A content management system is software that keeps track of every piece of content on your Web site, much like your local public library keeps track of books and stores them.
Content can be simple text, photos, music, video, documents, or just about anything you can think of. A major advantage of using a CMS is that it requires almost no technical skill or knowledge to manage. Since the CMS manages all your content, you don’t have to.
There are five main platforms for CMS, most of which are FREE:
WordPress
Everything you see on this website, from the documentation to the code itself, was created with WordPress.
WordPress is an Open Source project, which means there are hundreds of people all over the world working on it. (More than most commercial platforms.)
It also means you are free to use it for anything from your cat’s home page to a Fortune 500 web site without paying anyone a license fee and a number of other important freedoms.
WordPress is completely customisable and can be used for almost anything. WordPress started as just a blogging system, but has evolved to be used as full content management system and so much more through the thousands of plugins, widgets, and themes, WordPress is limited only by your imagination.
WordPress was born out of a desire for an elegant, well-architectured personal publishing system built on PHP and MySQL and licensed under the GPL. It is the official successor of b2/cafelog. WordPress is fresh software, but its roots and development go back to 2001. It is a mature and stable product.
Joomla
Joomla is an award-winning content management system (CMS), which enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications.
Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made Joomla the most popular Web site software available.
Best of all, Joomla is an open source solution that is freely available to everyone.
Joomla is used all over the world to power Web sites of all shapes and sizes. For example:
- Corporate Web sites or portals
- Corporate intranets and extranets
- Online magazines, newspapers, and publications
- E-commerce and online reservations
- Government applications
- Small business Web sites
- Non-profit and organizational Web sites
- Community-based portals
- School and church Web sites
- Personal or family homepages
BuddyPress was conceived in 2008 while working to add social networking features to a WordPress MU powered site. The first official stable release was in May 2009. The platform has grown and morphed considerably since then, into the dynamic, easily extensible package you see today.
Just like its parent project WordPress, BuddyPress is a completely open source endeavor. Everything from the core code, to the documentation, themes and plugin extensions are all built by the BuddyPress community. This means anyone can help the project by contributing their time and knowledge.
What can I use BuddyPress for?
BuddyPress is built to bring people together. It works well to enable people with similar interests to connect and communicate. Some of the fantastic uses might be:
- A campus wide social network for your university, school or college.
- An internal communication tool for your company.
- A niche social network for your interest topic.
- A focused social network for your new product.
If you’re using BuddyPress in a unique or interesting way, be sure to let people know on the forums. We’re always interested.
Open Your Store to Endless Possibilities.
Magento Enterprise Edition is a robust, powerful and flexible eCommerce platform that can scale to support the largest online stores. Packed with market-leading merchandising capabilities and backed by Magento’s expert support team, Enterprise Edition can help take your online business to the next level.
Your Business is Unique —Your Online Store Should Be, Too.
Create a highly customized eCommerce site that reflects your brand, adapts to your product catalog, integrates with your business infrastructure and includes best-in-class marketing and merchandising tools so you can grow and serve your customer base.
Integration at All Levels
Magento integrates with your business operations so that you manage your eCommerce site according to your business needs. Our flexible open source platform supports deep integration with your business processes including CRM and ERP systems, accounting, payment processing, call center, shipping/logistics applications and more.
The Power of the Magento Ecosystem.
Magento customers have an extensive network of Magento partner companies at their disposal, including eCommerce implementation experts (Solution Partners), payment processing and hosting services, business integration specialists and 3rd party software developers.
Turning Browsers into Buyers.
Turn more browsers to buyers with an engaging, responsive and secure site. Increase revenue with a high-performing eCommerce platform that includes targeted marketing tools, superior search capabilities, call center functionality and the flexibility to create a site that caters to your customers and their specific buying habits.
Content publishing, search, security, and more— vBulletin has it all. Whether it’s available features, support, or ease-of-use, vBulletin offers the most for your money. Learn more about what makes vBulletin the choice for people who are serious about creating thriving online communities.
CMS built for Communities
Our new Content Management System was designed to enable your community members to easily create content and cross-publish between your forums, blogs, and site articles.
Forums
The most powerful forum software in the world. Includes all of the features of the new vBulletin 4.x Forum.
Community Blogs
vBulletin Blog makes it simple for members to create their own Blog within the community.
Widget Platform
Create your own widgets or add 3rd party widgets like Google Gadgets to your site.
Free Support
Includes free ticket support for the life of the 4.x product.