems are effectively designer systems. If you've ever suffered through the various forms of chaos which are possible building management systems using multiple platforms, you'll be well aware of the business realities involved. Content management completely eliminates these issues. Best practice is assured by creating a fully integrated system which includes direct user manageability and consistency.

Selection criteria - Matching needs to Content Management Systems

Matching your needs to your system is really quite easy:

* Define the needs of your business operations in terms of information systems, administration and financial management.

* Define the needs of your clients for accessibility to your products and services.

It's that simple. The right CMS will meet all these needs, and create a seamless system which can be operated in-house. An enterprise CMS covers the full range of business operations with maximum efficiency. It's extremely easy to expand and develop these systems to cover new products and services, and multiple business sites.

CMS Platforms for Website Design

When we talk about the content management system the first thing comes in our mind that something to manage the content of our website. CMS provides lots of benefits to customers who want to manage their website without taking any kind of help from webmasters. So, you can imagine how easy is now to edit your own website and the best part is you don't need to rely upon webmasters for a simple change in your website. There are number of CMS systems are available over internet. Picking the right CMS system is very important as you need to ensure that your website is not only architecturally sound from a usability and coding perspective, but that any published content is also SEO-Friendly and which kind of website you are going to create. Here we are going to discuss about three important CMS with their unique features.

DRUPAL: It is free and open source content management system which is highly sophisticated programming interface for web developers. This will work on any platform that has a web server able to run PHP and a database to store website content & setting. It is best suited for advanced PHP. If you want to create simple website then drupal is not good for you. Use this platform when you creating some complex website.

CUSHY CMS: Cushy CMS is a web-hosted content management system, Cushy CMS is great if your looking for a simple, easy-to-manage CMS platform. But if you want to create your website keeping the thing in your mind that you will add some more functions in future then it is not possible with this Cushy CMS.

JOOMLA: Joomla originally began as a sister project to the well-known Mambo CMS platform. It is also written in PHP and stores all data in MySQL database. There is hundreds of additional plugins for Joomla available. The main function of Joomla is its deployment in other hosting sites.

So, these are some content management system for website design. You can use anyone of above according to the scope your website.

Open Source Joomla CMS

Joomla is easily the most popular content management system [CMS] on the block. It is built on open source technology like PHP/MySQL and includes features like blogs, polls, page-level caching, RSS, Printable Pages, search & multi language support to name a few.

Basically, Joomla is an award-winning CMS or content management system which allows a web developer to create web sites and powerful online applications. Joomla is a CMS (content management system) which basically means that it allows users to customize their homepage and things like that. Joomla is a free PHP- and mysql-based content management system (CMS) that users can customize to their own design or use with pre-designed web page templates. Joomla is being employed to power all types of websites - simple, private or family sites; growing businesses web sites as well as more complex corporate intranets and extranets; community portals; mags and papers; government applications and so on. One of the reasons people go for Joomla is that it is free of cost as it can be downloaded from the internet, so that always leaves more resources on customizing it.

Joomla is good for making a small business, club or a community website that needs a professional web presence with business functionality - like running a newsletter and building a database. Joomla is easy to install and easy to use, making it easier for its customers in favor of managing their own portals for themselves. The number of users and developers using Joomla is growing by leaps and bounds. Best of all, Joomla is an open source solution that is freely available. Low operating costs - if you are looking for something simple and sweet with a good turn around time is, Joomla is the right choice for you and the cost drastically. What you need, Joomla is aware that this is a powerful content management system (CMS), is to create, edit, manage and publish high-quality content like news, manuals, technical manuals, sales guides, and marketing brochures. Best of all, Joomla is an open source solution that is freely available to everyone. Joomla is designer and developer friendly as it offers a wider platform for developers to customize and introduce new features in the system and the capability to improve the look and feel of the website is surely widely accepted by designers all across the globe.

If you are looking to create a website with Joomla though,there are a few hoops to jump before you can get on your way such as setting up the site, extensions configuration and managing templates. This can take up from a few hours to a couple of days [depending upon your technical expertise/resources].

1. First of all you need to setup your domain name & webhosting.

2. Download latest release of Joomla.

3. Upload the files after unzipping to your folder of choice.

4. We must set the file permissions,locate configuration .PHP & set 666.

5. After Selecting the language,we view the check page, making configuration .PHP writable.

6. Reading the license.

7. Enter database credentials for Joomla connectivity.

8. Setting up FTP is a must.

9. Enter the name of your new site.

10. We must Delete the installation directory.

11. You now have a basic Joomla Installation Skeleton.

Factors Influencing Your CMS Web Design Cost

Developing a CMS website is in trend these days, and why not? This implementation makes the task of website maintenance easier when it comes to editing, organizing, archiving, creating and searching content on the website. Today, an increasing number of non-techies want to set up and manage their ecommerce sites on their own and CMS integration is offering them this facility, with the help of which they can easily handle multiple sites on their own.

With the increasing demands of CMS solutions each day, the number of vendors offering CMS web design is also increasing rapidly. However, handing your CMS web development project to someone capable and experienced could be not so difficult for you. But if you are going to get your CMS web design project for the first time, you may not figure out the right price they should be charging from you and you may end up paying high for a small job of alteration done in your CMS project. So, it is always better to quote a price to your vendor and decide upon the expected budget before commencing the project is required. Here are the few tips given to you so that you can get your CMS web design completed within your budget without compromising on the quality;

Paying little Extra for Quality

You want a quality product when you buy something for you and you don't mind spending few bucks extra on it. Same goes with the CMS solutions as well. Paying little more for quality gives you value for money spent. Establishing a design budget by analyzing prices involved will keep you at bay from troublesome situations. A good service provider offers various flexible packages to suite your budget and requirements or you can ask for customized packages as well. But make sure that in an attempt to keep the budget extremely low for your project, you end up with a downtrodden one that fails to perform.

Expertise they Have and Technology to Use

It depends upon the type of vendor you are dealing with because if he/she is a free lancer, they might cost little less. And if you are hiring services from a well known reputed IT company, you will have to pay comparatively high. But a free lancer's service may not be as good as what you get from the old established firm. Moreover, a reputed firm assures you of completing the project within deadline and you don't have to bother about its maintenance issues. Nonetheless, hiring a free lancer can be a better alternative if you are looking for cost effective solution, provided you are okay with the technological knowledge and expertise they have by asking them or checking out their portfolio.

Added Functionality

The cost appearing on your project also depends upon the number of functionality you have asked your developer to integrate into your CMS web design. The overall price is directly proportional to the number of functions added into your project. CMS development process can not be completed in just one go, it goes step by step and takes time to accomplish a user friendly fully functional website.

The above features related to your CMS web design project accounted for the price you pay to your web developer to get a best solution. Getting a CMS web design is useful for upliftment of your online business which is easy to handle, update and manage website on your own.

How To Use WordPress As a CMS

Using WordPress as a CMS (content management system) is considered to be one of the most effective ways to getting online - but is it really all that? If so, does it offer a solution to all kinds of websites, or are there some limitations to WordPress?

First, lets define what a CMS is - it's any software which allows you to manage the content of a website easily, without having to hire a programmer to change coding every time you want to update your website.

WordPress is used as a blogging platform as well as a CMS by top web entrepreneurs all over the internet. Let's look at the reasons why it's so popular:

1. How much is WordPress? It's free!

2. How easy is it to install WordPress? If you have the right web hosting package, then its as simple as a click of a button in your hosting control panel, and it installs.

3. Coding of WordPress itself is very light; which means any websites being run by WordPress will be fast.

4. Plugins can be used to enhance your site features (and plugins are mostly free, some ask payment). For example, if you want to rotate your ads on the sidebar of your website, you can do this by uploading a free plugin and pasting the codes of the ads - normally, you would need to manually install a script, which takes time, and requires technical knowledge.

5. Website design is easily maintained by WordPress by choosing a WordPress Theme. There are thousands of free WordPress themes out there, as well as premium themes you pay for; even the most expensive theme is nowhere near the full price of hiring a designer and coder to make your own website.

6. Customizing a WordPress Theme is actually very easy; so you can get a free theme, make some changes, and the end result is a professional looking website.

Now that we have covered the key features of a WordPress Website; here are the main limitations of WordPress:

1. You may not find a plugin that works exactly to your requirements. In this case, you can hire a programmer to create a plugin for you.

2. You may not find a WordPress theme that matches exactly to your requirements; in this case, you can hire a programmer to do this for you.

It's important to point out that hiring a programmer from a freelancing website does not cost much, especially to create a small plugin or edit a WordPress theme so it matches to your exact requirements.

WordPress the Perfect CMS

When you purchase a web design package, a content management system (CMS) is the perfect way to get your website up and running. Easy to use, convenient and cost effective, it is the obvious choice for businesses looking to get their first website up and running.

But not all CMSs are the same. Here are a few reasons why WordPress, the most well-known CMS of all, is the perfect solution for your website.

Easy to Use

There cannot be many CMSs that are as easy to use as WordPress. It was created to be used by people with little or no HTML knowledge, allowing you to make changes to the content and design without the need to call on a professional web designer. Some custom CMSs can be confusing to use, but WordPress is a much more user-friendly option whatever your design experience.

Open Source

WordPress is open source and therefore completely free to use. The only thing you will have to pay for is the hosting of the account, your domain name and the designer who creates the template for your web design package. This makes it one of the most cost-effective ways to get started with a website.

Being open source, you also don't have to worry about getting locked into a contract with your web design firm, which sometimes happens when you use a custom CMS. WordPress also has thousands of people constantly testing it to eliminate bugs and to ensure that you get an excellent CMS without constantly having to solve annoying problems.

Plugins

Plugins are small programs that are created by other users which you can then easily add to your website. There are plugins for contact forms, RSS feeds, search engine optimisation and practically anything that you could think of so that you can add the features you need for your business.

Some of the most useful plugins are those that allow social media integration, enabling you to integrate your Facebook and Twitter accounts with your website. There really is no end to what you can achieve using plugins, and this flexibility is one of the reasons so many companies choose WordPress as their preferred CMS.

Go with WordPress

For a simple, flexible and cost-effective CMS, you can't go far wrong with WordPress. When you purchase your web design package, ask your designer to use WordPress as your CMS and take advantage of all the benefits provides.

Enterprise CMS Open Source

Today's businesses are struck with information overload, and static websites are definitely not a solution with their fast-growing and highly competitive nature. There are hefty contents for the organizations to store and work upon. Using an enterprise content management system (CMS), a company or an organization can have a smooth maintenance of their content for both on-site and off-site purposes. With an increasingly high need to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver data on the websites, it has become mandatory to use content management systems.

Search engine visibility is not the only challenge for today's online businesses. To stay ahead in the competition, it is necessary for them to present an updated version of the online content to the internet users. An enterprise CMS helps them build structured websites facilitating adding, deleting, and editing of the online content in a fairly easy manner, thus overcome all the challenges with content management whatsoever. Be it press releases, upcoming events, product launches or updates, newsletters, or special offers - business users themselves can publish the new or frequently updated information even if they have no technical knowledge regarding computer or web systems.

Below are the ways enterprise content management systems can be useful and advantageous to businesses:
Cost saving: No need of employing IT specialists to handle upload and management of the content. Standard automated processes of CMS can be maintained by the business personnel themselves.Access rights and control: Business users or content owners are entitled to have a direct access to the information and make any changes from anywhere, at any time. Having a better control over the use of information, they can organize and manage their business in a desired way and make informed decisions based on secure, accurate real-time information available to them.Freshness of the content: By keeping their website fresh and updated, businesses can encourage customers to keep connected with the regular happenings around the business, which in turn makes them more responsive.Consistent presentation: Content management systems offer well-defined templates for content presentation on the site to maintain a consistent look and feel.Enhanced online visibility: Frequent updating makes websites automatically indexed by search engine crawlers to get improved search engine positions.

All in all, using an enterprise CMS, businesses can notice significant improvements in their marketing results in short time and exceed their own performance standards to gain newer heights.

New Alkacon OCEE version for OpenCms available

 

Alkacon OCEE for OpenCms is a commercial extension for OpenCms that offers Support for LDAP, Clustering, Replication and improved performance. Full information about OCEE is available on the Alkacon website.

The latest OCEE release version 2.1.1 is an important update that fixes a number of potential issues and introduces some new features and additions to OCEE version 2 for OpenCms 7.0 / 7.5.

The most important new features in OCEE 2 are:

Support for multi-staging scenarios with the OCEE Replicator: You can configure a "development" server that first pushes all generated content to a "staging" server e.g. for approval, and then afterwards to the "delivery" server. This is freely configurable, and there is no limit on the number of stages.Centralized configuration of servers with the OCEE Cluster: You can now edit the scheduled jobs, search index configuration and module parameters for all individual servers in the cluster from a common GUI in the workplace server.Support for OpenCms OUs in the LDAP Connector: It is now possible to connect each OpenCms OU with an individual path in the LDAP Server.Improved performance with the OCEE Accelerator: A much improved cache policy in the Accelerator now selectively flushes only certain cached items after a publish instead of just flushing everything.

This OCEE release has the following version numbers:

OCEE 2.1.1 for OpenCms 7 - OCEE 1.0.17 for OpenCms 6

Please see the OCEE release notes for a full descriptions about the new features and changes in this version.

Alkacon OCEE 2.1.3 for OpenCms available

August 18, 2010

Alkacon OCEE for OpenCms is a commercial extension for OpenCms that offers Support for LDAP, Clustering, Replication and improved performance. Full information about OCEE is available on the Alkacon website.

The latest OCEE release version 2.1.3 is a maintenance update that fixes a number of issues that persisted in the last release.

The most important new features in OCEE 2 are:

Support for multi-staging scenarios with the OCEE Replicator: You can configure a "development" server that first pushes all generated content to a "staging" server e.g. for approval, and then afterwards to the "delivery" server. This is freely configurable, and there is no limit on the number of stages.Centralized configuration of servers with the OCEE Cluster: You can now edit the scheduled jobs, search index configuration and module parameters for all individual servers in the cluster from a common GUI in the workplace server.Support for OpenCms OUs in the LDAP Connector: It is now possible to connect each OpenCms OU with an individual path in the LDAP Server.Improved performance with the OCEE Accelerator: A much improved cache policy in the Accelerator now selectively flushes only certain cached items after a publish instead of just flushing everything.

This OCEE release has the following version numbers:

OCEE 2.1.3 for OpenCms 7.5 and 7.0 - OCEE 1.0.19 for OpenCms 6

Please see the OCEE release notes for a full descriptions about the new features and changes in this version.

Back to the news overview

FreeBSD on EC2 Available Now

Yesterday, Colin Percival, FreeBSD Security Officer, announced that FreeBSD is now available on Amazon EC2. What does EC2 availability mean to FreeBSD's future in the cloud? In an interview with Linux Pro Magazine, Percival said, "It's still pretty murky right now. This ‘availability’ is so far nowhere near the standard for stability which FreeBSD normally sets.” Percival says that he hopes the stability will improve. “It all depends on having people test it and find bugs," he says.

Percival says he doesn’t have any personal interest in other clouds. As a FreeBSD developer, however, he’s interested in working with other companies to help them make FreeBSD available on their systems, particularly if he can get paid to do the work.

In the announcement post, Percival noted that his biggest complaint about Amazon EC2 was the inability to run FreeBSD on it. "For me personally, I have a much more selfish motivation,” he says. “My online backup startup, Tarsnap, is built on top of Amazon Web Services, and the server code is running under Ubuntu. I have no specific objection to Ubuntu... but, well, it isn't FreeBSD," Percival adds.

When asked how many users started using FreeBSD on EC2 since the announcement was made, Percival said, “I have no idea. In hindsight, I should probably have set up this first test AMI to send me an email every time it was launched.” About 10 people have contacted Percival and stated they have launched instances, but he noted there are about 100 people on his "want to use FreeBSD on EC2 when it's available" mailing list.

There are several ways that users can get involved in the FreeBSD community, such as mailing lists, forums, and the FreeBSD on EC2 status page for users to follow. Beyond those resources, users can launch FreeBSD instances on EC2 and report any problems.

Version 1.0.2 of Alkacon OAMP DocCenter module available

Alkacon OAMP DocCenter Module 1.0.2 for OpenCms is now available from alkacon.com.

The OAMP DocCenter Module extends an OpenCms installation with the capability to easily create highly configurable download areas with directory listings. Based on the look and feel of your custom template, editors just have to upload documents to publish them online.

The latest OAMP DocCenter Module release version 1.0.2 comes with lots of new features and improvements:

Implements versioning of downloadable filesAllows free predefined sorting for selected categories or sub categoriesFolders show number of contained documents... and many more

Get the latest version of this add-on for OpenCms now!

All Alkacon OAMP modules are released as full Open Source under the GNU GPL version 3. The source code of the modules is freely available in the public CVS of cvs.opencms.org.

OpenCms 7.5.1 release notes

This is the release of OpenCms 7.5.1. With OpenCms 7.5.1, some additional features have been added to the core system. Moreover, a number of issues have been fixed, including some reported security problems that affected the OpenCms Workplace.

Added context menu entry "Publish scheduled" to publish files at a specified dateAdded context menu entry "Comment content" to view and change the default properties of all files in a folderAdded improved search dialog and delete resource option to all galleriesAdded selectable start galleries to user preferences and possibility to set start galleries in Workplace configurationAdded option to export the VFS into a folder structure instead of a .ZIP fileAdded option to hide "Advanced" button of property dialog depending on the current users groupsAdded support for servlet container Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1 and v3.0 (preview release)Added content tool "Property viewer" to view properties from resources in specified folderAdded content tool "Language node copier" to copy language nodes in XML contents in specified folderAdded content tool "Convert XML contents" to convert XML contents in specified folderAdded feature #1636: SMPT ports are now configurableAdded feature #1741: Out of the box support for JBOSS servlet containerImproved HTML widget button configuration and unstructured content button configuration optionsAdded option to set global default widget configurationsAdded option to limit full text search to certain resource types onlyAdded detection of email addresses in editor link dialogUpdated FCKeditor to version 2.6.5Updated Lucene to version 2.4.1Added fields query option to full text search by which you can search for different terms in several fieldsAdded backup re-indexing option to Lucene index generationAdded option to use the current site macro in the template one form moduleSwitched icons from ascending/descending order in listsFull text search in documents: exceptions are now catched while extracting the text from documentsImproved detection of the context-root path (support for GlassFish)Fixed issue #1708: User creation settings 'enabled' and 'selfManaged' were not savedFixed issue #1711: HtmlDecorator problem with html-entitiesFixed issue #1734: normalizePath will now remove leading double slashes of the pathFixed issue #1735: Resolved problems with CmsLinkManager and absolute internal linksFixed issue #1739: Deleted or moved project resources cannot be removed from projectFixed issue #1740: Synchronization of empty folders with real file systemFixed issue #1743: Cached users for groups are not invalidated when writing userFixed issue #1744: Concurrency issue of CmsImportExportManager resolvedFixed issue #1759: Fixed XSS security issues reported by Security Focus (Bugtraq ID 35979)Fixed issue #1775: Endless loop on project namesFixed issue #1779: Resolved problem with import of additional CSS stylesheet for template twoFixed issue with OU users being unable to work after OU resource has been renamedFixed issue with pointer targets stored in XML contents (instead of the URI to pointers) when selecting them in a link galleryFixed issue with transfer permissions of a deleted user to another userFixed issue with consumed exception messages for email sendingFixed issue with noAutoCloseTags attribute of tag only supporting DIV

We recommend everyone who uses OpenCms to update to the 7.5.1 release.

OpenCms 7.5.1  is fully backward compatible to 7.5.0 and all prior 7.0.x versions. Most templates and other OpenCms developed code from version 7 or 7.5 should work "out of the box" with version 7.5.1.

OpenCms 7.5 has been written and tested using Java 1.5 / 1.6. We have tested only with SUNs version of the JDK. However, OpenCms has no dependencies to sun.* packages so it should in theory run with all compliant JVMs.

We have tested this release on the Tomcat servlet engine. OpenCms works "out of the box" with Tomcat 5.5, which we recommend. Others have reported deploying OpenCms successfully on other servlet containers like JBoss, BEA, Websphere, Glassfish and Resin Professional. We appreciate any feedback regarding other servlet containers.

On the database side, we have tested with MySQL 4.0.x, MySQL 4.1, MySQL 5.x, Oracle 9.x and Oracle 10.x, as well as PostgreSQL 8.2.x and 7.4.x, MS SQL Server 2000 / 2003, DB2 9.1 and HSQLDB 1.8.0. The automatic update wizard for OpenCms 7 supports MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL.

In case you want to check out OpenCms from the CVS, please keep the following in mind: The CVS tag numbers for all OpenCms 7.5 final releases are "build_7_5_x", so the 7.5.1 release is tagged "build_7_5_1". Development of maintenance releases is currently done in CVS HEAD.

Contributions to the OpenCms core development are most welcome. Please contact the core development team on the opencms-dev mailing list in case you are interested in supporting the development of OpenCms.

Please use our Bugzilla to report bugs in this release: http://bugzilla.opencms.org/

Thank you for using OpenCms and have fun with OpenCms 7.5 :-)

OpenCms 7.5.2 available

Version 7.5.2 of OpenCms is now available for download.

OpenCms is one of the most popular Open Source Content Management Solutions. This new version was developed by Alkacon Software GmbH with the support of the international OpenCms developer community.

OpenCms 7.5.2 is a maintenance release that fixes a number of issues that persisted in the 7.5.1 version, including some OpenCms Workplace compatibility issues with newer browser versions.

Fixed issue #1542: Links to exported files containing anchors are not resolved correctlyFixed issue #1787: Error when browsing the next result pages in the OpenCms backend searchFixed issue #1800: Still not released resources are indexedFixed issue #1802: CmsShell does not work in Linux with Tomcat 6Fixed issue #1807: CmsImportVersion7 contains a counter error in INFO log levelFixed issue #1808: OpenCms.getLinkManager().getOnlineLink(CmsObject, link) does not workFixed issue #1809: Left site tree view is shown duplicated when creating a new folder in any siteFixed issue #1815: Aborted publish job goes on before resources are finally initialized when OpenCms restartsFixed issue #1817: Fail to load Download/HTML/Link/Table Gallery from HTMLWidget on Websphere 6.1Fixed issue #1819: FCKeditor does not work with newer Firefox versionsFixed issue with cached CmsResource lists are not cleared after publishing a projectFixed incorrect Lucene search result scoreFixed list search filter caching problem in OpenCms Administration viewFixed access to indirect group usersFixed double explorer action executionFixed issue with JSP repository not being purged automatically after module importAdded additional MIME typesUpdated EditArea syntax highlighting editor to version 0.8.2Updated Apache Commons Pool to version 1.5.4

Please check out the release notes for further details of the changes in this release.

"Direct Edit" allows editing of content directly from a web page.Structured contents can be defined using a simple XML schema.XML content Editor for structured content / pages generated automatically from an XML schema.Support for grouping of content in tabs in the XML content editor.Includes editor with syntax highlighting functionality for all text based files (e.g. XML, HTML, JSP)WYSIWYG editor available for unstructured pages.Easy to use "Online / Offline" workflow.All changes or new pages must be approved / published first before they become visible "Online".Our "Content Relationship Engine" (CRE) allows management of relations / links in the system.Full internal link management for all resources.If files (or folders) are moved, all links to these files are kept intact.Native support for WebDAV access to the OpenCms VFS.Integrated image processing / scaling and cropping.Image and other content is organized in galleries with advanced AJAX features.Gallery dialogs support grouping of content by category or based on folder.Integrated full text search for web pages, but also in PDF, MS Office documents etc.Offline search indexing for changes that are not published.Full featured internal user management that supports the concept of "Organizational Units" (OUs).It is possible to delegate management of users / groups in OUs to Sub-Administrators.User permissions based on a complete set of system "Roles".Extensions can be added through a full featured module system.A "time warp" feature in the Workplace allows users to view resources with date expired / date released settings.JSP integration allows standards based creation of dynamic functionality in templates, dynamic forms etc.Support for Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL Server, DB2, AS400 and HSQLDB databases included.Distribution includes a complete demo website "Wonderful World of Flowers".... and many more

OpenCms 7.5.2 is fully backward compatible to all prior 7 versions. We recommend everyone who uses an earlier version of OpenCms to update to the 7.5.2 release. OpenCms 7.5 is largely backward compatible with version 6. An easy to use update wizard for OpenCms Version 6 and prior 7 installations for MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL is available.

Independent research has shown OpenCms to be a market leading solution amongst Open Source CMS systems. The software has been in continuous development for the last 9 years and has an active community of Open Source developers.

More than 100 international IT companies have been registered as official OpenCms Solution Provider on the OpenCms website. A steadily growing list of reference sites also shows the increasing use of OpenCms.

OpenCms is an enterprise - ready web content management solution build in Java and XML from open source components. OpenCms can easily be deployed on almost any existing IT infrastructure and provides powerful features especially suited for medium and large enterprise internet or intranet applications. OpenCms is open source software distributed under the LGPL licence.

Alkacon Software GmbH is the company responsible for the development of OpenCms. Today OpenCms is a leading open source CMS solution in widespread use all over the world. Many businesses and organizations use OpenCms as a cost effective, professional alternative to expensive license products.

Alkacon Software GmbH offers its customers training, support and add-on products for OpenCms. This gives our customers a layer of security and convenience often required for mission critical OpenCms installations. Please see the Alkacon product overview for more details.

The team at Alkacon Software - The OpenCms Experts wants to thank everyone who has contributed to this release of OpenCms.

OpenCms 7.5.3 ready for download

Version 7.5.3 of OpenCms is now ready and available for download.

OpenCms is one of the most popular Open Source Content Management Solutions. This new version was developed by Alkacon Software GmbH with the support of the international OpenCms developer community.

With OpenCms 7.5.3, a number of issues that persisted in the 7.5.2 release have been fixed. Some new features have been added as well.

Fixed issue #1872: Anchor of URL being encoded incorrectlyFixed issue #1886: Error when displaying historic version after a resource has been movedFixed issue #1889: Keep browser based authentication text when rewriting the opencms-system.xmlFixed issue #1890: History version functionality also works for files with expired date nowFixed issue with broken dialog when trying to edit a group that is part of an organizational unitFixed issue with displaying HTML in the "Title" and "NavText" column of explorer viewNew workplace content tool to update the structure of XML contents without changing the modification dateThe workplace content tool "Change Property Values" now allows to use wildcards in the old and new valueRemoved validations for XML content element actions: add, remove, move up, move downImproved user driver, during user login only the last login date is written to databaseUpdated Apache Commons Email auf Version 1.2

Please check out the release notes for further details of the changes in this release.

"Direct Edit" allows editing of content directly from a web page.Structured contents can be defined using a simple XML schema.XML content Editor for structured content / pages generated automatically from an XML schema.Support for grouping of content in tabs in the XML content editor.Includes editor with syntax highlighting functionality for all text based files (e.g. XML, HTML, JSP)WYSIWYG editor available for unstructured pages.Easy to use "Online / Offline" workflow.All changes or new pages must be approved / published first before they become visible "Online".Our "Content Relationship Engine" (CRE) allows management of relations / links in the system.Full internal link management for all resources.If files (or folders) are moved, all links to these files are kept intact.Native support for WebDAV access to the OpenCms VFS.Integrated image processing / scaling and cropping.Image and other content is organized in galleries with advanced AJAX features.Gallery dialogs support grouping of content by category or based on folder.Integrated full text search for web pages, but also in PDF, MS Office documents etc.Offline search indexing for changes that are not published.Full featured internal user management that supports the concept of "Organizational Units" (OUs).It is possible to delegate management of users / groups in OUs to Sub-Administrators.User permissions based on a complete set of system "Roles".Extensions can be added through a full featured module system.A "time warp" feature in the Workplace allows users to view resources with date expired / date released settings.JSP integration allows standards based creation of dynamic functionality in templates, dynamic forms etc.Support for Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL Server, DB2, AS400 and HSQLDB databases included.Distribution includes a complete demo website "Wonderful World of Flowers".... and many more

OpenCms 7.5.3 is fully backward compatible to all prior 7 versions. We recommend everyone who uses an earlier version of OpenCms to update to the 7.5.3 release. OpenCms 7.5 is largely backward compatible with version 6. An easy to use update wizard for OpenCms Version 6 and prior 7 installations for MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL is available.

Notice for users of Alkacon OCEE: OpenCms version 7.5.3 requires Alkacon OCEE version 2.1.3 or later. In case you want to update your OpenCms installation to 7.5.3, please make sure you update Alkacon OCEE to 2.1.3 or later first!

Independent research has shown OpenCms to be a market leading solution amongst Open Source CMS systems. The software has been in continuous development for the last 9 years and has an active community of Open Source developers.

More than 100 international IT companies have been registered as official OpenCms Solution Provider on the OpenCms website. A steadily growing list of reference sites also shows the increasing use of OpenCms.

OpenCms is an enterprise - ready web content management solution build in Java and XML from open source components. OpenCms can easily be deployed on almost any existing IT infrastructure and provides powerful features especially suited for medium and large enterprise internet or intranet applications. OpenCms is open source software distributed under the LGPL licence.

Alkacon Software GmbH is the company responsible for the development of OpenCms. Today OpenCms is a leading open source CMS solution in widespread use all over the world. Many businesses and organizations use OpenCms as a cost effective, professional alternative to expensive license products.

Alkacon Software GmbH offers its customers training, support and add-on products for OpenCms. This gives our customers a layer of security and convenience often required for mission critical OpenCms installations. Please see the Alkacon product overview for more details.

The team at Alkacon Software - The OpenCms Experts wants to thank everyone who has contributed to this release of OpenCms.

OpenCms 7.5.2 release notes

This is the release of OpenCms 7.5.2. OpenCms 7.5.2 is a maintenance release that fixes a number of issues that persisted in the 7.5.1 version, including some OpenCms Workplace compatibility issues with newer browser versions.

Support for image cropping in image galleryNew galleries with advanced AJAX features available in structured content and free page editorGalleries dialog now also support grouping of elements by categorySupport for tabs in the XML content editorOffline search indexing without publishing in the Lucene based full text searchNew demo content "Wonderful World of Flowers"Fixed issue #1542: Links to exported files containing anchors are not resolved correctlyFixed issue #1782: Publish dialog in Project overview list hangsFixed issue #1787: Error when browsing the next result pages in the OpenCms backend searchFixed issue #1791: Template Two content external link check fails for two resourcesFixed issue #1800: Still not released resources are indexedFixed issue #1803: Template Two Demo Article links with target="_blank"Fixed issue #1802: CmsShell does not work in Linux with Tomcat 6Fixed issue #1807: CmsImportVersion7 contains a counter error in INFO log levelFixed issue #1808: OpenCms.getLinkManager().getOnlineLink(CmsObject, link) does not workFixed issue #1809: Left site tree view is shown duplicated when creating a new folder in any siteFixed issue #1815: Aborted publish job goes on before resources are finally initialized when OpenCms restartsFixed issue #1817: Fail to load Download/HTML/Link/Table Gallery from HTMLWidget on Websphere 6.1Fixed issue #1819: FCKeditor does not work with newer Firefox versionsFixed issue with cached CmsResource lists are not cleared after publishing a projectFixed issue that if an error occured while changing the user password in the preferences, it was not possible to close the error messageFixed incorrect Lucene search result scoreFixed list search filter caching problem in OpenCms Administration viewFixed 'go up' button in Account management viewFixed access to indirect group usersFixed double explorer action executionFixed not working resource type "xmlpage" in extended mode in WebDAVFixed issue with selected versions in the resource historyFixed issue that error occured when changing field structure in XSD from simple data type to optional nested contentFixed issue with wrong roles for indirect group users when updating OpenCms from version 6 to version 7Fixed issue with JSP repository not being purged automatically after module importAdded additional MIME typesUpdated EditArea syntax highlighting editor to version 0.8.2Updated Apache Commons Pool to version 1.5.4

We recommend everyone who uses OpenCms to update to the 7.5.2 release.

OpenCms 7.5.2 is fully backward compatible to all prior 7.5.x and 7.0.x versions. Templates and other OpenCms developed code from version 7.0 or 7.5 should work "out of the box" with version 7.5.2.

OpenCms 7.5 has been written and tested using Java 1.5 / 1.6. We have tested only with SUNs version of the JDK. However, OpenCms has no dependencies to sun.* packages so it should in theory run with all compliant JVMs.

We have tested this release on the Tomcat servlet engine. OpenCms works "out of the box" with Tomcat 6.0, which we recommend. Others have reported deploying OpenCms successfully on other servlet containers like JBoss, BEA, Websphere, Glassfish and Resin Professional. We appreciate any feedback regarding other servlet containers.

On the database side, we have tested with MySQL 4.0.x, MySQL 4.1, MySQL 5.x, Oracle 9.x and Oracle 10.x, as well as PostgreSQL 8.2.x and 7.4.x, MS SQL Server 2000 / 2003, DB2 9.1 and HSQLDB 1.8.0. The automatic update wizard for OpenCms 7 supports MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL.

In case you want to check out OpenCms from the CVS, please keep the following in mind: The CVS tag numbers for all OpenCms 7.5 final releases are "build_7_5_x", so the 7.5.2 release is tagged "build_7_5_2". Development of maintenance releases is currently done in CVS HEAD.

Contributions to the OpenCms core development are most welcome. Please contact the core development team on the opencms-dev mailing list in case you are interested in supporting the development of OpenCms.

Please use our Bugzilla to report bugs in this release: http://bugzilla.opencms.org/

Thank you for using OpenCms and have fun with OpenCms 7.5 :-)

OpenCms 7.5.3 release notes

This is the release of OpenCms 7.5.3. With OpenCms 7.5.3, a number of issues that persisted in the 7.5.2 release have been fixed. Some new features have been added as well.

Support for image cropping in image galleryNew galleries with advanced AJAX features available in structured content and free page editorGalleries dialog now also support grouping of elements by categorySupport for tabs in the XML content editorOffline search indexing without publishing in the Lucene based full text searchNew demo content "Wonderful World of Flowers"External Links (pointers) now support handling of request parametersNew workplace content tool to update the structure of XML contents without changing the modification dateNew XML content element type "CmsXmlPlainTextStringValue" that removes HTML code for the search resultsThe workplace content tool "Change Property Values" now allows to use wildcards in the old and new valueIn the workplace content tool "Change Property Values" if "Include all subfolders" is checked, also the properties of the folder itself are changedAdded new CmsShell command to import resources with a third parameter to control if permissions should be keptImproved localized text for undo changes dialogA new created search index in the workplace is now checked for invalid characters in the index nameRemoved validations for XML content element actions: add, remove, move up, move downRenamed context menu entry "Comment content" in "Edit metadata"It is now possible to "Undo changes" after changing the availability of a resourceImproved user driver, additional infos are now stored in the database in a more efficient wayImproved user driver, during user login only the last login date is written to databaseUpdated Apache Commons Email to version 1.2Fixed issue #1870: JS calendar generated by DateTimeWidget does not show up if lithuanian (lt) locale is selected in workplaceFixed issue #1872: Anchor of URL being encoded incorrectlyFixed issue #1886: Error when displaying historic version after a resource has been movedFixed issue #1889: Keep browser based authentication text when rewriting the opencms-system.xmlFixed issue #1890: History version functionality also works for files with expired date nowFixed issue #1891: Bug in Flex Cache: Cache-Directive "ports" works with list of ports like ports=(8080,8081)Fixed issue with broken dialog when trying to edit a group that is part of an organizational unitFixed issue with displaying HTML in the "Title" and "NavText" column of explorer viewFixed issue with the locale calculation in the publish scheduled procedureFixed issue with malformed encoding in workplace property files

We recommend everyone who uses OpenCms to update to the 7.5.3 release.

OpenCms 7.5.3 is fully backward compatible to all prior 7.5.x and 7.0.x versions. Templates and other OpenCms developed code from version 7.0 or 7.5 should work "out of the box" with version 7.5.3.

Notice for users of Alkacon OCEE: OpenCms version 7.5.3 requires Alkacon OCEE version 2.1.3 or later. In case you want to update your OpenCms installation to 7.5.3, please make sure you update Alkacon OCEE to 2.1.3 or later first!

OpenCms 7.5 has been written and tested using Java 1.5 / 1.6. We have tested only with SUNs version of the JDK. However, OpenCms has no dependencies to sun.* packages so it should in theory run with all compliant JVMs.

We have tested this release on the Tomcat servlet engine. OpenCms works "out of the box" with Tomcat 6.0, which we recommend. Others have reported deploying OpenCms successfully on other servlet containers like JBoss, BEA, Websphere, Glassfish and Resin Professional. We appreciate any feedback regarding other servlet containers.

On the database side, we have tested with MySQL 4.0.x, MySQL 4.1, MySQL 5.x, Oracle 9.x and Oracle 10.x, as well as PostgreSQL 8.2.x and 7.4.x, MS SQL Server 2000 / 2003, DB2 9.1 and HSQLDB 1.8.0. The automatic update wizard for OpenCms 7 supports MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL.

In case you want to check out OpenCms from the CVS, please keep the following in mind: The CVS tag numbers for all OpenCms 7.5 final releases are "build_7_5_x", so the 7.5.3 release is tagged "build_7_5_3". Development of maintenance releases is currently done in CVS HEAD.

Contributions to the OpenCms core development are most welcome. Please contact the core development team on the opencms-dev mailing list in case you are interested in supporting the development of OpenCms.

Please use our Bugzilla to report bugs in this release: http://bugzilla.opencms.org/

Thank you for using OpenCms and have fun with OpenCms 7.5 :-)

Update of Alkacon OCEE for OpenCms released

Alkacon OCEE for OpenCms is a commercial extension for OpenCms that offers Support for LDAP, Clustering, Replication and improved performance. Full information about OCEE is available on the Alkacon website.

The latest OCEE release version 2.1.2 is a maintenance update that fixes a number of issues that persisted in the last release.

The most important new features in OCEE 2 are:

Support for multi-staging scenarios with the OCEE Replicator: You can configure a "development" server that first pushes all generated content to a "staging" server e.g. for approval, and then afterwards to the "delivery" server. This is freely configurable, and there is no limit on the number of stages.Centralized configuration of servers with the OCEE Cluster: You can now edit the scheduled jobs, search index configuration and module parameters for all individual servers in the cluster from a common GUI in the workplace server.Support for OpenCms OUs in the LDAP Connector: It is now possible to connect each OpenCms OU with an individual path in the LDAP Server.Improved performance with the OCEE Accelerator: A much improved cache policy in the Accelerator now selectively flushes only certain cached items after a publish instead of just flushing everything.

This OCEE release has the following version numbers:

OCEE 2.1.2 for OpenCms 7.5 and 7.0 - OCEE 1.0.18 for OpenCms 6.x

Please see the OCEE release notes for a full descriptions about the new features and changes in this version.

OpenCms 7.5.1 released

Version 7.5.1 of OpenCms is now available for download.

OpenCms is one of the most popular Open Source Content Management Solutions. This new version was developed by Alkacon Software GmbH with the support of the international OpenCms developer community.

OpenCms 7.5.1 adds several new features to the core system. Moreover, a number of issues have been fixed, including some reported security problems that affected only the OpenCms Workplace.

Fixed issue #1759: XSS security issues reported by Security Focus (Bugtraq ID 35979)Added context menu entry "Publish scheduled" to publish files at a specified date.Added context menu entry "Comment content" to view and change the default properties of all files in a folder.Added improved search dialog and delete resource option to all galleries.Added selectable start galleries to user preferences and possibility to set start galleries in Workplace configuration.Added option to export the VFS into a folder structure instead of a .ZIP file.Added option to hide "Advanced" button of property dialog depending on the current users groups.OpenCms now works with servlet container Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1 and v3.0 (preview release).Added content tool "Property viewer" to view properties from resources in specified folder.Added content tool "Language node copier" to copy language nodes in XML contents in specified folder.Added content tool "Convert XML contents" to convert XML contents in specified folder.Added feature #1636: SMPT ports are now configurable.Added feature #1741: Out of the box support for JBOSS servlet container.Improved HTML widget button configuration and unstructured content button configuration options.Added option to set global default widget configurations.Added option to limit full text search to certain resource types only.Added detection of email addresses in editor link dialog.Updated FCKeditor to version 2.6.5.Updated Lucene to version 2.4.1.

Please check out the release notes for further details of the changes in this release.

"Direct Edit" allows editing of content directly from a web page.Structured contents can be defined using a simple XML schema.XML content Editor for structured content / pages generated automatically from an XML schema.Support for grouping of content in tabs in the XML content editor.Includes editor with syntax highlighting functionality for all text based files (e.g. XML, HTML, JSP)WYSIWYG editor available for unstructured pages.Easy to use "Online / Offline" workflow.All changes or new pages must be approved / published first before they become visible "Online".Our "Content Relationship Engine" (CRE) allows management of relations / links in the system.Full internal link management for all resources.If files (or folders) are moved, all links to these files are kept intact.Native support for WebDAV access to the OpenCms VFS.Integrated image processing / scaling and cropping.Image and other content is organized in galleries with advanced AJAX features.Gallery dialogs support grouping of content by category or based on folder.Integrated full text search for web pages, but also in PDF, MS Office documents etc.Offline search indexing for changes that are not published.Full featured internal user management that supports the concept of "Organizational Units" (OUs).It is possible to delegate management of users / groups in OUs to Sub-Administrators.User permissions based on a complete set of system "Roles".Extensions can be added through a full featured module system.A "time warp" feature in the Workplace allows users to view resources with date expired / date released settings.JSP integration allows standards based creation of dynamic functionality in templates, dynamic forms etc.Support for Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL Server, DB2, AS400 and HSQLDB databases included.Distribution includes a complete demo website "Wonderful World of Flowers".... and many more

OpenCms 7.5.1 is fully backward compatible to all prior 7 versions. We recommend everyone who uses an earlier version of OpenCms to update to the 7.5.1 release. OpenCms 7.5 is largely backward compatible with version 6. An easy to use update wizard for OpenCms Version 6 and prior 7 installations for MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL is available.

Independent research has shown OpenCms to be a market leading solution amongst Open Source CMS systems. The software has been in continuous development for the last 8 years and has an active community of Open Source developers.

More than 100 international IT companies have been registered as official OpenCms Solution Provider on the OpenCms website. A steadily growing list of reference sites also shows the increasing use of OpenCms.

OpenCms is an enterprise - ready web content management solution build in Java and XML from open source components. OpenCms can easily be deployed on almost any existing IT infrastructure and provides powerful features especially suited for medium and large enterprise internet or intranet applications. OpenCms is open source software distributed under the LGPL licence.

Alkacon Software GmbH is the company responsible for the development of OpenCms. Today OpenCms is a leading open source CMS solution in widespread use all over the world. Many businesses and organizations use OpenCms as a cost effective, professional alternative to expensive license products.

Alkacon Software GmbH offers its customers training, support and add-on products for OpenCms. This gives our customers a layer of security and convenience often required for mission critical OpenCms installations. Please see the Alkacon product overview for more details.

The team at Alkacon Software - The OpenCms Experts wants to thank everyone who has contributed to this release of OpenCms.

The Squiz Suite Released – The World's First Supported Open Source Web Experience Management Suite

Squiz today announced the release of the Squiz Suite, the world's first supported open source web experience management suite. The Suite expands on traditional content management tools to better assist organisations to create and manage engaging online experiences.

Managing an organisation's web presence is now about much more than simply publishing pages on a website. Marketing teams and web editors need to be able to optimise their websites for usability, conversions and SEO; integrate with a myriad of external systems and web services; create multi-lingual and device specific websites; and effectively engage with their users and clients.

John Paul Syriatowicz, Managing Director of Squiz commented, "We know the challenges our customers face over the coming years go well beyond managing web content. They need to engage prospects, customers and employees using increasingly sophisticated websites, intranets and online applications. The new functionality in Squiz Suite will provide our customers with a globally supported web experience management platform, enabling them to create, manage and optimise their web presence."

The Squiz Suite is comprised of the following four components:

Squiz Matrix - the latest release of the popular MySource Matrix enterprise content management system used by over 1,000 organisations globally. It delivers highly flexible and robust business integration and application development tools. Squiz CMS - a highly usable interface for editing and publishing content within Squiz Suite. It features true inline editing, context sensitive help and powerful collaboration features. Squiz Analytics - innovative and powerful tools to help optimise site content, set goals and test the results using fully integrated and simple to use A/B split testing. Squiz Analytics integrates with Google Analytics allowing you to leverage the functionality you already value. Squiz Search - utilises Funnelback search engine technology, developed by Australia’s CSIRO, to deliver high quality search results and contextual navigation.

Each element is available for free download and the entire Suite is underpinned by a global, 24/7 support framework and an automatic update service.

For more information, and to download the Squiz Suite, visit http://www.squizsuite.net/

Will customers demand open clouds

The old computing vision of client and server is being replaced by one of device and cloud.

(The picture is a greatly-reduced image from Smoothspan, which wrote about cloud keiretsu back in 2008.)

It is easy to tell if a device is open or closed. If you don’t know right away the media will tell you. The iPhone is closed. The Android is open. We can debate how open and how closed all day. That’s what journalists do.

But clouds? Right now the only really active business cloud is Amazon’s. You can make it pretty open. You can install Linux on it.

The idea of the cloud, however, was to make questions about open and closed irrelevant through virtualization. When it comes to the cloud, open includes the power to run closed.

IBM is big into clouds, more as a mainframe replacement than a service, and while its clouds grok open source, they still make a choice. They run Red Hat’s version of KVM virtualization. Dave Rosenberg says they will also support VMWare, but it’s clear that they align with Red Hat.

But is that all that matters? Matt Asay says whether your sync is open matters more than your cloud’s virtualization scheme. Cloud support for open sync systems like Funambol is what counts to him.

You start to see the problem. How can we demand an open cloud if we don’t know what open means? That’s why Microsoft can claim its cloud is open. Because it’s interoperable with open source. Microsoft has always defined open in terms of interoperability.

We have come a long way from last year’s debate over an Open Cloud Manifesto. We have come a long way in terms of the market. We have traveled less distance in terms of the debate.

Until open source advocates agree on what open means in terms of the cloud, clouds will evolve in ways that give lip service to open as an ideal, but still enforce vendor lock-in.

So what makes a cloud open to you?

If the desktop is dying, mobile sync is king

commentary

Google has proclaimed that the conventional PC will become "irrelevant" within the next three years, and it insists that it puts mobile first in development.

That's a bold statement indicating just how much Google is betting on the mobile Web. But it's also an indication of just how critical synchronization technology is going to become--especially syncing to an open Web.

Traditionally, sync has been that thing you do between your desktop and your one mobile device to ensure that calendars, address books, and even browser bookmarks are current between the two islands of computing. But in a mobile Web world 1 billion devices strong, as IDC predicts for 2010, it's certain that sync will no longer be constrained to one-to-one relationships, but rather will explode into a many-to-many syncfest.

And it will be all about mobile, all of the time.

Already, my family is converging our music libraries into a metalibrary from which we individually sync our preferred tunes on our various smartphones and laptops, while I sync bookmarks and address books across five different devices (three laptops, two phones/music players).

As perhaps implied by my example, we're not going to see the desktop die, as Google pontificates, but rather become more mobile (laptops become Netbooks become smartbooks become...?) and much more connected through sync technologies such as Funambol and Mozilla's wonderful Weave technology.

Mobile is additive, not destructive, to the traditional computing landscape, as even Google's search traffic experience shows.

Syncing is critical to making the mobile revolution work. And the nebulous cloud will become the anchor point for our mobile data, with the nodes (Android, iPhones, laptops, etc.) in a constant state of flux.

For this reason, open-source advocates and others who worry about freedom should give at least equal weight to open clouds, not fixating exclusively on open mobile devices. Hence, while I'm ecstatic to see open-source pioneer Tim Bray join Google's Android team, I'm unconvinced by his apparent argument that the device trumps all when it comes to freedom:

The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet's future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It's a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers.

The people who create the apps serve at the landlord's pleasure and fear his anger...The big thing about the Web isn't the technology; it's that it's the first-ever platform without a vendor...From that follows almost everything that matters, and it matters a lot now, to a huge number of people. It's the only kind of platform I want to help build.

An open node is a good start, but the problem is that the Web, as Bray envisions it, isn't truly a platform without a vendor. Not anymore. Google, Microsoft, and others are battling to own the Web and the data that resides within it.

For that reason, it's the cloud--that central repository for our data to which all the nodes sync--that matters, and if that cloud is closed, or simply hard to extract data from that cloud, it really doesn't matter how wide Google opens the access points. Google has been making strides toward opening the cloud, but it still has a long way to go. We all do.

It's this desire for open clouds and open syncing to those clouds that is blessing Funambol's open-source mobile sync business. It's the same desire that will likely create a host of new competitors in this fertile mobile-sync market.

Funambol v8.5 Syncs Mobile Pictures with the Open Cloud

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 3, 2010 -- Billions of mobile phones and devices can now automatically sync pictures with the Web thanks to Funambol, the open source mobile cloud company. The company today announced the general availability of Funambol v8.5, which adds syncing of pictures and rich media between mobile devices and the open cloud. Once synced, pictures and mobile data can be viewed online, synced with connected devices and shared with social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Funambol's software is currently used by mobile operators, service providers and internet companies to 'cloud sync' mobile data, including address books, calendars and email. v8.5 has been enhanced considerably to sync rich media and adds new clients for Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Mac OS, and automatic client software update. In contrast to other cloud sync solutions, Funambol's open source platform can sync any device, with any platform, on any network. For mobile operators, Funambol provides the means to re-establish customer relationships now being lost to device manufacturers and online platforms.

"Getting pictures off mobile phones has been tedious but that changes completely with Funambol v8.5", said Fabrizio Capobianco, Funambol CEO. "You don't even have to try - it can happen automatically and once your pictures are in the cloud, you are free to share them with friends and social networks, as well as access them via other devices. They are also backed up so that if the phone is lost, your pictures aren't. It's a perfect proposition for consumers and gives mobile operators and service providers an incredibly valuable photo capability which helps them monetize users and makes their services stickier."

Funambol v8.5 addresses key issues in the mobile industry. Mobile users increasingly expect to access rich media everywhere - on handsets, PCs and social sites. With so much valuable information on handsets, it's important to provide simple sync. The mobile cloud provides the answer to these issues and a means to share data with any internet-ready device. Additionally, the rapidly changing mobile industry is ideally suited to the innovation and pace of development in Funambol's open source model.

For providers of mobile services such as telecom operators, device manufacturers and internet companies, Funambol provides a white-label solution that syncs the broadest array of mobile data, rich media and devices. Anyone can try the software for free on the myFUNAMBOL demo portal at http://my.funambol.com for 90 days, or people can use it with Funambol's commercial customers. Funambol v8.5 open source can be downloaded at https://www.forge.funambol.org/download/#server.

Funambol is the open source mobile cloud company that provides sync and push messaging for billions of devices. Funambol open source has been downloaded over four million times by 50,000 developers in 200 countries, making it the #1 mobile open source project. The commercial version of Funambol has been deployed by top device manufacturers, mobile operators, internet companies, service providers and ISVs. Funambol is headquartered in Silicon Valley with R&D in Europe. For more information, please visit http://www.funambol.com. You can also follow Funambol on Twitter at http://twitter.com/funambol.

Matt Humphries or Katharine Simon at Babel PR
+44 (0)20 434 5550
funambol@babelpr.com

Funambol is a trademark of Funambol, Inc. Other company and product names may be the trademarks of their respective companies.

The Frontline: Mobile sync technology set for massive rise

Mobile cloud sync provider Funambol has been in London this week predicting big growth in the space, driven by the growth of the mobile internet and the need for enterprises to keep data up-to-date and secure across a growing number of connected devices.

Funambol, which has over three million users including large enterprises and mobile operators, said it expects to see a surge in the use of its service as the mobile internet continues to grow.

"Because we are an open source application we can link all manner of connected devices from mobile phones, desktop machines and connected devices such as cars to keep data synced and secure," said vice president of marketing Hal Steger.

"This allows users, including businesses, to keep information across multiple devices up-to-date to ensure it is correct and allows for a more efficient way of securing data in the cloud in case a phone is lost or damaged."

The system also allows IT managers to set up user groups for employees in the business to allow relevant employees to sync data among themselves to provide more efficient data sharing, such as contact details among a sales team working remotely.

Steger said that the firm was looking to improve enterprise security with the addition of a remote lock and wipe function to its Device Management tool to ensure that any devices that are lost cannot have their information stolen.

"Currently if a phone is lost we can wipe the data from the back end, then sync the phone so at least the data can't be accessed or used, but there is no way to lock the phone," he explained.

Adam Leach, principal analyst at Ovum, said he thought that mobile cloud syncing technology would grow, noting that many major mobile manufacturers include this technology on their devices.

"Windows, Google and Palm all have syncing technologies in their mobile offerings and it's certainly a technology that will grow in popularity as connected devices grow in use," he said.

Leach added that while mobile syncing does give IT managers the chance to manage their mobile workforces more effectively it is more likely that the real growth for the technology would come from consumers.

"It's easier to sell mobile syncing to IT managers as it provides a clear benefit for ensuring information is updated for staff but as smartphone sales increase, the technology will become an inherent part of the device proposition," he said.

New Funambol Cloud API Makes it Easy to Mashup Mobile and Online Data across Billions of Mobile Phones and Connected Devices

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 24, 2010 -- Funambol, the open source mobile cloud sync company, today announced the availability of the new Funambol Cloud API (CAPI). CAPI makes it simple for developers to create mobile cloud apps that leverage contacts, calendars and pictures across diverse devices and systems. It allows data and media to be mashed up for novel purposes, such as machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, for example, using contact data in a car or internet appliance, calendars with navigation systems, or pictures for a TV slideshow. Funambol is hosting a gallery of open source CAPI apps built by its global developer community to facilitate collaboration of new mobile cloud services.

"The mobile cloud makes it super easy for people to access their data and media, anytime, anywhere," said Fabrizio Capobianco, Funambol CEO. "The Funambol Cloud API allows developers to quickly create new types of apps and services that mashup mobile and online data across a broad variety of devices."

The Funambol mobile cloud server syncs data and media on billions of mobile phones and connected devices with social networks, email systems and PCs. Funambol CAPI makes it easy for developers to access synced data, such as contacts, calendars and pictures, using simple API calls from high-level languages, such as Java, AJAX and PHP. This allows rapid development of apps that mashup mobile and online data and media from diverse devices and systems, for a wide range of projects. For example, some apps and services that have been built using CAPI include:

Automatic sync of calendars (from Google, Outlook or mobile phones) to a wireless navigation device, enabling people to always access their calendar on a GPS device and for the device to tell people how to get somewhere without manually entering addressesSyncing pictures, which could be from mobile phones, to any internet-connected device, such as an e-picture frame, e-book reader, TV, or home internet appliance such as a ChumbySyncing contacts, which could be from Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail or mobile phones, with people's Facebook profile pictures, to a car, to eliminate manual entry or dialing of phone numbersProviding contacts and calendars, which could be from virtually any source, in iGoogle widgets

CAPI is designed to simplify the task of automatically accessing and sharing data such as contacts, calendars and photos from one system or device with another via the cloud. Funambol invites developers to use CAPI to create interesting apps and is hosting a gallery of open source CAPI apps built by Funambol community members, that can be modified for diverse purposes. For details about CAPI, visit its project page on the Funambol community forge at https://capi.forge.funambol.org/.

Sony Opens Android Developer Site

Sony becomes the first third-party manufacturer to open an Android development site based around the Google TV platform. The development site launch coincides with Sony's demonstration of its first line of Google TV-powered products. Sony is the first television manufacturer to incorporate Google's television search indexing and Internet browsing platform directly into their televisions with four HDTVs in 24-, 32-, 40-, and 46-inch models. Sony has also announced a Blu-Ray player with Google TV onboard that costs around US$ 400.

With Google TV running a modified version of Android 2.2, the platform features its own, specific apps such as a Netflix, CNBC, NBA Game Time, and an Amazon.com app for streaming media, but the platform is also compatible with smartphone apps, which can be downloaded from an Android user's phone onto the platform via the cloud. Google TV apps can also be purchased from the App Marketplace on a desktop and pushed directly to the platform.

There's nothing much to do on Sony's developer site at this time. Developers can register a developer account and then will receive updates when additional tools go live on the dev site. As Google TV gains popularity, expect more sites like Sony's to pop up in the future.

GNOME Project Receives Grants for Accessibility Work

The GNOME Project announced that Mozilla is supporting Gnome's accessibility work (a11y) with a US$ 10,000 grant, and the F123-Mais Diferenças partnership pitched in $5,000. The announcement says that the F123.org-Mais Diferenças partnership awarded the grant for "...Gnome's design and implementation of cursor and focus tracking on the eZoom module of Compiz fusion, and other accessibility improvements in GNOME to benefit persons with low vision and other disabilities and that Mozilla is helping to fund improvements in the Orca screen reader."

Open Node 1.0 (stable) Released

Open Node, an Estonia-based company utilizing RHEL-based CentOS 5 to build locally manageable OpenVZ and KVM solutions, is on track to release the web-based FuncMAN management console later in October.

Open Node 1.0 Installer screenshot

According to the announcement, Open Node 1.0 uses the following:

* Kernel - ovzkernel-2.6.18-194.17.1.el5.028stab070.7

* KVM - kvm-83-164.asys.17.x86_64.rpm

Users can download Open Node 1.0 or see the roadmap for OpenVZ /KVM and FuncMAN on the company website.

Drawing internationally renowned thought-leaders, contributors, and organizations in the Open Source community, ApacheCon offers insight into the culture and community that develops and shepherds industry-leading Open Source projects, including Apache HTTP Server – the world's most popular Web server software for more than 10 years.

Intel Helps Create Open Data Center Alliance

Intel's Cloud 2015 initiative includes three key elements — a “federated” cloud, an “automated” network, and PC and device-savvy “client-aware” clouds. The company says it will support these goals by creating software and building new capabilities into Intel Xeon processors. In an effort to meet these Cloud 2015 goals, Intel helped create the Open Data Center Alliance, which includes more than 70 businesses. Read Intel's announcement to find out more.