Content management systems were developed to make publishing content on a website easy through streamlined automation. However, as content management systems become more complicated, users are realizing that these systems are capable of more than just posting web content. In an effort to cater to customer needs, content programs are changing in new ways thus creating new trends.

The Four Developing Trends

There are four developing trends in the content management system industry that are furthering along software advances. These include:

• Merge of Themes with Extensions
• Interoperability
• RDFa
• Market Fracturing

Merge of Themes with Extensions

Although the merge of themes with extensions has been slowing developing for many years, the industry is at the point where the combination makes applications run much more smoothly. Design is melting with functionality resulting in there being less of a chance of a content management system becoming too disjointed during development and in the eyes of the end-user.

Interoperability

As cloud-based computing and semantic architectures become more widely used, interoperability is becoming more feasible. Users demand that websites interact and are compatible with one another. Internet users want to be able to log in with accounts created on other sites and thus access data from other sites within a specific web page. This creates an actual web of content versus a series of tunnels.

RDFa

Another trend is the creation of programs that automate exactly how data is being structured. Drupal recently launched RDFa into their primary source code so any site running Drupal 7 will be able to take advantage of the flexibility of the new code. Other content management systems are create extensions that automate data structuring. More businesses will take advantage of semantic crawlers and easier organization.

Market Fracturing

Finally, as themes and extensions become one, talented web designers will begin building their own content management systems. Designers will need to be knowledgeable in design and function. Therefore, once designers realize the amount of potential behind the combination of cloud and semantic architectures, the market will become fractured.

The noticeable trend amongst content management systems is the merging of all aspects to truly create a world wide web. Improving code and automating specific functions will certainly further develop this trend in future platforms. Content management systems are continuously developing projects that help to expand the Internet while further connecting its users to one another.

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3. Using Plugins with Content Management Systems

Original: Trends in Content Management Systems

Accomplishing the goals of online businesses is becoming easier each day due to content management system software like Drupal which is designed and written utilizing PHP programming. Content management systems are typically easy to navigate, interactive and offer a huge support community since it is open-source. These advantages are consistent with the Drupal system which offers so much more.

Drupal is one of the most popular content management systems because it is a powerful, efficient, cost-effective, scalable solution to assist with the management and growth of an Internet presence. There are currently thousands or developers working tirelessly to release the newest and greatest add-on to Drupal. With such a large following, those that utilize Drupal are never left without support and all future upgrades to the software are free.

Many offshore web development services understand the value of affordability and customization with regards to web development; two areas corporations fail to recognize. This is the primary reason why Drupal development is a cost-effective solution for those that utilize its wonderful functions. Drupal developers and programmers are now assisting offshore clients with best practices and providing the best system for their needs.

There are a number of features that Drupal provides to assist businesses with performing efficiently. Professional Drupal developers are experienced with creating the current features required for businesses in various industries and helping to fulfill their future goals and objectives. Some of the most common functions of Drupal that will assist with future development include:

• Templating
• Polls
• Threaded comments
• Version controls
• Friendly URL’s
• Modules
• Online help
• Personalization
• Open source model
• Collaborative book
• Search
• Role-based permission system

One of the most attractive aspects of the Drupal content management system is the ability to organize your content utilizing menus, categories and a variety of views. This indicates that multiple levels of menus are possible as well as a sub navigation menu which is available from the Primary menu system. Additionally, using the “Views” module, users will be able to display a list of all content on the website.

Although WordPress is the largest content management system to date, Drupal is not far behind. The software continues to be upgraded with new and innovative features which is resulting a higher usage rate for personal and business websites. With a continuously growing community and addition of innovative functions, Drupal may someday surpass WordPress to become the new leading content management system.

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3. Joomla vs. Drupal

Original: The Future of Drupal Development

Website management is a difficult task for people who lack technical knowledge. Content Management Systems are lifelong partners for website managers as they enable you to manage your website without vast technical knowledge.

For instance, for an online store, adding or removing products is essential with changes in the inventory. A CMS will allow you to make the product inaccessible till the time the stock is replenished.

Features:

Integration – It is important for a CMS to be dynamic. API’s and Ajax are being incorporated into CMS to make it dynamic and active.

Content Addition – A good CMS allow pasting content from text applications and adding media files to the website. The fewer the clicks required, the better the CMS.

Communication – A good CMS integrates VOIP systems and online screen sharing to help improve your B2C communication.

Software Updates – Regular updates and patches need to be incorporated into the CMS so as to ensure safety by preventing bugs.

External Support – With CMS you can eliminate the need to hire web developers as you can perform maintenance on your own and save money.

After having a look at the features, let’s discuss the most popular CMS available.

Joomla – Joomla is open source CMS which provides users the flexibility to create any type of website. Joomla enables users to add media files by arranging the MIME type controls and make alterations to the look of the website via free or paid themes. Joomla also supports multiple languages so as to make the website accessible from all parts of the world.

WordPress – WordPress is operated as open source software and is common among bloggers. It is not dynamic like Joomla, yet, is simple to use for an amateur. WordPress enables users to add plugins and widgets for specific purposes.

WordPress supports various users enabling website managers to create account privileges. WordPress is also known for its rich features such as GUI which is combined with What You See What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor.

Drupal – Drupal is also free and enables users to build dynamic websites without technical knowledge. Drupal has an architecture arranged in various modules which might be turned on or off. It has a strong taxonomy system making complex websites’ management easy.

Drupal requires large MySQL database space and hence might not run on some servers. However, it comes with free and paid themes to tailor according to the website but requires Drupal specialists as it is complicated and lacks a parent site for free support.

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Original: Content Management System for Small and Medium Businesses

In 2011, many unemployed individuals are looking to open-source content management system development as a source for employment. The information technology industry is slowly recuperating from the global economic recession. Unfortunately, many companies are hesitant to invest in new projects, technology and staff. However, on the Internet, there are many opportunities to develop and implement content management systems like Joomla, WordPress and Drupal.

Open source content management systems typically have the advantage of being user-friendly. However, to create that advantage, programmers must have a highly skilled technical resource. Industry professionals have seen a 40 percent increase in demand for open source content management system work like Drupal. The good news for those with Drupal technical training is the demand is there but the supply is lacking.

There are multiple roles to implementing a content management system platform which include:

• Programmer
• Front end designers/themers
• System administrators
• Site builders

Programmers create the code that powers content management systems. Most use programming languages like Ruby, Java and PHP to create components, plug-ins and modules for the content platform. Front end designers and themers center their efforts on the aesthetic features of the site. They use tools like CSS, JavaScript and HTML to improve the look and feel of the platform.

System administrators put their effort into infrastructure and platform maintenance. Typical administrators have web server skills and knowledge of the platform. Finally, site builders are experienced with the features of the system as well as the architecture. The main focus of site builders is the site configuration.

Further developing skills in these fields or any of the aforementioned programming languages will not only help you in many information technology fields, but also with the growing open source content management system industry. It is feasible to develop these skills through training and certificate programs in six months to a year. There are plenty of online courses that fulfill this need.

Another option is to focus on independent study which is of fairly low cost. Online tutorials, books and conferences that offer intensive training can be effective. All you need is time, a small amount of money and extreme discipline.

The growing open source content management system field is an excellent way to make a part-time (through freelancing) or full-time paycheck once the necessary knowledge is obtained. These types of jobs could significantly decrease the unemployment rate in the coming years.

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2. Top 15 Open Source CMS Systems
3. A Closer Look at the Open-Source CMS

Original: Increasing Demand for Open Source CMS Abilities in 2011

Web hosting is one of the busiest as well as the most profitable businesses online. Every business, every person out there wants to have an online presence and the amazing websites that we see every day are all the effort of web hosting. With the passing time, there is a growing trend in web hosting and as thousands of websites are joining the World Wide Web arena each day, this business is growing tremendously. Here are some technologies that will give us a new shape of web hosting.

1). Content Systems

Content systems such as WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are currently shaping today’s hosting arena. Almost every person familiar with technology and online success factors wants to build his/her own blogs and sites. This is now easily possible through content management systems as mentioned before. Initially, only website managers were able to change content on their site, but now with technology being so common and flexible, there are no longer any restrictions on usability as well as on costs. With these systems being open source, web hosting has seen a dramatic drop in costs, but a gigantic leap in demands in just a few years time. Let’s just say the millennia changed the way we use the internet.

2). High Tech Browsers

The browsers you use today are high tech, fancy, fussy browsers that do not tolerate badly coded HTML pages! They also prefer quick access websites that have the ability to show information accurately. As if PC based browsers were not enough, mobiles and smartphones also have their own various browsers. Therefore, website hosting companies have to take care of browser compatibilities too.

3).Power of Social Media

Social media sites such as Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook have affected every business that has an online presence. People reach out to Facebook pages rather than logging on to company websites. This is why it is important that businesses join social media networks, however, these networks are also a breeding ground for potential hackers and spammers. Web hosting service providers strive hard to provide their clients with safe web hosting, as once a site reaches to a vast public forum, every security scheme has to be implemented.

4).Cloud Computing

Cloud computing helps various websites to be hosted on multiple domains. This prevents the site from suffering a total shutter down in case a problem arises. Other than that, cloud computing also helps companies to store their data on one central server point from where anyone having the authorized rights can access the data. This calls to itself security schemes, flexible hosting and timely responses.

5). Voice and Video Communication

All the live chat sessions that you see on various sites require VoIP technology integration; therefore hosting companies now have to cater to the needs of digital communication. Companies use VoIP to interact with users around the globe and they also sometimes host heavy videos on the site. Hosting services now have to enhance their server functionality in order to ensure smooth movement of digital data.

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Original: 5 Innovative Web Hosting Technologies

As a webmaster one of your primary focuses should be enhancing the performance of your site in order to provide your site visitors with an enjoyable browsing experience that will encourage them to return at some point in the near future. Doing this requires a combination of providing updated quality content, ensuring that page navigation is simple and user-friendly, and utilizing various scripts and web applications to give your customers more than they need to learn and entertain themselves on your site. Fortunately, with the abundance of open source web applications available on the internet today, you do not have to be a web developer or an SEO specialist to increase your web site traffic and enhance the overall performance of your site. The following information describes how you can begin using web applications to enhance the performance of your site today.

Using Content Management Systems For Organization and Productivity

Perhaps the most popular type of web application utilized by webmasters today is the content management system, also referred to as the CMS, which is an overall site management platform that lets you categorize, update, edit and publish content with ease. Aside from simply managing content, you can also design and create entire web sites using pre-designed templates with a good CMS. Content management systems eliminate the need for even the most basic programming skills because no coding is necessary. Aside from improving your own experiences as a site owner, content management systems are also compatible with plugins that enhance the browsing experience for your site visitors by installing widgets and modules on the sidebar and various areas of your web pages.

Using Bookmarking Applications to Attract new Visitors

You can also install bookmarking applications that will automatically bookmark every post you publish on your site, attracting visitors from the bookmarking site, their friends, and traffic from search engines as a result of immediate indexing. When your a link to your posts is published on a social bookmarking site you’re effectively creating backlink for your site that is registered by the search engine and then followed to your site. This creates  fast method of  indexing all of your pages efficiently with minimal effort while also bringing in a short burst of traffic after the posts are submitted to the bookmarking site. With many bookmarking web applications you can customize a variety of settings and preferences that make the process more suitable for your site’s needs.

Using Live Chat Applications for Enhanced Support

Finally, one of the most commonly overlooked yet effective web applications that can enhance the support you give your customers and site visitors is a live chat client. These applications establish a live connection between you and the site visitor and place a small icon on the side of the page that lets them know when you are available for chat. Studies have shown that using live chat instead of email increases conversions and customer satisfaction rate significantly and reduces the delay associated with other support methods.

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Original: How to Utilize Web Applications for Enhanced Site Performance

The Content Management Systems (CMS) marketplace has grown so much over the last few years that keeping up with every released CMS is almost impossible. A lot of people choose from the dozen of leading platforms, because they suit their needs, but for those who need something else for more specialized use, there are other solutions. Below you’ll find a few of these relatively unknown CMS solutions, which are actually very good for a wide number of applications and definitely worth considering when choosing a CMS for a new site.

Firerift. This is a great CMS with a lot of useful features. It has a nice interface that makes it fairly easy for the average user to use all of the features, including publishing articles on the blog and uploading a lot of media file types, plus it has a good life stream module that comes with it by default. This CMS is a bit faster and more flexible than other solutions because of one unique difference: it stores all of the information in a MySQL database, but uses JSON to read it and show it on the reader’s screen. The creators of Firerift say that developers can use it without needing to change any template code, which would be really awesome, except that’s not always true, because if you want complete customization of the output, you will have to know and use CSS and XHTML to change how the information is displayed. Other than that, Firerift is a very good CMS, with excellent support from the developers (you do pay for it, after all) and enough detailed documentation to do everything yourself if you need to.

Typeroom. This is a bundle of hosting and CMS, with a heavy accent being put on its ease of use. There are 2 versions, Pro and Lite, and they both have excellent inline editing features, which makes it even easier and more pleasant to use for anyone (no need to go to the back end administrative interface to change a post, like on WordPress, for example). The front and back ends are actually joined, so you can view your site, edit and add content and change settings from the same page or screen. The editor is accessible anytime from the bottom of the screen, and is only accessible by logged in users, of course. Typeroom Lite is the perfect choice for a self-hosted CMS, despite lacking a few (non-vital) features, and if you want to offload all of the hosting and management worries, you can opt in for the Pro version, which includes a lot of great features and fast customer support. If you’re a web designer or developer and are tired of your clients asking you how to do this and that, Typeroom Pro could be the solution that will save you.

Get Simple CMS. While this CMS has nothing really unique to offer, it still is a great choice and is very efficient at managing the content for your site. It’s very easy to edit pages and upload files using the integrated editor. You can arrange all of the articles, pages in various ways, including a hierarchy type, which makes managing hundreds of pages of content a breeze. Get Simple CMS is indeed a bit limited if compared to other solutions, but it’s quick install and setup makes it a perfect choice for small sites, landing pages (the code is also easy to edit) and sales pages on separate domains.  The biggest drawback is its inability to create a blog or any sort of frequently updated section, which is why a lot of users are steering clear of it, but if you need it for the above-mentioned purposes or other things like split testing AdWords ads and landing pages, you just gotta give it a try.

There are a lot of other CMS worth considering, both paid and free, the above are just an example of the huge amount of great software available online, which most people never even heard about.

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Original: Three CMS You Probably Dont Know About, But Should Really Take Into Consideration

Most successful startups and small businesses have a pretty clear idea of what their product does and who it was designed for, otherwise they wouldn’t have succeeded. They have an established base of customers and a stable cash flow.

But a lot of companies don’t have a really strong marketing plan for acquiring new customers and keeping the old ones active. And it is quite hard to make one – it requires a lot of research and smart advertising (which means not only buying banner and ad space, but also testing different types of sales letters and landing pages, to find the variations that are the most successful at converting visitors into buyers).

This is why marketing perfection can never be acquired – because it is constantly changing and you have to learn new and different ways of advertising, and there’s only so much time in a day for work. If you and your business persist at learning and using the best marketing techniques, you will soon be in the top percentage of companies, simply because your competitors didn’t do the same.

The first lesson you’ll have to learn is to stop making mistakes and extract any useful information from the ones you already made. Mistakes waste time, and you waste even more time thinking you shouldn’t have done it. But it already happened, so analyzing, then forgetting it is the only effective way to go.

Here are a few of the most basic mistakes you should avoid in your business:

1. Inconsistent branding.
It’s pretty common for new companies to have a few marketing campaigns that seemingly contradict each other. For example, a company whose main niche was database software last year now focuses entirely on content management systems. But people still see the old ads and think it is a database company. There are lots of other reasons why this might happen, and it often doesn’t matter. The important thing is to plan and implement a branding plan and have a clear image for your potential customers about what your company does.

2. Putting all eggs in one basket.
Let’s say a company signed a profitable contract with a big corporation. Now they have work for a few years, and the income is guaranteed. Many will just start focusing on that project alone and forget that after the contract is over, they will be out of work. Hell, maybe the big client will not be satisfied or will have financial difficulties and will have to cancel the order. What will the small business do then? Point is, you have to have alternative income sources and projects to work on (preferably ones that can be easily scaled up as soon as you have the manpower and resources).

3. Working alone.
I don’t mean alone as a person, although there are a lot of one-man operations out there and they’re pretty good. I mean alone as in without any business partners. When your business is small you have to accept whatever help you can get, and if another company offers you to team up on a project and split the profit, think twice before refusing. If you successfully complete the project, you’ll still be profitable and your joint client’s name will be in your portfolio. Of course, there can always be problems, but if you plan everything correctly, they can be avoided. And you shouldn’t necessarily wait for other to contact you. You should contact other companies in the field if you have something that can be profitable for both of you.

4. Taking on everything at once.
Unless you have the resources, this is just not feasible. Even using everything from a busy schedule to complex automation tools you can’t work on all your projects at once. Not without being extremely slow, that is. And I know most entrepreneurs have a lot of projects and ideas in their heads and computers. But you have to learn to execute one thing at a time, and when you have the money, you can work on 2-3, then more projects at once. Just don’t do it in the beginning, have some patience.

5. Not experimenting enough.
A small business has the ability to be flexible and experiment with everything, from billing systems to office layout. And you absolutely must take advantage of that. Try new, better ways of working on your projects, different ways to communicate with your customers, different website layouts, and other things. Test, test, test and preferably never stop, as you will always find something that works better than the previous thing.

Of course, there are a lot of other obvious mistakes that a lot of businesses make, but not all of them can make or break the company. You will most probably make at least one of them, and the only way to go, as I said above, is to analyze the mistake, extract all useful data and forget it, but remember not to make it ever again.

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Original: 5 Mistakes Your Business Must Avoid Making

Your website’s content is by far it’s most important attribute. Without interesting content your visitors will not return to your site in the future, in fact they probably will never find it to begin with! Simply uploading good content one time and then leaving your website’s in hopes of creating a megasite is not realistic. If you want your site flourish then you’ll need to update the content daily. This can be a problem for many business owners, because it can be very time consuming. To boost business productivity, many people use content management systems to create, upload, organize and store content for their website. Below are some of the advantages of content management systems.

Templates and Design

Content management systems give you the ability to store multiple templates for your website’s design, making website development quick and simple. With a good CMS you can change the template without affecting the pre-existing content on your website. This makes re-designing your website hassle-free, and eliminates the trial and error that is often associated with doing so. You can also build databases of templates so you have a wide selection to choose from at any time.

Updating Content

Content management systems also let you update content automatically on a scheduled basis, which means you can now set it and forget it as you wish. If you employ the use of freelance writers you can also grant them permissions and controlled access to the site, which will make your job a lot easier. You can let one user upload content and another edit it.

Runs on Your Operating System

You can also make changes to your website while you are offline by editing the content in your content management system which runs on your operating system. Then when you connect to the internet all of the changes will take place immediately. This is probably one of the most convenient features of a good CMS, as you no longer must rely on a constant internet connection to improve your website, and even without a connection you can aces all of your website’s files and databases directly form the operating system.

Polls and Surveys

With a content management system you can also publish polls and surveys on your website with ease. These polls and surveys give good insight into the interests of your visitors, which will ultimately let you know what kind of content you need to focus on uploading in the future.

RSS Feeds

RSS feeds bring traffic to your site by linking your updates to other popular sites within your niche. You can also use RSS feeds to snatch content form other website’s and then spin it using certain applications that can be added to your site’s control panel. RSS feeds also allow visitors to keep track of your updates directly from their browsers toolbar.

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Original: Content Management Systems: Enhancing Business Productivity

Open source content management systems are beginning to gather quite a reputation and customer base lately thanks to the recent announcement by the White House of its move from proprietary solutions to open source CMS heavyweight, Drupal.  Full service hosting provider NeoSpire has been a long time advocate of open source software and specializes in solutions incorporating Drupal.

Do It With Drupal Seminar

From December 9^th to 11^th, 2009 in New Orleans, the Do It With Drupal Seminar will take place and NeoSpire is not only one of its top sponsors but will be exhibiting as well.  The seminar promises to have some of Drupal’s top developers on tap to teach more about the program as well as information from community building experts.

Patrons of the event can expect to see successful Drupal sites and meet with like-minded professionals, developers, designers and more all intertwined within the Drupal community.  The event will allow interested participants the chance to see the actual workings behind the architect and building of a Drupal web site.  Topics such as building and growing successful web sites with Drupal will be covered.

The cost of this three-day event is $1195 until December 8^th.  Thereafter, walkup registration is $1295.

NeoSpire

NeoSpire managed hosting provides a number of hosting solutions designed to meet the demands of organizations needing a 100% guaranteed up-time.  NeoSpire has been in the web hosting business since 1999 and continues to provide extremely secure and reliable solutions for their hosting customers.  The hosting provider offers several managed hosting options, co-location services, application hosting and more.

One of the more interesting offers by this company is its Drupal CMS Hosting.  NeoSpire offers fully managed Drupal hosting that covers everything from simple web sites to load balanced and redundant set-ups.  The company even has a specially dedicated Drupal support team that are considered the best server admin and tech support people in their field.  Not many web hosting companies available on the Internet sport the same offering or specialized support team.  It is a testament to the security and reliability of both NeoSpire and Drupal.

Drupal

Drupal is an open source CMS program that was initially created in 2000 by an enterprising man, Dries Buytaert.  What initially began as a small news site allowing friends to leave notes to each other gradually grew into the full-blown content management system available today.

The Drupal CMS is extremely extendable with several hundreds of modules to add onto the main program and hundreds of themes to change the overall look.  As an open source project, many third party programmers are heavily involved with the project creating new and innovative modules almost every day.  Drupal users can expect to be able to find just about anything they require within the Drupal module download area.  Administration, e-commerce, file management, statistics, and spam prevention are just a small percentage of what can be found.

Conclusion

A world-class open source CMS program coupled with a world-class hosting solution provider is a dream combination.  NeoSpire and Drupal are, indeed, doing it.

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Original: Are You Doing it With Drupal?