This article gives details on several different content management systems that schools and non-profit groups can use to create easily edited and very nice looking web sites. Detailed are the Joomla Content Management System as well as Moodle, Php-Nuke, and phpWebSite.

Content Management Systems For Non-Profit Organizations

Content Management Systems take the hard work out of writing and updating a web site. Once the initial setup is completed the CMS makes updating your site as easy as a couple of mouse clicks. Plus, regardless of where you are in the world you can change and update your site instantly WITHOUT HAVING TO USE FTP!

Other benefits of the CMS include being able to pull in new, dynamic content from other music education related web sites. Take a look at the Western Dubuque High School Band's web site for an example of how to use RSS feeds from other web sites to spruce up your own and give your students and visitors something fresh to look at every day!

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• Web Editing Software and Free Web Templates
• Web Design Tools, Scripts and Resources
• Content Management Systems

Content Management Systems

Joomla
Joomla is one of the most widely used and most expandable CMS systems available in the public domain. Joomla has a large user base to assist with problems that you have via a massive online forum system located at forum.joomla.org. The following links direct you to the Joomla files as well as to several recommended components to use along with the Joomla system.

TRY OUT JOOMLA ON YOUR HOME PC BEFORE DECIDING WHETHER TO TRY IT ON YOUR WEB SITE!

Download the Joomla Stand Alone Server (JSAS) from this web site link.

USE THESE TUTORIALS TO HELP YOU INSTALL JOOMLA IF YOU DECIDE YOU LIKE IT!

Video based tutorial on Joomla Installation

How To Install Joomla (Text Tutorial Including Database Creation)

DOWNLOAD THE JOOMLA FILES FROM WWW.JOOMLA.ORG OR FOLLOW THE LINKS SHOWN BELOW:

• Joomla Core Files [Info] [Download]
  

There are currently two versions of the Joomla CMS. the 1.0.12 version is the most stable, however the 1.5 version is the newest development version. If you are going to start a new site consider using the 1.5beta version and/or waiting for the BETA designation to be dropped. Follow the directions in the zip file to upload the files to your web server and set up a database for the Joomla software to connect to to store your web site's information. Video tutorials on how to install and operate Joomla are available through various web sites.

• Calendar Script- Events [Info] [Download]
  

The Events Component allows you to create several different "groups" such as your jazz band, marching band, or concert band. These groups can then have events added to their calendars and each will show up as a color coded event on the master calendar that you can add to the front page of your web site. If you use this component be sure to also download the module that displays the calendar on your web page.

• Newsletter Mailing System- Acajoom [Info] [Download]
  

Acajoom is a fairly robust email newsletter system to allow you to send HTML formatted emails to your band parents, students, or media outlets. Users may subscribe via a menu link or through a special form module that you can add to the home page of your web site.

• Slick_ RSS Reader [Info] [Download]

This component will pull in the RSS news feeds from web sites that you specify and display their current headlines on your home page. When the news site changes their headlines you site copies these changes in real time. When a user clicks a news story headline they are redirected to the news story on the other site. You can find news feeds all over the Internet on a variety of topics, but why not consider adding our own music education news feed from here at MusicEdMagic?

Other Content Management Systems

• Moodle

  
  
  Moodle is an online learning environment for schools or anyone that wants to provide an online classroom environment for their students. You can create courses, assignments, quizzes, and other methods of instruction quickly and easily.

• PHP-NUKE

  
  PHP-Nuke is used most often for web sites that require a lot of collaboration or feedback by users. You will most commonly see Nuke used for gaming and club web sites, but it is a very robust system with many module choices for expanding its capabilities.

• phpWebSite

  
  phpWebSite began as a fork to Php-Nuke in 2001 but today is completely separate from its predecessor. While it does not have as many modules or as much community support as Nuke or Joomla, it is still a very useful and free content management system.