Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Choosing a Website Platform " From HTML to Content Management Sys

By Theodore Metagastar

Starting your own website should be a well thought out endeavor. It doesnt matter if you are blogging for your crowd, or promoting a new product or service. With the many options available these days it is recommended that you give a little thought to the tools available.

Did you know there are many ways to build a website? You can have simple html or php pages, but you either need to know how to code them. You can use Microsoft Word to write and publish some simple web pages, but this option has pros and cons.

If you are interested in having maximum control over the appearance and performance of your website then you might consider buying one of the many software packages that are available for writing and managing your website. The possibilities are endless, and these packages offer many powerful features.

If you want performance and ease of use you might consider a content management system. These programs do a lot of the work such as building the code behind your website, and give many features such as integrating photos and other media into your site.

Two well known content management systems are wordpress and joomla. Both of these programs are open source, which means the code is free to see and use, and many people support and build on open source and give these powerful components freely. Wordpress is easy to use, as well as joomla, and both offer add on or plugin features.

Joomla has been around for many years, and offers many great features. Start by visiting their website, look at some of the free templates offered, as well as the plugins. Joomla also has a forum that is well managed and supported.

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 want to have a community type setting you can always consider Wordpress MU. This software is a variation of the typical wordpress installation, but lets you run multiple sites with only one install. You can control the features available for each subdomain within the MU community.

Choosing a content management system will have a big impact on your website design and performance. Once you make your decision you will likely continue to find features and new developments that will prove that you made a wise decision. - 16069

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