Having a good content management system is crucial to the success of any online business. With so many to choose from, it can be hard to decide which ones will live up to their promises. In fact, it can be difficult just to find the top three! Below we’ve given you an overview of the three best content management systems; Drupal, Joomla, and Mambo. The information below should aid you in conducting your own thorough investigation, based on your needs.

Drupal

Drupal has quickly become one of the most popular content management systems. It’s recent popularity boom is due to the fact that it is an open-source software, which means it can be improved by any developer with an interest in doing so. Drupal has been said to be a perfect solution for people who are building community-based websites such as forums. This is because one of it’s most notable features is it’s user permissions system. With it’s extensive administrative control, webmasters can control every aspect of their forum. Drupal is also preferred over Joomla in terms of development because it is easier to interact with and expand.

Joomla

Joomla has also gained popularity because of it’s powerful features and easy user interface. While Joomla also includes forum managing features, these features are not it’s strongest points. Among the more notable features of this CMS is it’s administrative functionality for image galleries, search engine optimization, shopping carts, and forum management. Some users choose Joomla over Drupal due to it’s user-friendly interface. Although there is some learning curve involved with Joomla it is often described as the easiest CMS around.

Mambo

The Mambo content management system was one of the first popular open source content managements systems. While it has been around for quite some time now, it still have a group of developers backing it that maintain it’s functionality and reliability. Even though it was one of the pioneer content management systems, it has fallen somewhat behind the newer CMS softwares available. The primary reason for it’s recently decreased popularity is it’s code incompatibility due to it’s age. For this reason many developers shy away from developing applications that can be used with Mambo. With each new advance in the consent management industry, Mambo becomes more obsolete.

Making the Decision

The first thing you’ll want to do when investigating your options, is go to the main site of each of the content management systems above. Make sure you review all of their features and ensure you’re going to be able to fulfill all of your needs by using the software. Even though one of the softwares may be more suitable for you it is still likely that you will need to install additional applications. It is very unlikely that you will find all of the desired features within one CMS, therefor you’ll want to do some research and find out which CMS has the compatible applications you need. Once you’ve made your decision, you can install the CMS of your choice simply with the Fantastico program.

Though best known for its extensive suite of proprietary commercial products, as of late, Microsoft has been dabbling a lot more in the field of open-source development.  Many suspect that this is due to rising competition from major open-source players such as Red Hat, Adobe and Google.  It has just been revealed that Microsoft is working on a new content management software application along with a set of reusable compatible components.  Going by the codename of Orchard, the software details will be shared at the TechEd Europe event.  Perhaps the most surprising part about all of this is that Orchard is said to be a free open-source web CMS set to rival with popular systems such as Joomla, Mambo and Drupal.

While Microsoft is being tight-lipped and secretive about the project, we were able to gather some details on what is currently known about the Orchard CMS.

Orchard Overview

Orchard is Microsoft’s latest effort to distribute free open-source software with reusable components and a fully featured application capable of creating a wide variety of types of websites.  The company’s core team of expert ASP.NET developers is actively seeking contributions and guidance from the community of .NET programmers to help get the project off on the right in the early goings.  According to a representative from Microsoft, Bradley Millington, who has been anointed as Engineering Lead for the Orchid project, will be spearheading interactive discussions to invite the community to get actively involved on the ground floor.  Millington will be accepting input to get better understanding of what developers would like to see in the project, the components they envision for their own applications, and how to encourage the community to contribute to make the project a success.  Microsoft remarked that is open to discussing strategy, logistics, functionality and whatever else developers bring to the table.

Apparently, Orchard is not Microsoft’s first attempt in the open-source content management space.  A while back, it was reported that the company was working on a CMS project called Oxite.  In December of 2008, Microsoft made an alpha version of the Oxite source code available under the MS-P1 (Microsoft Public License).  Mary Joe Foley of ZDNet hinted that Orchard could be right on time and become one of the first projects announced for the CodePlex Foundation.  Created to allow for the exchange of code and collaboration among software vendors and the open-source developer community, the Foundation recently released the first working draft of its Project Acceptance and Operation Guidelines.  When Foley asked if Orchard was simply a revamped version Oxite under a different name, Microsoft did not respond.

We all know that Microsoft is very skilled at keeping secrets and rolling out big surprises.  Therefore, we just might have to wait until the TechEd Europe Session takes place on November 11 to get more comprehensive details on the Orchard project.  As soon we get something more concrete, we will surely try to pass along the news.

If you are familiar with open-source web applications, then you have heard of Mambo.  If not, you have probably visited a site built on this flexible framework without even realizing it.  What exactly is Mambo?  It is a widely used, fully featured content management system designed to facilitate the building and management of dynamic websites.  According to numerous surveys, the software is most commonly used to create personal and blog sites.  However, it also used to create web portals, social networking communities and e-commerce sites.  Mambo has the reputation of a comprehensive, user-friendly tool that allows the novice and veteran webmaster to create and build websites with more efficiency.

Mambo Advantages

One of the greatest advantages of Mambo is that it doesn’t require you to have any knowledge of programming languages to maintain your website.  The system provides you with a clean interface that delivers a point-and-click functionality even the most inexperienced user can learn to master.  There is no need to learn how to format or layout HTML pages as Mambo does all the hard work for you.  All you have to do is configure and manage your website content via the intuitive, menu-driven control panel.  Though easy to use, Mambo’s functionality qualifies it as far more than a basic software application.  For example, it allows to apply template changes to instantly enhance the look of your site, manage online polls and create various user permissions.  With the Mambo CMS, your website can be as simple or complex as you desire.

Another benefit of Mambo is that the product comes with great support, despite the fact that it  has no form of paid support.  The platform is backed by an active community of regular users along with a development team that is always making changes to improve the software.  And because it is widely supported by most web hosting companies, there is a great chance that your provider has Mambo help resources in their support area.

Availability and Installation

Most web hosts allow you to install the Mambo CMS directly through your control panel interface.  If it is not offered, simply download the software from a mambo server or one of many safe, popular download sites.  After downloading, configure the application and upload it to your web server.  The Mambo software is a cross-platform solution that runs on both Linux and Windows operating systems.  From there, all you need is a PHP-enabled server and access to a database such as MySQL.  Because a manual installation can be complex for novice users, you may want to inquire within your web hosting provider before making a move.  A reputable host will be more than happy to assist at no additional cost.

Features and functionality aside, perhaps the best quality of Mambo is that it can be used freely by anyone.  Released under the GNU General Public License, the source code can be modified to make the software perform to meet your particular needs.   When it comes to open-source content management, the ease of use, functionality and flexibility of Mambo are hard to beat.

You just can’t travel the open-source CMS circuit without hearing one word: Joomla.  This system is easily one of the most talked about software packages on the open-source market or anywhere for that matter, always being praised for its ease of use and plethora of beneficial uses.  Let’s walk through a little history to find out how the mighty Joomla CMS came about.

How it Began

The Joomla project began as a fork of the original Mambo content management system, as reflected in the traits embedded in version 1.0.  At this time, the name Mambo was trademarked by Miro International Pty Ltd., which established a non-profit foundation with the purpose to fund the project and keep it protected against lawsuits.  The original development team made the claim that several provisions of the foundation’s structure contradicted previous agreements set forth by the elected Mambo Steering Committee.  These provisions where said to lack the necessary consultation with key stake holders and violate the project’s core open-source values.

And the Controversy Pot Stirs

Members of the Mambo development team started a website called OpenSourceMatters with the sole purpose of distributing information to the community of developers, web designers and end-users.  Andrew Eddie, better known as the “Master Chief”, addressed the community with a statement that touched on the controversy at hand.  Roughly one thousand people joined the OpenSourceMatters website within a single day, most of them posting words of encouragement and openly supporting the development team.  The website received a jolt of notoriety, resulting in news articles regarding the turmoil being posted by sources such as News Forge, eWeek and ZDNet.com.

The ordeal sparked deeply held feelings in the free software community about what shall qualify as open-source.  From there, the forums of many other open-source projects became active, seeing postings from communities for and against the both sides of the argument.  Over the next two week’s following the initial Eddie statement, announcement teams were re-organized and the eventual Joomla community continued to expand.   With the aid of the SFLC (Software Freedom Law Center), Eben Moglen was instrumental in the core Joomla team be formed in August of 2005, indicated by his blog entry and a related announcement.  To the current day, the SFLC still provides legal guidance for those involved in the Joomla project.

It’s Official

Joomla was officially announced on September 1, 2005.  One September 7, 2005, the core development team called out for logo submissions from the community, encouraging members to vote on the logos they preferred.  Joomla 1.0 was officially announced on September 16, 2005, being released as a re-branded version of Mambo 4.5.2.3 equipped with bug and minor security fixes.  With their full attention on the new project, the developers stepped away from Mambo completely in favor of the Joomla’s rapid popularity.

The CMS won numerous awards throughout 2006 and 2007, paving the way for Joomla 1.5 on January 22, 2008.  Although Mambo is still supported and available, the Joomla project has since surpassed it and most of the competition on the market, making it the fastest growing open-source CMS in existence.

A content management system or CMS, is a type of software that allows users to create and build websites.  Most of these programs are easy to use and do not require you to have much, if any experience in programming technologies such as CSS, HTML or PHP.  The average software offers a web-based point-and-click system that facilitates the easy publishing of content such as articles, photo and videos.  Some of the most popular content management systems are of the open-source variety and free to use.  In this article we introduce you to a few of the most widely used content management systems on the open-source market: Joomla, Drupal and Mambo.

Joomla

Joomla is the most highly sought after content management system in both the open-source and commercial market.  This application has a reputation for being extremely easy to use as you can get by with absolutely no programming experience.  The major draw to Joomla is that the system is very powerful and highly extendable.  With the backing of a large community of developers, it can be greatly enhanced through a number of add-on modules such as themes, SEO tools and various other plugins.  As an awarding program, the Joomla CMS is relied on for everything from simple websites to corporate business applications.

Drupal

Regarded as a viable alternative to Joomla, Drupal is a robust CMS best suited for medium to larger sized websites.  Thought not as intuitive, Drupal is more of a complete system and has many capabilities the Joomla CMS lacks.  The software is in constant development as new versions are released quite frequently.  Despite the fact that it is a bit more complex, enhancing the look and feel of a Drupal site is made easy through a plethora of available templates and plugins.

Mambo

At one time, Mambo was the most widely used CMS platform on the open-source market.  However, internal conflict among the community resulted in many of the developers leaving the project.  In fact, most of the original developers left, taking the code and utilizing it to create the Joomla CMS.  Though not as popular as in past times, Mambo is a mature CMS and proven to be very stable and secure.  And all though Joomla is better supported, there are still a number of themes and plugins available to extend the system.  If you want a CMS that has been tried and tested, Mambo could be the solution.

Know the Community

When trying to choose between open-source content management systems, the main factor you want to keep in mind is the community, as this will be your primary source of support.  Unlike proprietary solutions like the Microsoft Content Server, there is no paid support staff you can dial or email.  Support for these platforms is scattered about the web in community-run forums and blogs.  You should keep in mind that while finding these resources is relatively easy, getting the level of support you need is not guaranteed.  In a worst case scenario, you could find yourself waiting days for quality assistance.