Today, Microsoft released an alpha version of its own open source content management system, Oxite. The source code for the software is available under the Microsoft Public License. While Microsoft mostly describes Oxite as a blogging platform, the Oxite team also points out that you could use it as a content management system to develop more or less any type of site. Oxite currently powers Microsoft's own Mix Online and also uses some recycled parts from Channel 9 . Sponsor Some of the major features of the software include support for Gravatars, pingbacks, trackbacks, RSS feeds, commenting, and the MetaWebLog...
I was privileged to be asked to speak at the BBC’s Future of Journalism conference last week. A largely internal event organised by the BBC College of Journalism, the event had little outside publicity and consequently very few people from outside the corporation attending. This was a shame, as not only were there some fascinating contributions from speakers both inside and outside of the BBC, but it also meant no one could contribute to the discussion via email unless they were watching the intranet video stream. I had hoped to liveblog it, but the wifi signal was too weak...
If you’ve been following the tech scene in Pune, you’d be aware of the tremendous success of PHPCamp Pune with over a 1000 registrants. One thing that quickly became clear during PHPCamp is the interest in having special interest groups for more specialized areas within PHP hacking - specifically Open Social, Drupal and Joomla!. To help you stay in touch, we asked Amit Kumar Singh, one of the primary movers behind PHPCamp, and behind the Joomla Users Group, India to give our readers an overview of Joomla! - what it is, and why is it so popular. This article is...
INTO is a web/print startup specializing in "cutting edge work, quick turn-around times, and a high level of web expertise." Below, INTO founder Kirk Strobeck details the creative ways his team uses Basecamp, including as a content management system and wireframing tool! How do you use our products and why do you like them? We depend on Basecamp. It has become a cornerstone for our project management and client communication. As soon as we get wind of a project, we've got it set up in Basecamp; it is step 1. Out of that we grow our communication--instantly gaining credibility and...
A look at the new Drop.io homepage.(Credit: Drop.io) Drop.io, a file-sharing start-up that lets you easily toss anything from photos to phone calls in a "drop" (kind of like a virtual storage cabinet), has launched a new look. The redesign makes the site look a little slicker, and certainly accentuates Drop.io's "easy to use" mantra. It's also clearly a consumer-oriented product now--in comparison, the old design looks like a back-end content management system. That's good, because the company hopes to appeal to Luddites as well as techies. (For a business model, Drop.io offers premium accounts that get rid of the...
As most of you probably already know, WordPress is expanding far beyond a blogging platform, towards a complete Content Management System (CMS). In simple words, this means that the WordPress open source software can be used to build virtually any type of website, including blogs, company sites and online stores. One of the features that WordPress introduced to walk in that direction was the ability to be able to use a static front page. You just need to click on “Settings” and then “Reading,” and select which of your pages should be displayed as the static homepage. It is a...
Today at PubCon, Microsoft announced its latest improvement to its search offering: an API with ad support, called Project Silk Road. In the blog post of the announcement, Microsoft explains: Now, in one place, we’re making available what is essentially a content management system for your site or blog, plus the ability to monetize by selling ads. . . . In much the same way that the original Silk Road offered opportunities for cultural and technological exchange and innovation, we believe that Project Silk Road can spark innovation in the online ecosystem. (Please tell me you know what the Silk...
by Mike Moran Image via Wikipedia Someone recently asked me how he knows whether to use shopping cart software or a full-blown content management system for a Web site. Does it depend on how large your site is? Does it depend on what kind of content you have? And, most importantly, which one is better for search marketing? These are good questions, so they deserve good answers. You need to start with a definition of a content management system. A content management system, or CMS (as those of us in the know call it), is a way of separating the...
By Steven Snell Textpattern is a PHP-based open-source content management system that is popular with both bloggers and website owners. The system is flexible and can be used for a very wide variety of purposes. Like other open-source CMS options, such as WordPress and Drupal, Textpattern has a strong online community with plenty of resources available. Here you’ll find the most comprehensive collection of resources, tutorials, plug-ins and more for Textpattern. You may also be interested in these related posts: WordPress Developer’s Toolbox Drupal Developer’s Toolbox ExpressionEngine Developer’s Toolbox 1. Official Resources Textpattern is well documented, and these official...
As Barack Obama made history, Twitter sustained record-breaking activity on its microblogging service as voters across the globe tweeted their election night reactions. “We've yet to do a full analysis for election day, but last night we saw messages per second peak at about 2-3 times what they did during the first presidential debate — which at the time was record-breaking activity for Twitter,” co-founder Biz Stone told wired.com. The first debate saw updates jump 18.5 percent in a week and sign-ups boosted by 23 percent. Proving itself capable of handling traffic on one of the biggest days of...
We continue our series of weekly SEO basics questions and answer today with a question that acknowledges the value of approaching search engine optimization holistically, but indicates a desire to keep things simple and focus on the basics. “… you mentioned to use a holistic approach to aid in a better SEO, but specifically what might be the “top 3″ things can I do or focus on my website to best help improve my search rankings on Google” Since Google dominates the search marketplace, you can read their “How can I create a Google-friendly site?” recommendations. SEO is a big...
Message in-a-box: Tools and tactics for communicating your cause is a new web resources that includes tactical guides to using a wide range communications tools for social change, packaged with some open source tools for creating media. This resource is for small to midsized nonprofit organizations. This guide is a one-stop place to find checklists, strategy tips, and how-to guides for creating everything in you need to implement a communications strategy - from quick guide for a print strategy to selecting a content management system. It also includes tips and resources for developing an Internet Strategysharing content on mobile phones,...
Video on most news sites are presented in either a video gallery, where numerous videos are displayed, or as a single player placed on an article page. The New York Times has broken ground by creating a sort of "contextual" video player which displays multiple clips related to the subject of the story, on the page where the text article appears. This is one of the most notable aspects of the implementation of a new video content management system from Brightcove introduced last week.To see an example, check out this page of food columnist Mark Bittman and his recipe...
Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, Open Source, TUAW LabsI was really disappointed when Google released their Chrome web browser for Windows only. When it comes to browsers, I've tried them all. Right now I regularly switch between Firefox and the latest nightly build from Webkit (essentially Safari). Firefox has the extensibility I rely on, while Webkit has the performance I crave. I had hoped that Chrome would magically combine those two crucial traits and become my new go-to browser. Unfortunately, Chrome is not yet nearly as extensible as Firefox, and isn't available for Mac (yet). So imagine my surprise when...
We continue our Search Engine Optimization Basics series of posts this week with a question from a marketer that is dealing with issues related to moving a web site to another host and possibly updating the content management system and design. Will changing our web site affect our search engine rankings? As with many SEO related questions, the short answer is, “It depends”. The first thing to clarify is what “changing” means. Outside of changes to content, keyword usage and incoming links, common changes to a web site that affect search engine visibility include: Changing domain names Changing content management...
