Download a free Bonus chapter from the recent Alfresco Developers Guide that is only availabe on Optaros.com.
Content management solutions are one of the most popular and demanded categories of open source applications. Hundreds of solutions can do it “better” and are competing for attention. Since the early days of the Internet, the creation and management of content has been a key challenge for web developers and administrators. There are many tools to simplify the tasks of content management and over time a substantial number of so-called “content management solutions” have been developed, many of them Open Source. And development doesn’t stop. As this is newsletter is being read, new content management solutions are being developed and deployed, whether because an open source project forks (e.g. Joomla) or a team of people (or an individual) decide it’s time to come up with a new solution (e.g. Alfresco WCM). The landscape is continuously changing, both in terms of features that are considered priorities as well as the technology used to implement them. The solution landscape around content management can be grouped around typical use cases: Often web developers, designers, or users just want to create and publish simple websites. “Simple” in this context refers to content that is mainly static or has only a few dynamic elements. This content doesn’t change often and there is usually a single editor and no need for complex approval or publication workflows. In this context, simple tools that give the user the best possible help for performing basic tasks are best suited to make the process efficient. It’s important that things happen the way the user expects — intuitive application behavior eats system manuals for breakfast. (Examples: Magnolia Mambo, Joomla!, Typo3) Complex websites or sites that are maintained and published by large and distributed teams, and often span multiple properties, languages, or geographies call for more enhanced administration and management tools. Workflow support is crucial; virtualization, simulation, etc. may also be needed. (Examples: Alfresco WCM, eZpublish, Jahia, Plone) Online periodicals such as web based journals or newspapers, or online versions and extensions of print magazines follow their own rules and demand specific tools to support complex editorial workflows. Performance requirements are substantial, content re-use is critical. Often the presentation format is channel specific, and the delivery of the content needs to take this into account. (Examples: Bricolage, Apache Lenya) Websites that are tailored to support virtual teams and communities focus on a very different aspect. In this context, the content isn’t created and maintained by a central authority but rather by the community. Therefore solutions need to be able to foster collaboration and the management of decentrally-entered content. This drives another set of requirements compared to other use cases. In recent years a whole new set of application types such as blogging platforms, wiki, and forum applications have emerged. (Examples: Drupal, WordPress, Apache Roller, MediaWiki, SocialText Open) Of course, many of the above technologies can be used in a variety of contexts. Reference to a specific technology is seen more as an indication or trend, and not in the sense of a limitation. Plone for example is a platform with many strengths that can be used in many different ways. The same is true for Typo3, which has been adapted to manage online periodicals as well as print magazines. It’s important to recognize the strengths of the various technologies and where they offer specific functionalities that help support specific use cases. With a certain amount of configuration and customization effort many content management solutions can be extended and made appropriate for a wide range of use cases. Independently of what has been said before the requirements for content management systems are continuously growing. With the evolution of the Internet, and Web 2.0 specifically, came the need to efficiently manage multimedia content, be it sound, pictures, or movies. In addition, modern content management solutions need to be able to cope with user generated and contributed content, be it content elements, content feedback, ratings or tags. They also need to support rich Internet applications powered by Ajax and Flash. Users expect that they can edit websites in a “what you see is what you get” mode (aka inline editing), and that they are guided and supported with easy to use workflows and procedures to maintain versions and multiple deployments. And there’s more. Open Source solutions are able to cope with these growing needs much better than many of their traditional commercial competitors. In many cases open source technologies lead the innovation. And it’s not by accident that Web 2.0 and Open Source are almost like Yin and Yang. The fast release cycles and innovative spirit of open source communities are a key success factor here. For a rapid start into an evaluation, we recommend examining the technologies in the EOS-Directory (link: http://www.eosdirectory.com/directory/searchprojectbycateg/id/38 )