CMS ( Content Management System )
The CMS is a popular tool in todays web developer arsenal. Drawing from pre-existing libraries and code that do the majority of the boilerplate work for you and allow you to provision custom templates for the look and feel you desire as well as the ability to customize the functionality of your site through installable, re-useable modules and components or plugins. Today, if you are not using a CMS, then you are falling behind.
What we use
SwhistleSoft uses Joomla, Drupal, and Wordpress for the majority of it's development. If you are interested in blogging, then Wordpress is probably the best choice as it is geared directly towards blog style sits and the default theme is pretty much set up the same way. If you are making a site that has a lot of different comonents that interlink together and relate to one another, then Drupal is probably the way to go. But if you are making a site that has custom functionality like polls, surveys, or large forms then Joomla is probably the right choice. Don't take our word for it however, as this has been our experience and a tallented graphic artist with an equally tallented developer can make anything happen that you want, then it will merely be a matter of cost and effort.
Modules We Use
SwhistleSoft uses a variety of existing modules to help with maintaining and providing functionality for our clients. Some of these include:
Akeeba Backup - Joomla Site Backup Component
Simple Content Versioning - Joomla Versioning Component
RSForm - Joomla Form Creation Component
Community Builder - Joomla Social Site Building Component
SwhistleSoft also builds modules, components and plugins for specific case needs and for our general site use. At a later time we will be offering free components, modules and plugins for anyone to use.
Dev Site Links
Currently you can look at the front page of these installations and any menu links that have been precreated. Also at a later date we will be adding instructions on how to do simple tasks using these CMS'. Access to the backend is granted via user: admin/password: password. Access is limited to logging in and viewing the backend.
Joomla
Take a look at our dev site for base installations of Joomla:
Joomla has begun a rapid release schedule recently which will mean a new release every 6 months for example ( 1.7 - 1.8 in December 2011)
Drupal
Take a look at our dev site for base installations of Drupal:
- Drupal 6 ( Coming Soon ! )
- Drupal 7 ( Coming Soon ! )
WordPress
ModX
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