This chapter takes a look at the following alternatives to expensive CMS programs such as Microsoft SharePoint:

• Drupal: An open source, community-based alternative
• concrete5: An open source content management system
• GetSimple CMS: A simple, open source content management system

Drupal: An Open Source, Community-Based Alternative

Drupal is a free software application that allows users to easily organize, manage, and publish their content with a seemingly endless variety of customization. Drupal is open source software that is developed and maintained by a group of over one million users and developers. Drupal is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public license. Like other programs under the GPL, it is free to for anyone to download and share with others. This open development model means that individuals are continuously working to make sure Drupal is a cutting-edge platform that can support the latest technologies offered on the World Wide Web. The Drupal project’s principles encourage standards, modularity, ease of use, and collaboration.

Here are a few facts about Drupal at a glance:

• Alternative to: Microsoft SharePoint
• Website: www.drupal.org
• License: GPL Version 2 or Later
• Current Version: 7.38
• Operating System: Cross-platform
• Potential Savings: $5.00 per user per month

Drupel is used as a backend framework for approximately 2.1% of all websites worldwide. This includes sites ranging from personal blogs to corporate, political, and government sites. It is also recognized for business collaboration and knowledge management.

Drupal Core contains basic features commonly found in most content management systems. These features include user account registration and maintenance, managing menus, taxonomy, customized page layouts, RSS feeds, and system administration.

By the end of the first quarter of 2015, there were more than 30,000 free community-contributed add-ons, known as contributed modules. These are available to alter and/or extend Drupal’s capabilities, and to add new features or customize the program’s behavior and appearance.

The Drupal community has in excess of one million members and 31,000 developers. And although Drupal offers an advanced programming interface, basic website installation and administration of the framework does not require programming skills.¹

Feature Highlights

The following are some of the features offered by Drupal:

• Mobile friendly: Built-in themes and administration pages are quite easy to use on mobile devices. The new admin toolbar is mobile from the start. Tables shrink properly. The new administration properties feature a back-to-site button that leads back to the last front-end page.
• Multilingual capabilities: When you need to establish a web presence for a global audience, Drupal 8 can speak your language, whatever it may be. This application can translate anything in the system with the built-in user interfaces. Another great facet of the program is that you can get software translation updates automatically from the Drupal community.
• Configuration management: CM keeps accurate records of all important details as content is configured and/or revised. This program comes with a file system based on the CM system, which makes it simple to transport configuration changes, such as new content types, fields, or views, from development to production.
• Accessibility: For standard accessibility technologies, including WAIARIA, Drupal 8 has added extensive support, and developers have been working to provide more semantic HTML5.

Other notable features include built-in web services, effortless authoring, fun and fast streaming, and the views, which are all done with an industry standard approach. With better markup with HTML5, and more field power, Drupal 8 could still use some assistance in preparing for its first release. There is excitement amongst the mentors of the Drupal 8 program, and eagerness to get new people involved because there is always something that can be learned from peers and mentors alike.²

Although the features list covers all the new developments in Drupal 8, keep in mind that Drupal 7.38 was released in June of 2015. Drupal, in its effort to utilize the community’s knowledge and experience, has established a security bug bounty program for Drupal 8 (Figure 8-1). They will pay you anywhere between $50-$1000 per issue found; the more serious the issue, the more you will be paid. It’s as easy as downloading a copy of Drupal 8, and finding security issues such as XSS, SQL injection, CSRF, access bypass, etc. For more information, go to the Drupal 8 Security Page at www.drupal.org/drupal8-security-bounty.

concrete5: An Open Source Content Management System

The free and open source concrete5 is a content management system for publishing content on the Web and on an intranet. For those seeking a viable alternative to Microsoft SharePoint, it is well worth your time.

• Alternative to: Microsoft SharePoint
• Website: www.concrete5.org
• License: MIT
• Current Version: tk
• Potential savings: $5.00 per user per month

Feature Highlights

Here is a quick look at some of the features offered by concrete5:

• Easy to use: Provides an intuitive experience that everyone can edit.
• Easy to theme: Basic HTML code can be converted into a concrete5 theme in a matter of minutes.
• Easy to extend: The flexible architecture of concrete5 makes response easier as clients get involved.
• Concrete5 is free: It is a free CMS solution that runs on a web server. The developers of concrete5 partnered with some budget hosts so you can quickly get started.

One of the most attractive features of concrete5 is that it is a very easy program to use (Figure 8-2). For example, once you log in, every single page of your website has an editing toolbar. If you see something you want to change, all you have to do is simply click the Edit button and make your changes.

The program can convert basic HTML into a concrete5 theme in just a few moments. It’s as easy as copying and pasting a line of PHP code for any area you want to be able to edit, and that’s it. The program also presents a showcase of sample websites created with concrete5. This lets you see the great variety of sites that can be created with this application. On the Themes page, there is a marketplace of themes available; some are free and some are paid themes (Figure 8-3).

While concrete5 is free and open source, it requires paying a service to host your site. The concrete5 Team can provide this service (and you can be assured of top-notch support; you’ll also be supporting the concrete5 project).

Of course, there are other options available. The concrete5 Team maintains a relationship with several budget companies that provide budget hosting.

concrete5 Support

There is a great deal of support available for concrete5. The recommended place to check first is the Free Help page under the Support tab (Figure 8-4). The documentation provides access to images, videos, code samples, etc. The Forum is another place to seek help from other users. If you’re familiar with IRC (Internet Relay Chat), there is an active community on the freenode network willing to help out: it can be accessed at irc.freenode.org, #concrete5. There are also plenty of tutorial videos posted on YouTube that will help you get up and running quickly.

GetSimple CMS: A Simple, Open Source Content Management System

GetSimple CMS (not to be confused with GetSimple.net, a web hosting service) is a free and open source website content management system. Early versions were designed for the “1 to 15 page brochure site,” and elaborate features were left out in favor of simplicity.

Here are a few facts about GetSimple CMS at a glance:

• Website: http://get-simple.info
• License: GPL 3, Open Source, Get-Simple.info
• Operating System: Cross-platform

GetSimple CMS is intended to be simple, fast, and easy to use. Based on PHP and released under the General Public license (GNU), GetSimple saves all data to structured XML files instead of using a database to store information. By doing this, it makes the application belong to the group of flat file web applications, which can be run without a database. Important to note, the system’s memory footprint is low, which makes it suitable to be installed within a shared hosting situation. It provides online documentation in a wiki form, and an active community can be located on the GetSimple website.

Feature Highlights

Here are some of the features offered by GetSimple CMS, adapted from the website:

• Has proven to be highly extensible, and many important features can be added as plug-ins
• A MySQL database is not required
• Integrated backup system
• Undo actions in system backend
• WYSIWYG text editor, CK editor
• Image and file management
• Single-level menu management
• Theme selector and editor
• Plug-in manager
• Component editor

The original concept was simply to provide a way to maintain a website without knowledge of HTML via a program that presented a clear, user-friendly interface. In order to create a new GetSimple website, you must know how to use FTP and have a basic knowledge of HTML.

To check out the GetSimpleCMS demo, go to OpenSourceCMS.com. You’ll be provided with a generic username, password, and control panel link.

Once you upload the system files to a web server, the setup is complete. The final configuration is made easy by using the system’s web-based install wizard; some hosting providers offer preconfigured GetSimple installations.

An XML-based, stand-alone program that doesn’t use MySQL to store information, GetSimple is a fully independent and light content management system. The interface has been loaded with features that every website needs, but with nothing it doesn’t. It is considered by most to be truly the simplest way to manage a small business website. Since it doesn’t need a MySQL database, it was built specifically for the small site market.

To prevent problems, GetSimple has included “undo” into almost every action you can take, keeping you free from headaches when those inevitable mistakes are made. Since you can “undo” pretty much anything you do, this feature is based on eye-opening ideas such as explaining how warning messages never work as planned.

One of the top priorities of Helge Sverre, the developer of GetSimple CMS, was to design a user interface that was simply the best in its class. As he states in the GetSimple CMS Mission Statement, “I want our admin panel and UI to be better designed than any other comparable CMS out there. This may be more selfish than anything, but what designer wants his/her client to log into the admin panel and see a cluttered mess of cheap, non-intuitive icons that give no value to what that client needs to do? From studying my competing 20 CMSs over the last couple months, this should not be hard.”

One of its goals is not to bloat its software with hundreds of little-used theme functions, so GetSimple provides “how to” documents showing how to create a custom theme (Figure 8-5).

Because it was specifically designed for the small site market, GetSimple utilizes XML rather than a larger, perhaps overwhelming, database such as MySQL. The majority of small businesses only need to be able to easily update the site; they don’t require many extraneous and rarely used features. GetSimple’s ultimate goal is to assist in managing small websites efficiently and effectively.

GetSimpleCMS Support

The best place to start is the Documentation and User Guide Wiki. There you will find information about what GetSimple CMS is for, what others are saying about it, and getting started.

There is an active community on the Support Forum where help can be sought out if needed. Additionally, there are also several helpful video tutorials on YouTube that will get you up and running in short order.³

Summary

In this chapter, you looked at three free options for content management systems. For those seeking alternatives to paid systems, Drupal, concrete5, and GetSimple CMS are great options.

In the next chapter, you’ll take a look at several options for network security, password security, and free anti-virus programs.

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¹www.drupal.org

²Wikipedia, “Drupal” (original article by Dries Buytaert , founder and leader of Drupal CMS ), June 2015

³www.get-simple.info