Articles - Page 257

What I Mean to Say: A Practitioner Perspective on AI, Semantics, and Content Evolution

msalvatierra

<a href="http://www.joomla.org">Joomla</a>! is perhaps one of the best known names in the world of Content Management Systems. Originally a fork of Mambo, Joomla has surpassed it's predecessor in popularity and size by a massive margin. Does Joomla! really deserve all the praise it's been getting? Let's examine it and find out in this Joomla 1.5 review.
First released in January of 2008, version 1.5 has since seen a number of point releases to cover security holes and issues.
With the new release a number of very anticipated changes have been put in place such as one central installation tool and improved theming.
Upon installation we are greeted with the following screen.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomla1.gif" alt="Joomla 1.5 Review" />
I proceed to the screen below:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomla2.gif" alt="Joomla 1.5 Review" />
This is an excellent preinstall check that quickly gives you a breakdown of problem areas and things that need to be resolved. For most people, if you are on a shared host and not a VPS .. if you have anything RED, you may need to contact your provider before proceeding.
After accepting the license agreement on the next screen, we are greeted with:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomla3.gif" alt="Joomla 1.5 Review" />
Enter your database details (for those first timers who've never had to do this before, Joomla has gone to good lengths to make sure they explain each field well). Once this is done, we proceed:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomla4.gif" alt="Joomla 1.5 Review" />
This is an option I quite like. The ability to add FTP configuration is a sweet function. This allows you to enter your ftp details to your site and let Joomla correct any permissions issues that it encounters without bugging you. In my books, this is immediately filled in every time I install it. Some people will want more direct control though, and for you, you can safely ignore this screen entirely.
Enter your site name, details and choose whether you want sample data installed.
CAVEAT: If you don't install the sample data, you will literally get a bare bones website with zero content and it'll look horrible right off the bat.. so make sure you know what you are doing.
If you want a populated site with content so you can see how it would look when populated.. click install sample data. Otherwise, click next. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomla7.gif" alt="Joomla 1.5 Review" /> Here you see the default site with Sample Data installed. Joomla has one of the better default themes and it shows quite nicely. Let's check out the administration interface:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomla8.gif" alt="Joomla 1.5 Review" />
Joomla has a nice interface with dropdowns. One of the things I found a bit overwhelming was the number of places content can hide. I literally spent 15 minutes trying to find one article that as buried in a bizarre place not reminiscent of content.
Joomla does a good job of making everything available. There are tons of options and it'll take a few to get used to maneuvering within the admin panel, but once you get used to it.. it functions quite nicely. What I did not like was the breakdown of sections, categories and content. I found I had a hard time understanding which was which and where my article would end up. I also couldn't figure out why I had to have both a category and a section (I hate being forced to do things..)
Once nice new inclusion in 1.5 was the universal installer. Instead of trying to discern what is a mambot, module, component or theme.. you just install the zip from one box in the CMS and it figures it out for you.
Joomla, like Drupal has a very large community, a large number of modules and an amazing amount of beautiful themes available from either premium sources or free.
In this Joomla 1.5 review, we've given it the ratings below:
Community 9/10 (The forums are active, but I found from a few posts I made that it takes a while to get a reply)
Expandability 8/10 (There are modules, but you are still limited with the way views, content and such can be presented as well as there are quite a few essential modules which required payment) Themability 10/10 (Probably the best CMS when it comes to themes. There are thousands of beautiful ones available from a myriad of sources.) Useability 7/10 (Content sections can get overwhelming and using third party addons can get messy as I found quite a few that were not stable or had poor support themselves)
<h2>Overall Score: 8/10</h2>

Joomla 1.5 Review - A Look at the Popular Open Source CMS

mike-johnston

Published by Kevin Papst, Bigace is a popular CMS that has a strong commitment from Kevin and offers a ton of options. Let's take a look at it in this Bigace Review.
First, make sure you meet the <a href="http://www.bigace.de/requirements.html" target="_blank">requirements</a>. Once that's out of the way, download the file from their website and unzip the contents. You will have 3 files. Upload all 3 to the root of your domain (web host) ie: public_html directory (typically.)
Right off the bat I want to say that BigACE deserve kudos for the way they've chosen to distribute this cms. It's nice that they only require you to upload 3 files and the installer manages the extraction for you. This is a good time saver.
Unfortunately, for me.. It did not work for some reason so I had to unzip from an SSH session. Once getting past this hurdle, i began the install by visiting my domain and clicking on the install.php file. I think they need to work on the initial presentation. It would be best if the system auto started the install instead of expecting the user to. This could, however, be a host specific issue so I won't promise you'll experience the same issues I did.
If you did not extract the file manually like I did, you will get this screen:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bigace1.gif" alt="Bigace Content Management System" />
clicking install will lead you to the next screen. If it does not redirect properly for you and you get a page not found error… that means that you need to either a) ssh to your host and extract the file “bigace_install2.4.zip” or do so via your cpanel file manager.
If all worked well, you would get this screen:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bigace2.gif" alt="Bigace Content Management System" />
You can then click on Start Installation.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bigace3.gif" alt="Bigace Content Management System" />
If anything red shows up above.. that means you need to either correct some permissions issues or contact your host and make the necessary changes to the php.ini file or what have you. If all is green.. you can then proceed by clicking next.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bigace4.gif" alt="Bigace Content Management System" />
Enter in your information. I'd like to point out that one thing I really appreciated about bigace was the popup windows for tooltips that they have (as seen above). This is a great way of giving quick tips and ensuring the user understands what is being asked of them. I love the way they've laid it out and I also love the option to not show again for the experienced user. Good work Bigace!
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bigace5.gif" alt="Bigace Content Management System" />
Obviously if you see the screen above, you did something right ?
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bigace6.gif" alt="Bigace Content Management System" />
You will then get the screen above which will allow you to customize some more settings. A couple of quick comments. First, I know english is not Kevin's primary language, so there are a few grammatical errors which need to get corrected (ie: email address.. although not bad for a non english speaker Kevin!). Secondly, I think Community Domain needs to be reworded to something a bit more clear like URL or DOMAIN NAME.
Once you've got these figured out you will get a success message and then you will end up at your default site:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bigace7_0.gif" alt="Bigace Content Management System" />
A fairly nice starter theme with good explanation as to what to do next. Click on login, use the administrator username and password you chose on the screens above and you will notice some new choices on the menu, portlet administration and administration. It took me a few to figure out what Portlet Administration did, and for now, until you read the documentation, I would recommend staying away from there.. (to be honest I think it needs some of Kevin's fancy tooltips to rid me of my confusion when trying to figure out it's purpose). Click on administration for now and you'll get the following control panel:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bigace8.gif" alt="Bigace Content Management System" />
Now, keep in mind that this system is not for the feint of heart. Bigace is incredibly configurable. I was blown away by the sheer amount of options in this control panel. So many in fact that I was quickly starting to feel overwhelmed and frustrated. Now, this could be because
I use so many CMS systems that I'm use to simplicity.. but there's something to be said for the advanced panel as well. Kevin's done a great job here.. but I would definitely not recommend this to someone who is not familiar with coding, development or web design. As for modules,they have incorporated them into this page so that you can view the available ones and click download to be taken to the download page. This is a nice touch and brings new meaning to the term control panel.. it is what it should be. Complete.
Overall, it's a great CMS, not for beginners though. Themes need to be improved and more need to become available. There needs to be some translation changes made to make things more clear to native english speakers and the control panel needs to be simplified in order to appeal to a broader audience.
Overall, my ratings are:
Community 8/10 (The forums seemed quite active and Kevin is quick to respond to emails)
Expandability 6/10 (Needs more modules to compete with larger systems) Themability 6/10 (Definitely needs more themes in order to be more appealing to broader audience) Useability 6/10 (Tough for beginners, Recommended for advanced users only)
<h2>Overall Score: 7/10</h2>

Bigace Review

Geeklog is somewhat of a combination between blog and cms and more or less would fall under the category of a news publishing platform in my opinion. Let's examine Geeklogs' latest edition in this Geeklog Review and see what kind of changes have been made to make it more simplified.
Geeklog was originally created to run the Securitygeeks and Newsgeeks websites but was released into the wonderful world of opensource under the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html" target="_blank">GPL license</a>.
Geeklog has been around for quite some time, while it used to be notoriously difficult to install.. this new release promises some changes to make it better.
To kick off the install, you need to upload the public_html folder found in the geeklog archive that you download from their website. You then navigate to <a href="http://yourdomain.com/admin/install/index.html">http://yourdomain.com/admin/install/index.html</a> to begin the install process.
You should be greeted with a screen such as the one below:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/geeklog11.png" alt="Geeklog Review" />
Once you choose your path (choose it wisely!) you will get the following screen to fill out with your configuration info:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/geeklog2.png" alt="Geeklog Review" />
after filling out this you will get this screen identifying that you are done! Wow. That was fast!
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/geeklog3.png" alt="Geeklog Review" />
Talk about a quick install. Let's check out what we end up with for a system..
Once you login you are greeted with the geeklog control center. It's very basic and you have to keep in mind that the sole purpose of this software is a blog. Personally, I think it could use some work.. especially if they want to compare with some of the larger more refined systems out there.
<img style="width:597px;height:135px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/geeklog4.png" alt="Geeklog Review" />
The initial site is quite basic. Changing themes is far too difficult and involves editing the config files directly. There really aren't a lot of options in the control panel to make life easier for the end user.
Overall, this is just a quick review.. There's not much to say about geeklog. For the people who use it, it works well.. personally, it's not for me. I will say that it's much further ahead than it was now that it is easier to install.. but it's definitely not on par with where it should be to compete. Let's take a look at the ratings (keep in mind I did this review fairly quickly due to the lack of options geeklog has, there wasn't much to review).
Overall, my ratings are:
Community 7/10 (Geeklog has a great community, I'll give them that)
Expandability 5/10 (Needs more modules to compete with larger systems)
Themability 6/10 (Definitely needs more themes in order to be more appealing to broader audience)
Useability 6/10 (Tough for beginners, Recommended for advanced users only)
<h2>Overall Score: 6/10</h2>

Geeklog Review - A look at the Open Source CMS, Geeklog

Choosing a CMS can be an arduous and lengthy task. How do you choose from a list of several hundred (or potentially more) software packages to find the one that best suits your needs? We will discuss the best steps to take in order to help you make an educated decision.
Step 1. Determine the purpose of the CMS and what you hope to gain from it.
Not all CMS platforms are the same, there are some that are geared towards publishers, some are geared towards personal sites and others are corporate focused. Before you can make a good decision you need to know what you want it for. Do you plan to use the CMS for blogging but with some added functionality? Or would you prefer to have something that you can publish news about a topic on? Alternatively, you can also use a CMS to build a social network or for a corporate intranet. They have a lot of uses and step 1 is to narrow down what yours will be.
Step 2. Determine what functionality you require from the CMS.
Some CMS platforms have limited plugins and can only be extended to a certain extent, while others have huge number of plugins but steeper learning curves. You need to think about what kind of functionality you want on your CMS.
To help you decide, here’s a list of typical features of some of the more mainstream CMS platforms:
Tag Clouds – allows you to have a batch of words a user can click on to search your site. See <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_cloud" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a> for an example.
Forums – This is a common one. Ensure the CMS you are considering has this functionality if you require it. There are alot of different ways these can be added. They can either be built into the CMS, attached to the CMS via a plugin or completely separate. Make sure you investigate which method you prefer as this can be a large frustration to find out you can’t add one after the fact.
Polls – Do you want to be able to post polls that allow your users to vote on specific issues. If so, you’ll need this function.
Ratings – If you want to be able to rate your content, then you’ll need to ensure the CMS you are looking at has some method of doing so, either with a plugin or a tag or snippet.
Captcha – This is a challenge response system that is designed to prevent spam from getting into your comments or any other area that allows user input.
Wysiwyg Editor – This one gets most people. This stands for What You See Is What You Get. Essentially this means that the CMS has the ability to allow you to enter text or pictures in a word processor kind of interface (similar to microsoft word or openoffice).
Gallery – The ability to add photos, video, etc to your site.
Step 3. Will the CMS be compatible with your host?
Depending on the host you are using, you will need to know what they support. There are PHP based CMS platforms and there are Java, C#, Ruby Rails and other CMS. You also will need to know which database type your host supports, whether it be MYSQL, Oracle, etc. Don’t forget to compare version numbers as well. For instance, a PHP5 based CMS will not necessarily work on a PHP4 host.
Step 4. How themable is the CMS in question?
Depending on your skill level, you may want to find a CMS that is easy to theme, unless of course you are a designer. Check google for “drupal themes” or “joomla themes” for example if you are considering these two and ensure that you can find something you can make work for your needs.
Step 5. (Getting tired yet?) How active is the CMS' Community?
This one is important. Ensure that the CMS you are choosing has an active user community and/or decent support. Alot of opensource CMS platforms have forums and the easiest way to find out whether they are active or not is to see how many new posts there have been recently and whether they have had helpful replies. Don’t always expect support from the CMS developers, most of the time they are far too busy or just simply not available as lots of them do the development for free.
This is just a start, we could write for days.. and perhaps we will at a later date.
Thoughts? Share them below.

5 Tips to help you choose a CMS

It can be a difficult decision to switch from some of the web based solutions that are offered by major industry players such as blogger et al. However, there is a major advantage to running your own blog software.. customization.
No hosted solution can offer you the flexibility of simply getting your own cheap (or free) web host and creating your own blog.
Some of the major players in this industry are: WordPress, B2Evolution and ExpressionEngine but there are plenty of other lesser known but just as solid solutions available as well. Browse our list here to see the full choice (there are likely more, we simply haven't found them yet.. )
Let's run over some of the main features most common when people are looking for a blog solution.
<ol>
<li>SEO: If you aren't familiar with this term yet, you will be. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and basically means that the software offers a way to optimize the way URLs, Content and Links are viewed in order to give you the best possible exposure when being spidered by a search engine web crawler. For a full explanation of what SEO is, there is an excellent article here: <a href="http://www.seomoz.org/article/bg1">http://www.seomoz.org/article/bg1</a>.</li>
<li>WYSIWYG EDITOR: Wysiwyg stands for ‘What You See is What You Get' and basically means that as you are typing your article or blog post, you are able to format and use the same type of options you would have available in your favourite word processor.. and that what you see as you type, is how the text will look once published. There are several commonly used WYSIWYG editors used by most blog platforms. The top two are TinyMCE and FCKEditor.</li>
<li>IMAGE Handling: By default, most wysiwyg editors only offer you the ability to add images via url and not to upload directly from your computer (which is a pain imho). One of the things you need to be conscious of is whether the blog platform you are choosing offers image uploads or whether it's going to be more difficult to add an image to a post.</li>
<li>THEMES: Not everyone is a designer, I will be the first to admit that without a base theme to start from, I have the imagination of a piece of granite… so for myself and most users, it's important that the Blog software is either a) easy to theme or b) offers a good selection of starter themes to choose from.</li>
<li>EXPANDABILITY: Depending on what you want to do with your blog, you will likely want the option to take advantage of some of the services offered on the web for bloggers to share their posts with the world and/or to monetize the blog. In order to be able to do this, you need to be able to either code well in HTML/PHP or be able to choose a platform that has addon modules to help you do this quickly and easily.</li>
</ol>
Now that we've covered the basics (and I'm sure there is more.. this is just designed to be a starting point)… we will now look at some of the major CMS platforms available and what they have to offer.
THE PLAYERS
<ol>
<li><a href="http://wordpress.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WordPress</a> – Designed initially as a simple blog platform, this software has exploded into somewhat of a cult classic in the world of blog software. WordPress offers more themes, modules, options and expandability than any other blog platform released to date. The best part? It's still extremely easy to use and very very simple to install. WordPress meets all of the above and more but it's not for everyone. Some may simply not find the interface appealing and others may simply want to try something different.</li>
<li><a href="http://expressionengine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ExpressionEngine</a> – Another very good cms solution with a massive list of features. It doesn't match WordPress as far as available themes and modules but it has alot of the key options out of the box without the need to installing anything additionally.</li>
<li><a href="http://movabletype.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MovableType</a> – MovableType is a strong competitor of WordPress and only recently went Opensource when it became apparent that WordPress was succeeding quite well by going this route. MovableType main downfall in my eyes is it's difficulty to install. It does, however, have very good support, nice themes and a good selection of modules.</li>
<li><a href="http://b2evolution.net" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">B2Evolution</a> – One of the few that offers out of the box ability to run multiple blogs from a single installation. Updated frequently and with a fair amount of themes and modules, B2Evolution is a strong up and coming blog platform.</li>
</ol>
There are plenty of other platforms out there as well, I couldn't possibly cover them all in one article.
You'll want to explore the choices available and find out which one suits what you need. The only way to truly do so is to try them out. Most of the sites offer demos which you can try. You will also find future reviews here on this site as well.

5 Tips to help you Choose your Blog Software

One of the most important things that people consider when looking at content management systems (CMS) is their viability in the SEO market. In fact, it's becoming so important that people are sometimes afraid to choose a CMS on the basis that it may not be optimized enough for their needs. To help fend off the confusion, we've put together a list of what we feel are the best SEO Friendly CMS on the market today. This list is entirely focused on open source systems and does not focus on commercial products.
<h3>MODx</h3>
MODx is arguably one of the best SEO focused CMS out there. What makes it different is that you do not need to make theme alterations to make a site perform well, nor do you require plugins. It's summed up best by the MODx team and holds true:
<blockquote>
MODX allows you to control 100% of what is output with virtually no effort. Unlike other systems that require learning complex theming engines, in MODX you work with HTML and as many custom variables for the site you need. It takes minutes to build a site that performs amazingly well in Search Engines and because site builders are in total control and can change the output at any time, making tweaks is just a few clicks away.
</blockquote>
MODx continues to get better and better with each new version that's released and it's no surprise it's gaining so much popularity. There is definitely a bit of a learning curve to get started but it's a great system all around.
We recently reviewed it (<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/modx-review/">MODx Review</a>) for those who want a quick look at this powerful CMS.
Concrete5
Concrete5 is a relative newcomer to the CMS space but has become increasingly popular based on it's ease of use and functionality. Concrete5 sites perform quite well in the search engines and pages can be edited to include all of the necessary metadata by default. Couple this with nice clean URLs and caching and you've got yourself a good setup for a successful site.
Check out our <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/concrete5-review/">Concrete5 review</a> for more info on this great system.
Joomla
In previous versions of Joomla (1.5 and lower) I would have excluded them completely but since 1.6 has come out, they have turned things around and introduced a ton of SEO improvements. Search engine friendly URLs, custom meta data per page (section, article, etc) have made Joomla a force to be reckoned with. It also goes without saying that it must perform well otherwise their main site wouldn't have a page rank of 10/10 would it?
Check out our recent <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/joomla-review/">Joomla Review</a> for more information on this popular CMS.
WordPress
There is an incredible number of plugins that can be used to extend WordPress with regards to SEO. It's only fourth on the list because the other systems above it include these functions natively and do not require plugins. With the right selection of plugins and proper permalinks selected, WordPress is a true powerhouse when it comes to SEO.
Website: <a href="http://www.wordpress.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WordPress</a>
Drupal
Drupal, like WordPress, relies heavily on plugins (known as modules in this instance) to enable SEO functionality at its fullest. Drupal sites typically perform quite well by default but with the addition of the right modules, it too becomes a powerhouse.
Read our <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/drupal-review/">Drupal Review</a> to learn more.
Do you agree? Disagree? Let us know your favorites and experiences in the comments below. We updated this article on 4/1/2011 as it had become rather outdated so please, do share your thoughts.

The Top 10 Best SEO Friendly CMS

Kontent.ai - Agentic CMS

Meet the world's first Agentic CMS

#ffffff

Today we are going to present our list of the top 5 content management systems for dummies. The intent is to provide options that may be suitable for people with little to no experience with web development.
Without delay, let us present… Top 5 CMS Choices for the Complete Beginner.
#1 – <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Concrete5</a>
Concrete5 is an incredible system. It's refreshingly simple and easy to use yet powerful. What we liked the most was the ability to get straight to the “meat” of editing without ever having to look at a line of code. The C5 team doesn't just think outside the box, they think outside the constraints of what is possible and have come up with an amazing CMS. We can't wait to see what happens when people realize the potential this CMS has.
#2 – <a href="http://www.jaws-project.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jaws</a>
Have you heard of Jaws? Expect this little CMS to bite a good chunk out of the easy to use side of the industry. Jaws is a very interesting Ajaxified CMS that offers an immensely simple user interface with easy to use gadgets that quite simply rocks. What's also appealing about Jaws is that it's just fun to use.. something we don't see very often.
#3 –<a href="http://start.websitebaker2.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Website Baker</a>
You want something easy to use but with some horsepower under the hood, website baker is bringing it. With development of version 3 underway at this writing, we can't wait to see what they come up with as our understanding is that it's a complete rewrite from scratch.. a new recipe so to speak. In the meantime though, version 2 remains stalwart as one heck of a great choice for new users everywhere.
#4 – <a href="http://wordpress.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WordPress</a>
You can't write a list like this and exclude WordPress. Not only is it one of the most popular blog turned content management systems in the world today, it's also one of the easiest to use. Haven't tried it? You should.. it's powerful and well backed. With an unrivaled community, amazing plugins and tons of templates.. you can't go wrong with WordPress.
#5 – <a href="http://www.getpixie.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pixie</a>
A new name in the world of content management systems, we recently introduced you to this svelt little CMS in October. Not only is it user friendly and fun to use, the interface is attractive and while new, it looks like it has tons of potential.
We're sure there are plenty of other CMS options we haven't covered in this article, so why not share? We'd love to hear what YOU think is the best choice for new users.
We're sure there are plenty of other CMS options we haven't covered in this article, so why not share? We'd love to hear what YOU think is the best choice for new users.