Sunday, January 4, 2009

The Inner Core of your Website " Is it a CMS?

By Theodore Metagastar

Are you thinking about starting your own website for your personal interest? Whether you are looking at a topic related creative outlet or a site designed to promote a product or service, the first thing you should consider is the tools available to you.

There are many ways to create webpages. For example, if you have Microsoft Word, especially the newer versions, you can create and even publish your web pages directly from Word to your hosting site. This is easy in appearance, but you will be lacking in some of the more common features available today.

One option is buying a website creation software package. These programs do have a learning curve, but have the capacity to manage and publish your website, and offer many great features.

There is another direction you can take, and that is choosing a content management system. These systems are integrated web site design and pubishing programs that give your website a foundation. Themes and add on features are always available for these systems.

There are two very popular content management systems that are available as open source, meaning that the code is freely shared with other designers to create and promote community and free enterprise. Wordpress is a very well known name in content management system, as well as Joomla. Both take a little learning, but are worth the time spent.

Joomla is an content management system with many available features. A good start with Joomla is to visit their website. You can see what add on features are available, down load the base software as well as templates and plugins, and read the forums.

Wordpress is a very popular content management system. There are many plugins or add on features available as well. Themes can be downloaded at Wordpress, or found at many websites. You can use Wordpress on your own hosted site, and this program can be installed using Fantastico or following the simple installation guides.

If you are thinking of building your own community online, you might consider Wordpress MU. This gives you one installation, and gives control over the plugins and themes, providing continuity and ease of maintenance.

Building a website takes time and a lot of thought. When you build from scratch you need to know both languages for the html or php code that gives your site form and structure. Using a content management system will save you a lot of time by providing structure, freeing you for the more creative aspects of your website.

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