FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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Of course, questions remain open. Most of the time, others have had these questions as well. Here are our most frequent answers.

Deciding on a CMS

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WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, TYPO3 ... now which one is the best CMS?

Easy answer: the one that best meets your requirements ;-) No kidding – there is no such thing as an overall "best" content management system. It depends on (among other aspects): your expectations your editors' experience special features for exactly your use-case of course, your budget We are happy to give you advice how to compare one CMS to another after all: How to approach the question whether WordPress or Joomla! are better suited for your company website or how to work on your requirements to compare ScientificCMS vs. Plone for a university platform. Have a look at our Event calendar ...

You already guessed the answer: it depends. Ask yourself the following questions: How much worth is your team's routine with the current tool? Where are the major pain points? (For example, It's impossible to offer files for download, It's too time-consuming to build a teaser the way we want it ...) Are you sure the pain points cannot be solved with your current CMS - or have you simply never had the budget for enhancements? What features would you really miss if the future CMS would not have them? (Important, because often you don't what you got 'til it's gone) With those answers listed you ...

In the big picture, all of them do. Open source communities know the importance of diversity and had answers for all aspects of accessibility very early on. Fun fact: pure HTML has been accessible (and adaptive) from the very beginnings. If we don't mess it up with fancy requirements, it still can be. Of course, when customers decide to value features over accessibility, it may happen that their final design is just as good as they allowed it to become. You must stress that you mean your project to be accessible in every aspect and you should be ready to "kill your darlings" (cute little ...

Our web pages should be presented in a reasonable manner on smartphones, too. Our current CMS obviously cannot produce that. Which CMS are optimized for all screen sizes?

All of them do. Fun fact again: pure HTML has been adaptive to any screen size (and accessible) from the very beginnings. Of course, some bad decisions could be made with any CMS, for example buying a cheap design layer that is not responsible. Or nagging your service provider to force a certain minimum screen width ... we have seen a lot. But the result is not the fault of the software ;-)

Counter question: are you asking because you have heard about a security vulnerability in, for example, Plone, TYPO3 or Drupal? See, that's the good thing about open source: it can be analyzed and vulnerabilities can be found. You need not be concerned. News about open source software vulnerabilities usually come out when a security patch/release is available. That's why it is so important to keep your software updated. If you have a 10 years old version of Plone, TYPO3 or Drupal (for example) unmaintained out in the wild, you can bet they have vulnerabilities. The same is true for ...

Yes, that's a very good question. Simply put, we do not know for sure. The reason is pretty often a shameful one: the terms of license usually disallow the public disclosure of security issues, not even mentioning a found vulnerability that has not been fixed for years after notice. On the other hand – no software has ever been bullet-proof. Sooner or later you'll get an update for every software you run. You'd better be concerned if you didn't (maybe gone unmaintained?) If you have ever heard of a software that gets "updates" but never "security releases", be sure the software producer has an ...

Project planning

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Our secret tip: to evaluate a potential service provider is this: Look for the company name or the names of the listed team members on the respective $cms platforms. People and/or companies with a history of contributions usually know their software quite well. Otherwise they might have tried to commit a patch or two but give up when their work does not stand the coding standards. You can find assistance on a general level of evalutions during our consultation hour. Our ambassadors are happy to help finding the suitable web pages, repositories etc. As an alternative, ask your tenders to list ...

If you have looked at any other question in our FAQ you already know the answer: It depends. The software license of a free and open source CMS typicall costs zero. However, costs are incurred if you are not plan to take over all of the following tasks yourself: Initial setup Configuration + optional customization Design implementation API connectivity Development of custom functionality Hosting Maintenance. These are typical services that cost money, usually billed according to effort. Now there is so much "it depends" involved that it is impossible to give you rough estimates. Counter ...

Finding experts

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CMS Garden is an acknowledged non-profit association and therefore will not be a suitable contractor. However, our members are typically CMS experts. Have a look at the members list. Another good way to find a CMS expert for your project ist to visit the respective CMS' websites. Most of them have a "marketplace" or similar pages.

On the long run we are planning a speaker database but for the time being "it depends". As volunteers in a non-profit initiative, chances are good that our experienced speakers consider coming to your event, if appealing (open source-related, interesting other talks/topics, nice location, inclusive catering). CMS Garden is happy to let their members know about your event. Please let us know what costs will be covered.

Further CMS participation

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My favored CMS is not listed here. You should have a look at it and write a portrait.

There are uncounted wonderful Open Source CMS, of course. But CMS Garden is not a platform writing about CMS. It is a platform maintained by CMS communities, by volunteer enthusiasts who put effort in actively presenting their CMS. The participation of a CMS depends on the contributions of its community. When a few preconditions are met, it's completely up to the community's effort to make their CMS visible in CMS Garden. Are you a member of that community? Welcome! CMS Garden is not a closed society.

Under which circumstances can a CMS participate in CMS Garden?

CMS Garden is a voluntary initiative and requires commitment of a CMS's community. Above all, the CMS needs to meet the project's requirements: Open Source CMS, publicly available free of charge (i. e. can be downloaded and installed without restrictions Must have a community, i. e. severeal individuals working for more than a single company, who are involvend in further development and distribution of the software The community needs to feel responsible for tasks within CMS Garden (plus joining regular telephone conferences, activities in working groups etc.) Active support of the CMS Garden ...

Our community is aware of the required efforts. We want to join. What's next?

Awesome, welcome to the Garden! We are happy about every growing plant. That's what we expect from your part: At least three contact persons speaking for your CMS. That may be a team of equals or a main delegate with deputies, up to you. But each of you should feel and show responsible for your CMS's continuity. Discuss in what ways/by what activities you will support CMS Garden (discussion should include an organizational membership) and let us know. Start talking to us via forum or chat: Tools und communication channels of the CMS Garden community Write a matter-of-factly editorial portrait ...

Content on this website

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The page on $cms is quite outdated. Please update the information.

The CMS portraits, like most other content on this website, is a community contribution. We do not have a dedicated editor team for keeping all content up to date. Read on to find out how to solve this problem.

Our Calendar publishes three kinds of events: Collaborative events of several CMS communities, dedicated FOSS CMS community events, or conferences on free and open source software or on IT topics in general. You can add events yourself. Read on to find out how.

Ok, sorry, it's a lie: we wished this were a frequently asked question but in fact it unfortunately is not. Just in case this is exactly the question you were about to ask: Welcome! Articles about any free and open source CMS, about common general topics (e. g. project management, accessibility, contributions), about related technologies (like Composer, ReactJS), case studies about certain projects ... let us know if you are not sure. But if you are, go for it! As a registered and logged in user, go to your dashboard and you will find a button "Write an article". This will be added as a draft ...

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Our CMS has a new logo (version). Where can I change that?

Easy: Contact the editors.

Contributing to the CMS Gardener's Guide

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I have been appointed by our community to help update the $cms chapter. What do you want me to do, where should I start?

Make sure you have access to our cloud storage. When in doubt, send an email to our editors team through our contact form. Update the chapter text. You’ll find an excerpt PDF of the last issue in the cloud (CMS Gardener’s Guide > yyyy_Updates). Please use PDF commenting tools. Add your contact information as first comment. In case you cannot find any way to provide PDF comments, create a plain text list with changes, referencing page/column/paragraph). Futher info can be found in the Editorial Guidelines. The same for additions/changes to glossary, abbreviations, and imprint. Chapter ...

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