Alternative Open Source Platforms

Open source platforms have become very popular today. It is very clear that it is not only the price of these solutions that make them an attractive choice for businesses and organizations. Quality open source systems have become popular because of the countless benefits they can give to users. Open source platforms are easy to customize, and there are numerous support options available. Additionally, these platforms can work with multiple data formats.

The Popular Choices

WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are the most commonly-used open source platforms today. Each of them offers similar features.

WordPress

There are many reasons why people love to use WordPress for blogging and as a content management system. WordPress is extremely user-friendly. There are many plug-ins available to download, install and use. Many unique WordPress themes are also available with stunning styles and designs. The main benefits are vast SEO possibilities and simplicity.

Joomla

Another popular and award-winning open source platform is Joomla. It has a number of useful features that make it attractive for everyone including those who are not Internet savvy.  It allows users to build websites and control and manage content. In fact, Joomla is a popular choice among both developers and designers. Additionally, Joomla eliminates static website content. It has more than 5600 extensions and thousands of customizable templates.

Drupal

Drupal is often compared to Joomla. This CMS offers flexibility and easy to extend features. Less programming is needed to convert a website from a simple presentation to a web application. Drupal offers a Content Construction Kit that allows users to create new content and enhance pages that already exist.

The Alternatives

Aside from these three popular platforms, there are also other alternatives that others may consider.

B2evolution

B2evolution is great for bloggers and information technology professionals. This open source platform offers all the features of a traditional blog with added perks like photo and file management, multiple blog support, advanced skinning and detailed user permission. Users can take advantage of all these features right after they install the platform.

Special Features

• Multiple Blogs

B2evolution allows users to create up to 1,000 blogs at once. Each of them can go live on a different page, folder or domain. Users may also create several blogs on the same page. B2evolution lets everyone add blogrolls, linkblogs, moblogs and photoblogs without the hassles.

• Multiple Users and Authors

This platform includes complete and detailed permission management. With this, any author or user can check, read, write, customize and moderate blogs and content.

• Multiple Domains

B2evolution allows users to set up as many alias domains as they want. B2evolution will then take care of setting up blogs in every domain.

• AntiSpam Deluxe

This feature allows users to block comment and referrer spam. This is a combination of active anti-spam measures that includes a community shared blacklist.

• Integrated Stats

The integrated stats feature allows users to monitor activities on each blog through graphs. It also includes RSS readers and robots.

Blog:CMS

Blog:CMS is another open source platform alternative that boasts a complete package of features. It was developed by Radek Hulan, and it includes a wiki engine, weblog, news aggregator, RSS feed, photogallery and forum.

Special Features

• Standards Compliance

Blog:CMS is the only open source platform that comes with w3c validity and the application/xhxtml+xml MIME by default. This means the system can work best with major browsers like Firefox, Safari, Mozilla and Opera.

• Multiple Blogs and News Sites

Blog:CMS allows users to create and maintain multiple weblogs. They can also display different weblogs at once on the same page.

• Integrated Forum

Blog:CMS users can host discussions about their articles on the forum or the weblog. With this, they can take advantage of the opportunity to open larger discussions.

• Integrated Photo Gallery

Blog:CMS ships with Singapore Photo Gallery through ImageMagic or GD2 in order to make thumbnails.

• Wiki Engine

Wiki engine is a useful feature for documentation. With this, users are able to add related information to the Wiki resource. This platform utilizes the Dokuwiki engine that is considered to be among the best available.

CMS Made Simple

CMS Made Simple provides developers with easy to use features for website building. This platform offers four categories of features.

Special Features

• Content Management System

CMS Made Simple content management system features include SEO friendly URLs and integrated online help. It also offers easy user and group management with minimal server requirements. Additionally, it has an admin panel with multiple language support, integrated audit logs, a small footprint and a group-based permission system.

• Design

CMS Made Simple has WCGA and Section 508 accessibility. It is also XHTML and CSS compliant. Users can enjoy the auto-generated menus. They can set every page to have different themes and create multiple content areas on a single page. Additionally, the design is protected from content editors.

• Extra Modules

CMS Made Simple offers additional features via extra modules. This includes WYSIWYG, polls, picture albums, a CGC calendar, user management, Google sitemaps, forms, a glossary, file uploading and many others.

• Programmer-Specific

Programmer-specific features include the GPL source code, full API documentation, events systems, database abstraction and a module API for unlimited expandability.

Online Compliance Portal

ocPortal is among the newest CMS systems available. However, it has a complete package of features that aim to outperform the major open source platforms available today.

Special Features

• WYSIWYG editor

• Discussion forum

• Events calendar

• Photogallery

• Newsletter

• Style wizard

• Extensive uniform design and standards

• Full API documentation

• Strong plug-in integration

• W3C compliant

PHP-Fusion

PHP-Fusion is another open source platform alternative that is lightweight and written in PHP and MySQL.

Special Features

• Photo galleries

• Discussion forum

• Member registration

• News and articles

• Downloads

Xpress Engine

XE offers an open source platform alternative that allows users to organize, edit and publish content to their website. XE is stable, and developers keep adding new improvements to enhance the system.

Special Features

• Easy to Use

XE has a highly intuitive web-based installer. Users can set up and run their sites in as fast as five minutes.

• Visual Editing

Users can enjoy the easy and comfortable tools for editing their content and designs.

• Modular Structure

Users can configure the CMS in whatever way they want. All projects are unique, and users can add modules that suit their specific needs.

• Hi-Speed

XE has built-in features that can combine and optimize CSS and java files. Websites can load at blazing fast speeds.

• Multiple Database Support

XE works efficiently with Firebird, CURBRID, MySQL, MSSQL, MySQLi, PostgreSQL, SQLite2, SQLite3_PDO.

Conclusion

WordPress may be the most popular, and Joomla and Drupal may be the lasting runner ups, but there are plenty of fish in the sea. Whether you want something more specific to your needs or you just want to experiment with usability, SEO, or just a change of pace, all of the CMS open source alternatives should do the trick.