Content Management Suggestions

[Joshua Penix]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joel Vande Berg [mailto:vanguard at phobos.cc]
> Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 10:04 AM
> To: kplug-list at kernel-panic.org
> Subject: Content Management Suggestions
> 
> 
> I'm looking for some content management software suggestions. 
>  I searched 
> freshmeat yesterday and tried eZpublish, but the 
> documentation is pathetic at 
> best.  If anyone has suggestions or ideas for an easy to use 
> and install 
> software package I would appreciate it.

Hoooo boy do I have a list for you :^)  Sorry for the delay in reply, but
I've been procrastinating this writing, since I know it's gonna be long.

First of all, I've played with ezPublish and found it reasonably well
documented, at least for an OSS project :^)  There are PDF install and admin
guides, which can be found here: http://developer.ez.no/filemanager/list/1/

I will admit that documentation relating to customizing the system
(templates and whatnot) leaves a bit to be desired.  I found their message
boards helpful for that issue, however.

Continuing on, I see someone led you toward the ArsDigita Community System.
Don't know how far you've looked into it, but it's very likely WAAAAY
overkill for your situation.  It requires an Oracle Enterprise database, and
its scope reaches way beyond CMS-type duties as well.

ACSJ is the Java re-write of the original ACS system, which was done in Tcl
and runs on AOLserver/Oracle.  Though ACSJ is "buzzword compliant," you may
find that the older Tcl-based implementation (the v3.x) is actually more
useful and mature.  And there's a bonus - a branch of ACS called OpenACS,
which runs against PostgreSQL instead of Oracle.  http://www.openacs.org
Remember, however, that ACS is aimed at "communities" and may reach beyond
what you're looking for in terms of complexity.  An excellent example of an
ACS community is http://www.photo.net .

Moving on to other suggestions, it's easiest if I break them up into two
general categories:

1) The "Slashdot-type" system, which focuses around being a "portal" and
providing news items and community discussion thereof.  There are bunches of
Slash-type clones... if that's the type of system you're looking for, you
have a wealth of options.  But much of the software aimed at reproducing
Slash communities is relatively inflexible when you try to move beyond that
format of site.  So choose one of these carefully, as you may run into
growth issues:

- Slashcode: http://slashcode.com/ - the granddaddy of all... written in
Perl, this the actual code which runs /.
- PHPNuke: http://www.phpnuke.org/ - probably the most common PHP
implementation of Slash.  Unfortunately, the author likes to do all the work
himself, and he doesn't write the cleanest code.  It's been notorious for
security problems.  Many PHPNuke users are migrating to PostNuke, see below.
- PostNuke: http://www.postnuke.com/ - A big group of ex-PHPNuke developers
decided to quit fighting with the Nuke author and fork the code.  They did a
massive security audit and code cleanup of Nuke, and are now developing in
their own direction.
- MyPHPNuke: http://www.myphpnuke.com/ - Another fork of PHPNuke
- PHPWebSite: http://phpwebsite.appstate.edu/ - Similar to the Nukes, but
generally simpler.
- Xoops: http://xoops.sourceforge.net/ - Another conceptual branch and
rewrite of PHPNuke, with a focus on Object Oriented (the OO in Xoops) code.

- Mambo: http://www.mamboserver.com/ - Toes the line between "portal" type
system, and more general CMS.  It can be organized as a "community portal,"
but is also flexible enough to run a corporate homepage or similar.

Now that we've crossed the line away from Slash clones, let's look at:

2) Backend Content Management software.  They differ in approach, but
generally provide a dynamic page management